Theoretically obvious, but often trickier in practice.
Many people know about setting SMART project goals. If you don't, I'll save you the Wikipedia read - it's an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (although there are many variations).
For implementing a planning and reporting tool, the gaps I usually find are in the specific and measurable elements.
I highlight these because alignment between yourself and your implementer, on goals that are both specific and measurable, is vital to project success.
For example, you might want your annual budgeting process to be faster. Pretty much everyone wants that. But you can't hand that to a consultant and say that this is what you want. There are too many moving parts.
Think harder. What are the biggest bottlenecks? The top one is often getting the numbers back from budgetholders - if that's taking too much time, then say so. But it won't always be, and a good consultant will have seen enough businesses' processes to know not to make assumptions.
A short term result of this is often more goals. Fine! Writing down goals is free; you may just need to have a prioritising process with your implementer.
So now we know where we're aiming - now you need to clarify what the end result needs to be, in a way that is measurable.
Often, measurement will be time taken. If you haven't already, the first step down that road is to get figures for how long everything is taking now. And be as granular as possible (ie, not just the whole budgeting process!).
But don't forget other metrics, such as frequency of reporting or reforecasting. Typically, these haven't been higher because they're taken too long, but it's ideal to have some measurements that are not just length of process.
Then: what do you want? Be a little aggressive with it and shoot for the moon; ask for more than you need for a successful project to give yourself a little cushioning.
And then: communicate your goals and agree them with your implementer. If you don't do that, it's all for nothing, and can lead to all sorts of finger pointing down the road.
If you work out what good looks like early, and talk about it, you're much more likely to get there.
Two related notes.
First, prioritising has two axes - overall value to the business, and time required to achieve. I normally advise picking at least one or two priority goals that can be delivered quickly, even if they're not the biggest wins. Projects cost money, and everyone is happier once something is delivered.
Second, project success also has two axes - the happiness of those using the tool (you, presumably), and the happiness of those that authorised the spend. Make sure the agreed project goals are communicated to the latter as early as possible - there is nothing worse than you thinking you've delivered an outstanding result, but the board had different numbers in mind and is disappointed!
