System and method for deploying a procurement and accounts payable system6687677Abstract A system for deploying to a client accounting installation a general procurement and accounts payable application specifically configured for the client by an enterprise includes a database server for (1) maintaining on a storage device a database of templates describing procedures for assessing, preparing, developing, deploying and supporting the application, and for (2) serving these templates to team members operating web-enabled terminals for coordinating, recording and tracking team activities with respect to the application while generating a description for adapting a front end server and an accounting system server to the requirements of the client. Claims We claim: Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
TABLE 1
SUMMARY TASK TEMPLATES PART 1
SECTION 1: CREATION STATUS
Category 444: Categories include education,
req/cat development, SAP
development, transformation
management, architecture,
procurement process.
Team 446: Specific project team responsible
for this task.
Offering type 448: Kind of product being brought to
client: req/cat only, SAP only, and
req/cat and SAP.
Stage 450: The stages are assessment 101,
project preparation 102, project
development 103, deployment 104,
and support 105.
Doc owned by 452: Team 140 owner of document, the
designer of this one template. The
teams 140 are those illustrated in
FIG. 2.
Doc created by 454: Author of this one template.
Dev status 456: Approval status: first draft, final
edit, final approval, etc. Only
owner 452 can change this status.
Only the owner 452 can approve the
content of this template (task).
SECTION 2: IMPORTANCE BUTTONS
Education 462: Represents a combination of things,
including (1) does someone need to
be taught how to do this task, (2)
is it something that should be
included in the education package
to the customer.
Certification 464: Indicates whether or not an
implementer of this task (ie,
service provider) must be
certified.
Auditable 466: Indicates whether or not it is a
task that Enterprise would be able
to or needs to audit performance by
the implementer/service provider
Milestone 468: Indicates if this task is a
critical accomplishment in the path
of completing the implementation of
the offering type.
Critical path 470: Indicates if this is a task that
must be completed in order to
advance to the next task in order
to complete the offering type, and
can change during the course of the
project as tasks are completed and
the overall environment changes.
SECTION 3: IMPLEMENTATION
Task order 472: A number assigned to a detailed
task that shows its order under the
summary task.
% complete 474: An estimate of how complete is this
task document in its development
for a particular customer.
Executed by 458: Name of service provider (eg.,
Enterprise, or some Enterprise
partner).
Performed by 460: Technical team responsible for
doing this task.
Priority 476: High, medium, low priority, based
on whether this task is in critical
path, and whether or not it needs
to be done in support of some
subsequent task.
Work effort 478: Estimated time required to complete
this task.
--
Sequence 480: A number assigned to a summary task
that shows its order under a higher
level task.
Task status 482: Represents how far the service
provider has progressed in its
implementation of this task. This
is rolled up to Lotus Notes
database 70 to enable the owner to
track progress of the service
providers during the audit phase.
Table 2 sets forth the template 440 fields which may vary between templates, including those for major operations and major steps within an operation.
TABLE 2:
SUMMARY TASK TEMPLATES PART 2
SECTION 4: SUMMARY TASK DETAILS
Description 490: High level summary description
of major operations or steps.
Assumptions 492: What if any assumptions apply.
Prerequisites 494: Tasks that must be completed
before this task can complete.
Critical success factors 496: Description of tools,
techniques, relationships,
understandings, technical and
relationship skills and
commitments, knowledge base of
team and customer, and so
forth, needed to accomplish
this task.
Deliverables 498: Expected output of this task.
SECTION 5: APPROVALS
Task approver 500: Identity of approvers.
Notification date 502: Date approvers notified.
Request approval 504: Electronic signature of
approval.
SECTION 6: PROJECT REFERENCE
Comments and dialog 506: General comments (open
season).
Deliverable checklist 408: Checklist of deliverables.
Approval status 510: List of approvers of this
document and status of their
approval.
Edit history 512: Listing of persons who have
modified this document during
its preparation (service
provider is not allowed to
change these task
descriptions.)
