Plan the implementation
The full CCH Business Fitness content suite contains over 1700 documents and tools designed to help your team work like a well-oiled, well informed machine, consistent and confident.
You can choose to just use a small proportion of those documents, but utilising the whole suite will give you the best return on your investment.
By launching new services and using high level tools, you could increase your fee base, see productivity gains, and raise levels of professionalism.
Form the Implementation team
The first thing to decide is who will manage the project, and who will assist. We recommend you have all areas of the firm represented. If you have a small team (5 or less), your rollout may be less formal and have everyone involved. If you have a large firm (20 or more) your rollout may be very well planned and be managed by a select group.
However you decide to implement, we recommend that your implementation team covers the following:
- A project manager – this may be a Partner, Director or Practice Manager. This person is responsible for making decisions that may affect the future of the firm. Your Leader needs to be decisive and passionate about systemising and moving forward.
- An accountant – this person will try the workpapers and calculators and review accounting processes with an eye to customise them if needed.
- An administrator – this person will customise the ‘risk management’ style procedures and review administration, customer service and HR processes with an eye to customise them if needed.
If your firm is larger you may also include specialists such as Tax, BAS, or HR.
Set your timeline
If you have a start-date in mind, it can be a good idea to work backwards from here.
- Start by implementing content which is commonly used, or needed immediately.
- Make a list of procedures and tools to implement in the medium-term.
- Review new services to offer, at your leisure, and make a five year plan for implementation.
- Plan to implement 1-3 things during each phase, with an ongoing, rolling plan.
Action plan
An action plan for a rollout on 15th February might look like this:
|
Tool |
Timeframe |
To Do |
Responsibility Of |
|
Workpapers |
Immediate |
Run through a set of last year’s accounts |
Accountant |
|
Client Checklist Builder |
Immediate |
Build checklists, teach admin team, teach accounting team |
Accountant/Admin |
|
Company Admin |
Medium |
Begin using new suite. |
Admin |
|
Trust Admin |
Medium |
Begin using new suite. |
Admin |
|
Tax Suite |
Medium |
Begin exploring and using new tools, with an eye to customise |
Accountant |
|
New Clients |
This year |
Begin exploring and using new tools, with an eye to customise |
Admin |
|
ACC Admin |
2018 |
Bring 10 clients onto ACC online and begin to offer new service |
Practice Manager |
Training
Your CCH Business Fitness training will consist of an introduction for your Implementation Team, followed by an online Team Launch when ready. We recommend that the time elapsed between these two sessions is not more than 6-12 weeks.
It is your choice whether all content is held back from your team until the Launch, or whether you give your team access immediately and the Launch is just a formality.
Gather and review your content
The tasks involved in gathering content depend on the size of your firm.
- Small Firms 1-5: If your firm is a start-up, you may decide to simply begin using CCH Business Fitness content with minimal customisation. If your firm is also small, you may simply decide ad-hoc which items to implement (although it is always a good idea to have a plan in place to implement major items). If you already have a wealth of your own content, it is a good idea to start bringing it together in a well-ordered location, if it is not in one already.
- Medium Firms 6-20: If your firm is a start-up, you may decide to simply begin using CCH Business Fitness content with minimal customisation. If you already have a wealth of your own content, it is a good idea to start bringing it together in a well-ordered location, if it is not in one already. During this phase you may uncover two things that can complicate your implementation:
- Your team members have more than one way of undertaking the same task
- Your team members may have developed their own tools which you are unaware of
- Large firms 20+: If you already have a wealth of your own content, it is a good idea to start bringing it together in a well-ordered location, if it is not in one already. During this phase you may uncover two things that can complicate your implementation:
- Your team members have more than one way of undertaking the same task
- Your team members may have developed their own tools which you are unaware of
Before moving on to compare your own content with your new CCH Business Fitness content subscription, it is a good idea to ensure your content is up-to-date and accurate. It is not unusual to find that old processes no longer reflect reality or certain tools have not been used for multiple years.
Create an archive folder of all content which is no longer in use, unrecognisably out of date, or duplicated/superceded by other content. By this stage you should have a folder of currently used content, which is accurate and reflects how your firm does things.
Do not create any new content at this stage. Simply create a folder which is up to date.
