Church/Organization Team: Roles & Responsibilities

The Implementation Team should include a single representative to fill each of the following roles:

  • Project Sponsor
  • Project Manager
  • Financial Lead/SPoC
  • Data Lead/SPoC
  • IT Lead/SPoC
  • Web/Graphic Lead

It is OK for one person to fill more than one Role, but no person should fill more than two.  Typical Responsibilities listed below (list is not all-inclusive)

It’s important to note from the beginning that the commitment to the Implementation Team is not just for this 9-week implementation, but also, for the SPoCs, it extends to at least 6 months beyond the end of this project.  SPoCs are what we call the System Administrators, and you’ll have 3 of them.  We want to be sure you understand, and choose the right people for those positions, because their consistent participation during the project and beyond, can be crucial to the success of your MP implementation.  We caution you against plans to swap out a SPoC during the project or just after it.  If you think a person’s responsibilities might change soon, please select another person, or put both that person and their replacement on the team now, so that both are adequately prepared to help your staff during this transition.

Roles

Project Sponsor — select the right people for the team, people who have the appropriate knowledge and can work well together.  The buck stops with this person.  If issues arise with resources or schedule, this person will be asked to resolve those issues.  Does not attend weekly meetings unless issues arise.

Project Manager — team spokesperson, communicates with and coordinates input from those not on the team, primary input into Project Readiness Course

Finance Lead/SPoC — person who is most knowledgeable about existing finance software, will give the all-clear  specifically on the finance data

Data Lead/SPoC — the person that knows the most about the existing data in the existing system, responsible for answering questions about how the data should go from the old system into the new system during our data migrations, will perform the mapping exercise inside MinistryPlatform that will be used for the second and final data migrations, will also be responsible for coordinating the approvals from the relevant staff members when it comes time to give the all clear on the final data migration

IT Lead/SPoC — involvement front-loaded in the project, provides server info to PM, gets servers ready for install, sets up Check-In Stations, sets up BMT station/check-scanner, if Shelby might move production Shelby database for One-Click, installs custom check-in theme if applicable, does setup for training sessions and should plan on being at all training sessions, in person, not only to learn but to be available in case there are network issues, configures all Check-in stations for Go Live

Web/Graphics Lead — responsibilities heavy on the front end of the project, provides statement logos, check-in themes, and logos for check-in tags if you choose to use them, has a part in the SPoC & System Readiness portal review

Responsibilities

  • All SPoCs need to attend all of the On-site training sessions. 
  • All SPoCs need to attend all of the Remote training sessions. 
  • All SPoCs need to be present to check data on the morning after Cutover. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that the week of Cutover & Go-Live, Wednesday of Cutover through the following Tuesday end of Go-Live, will be “all hands on deck” and any normal days off (Friday/Mondays) during that time may need to be adjusted to before or after that time. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that they will likely be needed to prepare for Go-Live, creating events, associating groups, testing Check-in stations on the Friday between Cutover and Go-Live (may not be applicable for Finance SPoC). 
  • All SPoCs need to be available and attend all of the Go-live weekend services (may not be applicable for Finance SPoC). 
  • All SPoCs need to be available from 8-5 on Monday of Go-live. 
  • All SPoCs need to be available from 8-12 on Tuesday of Go-live. 
  • All SPoCs (and senior staff) need to confirm that they will not plan any new meetings and will cancel any previously scheduled meetings for staff on Monday or Tuesday of Go-live. It’s a good idea for this to be announced by senior staff at an all-staff meeting early in the project, so your entire staff knows the importance of Go-Live weekend. You may also want to post signs or schedules during Go-Live so that the group’s focus is not diverted by staff who may have forgotten that their focus is on Go-Live activities Sunday through Tuesday. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that Go-live is not training. Your time with our Go-live resource is focused on helping you do our existing jobs and tasks using MinistryPlatform. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that the weekend of Go-live is focused on Check-in and ensuring children, youth and adults are successfully checked in as they were in your previous system. All SPoCs need to arrive 1 hour before the first-weekend service to greet the Go-Live resource. Go-Live resource will provide volunteer Check-In support during consecutive morning services. Go-Live resource leaves once the final morning service is underway. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that the Monday of Go-live is focused on contributions. The Finance SPoC, Church Project Manager, and IT SPoC will meet the Go-Live resource at 9am and work with the entire contributions staff until noon when they will go to lunch together to take a break, but still use their time with the Go-Live resource effectively. If contributions processing is not complete by noon, they will pick up with contributions processing again after lunch. All other SPoCs & ministries will need to wait for any questions/concerns/processes until AFTER contributions are complete. If contributions processing concludes early, there may be time to answer questions for, or work on, one of the other two priorities (Connection Card & Event Registration) Monday afternoon. 
  • All SPoCs need to have staff who process Connection Card info, or create online registration events available on Monday afternoon, in case time is available with the Go-Live resource, and available on Tuesday morning for sure. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that Tuesday morning is focused on creating a working, testable event registration and on Connection Card follow-up. Once those priorities are completed, other ministries with questions/how-tos can be addressed. All SPoCs should prioritize those ministries, and use Tuesday lunch with the Go-Live resource to its fullest. Go-Live resource leaves after lunch on Tuesday. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that the Portal cannot go live until Tuesday of Go-Live.
  • All SPoCs need to understand that it is not normal to have Portal Event registration ready right away after Go-Live. 
  • All SPoCs need to understand that if their Go-Live happens in the August/September timeframe, and they plan to launch their event registration page, very soon after Go-Live, they will need to work extra hard, possibly plan to work all weekend of Go-Live weekend, building events to make that happen. Note that the Go-Live resource will show you how to create and test an online registration event on the Tuesday of Go-Live. Most churches do not elect to put themselves under this much pressure. They simply allow their events to live to completion in their legacy system and create new events in MP as the need arises.