Database 70 at server 62 includes all summary and detail tasks templates which have been completed in a set for a particular customer. An initial set of the tasks listed in Table 4 is provided for each customer, but during project implementation phases 101-105, these are configured or personalized to the customer. While many summary and detailed tasks of Table 4 do not appear in the flow chart of FIGS. 3A-3M, those selected illustrate a flow from start to finish across the five major stages--and form a representative, if not critical, path through them. As shown in FIGS. 3, and 3A-3M, the transitions between stages 100-105 are, in some instances, blurred and a particular task may be allocated to either or both of two of these stages. In each stage, the key to success is the integration through the use of the templates of the groups (FIG. 2) and activities (Table 4, both summary tasks and detail tasks.) Also, an important aspect of the invention is the method provided across the five stages (FIG. 3) for effecting a transition from a legacy process, including hardware, software, work procedures and human resources, to a new process. Table 4 is a chart of summary and detail tasks, pursuant to a particular embodiment of the invention, available for presentation in display area 426 of playbook summary view 400 upon selection of button 432. Selection by a user in display area 426 of a task designated with two or three alpha-numeric reference numerals P1, P11, P12, . . . , results in display of a template 440 personalized to the summary task, and selection of a task designated with four or more alpha-numeric reference numerals P111, P112, . . . , result in display of a template 520 personalized to the detail task. A user with appropriate authority may then view, correct, update, approve or otherwise modify the displayed task. The names of the detail tasks set forth broadly the functions or method steps performed in implementing the superior summary task. In Table 4, each summary task is identified in the first column by the stage 100-105 to which it pertains, in the second column by a task identifier P11, P12, . . . , and, for selected tasks, in the third column by the process step (150, . . . , 354 in FIGS. 3A-3M) to which it pertains. In general (with very few exceptions), a detail task pertains to the same stage 100-105 as its summary task.
TABLE 4
CHART OF SUMMARY AND DETAIL TASKS
Summary Tasks
Stage Task ID Step Detail Tasks
FOLDERS AND VIEWS
BY CATEGORY
ALL TASKS
P1 ASSESSMENT
101 P11 Perform customer service offering
assessment
101 P111 174 Perform customer business
assessment
101 P112 Perform customer business
assessment e-Req/Cat
101 P113 Develop workshop management plan
101 P114 Develop workshop management plan
e-Req/Cat
101 P115 Review findings from marketing
procurement consulting engagement
101 P116 Review findings from marketing
procurement consulting engagement
e-Req/Cat
101 P117 176 Formulate workshop approach
101 P118 Formulate workshop approach e-
Req/Cat
101 P119 Prepare for workshop
101 P11A Prepare for workshop e-req/Cat
101 P12 178 Introduce recommend service offering to
customer
101 P121 Present service offering to
customer (perform workshop)
101 P122 Present service offering to
customer (perform workshop) e-
Req/Cat
101 P123 Formulate proposal approach
101 P124 Formulate proposal approach e-
Req/Cat
101 P13 Create proposal and contract
101 P131 Develop and cost proposal
101 P132 Develop and cost proposal e-Req/Cat
101 P133 Draft and price customer contract
101 P134 Draft and price customer contract
e-Req/Cat
P2 BUSINESS CONTROLS
103 P21 Business control requirements
103 P211 290 Confirm business controls
requirements
103 P212 Confirm separation of duties (SOD)
requirements
104 P213 292 Conduct ASCA self-assessment
104 P214 Risk assessment
104 P215 224, 294 Conduct ASCA/business controls
review
102 P2151 Confirm image production system
management strategy
P3 CONFIGURATION
103 P31 320 Conduct Req/Cat functional detailed fit
gap analysis
103 P311 Confirm Req/Cat organizational
hierarchy
103 P312 Define the Req/Cat functional
detailed fit
103 P313 Resolve functional gaps for Req/Cat
103 P32 324 Configure Req/Cat offering
103 P321 Confirm and refine "Ives Team
Studio" for code tracking
103 P322 Confirm and refine Req/Cat initial
settings and organizational
structure
103 P323 Confirm and refine Req/Cat
authorizations
103 P324 Refine and validate final Req/Cat
configuration
103 P33 Customize Req/Cat offering
103 P331 Validate and customize Req/Cat core
application change request
103 P332 Refine and validate final
customization for Req/Cat
103 P34 Produce custom Req/Cat programs
103 P341 276 Validate and code bridge change
requests (SAP and Req/Cat)
P4 EDUCATION AND TRAINING
102 P41 Develop customer education and training
strategy
102 P411 Validate customer education &
training objectives
102 P412 190 Define the training requirements
and approach
102 P413 Confirm the education & training
strategy
102 P42 Define system management processes
102 P421 Define SAP correction and transport
process
102 P422 Define and agree on service level
agreement SLA
102 P423 Define and administer SAP release
control process
102 P424 Define Req/Cat transport process
102 P425 Define and administer version
control process
103 P43 192 Define user documentation and training
requireinents
103 P431 Define customer user audiences and
requirements
103 P432 Confirm user documentation
requirements and standards
103 P433 Conduct detailed end-user task
analysis
103 P434 Assess user skills and training
needs
103 P435 Validate end-user courses and
