Let's all agree on something obvious: planning is important. You can't change a plan if you don't have one in the first place. It's true for children's birthday parties, vacations, and your digital transformation. But in the latter case our Best Practices knowledge base is available to help you out, and provide resources to make sure that your plan covers everything that matters. 

Our project managers can help you plan your a digital workplace launch end to end, to ensure that your site has everything it needs when it needs it. This can include technical requirements, governance profiles, member management and content strategies, and a holistic timeline of when all of those need to be in place. Deciding which business challenges need to be addressed most immediately will let you build focused workflows to help your members in their day to day work, and see that your pressing use cases are met on time. 

Create a realistic timeline

Speaking of time, one of the first things you can do is make a realistic timeline. Will your digital workplace be launching all at once, or are you taking a phased approach? Are there other schedules that need to be met, like a migration date from an old system or a particular launch date? 

Having a timeline that fits your strategic goals will let it guide the process, rather than the process directing the schedule. Assemble a list of key deliverables and milestones to have easy intermediary points to work toward, and don't forget to celebrate your successes along the way. Every journey begins with a single step.  

Make a governance plan

Early on in your digital workplace planning, you'll want to plan your governance strategy.  How will you onboard members into the site, and showcase the initial workflows? How will you collect feedback, and who reviews it? Who makes changes based on that feedback? 

Governance plans should include access models and communication plans, as well as clearly identifying who's responsible for which areas and duties in your digital workplace. The most successful launches we see, as well as sites that stand the test of time, are ones with strong governance plans. 

Form a COP for content creators

Communities of practice are a great way to bring together people with similar roles across your organization to directly discuss that part of their roles. Bring together your authors as part of your content strategy, and help them plan and execute toward your strategic goals directly in your digital workplace. Having a COP Space gives them an easy way to share ideas and learn from each other, making it easier for writers in the future. 

These are just a few of the best practice guides available in our Planning Knowledge Base. Plan your digital transformation right to make sure it goes off without a hitch. 

If you have any other questions about the Igloo platform, workflows, or best practices, you can leave a comment here, ask a question in the Community area.