Susan Copley
Past Projects
I excel at driving project adoption by:
➤ starting change management early
➤ socializing benefits strategically
➤ ensuring true value realization through careful measurement of outcomes
➤ socializing benefits strategically
➤ ensuring true value realization through careful measurement of outcomes
Not just checking boxes for implementation — but making sure users genuinely embrace and effectively utilize new systems to achieve intended business benefits.
Workday Implementation
The primary goal was to streamline and reduce the People Operations tech stack from 22 different products down to just four, targeting approximately $2 million in cost savings. The implementation needed to be completed between November and June, making it a massive undertaking with a tight timeline.
Key Challenges & Obstacles:
➤ Limited Team Resources: The project had to be executed with a very small team due to the highly sensitive nature of the data, which prevented bringing in outside resources
➤ Data Quality Issues: Existing data wasn't in the proper format for Workday, requiring extensive data scrubbing
➤ Integration Complexity: Required implementing 18 different integrations in a compressed timeframe
➤ Vendor Management: The vendor wasn't particularly cooperative, requiring assertive management
➤ Scope Change: During implementation, Dataminr's growth projections shifted from 1,000 employees to 600 employees, which impacted the project's original ROI calculations
➤ Data Quality Issues: Existing data wasn't in the proper format for Workday, requiring extensive data scrubbing
➤ Integration Complexity: Required implementing 18 different integrations in a compressed timeframe
➤ Vendor Management: The vendor wasn't particularly cooperative, requiring assertive management
➤ Scope Change: During implementation, Dataminr's growth projections shifted from 1,000 employees to 600 employees, which impacted the project's original ROI calculations
How I Drove Success:
1. Careful Resource Planning: Implemented extremely detailed resource planning to maximize the small team's effectiveness
2. Aggressive Vendor Management: Set crystal-clear expectations with the vendor and immediately escalated any deviations to prevent timeline slippage
3. Early Change Management: Started stakeholder communications early to build confidence that the understaffed project could succeed despite the challenges
4. ROI Redefinition: When employee growth projections changed, I successfully reframed the project's value proposition by showing that even with fewer employees, the tech stack consolidation still delivered meaningful cost savings
5. Focused Training & Communication: Streamlined change management to focus only on the most critical information users needed, avoiding information overload
2. Aggressive Vendor Management: Set crystal-clear expectations with the vendor and immediately escalated any deviations to prevent timeline slippage
3. Early Change Management: Started stakeholder communications early to build confidence that the understaffed project could succeed despite the challenges
4. ROI Redefinition: When employee growth projections changed, I successfully reframed the project's value proposition by showing that even with fewer employees, the tech stack consolidation still delivered meaningful cost savings
5. Focused Training & Communication: Streamlined change management to focus only on the most critical information users needed, avoiding information overload
Key Lesson Learned
When evaluating project success, it is crucial to look beyond traditional metrics like "on time and on budget." The real measure of success is adoption and value realization — ensuring people actually use what's been created in ways that deliver the intended benefits to the organization.
Project Success Metrics:
➤ Successfully implemented on time with full functionality and achieved over $2 million in cost savings
➤ Achieved complete adoption throughout the organization with streamlined tech stack consolidation
➤ System has been successfully used for three years with contract renewal, demonstrating sustained value and user satisfaction
➤ Achieved complete adoption throughout the organization with streamlined tech stack consolidation
➤ System has been successfully used for three years with contract renewal, demonstrating sustained value and user satisfaction
Jira Work Management Implementation
The project involved moving from an Atlassian platform to Jira Work Management, primarily driven by cost savings for the IT team. While this might sound like a straightforward platform migration, it was complicated by the fact that several critical teams had complex workflows within Atlassian that were essential to the company's alerting process.
Key Challenges & Obstacles:
1. Complex Workflow Migration: Teams had intricate, established workflows in Atlassian that needed to be carefully mapped and transferred to Jira.
2. Continuous Surprises: There was a regular stream of unexpected issues:
2. Continuous Surprises: There was a regular stream of unexpected issues:
➤ Teams discovered requirements they had forgotten to mention
➤ Users realized certain processes couldn't be replicated exactly the same way in Jira
➤ Workflows needed a redesign to accommodate platform differences
➤ Users realized certain processes couldn't be replicated exactly the same way in Jira
➤ Workflows needed a redesign to accommodate platform differences
3. Time Pressure: The project had minimal flexibility for parallel system operation, requiring a rapid transition to the new system since these processes were critical to operations.