 

Project Manager

Ideally Suited

  

Just Getting By

Organized

….

Wishes they didn't have this responsibility

Detail Oriented

….

Lacks follow-through

Doer

….

Procrastinates; Late completing tasks, needs to be reminded often

Problem solver

….

Lacks follow-up skills, lacks timely response with status of task

Looks for answers instead of waiting for them

….

Fights change, or changes reluctantly

Works well with others and delegates

….

Doesn't use their team (resources) to help complete tasks

Willingness to learn; Excited by the change; Positive it will bring enhancement

….

Shares their reluctance with staff, negating their excitement about this enhancement

Joyful attitude

….

Focuses on the difficulty of the task, rather than the enhancement it will bring

 

IT SPoC   
Ideally Suited   Just Getting By

Adequate technical ability; knowledge of servers, pcs, check-in station & printers, and check scanner, or seeks it from appropriate resources when necessary

….

No IT on staff; has a 3rd party IT support who doesn't support them in a timely manner, or lacks the technical ability to support them adequately

Looks for answers

….

Waits for others to solve problems

Willingness to learn; Excited by the change; Positive it will bring enhancement

….

Reluctant to change; not willing to learn new things

Joyful attitude

….

Focuses on the difficulty of the task, rather than the enhancement it will bring

 

Finance Spoc
 Ideally Suited   Just Getting By 

Begins working on Authorize.net or alternatives immediately

….

Slow to initiate/decide upon Authorize.net or alternative

Follows-up on each part of the Authorize.net process

….

Doesn't follow-up; needs to be reminded often

Checks financial data thoroughly, early & throughout implementation

….

Doesn't check data until late in process; not thoroughly

Focused and timely in translating legacy data to Ministries & Programs

….

Accepts the Ministries and Programs as loaded rather than making fit the culture of the church

Responds quickly with any necessary tweaks to statements and confirms quickly when completed

….

Ignores request for confirmation of statements validity

Willingness to learn; Excited by the change; Positive it will bring enhancement

….

Reluctant to change; focused on keeping things "as we've always done them"

Joyful attitude

….

Focuses on the difficulty of the task, rather than the enhancement it will bring

 

 Data Spoc
Ideally Suited   Just Getting By

Adequate knowledge of legacy system

….

Does not know the legacy system well; does not care to learn it for the purposes of making this a smooth transition

Willing to seek information from other staff to be thorough

….

Does not seek information from other staff

Excited to learn new system and share that knowledge with others; positive it will bring enhancement

….

Reluctant to change; focused on keeping things "as we've always done them"

Timely & knowledgeable response on Data Mapping

….

Needs repeated explanation; does not pay attention; needs constant prodding to complete data mapping info

Seeks timely consensus from staff on Nametag fields

….

takes easiest route by not allowing input from others on nametags, then causes last-minute ruckus to adjust later

Joyful attitude

….

Focuses on the difficulty of the task, rather than the enhancement it will bring

 

Graphics/Web Lead
 Ideally Suited   Just Getting By 

Detail oriented

….

Does not thoroughly focus on the task ahead

Focused on schedule; plans ahead to facilitate changes to website to accommodate portal

….

Does not adequately plan for the change to website to accommodate portal

Produces logos, check-in themes in timely manner

….

Ignores/delays their responsibility in implementation

Activley participates in portal review

….

Does not focus on learning portal features

Willingness to learn; Excited by the change; Positive it will bring enhancement

….

Shares their reluctance with staff, negating their excitement about this enhancement

Joyful attitude

….

Focuses on the difficulty of the task, rather than the enhancement it will bring

 

 

Last Modified: 3/30/2018

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