Lessons Learned
“Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
Agenda
1. Importance of lessons learned
2. Important lessons I Learned
3. What are your lessons learned?
Importance of Lessons Learned
• Lessons learned are a way to capture what
went well and what should be changed so
the past is not forgotten
• Organize lessons learned by category (e.g.
scope, communication, schedule, etc.)
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What went well
What would we
change and how
Important Lessons I Learned (My Story)
• Hired by Andersen in Russia to find an
accounting system for Western and Russian
financial reporting
• Had no experience doing this
• Went to Chicago to get help, and learned…
Important Lessons I Learned
• There is more money implementing
application software than in reselling the
software
• It is easier to move to new solutions if you
are not selling the software
Software
40k to Reseller
60k to Software Mfg
Implementation
200k to Implementer
Important Lessons I Learned
• Products in the Russian marketplace at the
time were Scala and Champion
• Andersen implemented Champion for Pepsi,
Gerald Hines and Freixenet
Scala Software
Champion Software
Sold and implemented by
Ernst & Young
Sold by Robertson Blums
Corporation (RBC)
Scala Localization – $2.5
million
Andersen training on
Champion - $25,000
Three year payback
Less than one year payback
Important Lessons I Learned
• Pepsi and Freixenet outgrew Champion
• Convinced RBC to localize and resell
SunSystems
• Andersen in Russia became one of the largest
implementers of SunSystems in the world
Year 3 - E&Y
Selling and implementing
around fifty Scala systems a
year ($12 million in annual
revenue)
Year 3 – Andersen
Implementing around fifty
SunSystems a year ($10 million
in annual revenue)
Important Lessons I Learned
• Outcome – Andersen passed E&Y as the biggest
and most profitable implementer in the market
when we began implementing SAP
• Outcome - former Andersen staff now run SAP
businesses for SAP, E&Y, PwC and others around
the world
Year 5 - E&Y
Selling and implementing
around fifty Scala systems a
year ($12 million in annual
revenue)
Year 5 – Andersen
Implementing around fifty
SunSystems and five SAP
systems a year ($20 million in
annual revenue)
What are your lessons learned?
• Break into your teams and start to create
your lessons learned (15 - 20 minutes)
• Two teams will use the whiteboards for this
exercise
• In 15 - 20 minutes you will share your
lessons learned with the class