Land the Plane Well
Our destination is coming into view, and we’re starting to put the landing gear down. Now it’s time to land this plane solidly on the ground. That includes finalizing contract(s) with partner(s) and getting really crisp on what’s to come.
This is also time for a productive handoff from the vendor selection team to the solution implementation team. The facilitator may continue to be engaged in the implementation effort, but it’s worth some effort to compile introductory materials for the implementation team (to support a clean handoff and to prevent a different flavor of “just one more question” in the coming weeks and months).
This Phase at a Glance
In the Contracting & Planning phase, our goal is to dot every i and cross every t in executing vendor contract(s) and prep for implementation.
Here are facilitator activities at a glance:
Deliver procurement-ready proposal, implementation plan, and expected investment
Support contracting
Compile starter materials for the implementation team
Here are selection team activities at a glance:
Lead vendor contracting
Identify implementation stakeholders
At this point in the project, we’ve finalized our vendor selection, and the sales process transitions into implementation planning.
Key Activities
Let’s walk through each of the activities in this phase, with what success looks like and considerations to work through. The first activity is led by the negotiator, legal representative, and project sponsors, and the remaining by the facilitator.
Lead vendor contracting
Our negotiator, legal representative, and project sponsors are the main actors in contracting with the selected partner, and the facilitator provides logistical support – and lots of context – throughout the process. This activity describes what I recommend the negotiator, legal rep, and project sponsors work through, and the next activity includes facilitator support.
You’ll likely have the selected partner’s order form, implementation statement of work, and terms and conditions in hand. Work with the facilitator to get any context you need to review these well, and potentially have them get feedback from the selection team on specific items like scope, resourcing, etc.
In addition to the commercial levers you shaped in the previous phase, watch out for these potential contracting issues:
Pricing
Auto-renewals and notice timeframes: make sure you understand what automatically happens at the end of the initial contract term and what you would need to do to prevent it from happening – typically this includes a specific amount of notice, with specific activities.
Price increases over time: it can be very frustrating to be hit with a renewal bill with a big jump in price. Consider including a maximum amount or percentage that each price increase can take.
Components and environments: go through the list of solution modules, integrations, and licenses included with a fine-toothed comb. Make sure everything you’ve discussed being part of your solution is specifically listed. Similarly, if you have specific environment or tenant expectations, get these spelled out to avoid a surprise upcharge later.
Data Ownership & Usage
Data ownership and retrieval: you’re selecting a solution that you want to use for a long time, but there will likely come a day when it needs to be sunset. Make it crystal clear who owns the data created within the solution and have the vendor spell out how to retrieve that data (including the process, tools, time period) if you stop using the system.
AI use related to our solution: vendors are rolling out more and more AI features, and they may use customers’ data and solution history to improve their models and features. Make sure you understand if and how the vendor is using customer data for product improvement and consider setting guardrails in line with your security policies.
Implementation Approach
Scope: make sure you (and likely SMEs from the selection team) understand very clearly what will be delivered through the implementation, potentially including phases. If the vendor is using agile ways of working, the specific output may not be clear, so I recommend including regular reviews and decision checkpoints (likely matched to payment terms), in case you need to adjust course.
Change orders: things change in an implementation. Make sure you understand how to request, define, and approve a change in scope, timing, resourcing, etc.
Resourcing: make sure you understand if/how the vendor can make use of sub-contracting or out-sourcing in the implementation. And, if you have specific vendor team members you want included in the implementation, don’t rely on verbal promises. Get their participation in writing.
Coverage: vendors often rely on resources across multiple time zones (and potentially even multiple countries). If you want all implementation team members to be in a certain location, coverage during working hours in a specific time zone, specific on-site activities, etc., make that clear in the contract.
Support contracting
Our negotiator, legal representative, and project sponsors lead the effort to create a contract that both sides can agree to. As facilitator, expect to compile the selected partner’s order form, implementation statement of work, and terms and conditions and share it for legal review. You may also include a “read-me” with the contract, including things to watch out for from a functional and technical perspective (since the legal team is focused on protecting against risks of a different nature).
This step can feel a bit like molasses, particularly when we’re six rounds of redlines deep. As facilitator, support logistics and follow-up questions to the best of your ability, and balance driving progress with allowing ample time for consideration.
Legal representatives from your team and the vendor’s team may end up connecting directly, if the proposed updates are substantive. Again, be careful in asking for the legal team’s time, as it’s very valuable.
At some point, the negotiator, legal team, and project sponsors will land on pricing, timing, and contract terms that are amenable to both parties. This provides a crisp understanding of what the partnership looks like going forward, including immediate next steps on implementation.
With agreements executed, we’ve officially agreed to move forward with the selected vendor! Getting the implementation kickoff scheduled may be one of the final official acts of the facilitator (particularly if there’s a different internal implementation lead).
