4 Managing HIT Projects

Section 4.1 Implement

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Managing HIT Projects

Project management is the act of carrying out project plans. Identify all tactical elements that must be managed during implementation of electronic health record (EHR), health information exchange (HIE), or other health information technology (HIT).

Time needed: 4 hours
Suggested other tools: Section 2.1 Communication Plan, Section 2.13 Chart Conversion Plan

How to Use

Vendors and large organizations will often use Microsoft Project to construct their project plans. If this is not available to you, construct a project plan using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or even a Word document. Typically a Gantt chart is used, as in the sample project plan supplied (see Section 4.2 Project Plan for Excel). This chart helps to track progress and to illustrate dependencies between project steps.

For any given project, the actual steps will be very specific to the application and the vendor’s implementation strategy. However, this sample plan gives you a good idea of the level of detail, nature of the tasks, need to identify resources, and time management involved. It also provides you with a good start to developing your own plan.

1. Review the implementation plan that the vendor supplies, ideally with the vendor’s implementation specialist. Consider the tasks, resources, and timing, and coordinate necessary changes with the vendor.

2. Prepare to develop a project plan for your organization that reflects the milestones from the vendor’s plan, and all other tasks you need to perform. In some cases, you may have to manage several vendors at one time (e.g., the EHR vendor, a systems integrator that is writing interfaces for you, a chart conversion company, a construction contractor, a data conversion company, a telecommunications company, and a consultant to assist with implementation and training on EHR and HIE).

Recording all of the project milestones from these different vendors can help you track their progress as well as the dependencies among them (such as, you can’t install network upgrades without a contractor to lay cable and before the telecommunications vendor connects your local network to an external virtual private network). Frequently other tasks come from your communication plan, chart conversion plan, clinical practice guidelines, training plan, testing plan, policy and procedure checklist, and others (see Section 2.1 Communication Plan, Section 2.13 Chart Conversion and Pre-Load Planning, Section 4.14 Training Plan, Section 4.15 Testing Plan, Section 4.13 EHR and HIE Policies and Procedures).

3. Review the components of a project plan and record all elements. The illustration below shows these components:

a. Tasks are the actions you need to perform, such as “Review general implementation plan.”

b. Timeline is where start and end times are recorded. Microsoft Project has an entire process associated with constructing a timeline. In an Excel spreadsheet, at a minimum, decide how long the overall project is intended to take, then lay out the timeline in days, weeks, months, quarters, etc.—depending on the overall duration and expected granularity of the task time.

i. Phase is illustrated by a bar that extends over related tasks.

ii. Planned duration of phase is illustrated by the length of the bar.

iii. Progress on task is illustrated by a line shown either through the duration bar or immediately below it. If using Excel, you will need to create a separate row below each task to illustrate progress, or show progress for each task under a phase.

iv. Relationship/Dependency is not illustrated in the Excel example, because this is a fairly sophisticated process. The sequencing of the tasks helps you identify dependencies. Alternatively, it can be illustrated by drawing lines linking one task to another. Regardless, you need to think about dependencies; some tasks cannot start until another task ends.

c. Milestone is a triggering event rather than a specific point in time, such as “Receive general implementation plan” in the example. This event triggers the rest of the project. Recording the various vendors’ milestones on your project plan can be helpful.

d. Resources are the names of organizations, groups, or individuals you expect to complete the task. Employees, domain teams, and others may be responsible for tasks.

4. Monitor progress by periodically indicating how much of a task has been completed by a certain date. The Gantt Chart format should enable you to track when a task is starting too late, when a task is taking too much time, or when another task is in jeopardy of not being completed by the time another task that depends on it needs to start.

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