My First Month
Select the platform and start building
Month One
From business case to vendor building the platform
Month one is where the plan becomes reality. I lock requirements, run a transparent vendor selection, sign a contract that holds the supplier to account and get the winning platform into configuration with the Bulgaria team already inside it.
Vendor demos run
3
Same script, same rubric, same audience
Scoring criteria
5
Function, integration, cost, timeline, fit
Super users briefed
4–6
Bulgaria base-team champions
Budget envelope
£250k
Tracked weekly, visible to leadership
Week 1
Take hold and set out the stall
- High-level business case, scope and 13-week milestone plan on the table by Friday
- Governance layers, RACI and escalation route agreed with the executive sponsor
- Stakeholder map complete across UK leadership, Bulgaria and the 14 country leads
- Vendor evaluation mobilised: demo script, scoring rubric and dates locked
Week 2
Requirements locked, suppliers on the clock
- Publish the signed-off requirements and non-negotiables document
- Run structured demos of Monday.com, Salesforce and Edison365 against the same script
- Hold each vendor to account on integration, data, security and delivery timeline
- Consolidate scores with IT, Finance and the bid team lead, no single voice, no politics
Week 3
Vendor decision and contract mobilised
- Present a scored recommendation to the CEO with a clear preferred option and rationale
- Negotiate commercial terms, SLAs and implementation support inside the £250k envelope
- Sign the SOW with milestone-based payments, so the vendor is paid for delivery, not effort
- Mobilise the joint delivery team, stand up the weekly vendor forum and open the change log
Week 4
Configuration underway, team already inside
- Begin configuration: pipeline stages, fields, permissions, workflows and reporting
- Identify and brief the Bulgaria super-user cohort who will train the wider team
- Draft the data migration mapping, cleanse rules and reconciliation pack with the vendor
- Run the first adoption workshop so the base team sees and shapes the platform early
By Day 30
What I will have achieved
- Business case, scope and work packages signed off by the executive sponsor
- Requirements document locked with non-negotiables explicit and traceable
- Vendor selected via a scored, auditable process with the CEO on record
- Contract and SOW signed inside the £250k envelope with milestone-based payments
- Governance running: fortnightly steer, weekly vendor forum, three-a-week delivery standup
- Stakeholders engaged across the Arriva footprint, country leads have a voice, not a veto
- Super-user cohort briefed and configuration underway on real Bulgaria use cases
- Live delivery dashboard visible to leadership every week, covering plan, RAID, budget, adoption
Month one is my MO in action: take hold, get the right people around the table, define scope and work packages, hold suppliers to account against time-bound commitments and put the appropriate governance around it. By day 30 the platform is being built, the team has already been inside it and 30 September looks like a date we are going to hit, because the structure to hit it is already running.