Is a pre-implementation analysis essential in a PIM project?

What this episode covers

The sixth episode covers the stage that decides whether the whole project succeeds, and which is often treated as a formality. Karolina explains what a pre-implementation analysis is in practice, what the client receives at the end, how long it takes, and how to prepare so the workshops are not spent gathering basic facts.

Key takeaways

• The analysis is a series of workshops: finding where product data lives today, reviewing current processes and designing new ones around the PIM system.
• The output is a document with findings and diagrams, a system recommendation and an implementation quote. A decision tool, not a set of tips.
• Budget around two months, more for complex processes. Workshops often force decisions to be settled inside the company first.
• The analysis surfaces risks before the implementation starts and shows the full cost, including integrations and automation.
• Five preparation steps: a team with a product owner, defined problems and goals, mapped processes, user stories, internal consultations.

What it is in practice

The name sounds heavy, but it means a series of meetings and workshops about how you need to manage product data. Three things happen in order: we find out where product data sits today, we analyse current processes, and we design new ones with the PIM system inside them.

The goal is a full picture, specifically answers to four questions. Which data will go into the PIM system. Which integrations with other systems have to be built so data reaches the right places without manual work. Which processes are worth automating. And in which system, on which licence, it makes most sense to work.

What you get at the end

A document with the key findings and diagrams, a recommendation of the PIM system, and a quote for the implementation.

It is worth noticing how that document works afterwards. It is not only a set of recommendations but also the argument used to convince decision makers that the implementation is needed. Plus awareness of the full cost, including integrations and automation, and identified risks that can be addressed while the implementation has not yet started.

How long, and why that long

Around two months; longer for more complex processes.

The reason is not obvious: the workshops are not only conversations with the implementation team. They are often preceded by internal meetings on the client side, because some answers are not obvious. An example from the episode: what exactly does the current process of publishing products to e-commerce look like? How many people, systems and files take part? Who decides, and at which point, that a product is ready to appear in the shop?

Those are questions about managing product information, not about a system. But since the PIM system becomes part of that process, without answers there is no way to define how it should support it.

Five preparation steps

A team. Appoint a dedicated group responsible for collaboration and for supplying information. The most important role is the product owner: the decision maker and coordinator on your side.

Problems and expectations. Describe the challenges you face and what you expect after the implementation. Clear goals speed up all the work that follows.

Process mapping. Try sketching your current business processes and system architecture. Even rough diagrams shorten the analysis.

User stories. Needs described in the user’s language, for example: as a user I would like to add a publication date to many products at once.

Internal consultations. Gather information across the company before the workshops start.

A well-prepared client is one who knows how their processes work today and senses where they need improving. How they should look in the end is something we work out together, bringing experience from other implementations.

Want to go through this stage? Get in touch, and read more on the PIM systems page.