The Education Division of the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) has released the Software Implementation Toolkit, which illustrates the steps involved throughout an implementation process.

Effective implementation practices can be as significant as programming if instructional and administrative software applications are to be successful. Proper planning, teacher training, school leadership, technical support, configured hardware, network infrastructure and Internet access, pedagogy and instructional use, intensity of software use and other conditions and practices are all inseparable from results. Recognition of these and other important factors is necessary to ensure a successful implementation.

The SIIA toolkit identifies the roles of the vendor and customer, and outlines the expectations and responsibilities for both. It includes sample scenarios and worksheet templates that educators and administrators can use to apply the toolkit's concepts and concrete tools to their specific projects. Throughout, it emphasizes the importance of working closely with the vendor, establishing effective and consistent communication and cooperation. The Toolkit contains comprehensive information on implementing software products, allowing schools to match the information they use to the scope of the implementation in question. The entire kit and its planning tools can be downloaded from the SIIA web site.

Source: Software and Information Industry Association