USDM is a Premiere Services Partner of Veeva
We specialize in GxP implementation and validation, and provide superior organizational change and project management based on decades of life sciences best practices. USDM has delivered hundreds of Veeva projects, and more than 200 life sciences companies trust our Cloud AssuranceTM managed subscription service to maintain their continuous cloud compliance. Because of our experience, we want to share our top five tips for a successful Veeva implementation.
Summary
A successful Veeva implementation depends less on technology and more on disciplined execution. The five tips below — stay close to out-of-the-box functionality, simplify processes, commit sufficient time, assign a dedicated program manager, and build a single integrated project plan — keep regulated projects on time, on budget, and in compliance. A bonus tip on organizational change management helps you protect your return on investment after go-live.
1. Maximize Out-of-the-Box Functionality
Veeva products are created from vast experience with business requirements in the life sciences industry. Since out-of-the-box configuration already represents best practices, we recommend staying as close as possible to out-of-the-box functionality unless there are compelling business drivers to do otherwise. Limiting configuration makes for faster, cheaper, and easier implementation, and less burdensome upgrade cycles.
Why this matters: Every custom configuration you add is something you have to validate, maintain, and re-test on every upgrade. Heavy customization quietly inflates both your validation footprint and your long-term cost of ownership.
2. Simplify Processes and Workflows
Regulatory compliance introduces complexity to your business. We know because we have walked in those shoes for over 20 years. Cross-organizational stakeholders bring a variety of operational viewpoints to the table, which can make a process overly complex. Maintaining a holistic view of the project will help you keep business processes and workflows as simple as possible and contribute to your project’s success. A risk-based approach such as Computer Software Assurance (CSA) helps you focus validation effort where patient safety and data integrity matter most, rather than testing every configuration with equal rigor.
Maintaining a holistic view of the project keeps business processes and workflows as simple as possible — and simplicity is what makes a regulated system maintainable.
3. Commit Sufficient Time
Be proactive and commit sufficient time to work through business process exercises and map out how best to implement and use Veeva. You will save time on the back end by assessing and aligning your processes on the front end. Understanding your business process produces a higher quality outcome, and you can assure internal stakeholders that everyone understands the collective business processes without neglecting the end users of the system.
4. Assign a Program Manager to Coordinate all Resources
A customer typically provides an internal point person for the Veeva project while the vendor assigns a technical project manager. USDM has a proven project management methodology to insert a subject matter expert with years of hands-on experience to coordinate the activity of all parties and keep the project on track. This approach has resulted in project on-time and on-budget delivery at a rate 35% higher than the industry average.
5. Create a Single, Integrated Project Plan
Having a program manager that coordinates all activities across all resources enables a single, integrated project plan that represents all involved parties and all components, such as configuration, training and communications, validation, and data migration. By tying all of these activities together and planning for all project dependencies, you create greater visibility and alignment, and have greater success in meeting your project objectives on time and on budget.
The Five Tips at a Glance
- Maximize out-of-the-box functionality — configure less, validate less, upgrade easier.
- Simplify processes and workflows — keep a holistic view and apply risk-based CSA thinking.
- Commit sufficient time — invest up front in business-process mapping.
- Assign a program manager — a single SME coordinating all parties.
- Create one integrated project plan — tie configuration, training, validation, and data migration together.
Bonus Tip: Develop a Comprehensive Training and Communications Plan
Many IT departments believe that “if we build it, they will use it,” but that’s not always the case. Having a comprehensive plan for Organizational Change Management (OCM) will ensure you recoup your return on investment sooner rather than later. Start by communicating “what’s in it for me” to the end users. Explain the change and business deadlines and milestones with all stakeholders. Create OCM materials such as emails, articles, literature, and events. Develop role-based training and deliver it to end users. Record the training sessions and use them when onboarding new people. These steps will ensure that the system is being used effectively and in a compliant and business appropriate way.
Do not overlook the long-term costs of implementing a short-sighted, lower price solution. Your technology is only as good as your end users’ understanding of the technology. USDM goes above and beyond to ensure your people know how to use the system and your business processes are aligned to maximize your Veeva technology investment. Treating validation as an ongoing discipline rather than a one-time milestone — the philosophy behind validation lifecycle management — keeps your Veeva applications inspection-ready long after go-live.
Veeva Implementation and Continuous Compliance
A Veeva system has to stay compliant well beyond go-live. As the platform releases new versions and your processes evolve, your validated state has to keep pace with regulations such as 21 CFR Part 11. That is where a managed approach makes the difference: USDM Cloud Assurance keeps your cloud applications continuously compliant so each upgrade does not become a new validation project.
FAQ: Veeva Implementation Best Practices
Why should we stay close to out-of-the-box Veeva functionality?
Veeva’s out-of-the-box configuration already reflects life sciences best practices. Staying close to it makes implementation faster, cheaper, and easier, and it reduces the burden of every upgrade cycle. Add custom configuration only when there is a compelling business driver.
Who should own a Veeva implementation project?
A customer typically provides an internal point person and the vendor assigns a technical project manager, but the projects that run best add a dedicated program manager — a subject matter expert who coordinates all parties and keeps the work on track. USDM’s methodology has delivered on-time and on-budget at a rate 35% higher than the industry average.
What belongs in a single, integrated Veeva project plan?
One plan should tie together every component and every party: configuration, training and communications, validation, and data migration. Planning for all dependencies in one place creates the visibility and alignment needed to meet objectives on time and on budget.
How do we protect our Veeva investment after go-live?
Build a comprehensive organizational change management and training plan so end users actually adopt the system, and treat validation as an ongoing lifecycle. USDM Cloud Assurance helps maintain continuous cloud compliance as Veeva releases new versions.
On-Demand Webinar
Watch our on-demand webinar, Minimize Risk and Maintain Compliance on Veeva with USDM Cloud Assurance, to learn more about USDM’s solutions for Veeva.
Ready to plan your Veeva implementation? USDM’s Veeva specialists can help you scope, validate, and run your project for on-time, on-budget, compliant delivery. Contact us to get started.