Guide to Establishing an Aprimo Governance Model

Introduction

This article is intended to help you establish a structural model to support end users in the adoption of the Aprimo module(s) that have been implemented.

First, the journey to success is examined and provides an overview of each stage along that path.  Next,  a brief synopsis of three governance models is reviewed along with a recommendation that best supports adoption.  A joint Aprimo/Client governance model is also advised as it brings additional value to support the customer journey.  A Change Control Board is advocated as there will come a time that configuration updates will be requested by the user community and a process should be in place to address these requests.
If you find this article useful and want to continue researching governance related topics (such as activation readiness, maximizing user adoption tips & tools, establishing ongoing support and training structure, roles and responsibilities etc.) additional articles are linked at the of this one. 

Journey to Success



1. Activation

Activate Aprimo to drive key business imperatives and establish foundation for success. The PM/DAM/DM/Plan & Spend Activation project accomplishes this phase. A Governance Board should be established during this Activation Stage.

2. Onboarding

Hyper-focused attention during first 120 days to maximize adoption and realize progress towards success. 

  • Maximize Adoption: Reach out to end users to ensure strong engagement and achievement towards goals
  • Evaluate Integration Strategy: Determine what integrations would further promote Aprimo solution cohesion and increase operational efficiency.
  • Establish Reporting & Metrics Strategy: Provide deeper insights for better decision making

3. Optimize & Grow

 Ensure ongoing value and profitable ROI with clear visibility into achieved goals and continued success activities.

  • Review New Capabilities: Review new Aprimo features to enhance your solution 
  • Expand Value: Validate progress towards achieving success objectives and identify areas of opportunity
  • Optimize: Ensure Aprimo design aligns to current success objectives and configuration best practices

Balanced Centralization Governance Model

When considering the right governance model to support the activation & ongoing success of your Aprimo solution, a balanced centralization approach is often the right model to form the foundation for success. This model allows for a central team to garner input of the larger regional ecosystem to leverage efficiency, while allowing autonomy for adaptation and local market needs.


To support this model, one or more Centers of Excellence can be established to govern the vision, strategy & execution across the organization.

Joint Aprimo/Client Governance Model

As part of the Aprimo customer journey, it is highly recommended that a joint governance model be included as part of the overall support model for the Aprimo application.

Ongoing Steering Committee Meetings

The Steering Committee meeting was likely initiated during the Aprimo Activation project. It is recommended that these meetings continue after the project go live.

Frequency: Monthly
Value:

  • This meeting engages stakeholders to dirve a successful deployment
  • Ensures team alignment with organization goals & vision
  • Provides direction, resolves conflicts/issues and monitors risks
  • Supports and champions decisions to extended teams

Responsible Aprimo Resource: Each client has an Aprimo Customer Support Director/Manager who will own initiating this meeting and was introduced to you during the Activation Project. Success Measurement Framework

Success Measurement Framework

The Success Measurement Framework was established during the Aprimo Activation Project and is instrumental in how Aprimo is configured and contributes to the success roadmap.

Components of the framework include:

  • Success Objectives: What does the Customer want to achieve
  • KPIs: Specific measures to track performance against objectives
  • Adoption Metrics: Measures to track Aprimo platform useage and end user engagement
  • Future: Financial ROI Metrics

Value:

  • Aprimo wants to help our Customer prove their success with their management and their peers
  • Aprimo wants to stay aligned with our customer goals
  • Aprimo wants to produce data that will support value

Responsible Aprimo Resource: The Principal Consultant will help develop this framework as an output of the Value Realization workshop. These metrics are updated quarterly by the Customer Success Principal if the Customer has purshased Expert Services from Concierge’s. If that service has not been purchased, the Customer Support Director/Manager can also be a touchpoint.

Change Control Board

Overview

Over time, user communities will request changes to the configuration of the application. For example, new fields may need to be added to support the capture of important information or modifications to existing workflows may need to be made to support changes in business processes. In order to manage these requests, it is recommended that customers setup a change control board within their governance model to review these requests and manage the change. Below is an example of this process.
The goals of the change control board are:

  • To have all regions cohesively using the system as a global organization.
  • To prevent one region from hindering another regio n when making configuration changes in Aprimo.
  • To help regions easily adopt features, functionality and new services on a global scale.

  • Submit change request details
  • Log change request
  • Validate & confirm change request
  • Send change request to Assessment team
  • Determine effort required to make change(s) and assess impact to end users
  • Regional Leads Approve/Decline change request based on business priority, work effort & impact

Additional Materials

You can dive deeper into related governance topics via these recommended pages: