November 4, 2005

"Revolutionary" Process Provides Key to MMA Success It isn’t easy to implement a complicated project without precise synchronization between all the stakeholders and a mutual understanding of the business requirements. It’s even more difficult if the requirements are many, complex, and change often. In that kind of environment, the danger of miscommunication and logjam is enormous. Then add to the mix a government-imposed deadline, with 30% of the company’s revenue at stake if it isn’t done right.

It sounds like a corporate nightmare, but that is exactly the scenario faced by Kaiser Permanente’s Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) Implementation Team at the beginning of the year. To prevent such possibilities, the business and KP-IT came together to create a common language tool to streamline the process of gathering business requirements and help ensure success through all phases of the project.

Ouellette Training Offers Common Language The Solution Design &Consulting (SD&C) team for the Health Plan Operations (HPO) portfolio had been using a training program from Ouellette & Associates Consulting, Inc., which helps IT organizations communicate using the common language of pictures and diagrams. Adrienne Edens, vice president and information officer for HPO, realized the need for a better way to gather requirements to improve solution design and delivery. She had seen the Ouellette training in action and realized it could be a key tool to help KP-IT and its business partners quickly define the business processes and meet the tight MMA deadlines.

“Ouellette focuses on identifying the business problem, then determining the IT needs,” explains Naren Singh, senior manager/director, SD&C. “It helps us answer the questions: ‘How will we document and implement a business requirement? What would be the best way to approach the problem?’ Then, both sides can look at the diagrams and really understand how the requirements will be met. It really is a revolutionary approach.” The three-day Ouellette training was attended by all the MMA technical and business leads.

“The methodology of looking first at the big picture and identifying what is in scope and what isn't, and then thinking through each successive level was very valuable,” says Lynne Frisch, product implementation director, Member Financial Services. Reflecting on working with KP-IT, Lynne adds, “It will help in the communication because we’re now speaking the same language, which can only benefit us as we continue in our project.”

Using the Ouellette process, the MMA team held lengthy work sessions to create the materials for an ASE (Accelerated Solution Environment) decision-making meeting. ASE brought all the stakeholders together to discuss the requirements, using the common language from Ouellette. Cross-functional MMA teams identified events that triggered a business requirement, worked to satisfy the requirement for each event, and came away with an agreed-upon plan in just a few days.

MMA Milestones Reached

875,000 Medicare beneficiaries are KP members across the Program. Medicare accounts for 30% of KP's

total revenue.

For more information

“I do not think we could have had such success if we had not done it

this way. There are so many interdependencies. Without this kind

of preparation, we could not have done it in such a short time frame.”

—Naren Singh, senior

The results have been impressive so far. As MMA races towards its January 1, 2006 go-live date, two highly complex releases were completed in record time in October. “I do not think we could have had such success if we had not done it this way,” says Naren. “There are so many interdependencies. Without this kind of preparation, we could not have done it in such a short time frame.”

See related article in October 14, 2005 issue

Interested in Ouellette Training? This process is now part of the curriculum offered by the Project Management Academy. It is already being used for Requirements Development and Management (RDM), a component of the Solution Life Cycle Initiative, according to Desmond Cullen, curriculum manager for the PM Academy. The Enterprise Program Management Office (ePMO) will be the gatekeeper for Ouellette Training. To learn more, e-mail Desmond.Cullen@kp.org.

manager/director, SD&C, HPO