While contracting is ongoing, you may have several sets of people asking you questions.
Since only a few people are involved in negotiations, make sure to keep the rest of the selection team updated on progress. This could be as simple as weekly email updates. Just remember that the selection team has been intimately involved to this point, so the silence will likely be jarring if you wait for a major update. (Or they’ve thrown themselves back into the work they avoided to focus on the selection effort and trust that the process is proceeding as needed! Either way, a simple update, provided at regular intervals, is nice.)
The vendor you’ve selected is in the loop, but the other one or two vendors are another story. It’s tempting to wait to inform other finalists until contracting with the selected vendor is complete, but the other finalists will be eager for updates. Balance keeping options open with being respectful. All the finalist vendors have invested a lot of time in the opportunity, so be honest (even if you leave out a few details) and follow through on what you say you will do.
You can probably get away with one or two rounds of “the selection team is still reviewing analysis and getting aligned” with the other finalists. Sooner rather than later they will see through your delays, so aim to notify them that you’ve selected another option before you get to that point.
Bear in mind all the warnings and caveats about declining vendors that we’ve covered thus far. Imagine your words projected on a billboard or read aloud in a courtroom.
These vendors have spent considerable time and effort trying to win the business. Thank them for their time and effort and share that they weren’t selected.
In describing decision-making, I prefer to focus on what the selection team did (“the selection team unanimously chose a different option”), rather than running through specific features that were the deciding factor. Of course, if specific functionality (or the lack thereof) was the kicker, that might be part of your explanation, but be careful. You may prompt a discussion of how that feature is next on their product roadmap or requests for another demo to showcase how good the feature actually is.
You may decide it’s worthwhile to share some information on how they stacked up against the other finalists (since vendors have a decent sense for each other) on feature sets, pricing, or terms. In short: share as little as you can get away with, while being respectful and firm. We’ve been clear that we’re seeking a partner, and there are many functional, technical, commercial, relational, etc. dimensions we’ve considered.
Deliver procurement-ready proposal, implementation plan, and expected investment
Often the vendor has sent over lots of documents in the final weeks. Compile the final version of each item, potentially create an explainer document, and make sure the project sponsors and implementation leads can easily reference them going forward.
I like to include my best thinking on the implementation plan, knowing that it will get refined by the implementation team. Spell out things like:
Implementation timeframe, with clear start date and target go-live, potentially with buffer or contingencies
Implementation phases and key activities, with any special considerations or “watch out for” notes
Expected roles within our team (often the vendor’s statement of work lists the roles they expect us to cover; make sure to address those and any other roles we deem important to success)
We may not have clear assignments for roles at this point. Share the expected role list with project sponsors and support them in identifying implementation stakeholders.
Finally, collect the licensing and implementation pricing information in a way that’s easy for project sponsors to share with their leadership. This can support updating budgets or simply closing the loop on expectations going forward.
Compile starter materials for the implementation team
One last compilation for the facilitator. This is less about explaining why we decided as we did and more about what the implementation team needs to deliver. I like to create an onboarding packet for the vendor implementation team and any of our team members who will invest considerable time in the implementation but weren’t on the selection team.
The vendor sales team will brief the implementation team, and we hope their Solution Engineer will be involved to some extent, but it's often a mostly new team at the vendor leading the implementation.
We’re aiming to make ramp-up easy for these folks.
Compile the materials that you wish you’d be handed at the start of an implementation, likely adapting from materials you’ve already created. Here’s a starting outline:
Background, goals, and what success looks like
Prioritized requirements, with context or examples
Scope being addressed through this implementation, with any initial thoughts on how to address that’s been discussed through the evaluation process
Where to find key inputs (like test data or use cases)
Advanced Class
It can be easy to lose momentum during this phase. The bulk of the selection team’s work is complete, and they may be shifting their attention to other things. As facilitator, be diligent to keep the various parallel paths of progress moving.
This may require gentle nudges or quick touchpoints to work through next steps – be prepared to dig deep in your facilitator toolkit to (non-annoyingly) keep people focused on closing out the vendor selection effort well.
Tools & Artifacts
At the conclusion of Contracting efforts, we have a procurement-ready contract, likely including an order form, implementation statement of work, and terms and conditions.
To support Planning, we deliver one final set of materials:
A vendor selection summary, including:
Why and how the selection arrived at our decision
A bit about the selected solution and implementation partner
Our best thinking on the implementation plan (including implementation timeframe, key activities, and roles)
Clear licensing and implementation pricing information
Starter materials for the implementation team, with:
Background, goals, and what success looks like
Prioritized requirements, with context or examples
Scope being addressed through this implementation, with any initial thoughts on how to address that’s been discussed through the evaluation process
Where to find key inputs (like test data or use cases)
