When it comes to implementing a new treasury management system, banks can be like deer caught in the headlights. There are several unknowns that come into play - Which technology should be used? Will the system align with business priorities? Will the system be implemented within the defined timeline and costs? Will it be able to keep up with new competitors and adapt to new regulations? PMO teams play a significant role in addressing these questions and are pivotal to the success of treasury management system implementations. Although, completely failed implementations are rare, majority of them do encounter cost overruns and substantial delays. Post implementation, most banks also realize that there is a gap between the intrinsic value of the treasury technology they chose and their ability to reap benefits by getting it to work effectively.

Potential PMO risks during a Treasury Management System Implementation

Over the years of helping banks and their PMO teams implement treasury management systems, we have realized that project management has significant influence on how an implementation project shapes up. We have outlined a comprehensive list of PMO risks that will help PMO teams pinpoint where their treasury management system implementation may go wrong:

1. Lack of right metrics to control the program
2. Support and availability of integrating teams such as Operations, Host and ARP
3. Less involvement from business teams right from the start
4. Gaps in requirement documentation and interface requirement documentation
5. Schedule slippage
6. Unplanned environment downtime
7. Software Configuration (and Release) Management issues
8. Delay in signing off on requirements / customizations by all stakeholders
9. Defect backlog
10. Business continuity planning and disaster recovery issues
11. Gaps in scheduling of interface development
12. No thought given to knowledge management
13. Lack of clear roles and responsibilities and single points of contact
14. Gaps in communication and reporting protocol
15. Coordination amongst various vendors and SLA management
16. Poor prioritization of customizations, code drops and interface development
17. Poor estimation
18. Scope creep
19. Absence of risk management practices
20. Ineffective quality assurance and quality management

Conclusion

An experienced PMO team needs to be aware of such PMO risks and should be able to devise mitigation strategies before budget and time creep threatens to derail the project. Product Management and IT teams need to support PMO teams in this. There is a tremendous upside to avoiding these risks. Not only will you be able to ensure that the implementation project meets time and cost goals, you will also be able to rapidly start realizing ROI from the treasury management system. Can you think of any other PMO risks that you may have faced during an implementation?