content
103 P436 Identify users and course attendees
103 P437 Define and notify training
attendees
103 P44 Develop user training documentation
103 P441 Produce customer specific end-user
documentation
103 P442 Confirm training evaluation
materials/approach with customer
103 P443 194 Setup training system environment
103 P444 Validate training logistics
103 P445 198 Conduct pilot training with super
users
103 P446 196 Arrange documentation and training
material production
103 P45 Internal (Enterprise, service provider)
training requirements
103 P451 Identify and organize appropriate
internal training
104 P46 Conduct end-user training
104 P461 Conduct train-the-trainer sessions
104 P462 214, 230 Perform training
104 P463 212 Conduct new buyer training
P5 IMAGE
103 P51 Conduct image functional detailed fit
gap analysis
103 P511 Define the image functional
detailed fit
103 P512 Resolve image functional gaps
103 P52 Configure image offering
103 P521 Refine and validate final image
configuration
103 P522 Confirm and refine image initial
settings
P6 I/T
103 P61 Establish customer network/computing
infrastructure
103 P611 Confirm component delivery
103 P612 Establish network/computing
hardware/software architecture
103 P613 infrastructure
Ready network/computing
environment
103 P62 Establish EDI infrastructure
103 P621 Establish EDI infrastructure
103 P622 Conduct trading partner testing
(IT)
102 P623 Confirm EDI strategy
102 P6231 Setup image system environments
103 P6232 Establish cutover checklist and
perform pre-cutover activities for
image production environment
104 P6233 Validate image production support
for system management
103 P63 Develop reporting infrastructure
103 P631 Develop reporting infrastructure
(LIS/EIS)
103 P632 Develop DataMart extracts
103 P633 232 Develop additional reports
(customer/operations)
102 P64 Perform bridge architecture assessment
102 P641 Perform bridge architecture
integration point interfaces work
session
102 P642 158 Define bridge architecture project
objectives document
102 P65 Validate bridge, EDI, vendor reporting
requirements
102 P651 270 Develop and manage bridge
architecture implementation work
plan
102 P652 Analyze EDI requirements
102 P653 Determine EDI communication
environment
102 P654 Analyze vendor master data load
102 P655 Analyze operational reporting
requirements
102 P656 Analyze customer requirements for
DataMart implementation
102 P657 Schedule and conduct weekly
interlock meeting
102 P658 Vendor lead client analysis
102 P66 Set up development/integration
environment
102 P661 Set up SAP development/integration
environment
102 P662 Set up Req/Cat system environments
103 P67 Set up consolidation/test environment
103 P671 Set up SAP consolidation/test
environment
104 P68 218 Set up production environment
104 P681 Convert vendor master into
production environment
104 P682 Determine EDI tasks for production
environment set up
104 P683 Execute SAP cutover checklist
104 P684 Set up SAP production environment
104 P685 Establish SAP batch schedule
104 P686 Set up trading partners in
production environment
104 P687 Vendor lead client deployment
103 P688 Establish cutover checklist and
perform pre-cutover activities for
SAP production environment
103 P689 Establish cutover checklist and
perform pre-cutover activities for
e-Req/Cat production environment
105 P69 Refine/execute production support for
system management
105 P691 234 Perform on-going support activities
for Req/Cat
105 P692 Post deployment reporting support
105 P693 Develop new bridges and application
extensions post go live
105 P694 236 Support new EDT transactions post
go live
105 P695 Execute system management security
support procedures
105 P696 Execute data management support
procedures
105 P697 236 Execute EDI support procedures
105 P698 Execute system management
operational support desk procedures
105 P699 Execute system management batch
support desk procedures
105 P69A Execute system management SAPBI
support procedures
105 P69B Execute system management master
data support procedures
105 P69C Execute production support for
system management
103 P6A Establish vendor master environment
103 P6A1 Establish vendor master
103 P6A2 Confirm vendor master
103 P6A3 ALE configuration for VLC
103 P6B Establish bridge architecture
infrastructure environment
103 P6B1 272 Develop detail architecture
requirements definition
102 P6C 274 Validate system infrastructure
requirements
102 P6C1 280 Analyze current network/computing
infrastructure
102 P6C2 Determine network/computing
Project Assessment 101 Referring to FIG. 3 in connection with FIG. 2, project assessment phase 101 follows pre-sales phase 100, during which marketing makes its initial contact with the prospective client, or customer. After initial contact from marketing 118, the main thrust of Assessment Project 101 is to provide an integrated, cross-functional customer solution to the client. An assessment team is led by the Business Office 120, but requires input and participation from the project leaders of Architecture 122, Transformation Management 136, Business Process 112, EDI 114, and Application Development 116. Assessment 101 begins with a complete review of the client's current general procurement and accounts payable processes. This includes debriefing the initial marketing team 118, instructing the project leaders 126, and accumulating all other relevant data available about the client's processes, tools, and organizational structures. The Assessment Team then defines an integrated customer solution that covers technical, educational, and Human Resource issues. The delivery of the Workshop is intended to present an overview of the customer solution, initiate discussions on process analysis and strategic implementation, and confirmation of the solution fit. Specific goals of a workshop phase within assessment stage 101 include the following: (1) Prepare and deliver a presentation to the customer defining the service offering, including any essential documentation on the offering, and a demonstration of the end-user tool(s), as applicable. (2) Collect area specific information and customer requirements on network process sourcing, procurement, accounts payable, and finance; and EDI, I/T, and transition management. (3) Identify high level gaps in each such area. (4) Identify additional high level requirements for new process support, and for conversion requirements, including requirements for commodity structure, account structure, vendor, and contracts. (5) Identify interface requirements, including requirements for HR, cost center, catalogs, ledger, information warehouse. (6) Validate accounting for project, appropriation, contract, job, tax reporting, currency, and check reconciliation. (7) Identify requirements for network, EDI, testing, and application development including new reports, new interfaces, and new features. (8) Assemble a high-level gap analysis. (9) Create a high-level Customer Scope Document. (10) Confirm the recommended solution. At the completion of the workshop phase, the assessment team 106 convenes to develop and cost the final customer solution and proposal. At this time, the members of assessment team 106 assemble, understand, and validate the collected data; review standard proposal options with assumptions and identify items that apply to this client; create a draft of the proposal including scope, risk, schedule, and resources; review the draft with team and other project members to obtain sizing and costing information for each area; compile costing information to add to the proposal; and perform QA review of the system integration, application development, managed operations (including service delivery center (SDC), application IT, and Process Operations) proposals, and of the overall proposal. The resulting proposal is delivered or presented to the client. Final Assessment activities include follow up query responses and, should the proposal be declined, a loss analysis. This loss analysis feeds back into assessment process 101 to improve its overall effectiveness and efficiency. Referring to Table 4, summary tasks pertaining to assessment stage 101 are listed, together with included detail tasks. For each task, a template 440 or 520 is maintained in data base 70, and accessed by team 108 members and others through summary view 400 to track progress (including viewing, updating, sharing, and approving) during this assessment stage 101. Project Preparation 102 Referring further to FIG. 3, project preparation stage 102 sets up the project, initializes detail planning, and models the plan for making the transition from the client's legacy system and process to the new system and process (or, offering). A critical element of this stage is to ensure resources are assigned to transition management 136, both from the project implementation team 126 as well as from the client. During this stage the transition activities required for a smooth migration from the old client process and system to the new service offering are modeled. The result is a detailed transition management plan that is specifically designed for the client. Stage 102 tasks and deliverables include the following: (1) Perform analysis on the client HR environment, including organization structure and relationships, labor relations, management, administration, and end user roles and responsibilities, and the general HR environment. (2) Develop and approve the detailed transition management and communication plan. (3) Update the client specific transition management strategy. (4) Define the quality assurance (QA) process required to assure that a project conforms to documented standards and meets documented requirements. The purpose of this task is to confirm the quality assurance standards between Enterprise and the client, and identifies the tasks that are to be audited by the Enterprise Technical Center. The QA review is a beneficial process for the project as it timely recognizes potential risk areas and reduces the possibility of project delays while achieving faster implementation, attaining low cost and increasing the customer's level of confidence. Deliverables of the QA review task include the following: (1) Confirm and refine quality assurance standards with the customer. (2) Confirm that technical requirements can be met. (3) Confirm that business and financial measurements can be met. (4) Confirm that the proposal is complete and the required processes have been followed. (5) Establish QA schedule for the project. Integration of all critical Enterprise and client team members provides the glue to assure a smooth project. By completing the detailed tasks within project preparation stage 102, the recommended implementation standards, procedures and strategies for the project are shared with the technical and business functional members of the project team as well as with the customer. All team members have input in this process, and understand the basic procedures, once they have been agreed to. These procedures, documented in summary and detail task templates listed in Table 4, include the following: Configuration Standards CR/PTR Process Testing Strategy Production Support and Operations Strategy SAP System Management Strategy Req/Cat System Management Strategy Network Computing Strategy Vendor Conversion Strategy Project Design and Development 103 Referring further to FIG. 3, project design and development phase 103 provides and documents in a database of templates referred to as a Playbook, the business controls, transformation management, and SAP and Req/Cat customization required for an integrated approach to a complete customer solution. During this stage 103, business controls 132 provides a comprehensive process that identifies key control points and establishes detailed procedures to assure a quality installation. The deliverables include documentation, separation of duties, sensitive programs, logical access control, logging (audit trail), change control for tables, change control for programs, system testing, input controls, processing controls, error handling controls, output controls, balancing and reconciliation, vital records and disaster recovery, records management, reports, local area network (LAN), and country specifics, as described below: (1) Documentation: an assessment of the quality and completeness of existing program documentation and a determination of the degree to which programs could be efficiently reconstructed if they were destroyed. (2) Separation of duties: the duties of the programmer, computer operations, and user groups are reviewed to ensure that separation of duties problems do not exist. No one individual can control activities within a process (or any event in a string of events) in a way that permits errors of omission, or commission of fraud, theft, etc., to go undetected. (3) Sensitive programs: controls must be in place to prevent unauthorized modification and/or use of the application. (4) Logical access control: while programs are generally controlled by a site procedure, application data has a formal access control mechanism. (5) Logging (audit trail): a logging mechanism is established to ensure the audit trail is correct. (6) Change control (tables): a change control system is put in place to evaluate, justify and control changes to tables. (7) Change control (programs): a change control system is put in place to evaluate, justify and control changes to programs. (8) System Testing: system testing procedures are effectively planned and carried out to ensure that controls are successfully tested and documented. (9) Input controls: to insure accuracy and completeness of information entering an application. (10) Processing controls: controls are applied for entry of data into the computer application system that ensure accuracy and completeness of data during computer processing. (11) Error handling controls: controls for error handling and reprocessing of transactions. (12) Output controls: output controls ensure the integrity of the output data from conclusion of computer processing to delivery to the user. (13) Balancing and reconciliation: verifies that procedures to reconcile output to input are effective. (14) Vital records and disaster recovery: disaster recovery is designed to provide for the continuity or rapid system restoration of a business process immediately following a natural or man-made emergency or disaster. (15) Records management: verify that information is managed with sound business practices and controls. (16) Reports: verify that reports are distributed properly. (17) Local Area Network (LAN): Refer to ITCS 201, "Security Standards for Local Area Networks and Distributed Computing." (18) Country specifics: verifies that any questions particular to this specific country are completed. Req/Cat is a requisition and catalog product designed, developed, and maintained by Enterprise for use in systems such as those developed in this stage 103. SAP is an financial and accounting package which an enterprise or company may license for its own use and for its customers. SAP configurators that customize package programs to fit the needs of the client are provided for use during design and development stage 103. All other installations of SAP are "off the shelf", with the client changing its internal structures to fit SAP requirements. Transition management is the most overlooked part of any implementation process. It is critical to address the corporate culture and personality at the earliest contact. Strategic and tactical plans may then be developed that guide the implementation through "Go Live" and for an agreed period thereafter. The purpose of transition management steps of the design and development stage 103 is to provide guidance to the development team members as they work with the client to institute policy changes that might be introduced as part of the implementation of the new process and system. Necessary changes to the legacy system are identified and a plan developed to announce and introduce changes in policy. Policy change includes key business rules that are part of the management system for purchasing and procurement. They may be associated with approval levels or procedural changes in the new system. The target is not the day to day operation but management decision and support systems that might be affected. The areas addressed include: Measurements (old and new) Management system Approval levels Supplier contacts and contracts Reward systems Incentive Plans Security Employee and user changes All of these areas require strategic and tactical planning that includes the following steps: (1) Identify the current (legacy) system or process and compare it to the new process or system to be implemented to identify