Large software implementations are prone to failure and for good reason. They are typically long, drawn-out processes that for many are akin to a heart transplant. Over the years as an industry we’ve learned “best-practices” that every organization should apply towards a successful implementation project. Ideas like executive buy-in, change management, RFP consultants, and team participation are all concepts that are well accepted and practiced in most projects today. With all the advances in implementation best-practices you would think software projects are having a much higher success rate. Unfortunately, the data does not support this and if anything, the failure rates are getting even worse. How can this be? After spending the last 15 years serving nonprofits and being part of many implementations, we have observed a number of things that the average nonprofit may not be aware of: