Project and Change Management

When a mid-sized retail company found their ambitious HRIS and Payroll system implementation faltering, they faced a critical inflection point. The project—intended to modernize their entire talent lifecycle from recruiting and onboarding to performance management, learning, and payroll—was meant to transform operations from 100% paper-based to fully automated. Yet as they entered the design phase, meetings with their technology implementation vendor revealed a troubling pattern: the client team was consistently unprepared to make critical configuration decisions, lacked clarity on future state processes, and the project was falling behind schedule.

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TalentBloom was engaged to diagnose the issues and get this crucial business transformation back on track. Our assessment quickly uncovered several fundamental challenges: unclear scope and objectives, significant gaps in process documentation, insufficient resources, and apprehension about abandoning long-established manual processes. The client had a part-time project manager and had selected their technology solution without fully mapping current state processes or designing future state workflows—essentially attempting to configure a system without understanding how it would function in their daily operations.

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Our approach began with establishing proper project governance. We engaged executive sponsors to align on scope, objectives, and timeline while addressing resource constraints and team morale. We implemented a structured steering committee cadence to facilitate decision-making when teams disagreed about process design and key decisions. Simultaneously, we partnered with the technology vendor to improve collaboration and build an integrated project plan covering both client and vendor activities.

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We identified all processes that would run in the new system—from how store managers would onboard new employees to how direct deposit verifications would work. We documented current workflows to support change management efforts and facilitated discussions about future state design within the context of the system's capabilities. This methodical approach allowed the client team to come to vendor meetings prepared with clear decisions on configuration requirements.

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We also recognized the importance of effective change management for a transformation of this magnitude. Our analyst amplified our impact by supporting the development of training and user guides to support employees transitioning from paper forms to digital workflows. This was particularly crucial for field managers who would be learning entirely new ways to perform their daily responsibilities.

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The engagement culminated in a successful implementation with a seamless cutover to the new system. Beyond the implementation, we conducted best practice sessions with executives and project teams, building their internal capability to manage future enterprise projects more effectively.