How I Drove Success:
1. White-Glove Service Approach:
➤ Conducted frequent one-on-one meetings with users
➤ Maintained clear schedules and communications
➤ Stayed flexible and ready to solve problems as they arose
➤ Maintained clear schedules and communications
➤ Stayed flexible and ready to solve problems as they arose
2. Strong Technical Support:
➤ Ensured the availability of a technical team for immediate problem-solving
➤ Personally pitched in to learn and resolve technical issues
➤ Personally pitched in to learn and resolve technical issues
3. Stakeholder Management:
➤ Kept both users and the IT team motivated and engaged
➤ Maintained open communication channels
➤ Prevented schedule slippage through proactive engagement
➤ Maintained open communication channels
➤ Prevented schedule slippage through proactive engagement
Key Lesson Learned
The key lesson learned was the importance of thorough requirements gathering - even after multiple reviews, teams often struggle to fully articulate their needs until they're actively working with a new system.
Project Success Metrics:
➤ Project completed on time with significant cost savings through tech stack streamlining
➤ Successful implementation with enhanced security and improved features for end users
➤ Zero team conflicts during implementation, indicating strong change management
➤ Successful implementation with enhanced security and improved features for end users
➤ Zero team conflicts during implementation, indicating strong change management
Request for Proposal (RFP) Process Redesign
At Veoci, a SaaS company providing collaboration and emergency response solutions, the process for responding to RFPs and bid requests was highly disorganized. This ad hoc approach was causing multiple issues:
➤ Poor time management
➤ Low quality proposals
➤ Lost revenue opportunities
The goal was to create standardized processes for proposals, including Statements of Work, by working across multiple departments including Solution Engineering, Marketing, and the Proposal Team.
Key Challenges & Obstacles:
1. The team had to maintain ongoing proposal creation while simultaneously developing the new system - like trying to change a tire while the car is moving.
2. They needed to develop a tagging system to organize past proposals into a usable knowledge base for future reference.
3. Since it was an internal project with unproven benefits, maintaining team morale and momentum was challenging.
2. They needed to develop a tagging system to organize past proposals into a usable knowledge base for future reference.
3. Since it was an internal project with unproven benefits, maintaining team morale and momentum was challenging.
How I Drove Success:
1. Created a detailed project plan with clear milestones that provided early "wins" for the team, helping maintain schedule and motivation.
2. Demonstrated the new process's success through concrete metrics, showing improved response times and better quality proposals.
3. Used these successes to encourage adoption and continuous improvement of the new process.
2. Demonstrated the new process's success through concrete metrics, showing improved response times and better quality proposals.
3. Used these successes to encourage adoption and continuous improvement of the new process.
Key Lesson Learned
The team found they had initially over-engineered some aspects of the change management process. We learned it is better to focus on streamlining information to just the most crucial elements users need to know, rather than overwhelming them with every detail of the new process.
Project Success Metrics:
➤ Achieved 50% growth in submitted bids within 12 months
➤ Successfully implemented workflow automation that enabled meaningful analytics for identifying best opportunities
➤ Created a streamlined workflow that prevented content and documentation loss
➤ Established a valuable knowledge base from past proposals to support future bid responses
➤ Successfully implemented workflow automation that enabled meaningful analytics for identifying best opportunities
➤ Created a streamlined workflow that prevented content and documentation loss
➤ Established a valuable knowledge base from past proposals to support future bid responses
The project effectively transformed an inefficient, ad hoc process into a streamlined, data-driven approach that significantly improved the company's ability to respond to business opportunities.
Ready to Transform Your Next Project?
the Long title for the service
I can help turn your complex project into a lasting success story
Whether you're planning a major enterprise implementation or need to turn around a challenging initiative, I bring the expertise and approach to make it happen.
