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The Pre-Mortem to a Print MIS Transition

If you’re on your way to embarking on a Print MIS transition, then you need to sit down and pretend the whole thing was a spectacular failure. Once you’re in that uncomfortable place—work backwards and build a plan to prevent its untimely death.

Wednesday, May 09, 2018

Many printers are in a tough spot with their Print MIS/ERP solutions. Their current Print MIS system does not support their current business. One of two things happened, the printer’s business evolved (e.g. digital capabilities) or expanded into new markets and the software didn’t evolve at all, or at least not in the same direction as the printer. Other printers are faced with Print MIS solutions that are no longer being developed or are barely holding onto legacy versions which can only run on very specific computer hardware.

I have never met one printer who was excited to be in this position: the position of needing to embark on a Print MIS transition. Nobody wants to do it.

For something that nobody wants to do I’m suggesting that you go through what’s called a pre-mortem; yes, a prediction exercise on how this project might fail miserably. Why would you want to do a pre-mortem on a project you haven’t even started on?


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About Jane Mugford

Jane Mugford is a contributor at WhatTheyThink’s Print Softwaresection as well the lead print MIS specialist at Web2Print Experts, Inc. a technology-independent print software consulting firm helping printers with web-to-print and print MIS solutions.

Recent Articles from Jane Mugford

The Pre-Mortem to a Print MIS Transition

If you’re on your way to embarking on a Print MIS transition, then you need to sit down and pretend the whole thing was a spectacular failure. Once you’re in that uncomfortable place—work backwards and build a plan to prevent its untimely death. Read More

How to Simplify Print MIS Implementations

Print MIS implementations are complex, they touch every corner of your business. It is critical that you actively looks for ways to simplify the project in order to increase your chances of success. Read More

Working In vs. Working On Your Print Business

The temptation is to roll up your sleeves and work in your business. The only job that you can’t delegate to anyone on your staff is working on the business (future plans, strategy, diversification). Read More

Successfully Building Storefronts…And Managing The Scope Creep

One of the most common calls we get is from people frustrated about trying to build storefronts for their customers. The questions we get are often along these lines: “I’ve had this software for 6 months and we have only launched one store. Why is it taking so long?”; “Are my people qualified to build these storefronts?”; “I have no idea where to start, where should we start?” Read More

Encouraging Compliance and Use of Your Print MIS System

One of the unexpected challenges of a Print MIS system can be lack of adoption, along with the lingering dependency of third party tools. These two factors take away from the data integrity of the system itself. Ease of use is the sure-fire way to build compliance, and will also remove the reliance on external tools. Read More