Project Services - Project Tools - Command Centre

Command Centre

"Houston, we have a problem" triggered one of the most challenging trials of team-working known. Managing things going to plan is not a problem; coping with failures is.

When rolling out new mission-critical systems or system changes, those few hours of the cut-over when the new system goes live are absolutely critical, and this tool assists that.

When implementing new systems or system changes, those few hours of the cut-over when the new system goes live are absolutely critical. When things go wrong, the time pressure mounts, and information management, with communications, are the first to suffer. This "fog of war" breaks down coherent understanding of the situation, and regrettable mistakes are made.

Ideally, we’d repeat dry runs, rehearsing the transition until the team has it perfect, but it’s rarely feasible. On top of this, backing out part-way through a "go-live" can be fraught with difficulties and unpleasant side effects.

How can you maximise the chances of successfully implementing a major change into live, dealing successfully with any aspects that go wrong?

Take a leaf out of NASA’s book: to make sure the right decisions are made, make all the information available instantly to all decision makers.

Command Centre pulls together all the information required by a Command and Control Centre to give the very best chance of a successful cut-over.

Key Benefits: Using Command Centre for major events

logs the responsibilities and contact details for all key players, and tracks their activities throughout the rollout
contains the planned activities/tasks, with associated staff and timing details. It allows the tracking of progress against plans and displays the status
makes the logging of all communications quick and easy, to provide a communications history.
Associates problems with impacts on business processes
Where contingency plans are invoked, tracks their instigation and allows their progress to be tracked and displayed