gaps. (2) Develop specific recommendations for gaps between the legacy and the new system or process, identifying the level of sensitivity and whether or not action is required as part of the transition. (3) Determine the announcement and transition (or, cut over) date for each action identified. (4) Design a communications plan to build the message and media for communicating the changes to affected parties. (5) Design a process transition plan to ensure the elements of change are integrated into the overall plan for the process. (6) Determine how the policies must be modified according to new standards and procedures (7) Determine what new policies and procedures will be implemented as part of the process and system. Finally, integration of the above design and development stage 103 process steps along with the technical teams involved allow the delivery of a cross-functional solution under one unified and managed plan. Project Deployment 104 Referring again to FIG. 3, project deployment phase 104 uses the Playbook to improve deployment of (1) quality, or application systems control and auditability (ASCA), (2) transition management, and (3) integrated project management systems and procedures. 1. Ouality (ASCA) A business controls team provides dedicated resources throughout the life cycle of the project. During the project development stage 103, this team has planned and executed an ASCA self-assessment that has covered an extensive list of technical, business, financial, and client issues. In this deployment stage 104, its members are responsible for managing an independent audit that will cover the same areas. The independent auditors then issue an acceptance position that is required before the client can "Go Live" with the new system and process. Deployment stage 104 activities include: (1) Create the project plan for ASCA Review preparation activities. (2) Determine which Enterprise organization will conduct the ASCA and business controls review. (3) Prepare all ASCA documentation required for the review. (4) Prepare all sub-process overviews and descriptions of process flow. (5) Ensure the test plan includes those elements of the ASCA checks required to ensure business controls, separation of duties, and authorization matrices, data integrity and security. (6) Create, update and complete all required documents of understanding (DOU's) & service level agreements (SLA's). (7) Ensure the separation of duties matrix (SOD) is current at time of final review. (8) Review all testing and obtain test approvals. (9) Ensure all approvals have been obtained and signed approval forms available for ASCA Review. These include approvals for process ownership, ASCA requirements, self-assessment and system cutover. 2. Intearated Project Manaaement During this deployment stage 104, project manager 126 has the task to validate and confirm that all checklists and status are acceptable prior to Go-live. This includes the readiness of all aspects of the project, and once satisfied, a review is conducted and the customer's formal sign-off for Go-live is obtained. Status transition management and client readiness assessment and confirmation activities include verification that: (1) No critical open issues exist in any area. (2) All relevant aspects of readiness have been included in the status check. (3) Network and computing performance testing is complete. (4) System test is complete. (5) User acceptance test is complete. (6) System management production environment Go-live checklist is complete. (7) Any needed CR's and PTR's have been generated. (8) Production support is in place. (9) Supplier readiness is reviewed and accepted. (10) Service provider readiness is confirmed. (11) Enterprise GP readiness is confirmed. (12) Review of the compiled check information is completed. (13) Customer sign-off on the Go-Live decision is obtained. 3. Transition Management A transition management team prepares for the deployment, or "Go Live" of the client solution. During this deployment stage 104 in the project, virtually all technical problems are resolved and systems configured. The client is now ready to deploy and the human factors must be aggressively managed to assure a smooth transition from the legacy systems to the improved client solution. Transition management activities within deployment stage 104 ensure that organization, measurements, management, support, and labor relations functions are developed, explained, reviewed, understood, in place or on schedule, as appropriate. (1) Organization: organizational changes for Go-Live, updated communications plans, feedback mechanism for persons displaced by changes in organization, and the new organization. (2) Measurements: changes in measurement system, plan to cut over to the new measurements, and communications explaining the new measurements, including how they are derived, how they are used and their importance to the business. (3) Management: changes in management or management responsibilities, communications explaining the changes in management structure, and why it is important to the clients' organization, the management chain and path for escalation of issues, normal business reports and their use. (4) Support: support structure for both client and technical support. (5) Labor Relations: activities associated with the loss of a job role, plan to notify the affected people, communication plan for providing information to remaining employees on the reasons for the changes and for fostering support for the new process. Integration of the cross-functional teams to accomplish the deployment