Readiness and Deployment Lead Job Chicago area,Illinois USA,Management

Agility Program Readiness And Deployment Workstream Lead

ABC Supply inc. has embarked on a multi-year business transformation initiative principally in the form of two major ERP / point-of-sale migration projects. Ultimately, the Agility Program will impact the day-to-day activities of approximately 16,000 employees at 850 branch locations across the U.S., re-envision the accounting and finance function of an $$$ billion company, and help mature the infrastructure, processes, and internal procedures for the ABC Supply IT department.

As of the end of 2022, the Agility Program has deployed the integrated Agility eco-system to more than 220 locations (and 4,000 employees) at a division of ABC Supply called L&W Supply and is now focused on enhancing and extending the solution in preparation for deployment to the remaining 650 branches of ABC Supply (the parent company).

The Agility Program is comprised of five major components,
1) business process definition (Order To Cash, Procure To Pay, Inventory, Record To Report) and related ERP configuration,
2) data conversion and migration,
3) technical integration with 40 external applications (the “eco-system”),
4) change management, training, and deployment activities (to the branches and back office), and
5) adherence to the Agility Program Governance Methodology and Project Management Toolkit.

Role overview:

The Readiness And Deployment Workstream Lead is responsible for ensuring that ABC Supply (IT, back office, and field) is prepared for the new ERP ecosystem and for the successful deployment of the Agility ecosystem to ABC Supply branches and NSC. This role encompasses the creation of readiness and deployment checklists and playbooks, validation of those checklists and playbooks across the Program team, and coordination of the execution of readiness and deployment activities themselves, leading up to and through the deployment weekend.

It also may include coordination of activities during hyper-care and coordination and communication during a stabilization period after deployment.

The R&D Lead is responsible for the management of three (3) other team members, two focused on creating and validating the various checklists and playbooks, and one focused on Release Management.

Responsibilities

Oversee the construction of a comprehensive readiness and deployment checklist and playbook.

Manage a team responsible for building the readiness and deployment checklist and playbook.

Oversee the execution of readiness activities across ABC Supply for deployments, inclusive of the back office, the field, and IT.

Oversee the execution of deployment activities over the deployment weekend, coordinating teams from the Program (master data migration and validation, configuration updates, back office and field communication, smoke testing, roll-back, if necessary, etc.), the back office, and the field.

Ensure a comprehensive roll-back plan exists for individual components of the deployment as well as for a deployment as a whole.

Communicate progress on both readiness and deployment activities to the Agility Program Manager and broadly to the Agility Program Team; communicate progress at various Agility reporting events, including to the ABC Executive Team.

Build a project plan for readiness and deployment activities.

Track risks and issues in the Agility Program RAID Log; serve as escalation point for project teams dealing with conflicts, risks and impediments related to deployment; work with program, project, business, and IT leadership, as needed, to drive resolution

Maintain a RACI for readiness and deployment activities

Operate with transparency

Facilitate readiness and deployment workshops and walk-throughs

Key Phases Of Responsibilities

Preparation

Preparation and leadership to deploy the Agility ecosystem to 650+ branches
Preparing infrastructure, back office, field and communication and coordination across the Program Team
Capture and conduct several walk throughs containing complex steps to ensure a successful deployment

Deployment Weekend

Responsible for the oversight of the deployment
Responsible for fielding questions, issues, and any missteps
Must be available for all any challenges during deployment

Hypercare after deployment

Responsible for organization of hypercare
Involved in monitoring chat rooms, email support, etc

Required Skill Set

Previous experience being held accountable for the execution of one or more large, complex deployments at a multi-billion dollar company

Previous experience with field deployments is a must

Must have keen understanding of the nature of dependencies that exist across a large, complex Program (300+ team members)

Must have a broad understanding of IT, as well, inclusive of IT Operations and Infrastructure

Must have a “hands-on” approach, i.e., is willing to build project plans and spreadsheets, lead and facilitate meetings, create presentations, validate the quality of deliverables, etc.