Background -

The ShopRunner implementation was complex with an average of 145 days to implement necessary website and data transaction components

Extensions had been built for ecommerce platforms that allowed clients to complete the implementation with less effort

ShopRunner was sold as a business need to clients, but there was a heavy lift on client technical teams that typically had competing priorities

Objective -

Reduce implementation time and effort

Increase implementation quality (completeness and accuracy of data)

My Contribution -

Drove strategic direction of the extensions

Program-managed the initiative, reporting regularly to team and leadership on progress

Project-managed individual projects, as well as oversaw other project managers

Managed contracts and partnership associated with the program

Develop extension/add-ons for ecommerce platforms to simplify ShopRunner implementation

Background -

Prior to 2019, ShopRunner had developed minimum viable extensions for Shopify and Demandware/Salesforce

These extensions needed to be updated to be stable and support new features of ShopRunner

Software development was done by two vendors, one for each platform

Objective –

Reduce integration time and effort for client and ShopRunner and increase quality of implementations in regards to completeness and accuracy of data

My Contribution -

Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst

Tested and gathered feedback from clients and internal resources to provide tasks to vendor developers

Prioritized tasks and met regularly to review questions and additional information needed

Stay up to date on new requirements for Shopify, Salesforce, and ShopRunner to ensure extensions are updated accordingly

Transition at end to a product and development team for long term ownership

Outcomes -

The two extensions were made available for implementations, leading to 60% reduction in implementation time in the following years and implementations that are stable on current clients 4 years later

Challenges –

Platform limitations

No ShopRunner developer support

Limited budget

Competing priorities

Team Size/Composition -

Project Manager – myself

2 Shopify developers under contract

1 Salesforce development agency with their own project manager, developer, and QA

1 Internal QA

Project duration/milestones - 1 year

Budget/Cost - $50k – used primarily for vendor contracts

Tools/Methodologies -

Jira

Agile (no Scrum)

Weekly vendor meetings, Bi-weekly leadership updates

Background -

SR clients had a legacy extension installed in order to have SR setup properly on their website

The legacy extension did not support sending order and shipment data and no longer had vendor support

The project was to update all clients to newer extension version to update code, have new features, and send all required data

Objective –

Migrate all clients on to the new version of Shopify extension to ensure quality implementation and support, as needed.

My Contribution -

Technical Project Manager, Advisor to others managing Shopify client projects

Managed client work needed to complete the migration, supporting any questions or issues that occurred

Tracked progress and provided reporting to leadership

Learned to complete implementation for the client and was able to provide that service to them later in the project

Outcomes –

90% of Shopify clients migrated (some terminated agreement during the project), which was 10% of ShopRunner clients at the time

Challenges –

Low priority for client

Required technical resources from client

Team Size/Composition -

Technical Project Manager - Myself and 1 other person

4 ShopRunner developers

2 ShopRunner QA resources

2 Shopify developers for escalations

Client teams consisting of project managers, developers, admin, and other resources

Project duration/milestones - 1 year

Individual client projects lasted between 1 and 6 months, but many projects were running simultaneously

Budget/Cost - None. Part of running business

Tools/Methodologies -

Jira, Spreadsheets - Waterfall

Google Suite/Confluence - docs/reporting

Daily ShopRunner scrum. Weekly client meetings, Bi-weekly leadership updates

Launch all new Shopify and Salesforce/Demandware clients on extensions

Background -

New clients signed agreements with ShopRunner throughout 2019-2020, with the extensions becoming a selling point because they simplified the implementation

Many existing clients changed platforms to Shopify or Salesforce during this time also

Objective -

Ensure new implementations for clients completed in a timely and complete manner

My Contribution -

Managed multiple projects simultaneously

Provided materials, in the form of documentation and tools, for other project managers to manage Shopify and Salesforce implementations

Supported other project managers when additional guidance needed

Reported on progress to leadership regularly and escalated issues if needed

Outcomes -

New client implementations were completed in an average of 70 days, well below expected time of 145 days.

After a year, 30% of clients, accounting for over 50% of revenue, were on one of these two extensions and it would stay that way through the start of 2024

Challenges –

Low priority for client

Required technical resources from client

Team Size/Composition -

Technical Project Managers - Myself and 3 other people

4 ShopRunner developers for necessary ShopRunner configuration

2 ShopRunner QA resources

1 Salesforce development agency and 2 Shopify developers for escalations

Client teams consisting of project managers, developers, admin, and other resources

Project duration/milestones - 18 months

Budget/Cost - None. Part of running business

Tools/Methodologies -

Jira, Smartsheet, Spreadsheets – Waterfall

Google Suite/Confluence - docs/reporting

Daily with the ShopRunner team. Weekly with clients. Bi-weekly with leadership