MOBILE VERSION
Susan Copley
Past Projects
I excel at driving project adoption by:
➤ starting change management early
➤ socializing benefits strategically
➤ ensuring true value realization through careful measurement of outcomes
➤ socializing benefits strategically
➤ ensuring true value realization through careful measurement of outcomes
Not just checking boxes for implementation — but making sure users genuinely embrace and effectively utilize new systems to achieve intended business benefits.
Workday Implementation
The primary goal was to streamline and reduce the People Operations tech stack from 22 different products down to just four, targeting approximately $2 million in cost savings.
The implementation needed to be completed between November and June, making it a massive undertaking with a tight timeline.
The implementation needed to be completed between November and June, making it a massive undertaking with a tight timeline.
Key Challenges & Obstacles:
➤ Limited Team Resources: The project had to be executed with a very small team due to the highly sensitive nature of the data, which prevented bringing in outside resources
➤ Data Quality Issues: Existing data wasn't in the proper format for Workday, requiring extensive data scrubbing
➤ Integration Complexity: Required implementing 18 different integrations in a compressed timeframe
➤ Vendor Management: The vendor wasn't particularly cooperative, requiring assertive management
➤ Scope Change: During implementation, Dataminr's growth projections shifted from 1,000 employees to 600 employees, which impacted the project's original ROI calculations
➤ Data Quality Issues: Existing data wasn't in the proper format for Workday, requiring extensive data scrubbing
➤ Integration Complexity: Required implementing 18 different integrations in a compressed timeframe
➤ Vendor Management: The vendor wasn't particularly cooperative, requiring assertive management
➤ Scope Change: During implementation, Dataminr's growth projections shifted from 1,000 employees to 600 employees, which impacted the project's original ROI calculations
How I Drove Success:
1. Careful Resource Planning: Implemented extremely detailed resource planning to maximize the small team's effectiveness
2. Aggressive Vendor Management: Set crystal-clear expectations with the vendor and immediately escalated any deviations to prevent timeline slippage
3. Early Change Management: Started stakeholder communications early to build confidence that the understaffed project could succeed despite the challenges
4. ROI Redefinition: When employee growth projections changed, I successfully reframed the project's value proposition by showing that even with fewer employees, the tech stack consolidation still delivered meaningful cost savings
5. Focused Training & Communication: Streamlined change management to focus only on the most critical information users needed, avoiding information overload
2. Aggressive Vendor Management: Set crystal-clear expectations with the vendor and immediately escalated any deviations to prevent timeline slippage
3. Early Change Management: Started stakeholder communications early to build confidence that the understaffed project could succeed despite the challenges
4. ROI Redefinition: When employee growth projections changed, I successfully reframed the project's value proposition by showing that even with fewer employees, the tech stack consolidation still delivered meaningful cost savings
5. Focused Training & Communication: Streamlined change management to focus only on the most critical information users needed, avoiding information overload
Key Lesson Learned
When evaluating project success, it is crucial to look beyond traditional metrics like "on time and on budget." The real measure of success is adoption and value realization — ensuring people actually use what's been created in ways that deliver the intended benefits to the organization.
Project Success Metrics:
➤ Successfully implemented on time with full functionality and achieved over $2 million in cost savings
➤ Achieved complete adoption throughout the organization with streamlined tech stack consolidation
➤ System has been successfully used for three years with contract renewal, demonstrating sustained value and user satisfaction
➤ Achieved complete adoption throughout the organization with streamlined tech stack consolidation
➤ System has been successfully used for three years with contract renewal, demonstrating sustained value and user satisfaction
Jira Work Management Implementation
The project involved moving from an Atlassian platform to Jira Work Management, primarily driven by cost savings for the IT team. While this might sound like a straightforward platform migration, it was complicated by the fact that several critical teams had complex workflows within Atlassian that were essential to the company's alerting process.
Key Challenges & Obstacles:
1. Complex Workflow Migration: Teams had intricate, established workflows in Atlassian that needed to be carefully mapped and transferred to Jira.
2. Continuous Surprises: There was a regular stream of unexpected issues:
2. Continuous Surprises: There was a regular stream of unexpected issues:
➤ Teams discovered requirements they had forgotten to mention
➤ Users realized certain processes couldn't be replicated exactly the same way in Jira
➤ Workflows needed a redesign to accommodate platform differences
➤ Users realized certain processes couldn't be replicated exactly the same way in Jira
➤ Workflows needed a redesign to accommodate platform differences
3. Time Pressure: The project had minimal flexibility for parallel system operation, requiring a rapid transition to the new system since these processes were critical to operations.
