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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Shared Services Requirements: Kicking the Tires

Buying a car is a process that many of us have gone through at one point or another (more than once for a lot of us). Thinking back on that process raises the question of why some of the simple techniques we use in our personal lives aren’t being better applied in the workplace.

If we can apply four lessons from buying a car to the workplace, we can be as happy with our new systems as we are with our new cars.

1) Focus on what’s unique

2) Leave the engine to the engineers

3) Keep your priorities straight

4) Take it for a test drive

The process of buying a car can teach us a lot about how we should (and shouldn’t) approach requirements gathering for shared services migrations. Use the resources at your disposal to start with the baseline and focus on what’s unique, stay away from trying to design the system, make sure you stay realistic about your priorities, and of course take it for a test drive. This will help make sure that you don’t end up with a high-end sports car when all you can afford and all you really need is the economy model.

About the Authors

Teia Clarke, Deloitte Consulting Senior Manager in Federal Practice Shared Services

Karen Ganley, Deloitte Consulting Specialist Leader in Oracle and Technology Implementation

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