of the customer solution is facilitated by use of the system and data base structure of the preferred embodiment of the invention. Ongoing Project Support 105 Referring further to FIG. 3, project support stage 105 enables project teams, all of which have continuing responsibilities with the client after "Go Live", to provide the required ongoing support. As with all other stages, integration of the teams through the use of the systems and methods provided by the invention, including transition management systems and methods, is greatly facilitated. It is a characteristic of the preferred embodiment that each of these areas has specific predetermined plans, actions and responsibilities, and these are audited and tracked through a GP/AP development and deployment system. During support stage 105, transition management 136 delivers an approved detailed questionnaire with quality questions in a logical format that allows end-users to express their opinion and provide information that meets the survey objective. Support stage 105 includes a plan for communicating the survey results to the participants and taking action in response to the survey results. This stage also incorporates a continuing education plan for training new employees as well as continually updating the material so that reflects the latest version of the application. The survey in stage 105 is structured to determine the end users' perception of the new system, system ease of use, response time from both the system and CSC (Customer Service Center), and customer knowledge level of processes and product. Results of the survey are compiled and presented to the client and Enterprise Management Teams along with action plans, time tables, expected results for approval, and implementation. A Lessons Learned document is reviewed with the project team and appropriate adjustments made for future engagements. Project Manager 126 provides a quality function task after "Go Live". This task aims at checking the implementation of the EPS Offering to determine if anything needs special attention or focus. It is also the formal sign-off on the final delivery of the implementation by the customer. Its deliverables include: (1) Customer accepts delivery of the EPS general procurement offering implementation and signs off. (2) Action list on issues and CR/PTR's, if applicable. (3) Formal transition of operational responsibility to operations 98 and support management 96. (4) Preliminary business benefits evaluation. The Req/Cat and SAP technical teams 128, 138 provide ongoing reviews and improvements to the client's process through the CR and PTR processes. These are formalized, documented processes with management controls to attain cost, schedule, and customer objectives. As part of the new business process, support center 94 is established to provide long term assistance in any area of the application solution. This includes communication of feedback, real time application assistance, and special requests for problems concerning data. It is the planned integration of these multi-functional teams that provides an innovative solution to the customer. Representative Path Implementation of Project Deployment Stage 104 Referring to FIG. 3D, a series of steps illustrating an exemplary path through project deployment stage 104 will be described. While steps 210-224 and 200 represent a path through deployment stage 104, other summary and detail tasks designated in Table 4 as pertaining to stage 102 are typically included in the initial set of templates for this customer, and are also used as they are determined to be applicable. Some field entries are dynamic and changeable during the course of project deployment stage 104. The templates are also editable for a particular project, and do not necessarily continue during use to conform to the original format. In step 210, the process team, including AP, GP, and CSC, accesses detail task template P861 at the conclusion of stage 103 and/or beginning of stage 104 in the course of introducing general suppliers to the new process. Template P861 provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the process team through the steps for doing so, as set forth in Table 23. A checklist is provided for tracking the status of these steps, which are (1) develop draft customer specific supplier memo based on generic supplier memo, (2) review and obtain customer sign-off on customer specific supplier memo, and (3) obtain customer preferred supplier listing including addresses from customer.
TABLE 23
DETAIL TASK: GENERAL SUPPLIER INTRODUCTION
CREATION STATUS
Category: Process
Team: Process (AP/GP/CSC)
Offering type: Req/Cat, SAP, Req/Cat&SAP
Stage: 3. Design & Development
IMPORTANCE BUTTONS
Education: Yes
Certification: Yes
Auditable: Yes
Critical path: Yes
IMPLEMENTATION
Executed by: Service Provider
Performed by: Procurement Analyst
Priority: High
Work effort: 5 days
Sequence: 3 months prior
Task order: 10
DETAIL TASK DETAILS
Description:
The purpose of this task is to prepare the customers supplier
base for transition to GP. The form of communication is a
Supplier Introduction Memo that is mailed to all the customer
suppliers that will continue as suppliers for the customer after
the transition to GP. The introduction memo should provide all
the information needed by the supplier to transition smoothly
without disruption of delivery.
There are generally 3 supplier categories that needs to be
addressed:
Suppliers that will continue after the customers conversion to
Enterprise EPS.
Suppliers that will be added to the customers supplier base.