How I Drove Success:
1. White-Glove Service Approach:
➤ Conducted frequent one-on-one meetings with users
➤ Maintained clear schedules and communications
➤ Stayed flexible and ready to solve problems as they arose
➤ Maintained clear schedules and communications
➤ Stayed flexible and ready to solve problems as they arose
2. Strong Technical Support:
➤ Ensured the availability of a technical team for immediate problem-solving
➤ Personally pitched in to learn and resolve technical issues
➤ Personally pitched in to learn and resolve technical issues
3. Stakeholder Management:
➤ Kept both users and the IT team motivated and engaged
➤ Maintained open communication channels
➤ Prevented schedule slippage through proactive engagement
➤ Maintained open communication channels
➤ Prevented schedule slippage through proactive engagement
Key Lesson Learned
The key lesson learned was the importance of thorough requirements gathering - even after multiple reviews, teams often struggle to fully articulate their needs until they're actively working with a new system.
Project Success Metrics:
➤ Project completed on time with significant cost savings through tech stack streamlining
➤ Successful implementation with enhanced security and improved features for end users
➤ Zero team conflicts during implementation, indicating strong change management
➤ Successful implementation with enhanced security and improved features for end users
➤ Zero team conflicts during implementation, indicating strong change management
Request for Proposal
(RFP) Process Redesign
(RFP) Process Redesign
At Veoci, a SaaS company providing collaboration and emergency response solutions, the process for responding to RFPs and bid requests was highly disorganized. This ad hoc approach was causing multiple issues:
➤ Poor time management
➤ Low quality proposals
➤ Lost revenue opportunities
The goal was to create standardized processes for proposals, including Statements of Work, by working across multiple departments including Solution Engineering, Marketing, and the Proposal Team.
Key Challenges & Obstacles:
1. The team had to maintain ongoing proposal creation while simultaneously developing the new system - like trying to change a tire while the car is moving.
2. They needed to develop a tagging system to organize past proposals into a usable knowledge base for future reference.
3. Since it was an internal project with unproven benefits, maintaining team morale and momentum was challenging.
2. They needed to develop a tagging system to organize past proposals into a usable knowledge base for future reference.
3. Since it was an internal project with unproven benefits, maintaining team morale and momentum was challenging.
How I Drove Success:
1. Created a detailed project plan with clear milestones that provided early "wins" for the team, helping maintain schedule and motivation.
2. Demonstrated the new process's success through concrete metrics, showing improved response times and better quality proposals.
3. Used these successes to encourage adoption and continuous improvement of the new process.
2. Demonstrated the new process's success through concrete metrics, showing improved response times and better quality proposals.
3. Used these successes to encourage adoption and continuous improvement of the new process.
Key Lesson Learned
The team found they had initially over-engineered some aspects of the change management process. We learned it is better to focus on streamlining information to just the most crucial elements users need to know, rather than overwhelming them with every detail of the new process.
Project Success Metrics:
➤ Achieved 50% growth in submitted bids within 12 months
➤ Successfully implemented workflow automation that enabled meaningful analytics for identifying best opportunities
➤ Created a streamlined workflow that prevented content and documentation loss
➤ Established a valuable knowledge base from past proposals to support future bid responses
➤ Successfully implemented workflow automation that enabled meaningful analytics for identifying best opportunities
➤ Created a streamlined workflow that prevented content and documentation loss
➤ Established a valuable knowledge base from past proposals to support future bid responses
The project effectively transformed an inefficient, ad hoc process into a streamlined, data-driven approach that significantly improved the company's ability to respond to business opportunities.
Ready to Transform Your Next Project?
the Long title for the service
I can help turn your complex project into a lasting success story
Whether you're planning a major enterprise implementation or need to turn around a challenging initiative, I bring the expertise and approach to make it happen.
Just move sections to start creating your website. In
the section, you can add any widgets: text, photos,
videos, etc.
the section, you can add any widgets: text, photos,
videos, etc.