These may already be doing business with enterprise GP but not
currently supplying the customer.
Suppliers that will be discontinued for the customer based on
commodities being shifted to already existing enterprise GP
suppliers.
Prerequisites:
Task steps:
1. Develop draft customer specific Supplier Memo based on
generic Supplier Memo
2. Review and obtain customer sign-off on customer specific
Supplier Memo
3. Obtain customer Preferred supplier Listing including
addresses from customer
Deliverables:
Customer specific Supplier Memo
Complete Customer Preferred Supplier Listing including
particulars
Methodology attachments:
Customer Supplier Memo and Supplier Listing Form ->
In step 212, the education team accesses detail task template P463 in the course of conducting new buyer training. With each new customer implementation, new buyers may be hired to support the additional work. In addition, there will always be a continual fluctuation of employees with new buyers being added. You need to ensure that these new buyers are properly trained on the new system, processes, customers, suppliers, etc. that will enable to perform their jobs effectively. This should be part of the internal on-going training strategy that is in place to ensure that all employees are properly trained to perform their job. Template P463 provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the education team through the steps for doing so, including (1) reviewing the current training materials to ensure that the information is still current and accurate, (2) identifying a course instructor and scheduling the course time, (3) notifying new buyers of course time, duration, location, and agenda, (4) conducting the training course, and (5) ensuring the new buyers understand their support options and where they can go for additional help after the course. In step 214, the education team accesses detail task template P462 in the course of performing training. If you are conducting classroom based standup training, conduct the courses to enable the end-users to properly operate and maintain the developed application. Training execution may also be the task of the end-users completing the Web based, self-taught training material. Template P462 provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the education team through the steps for doing so, including those set forth in Table 24.
TABLE 24
DETAIL TASK: PERFORM TRAINING
Task Steps:
Recipients of training could be classified as follows:
User department; base training on the developed documentation
Operation department; base training on the developed
documentation
Operation subcontractor; similar to training for operation
department when operation is subcontracted
Subcontractor/Vendor; similar to training for end-user
departments when subcontractor/vendor is a new system user
(external network)
Instructions for use of I/O media (special forms, magnetic
cards, and so on)
Other departments within the enterprise and the external
organizations' promotion of the new system
Maintenance team; give training according to needs
In many cases, the same training program must be conducted
repeatedly for different regions or because of physical
restrictions. This scheduling should have been defined early on
in the training development process. It is especially important
to verify that the participants have understood the contents of
the training correctly so than any improvements can be included
in the subsequent training classes.
If you are using the Web-based, self-teaching approach, ensure
that all of the end-users understand:
how to get to the material
the requirements for completing the course(s)
any time limitations/expectations for course completion (i.e.
x days before Go Live)
any company demands that are applied to the successful
completion of the materials (i.e. production ID's after course
test passed)
Ensure that all levels of end-users are trained including
executive and managers. They may need special handling and this
should have been identified early in the training development
process.
Ensure that any students surveys that are used either during or
immediately after the course are reviewed with the comments and
suggestions being applied to the training material/courses
where applicable.
Ask the public relations department to include articles on the
new system's characteristics and cut-over schedule through
internal bulletins and pamphlets for clients.
Identify with the customer who will be responsible for on-going
training requirements and ensure that the customer resource
understands the training information, materials, courses, etc.
Identify where all materials should be maintained and stored for
future use.
In step 216, the testing team accesses during stage 103, or early in stage 104, summary task template PC2 in the course of performing comprehensive testing in preparation for go-live 200. Template PC2, Table 25, provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the testing team through the steps for doing so. Template PC2 also provides a table check list for tracking the status of the deliverables.
TABLE 25
SUMMARY TASK: PERFORM COMPREHENSIVE TESTING
SUMMARY TASK DETAILS
Description:
The purpose of this summary task is to verify that the system
satisfies the system requirements and external specifications,
operates correctly under a realistic array of operational
conditions, satisfies the criteria for migrating to the
production environment, and to demonstrate that the system
operates successfully in the client's environment and obtain the
client's formal acceptance of the system. . .
Assumptions:
Development refers to both application and process. Application
Development refers to the design, code, and test of programs to
support bridging, gaps/extensions, and custom reports. Process
definition refers to the customization and configuration of
screens and transactions to implement the defined business
processes.
Prerequisites:
Comprehensive Test Plan
Test Specifications and Test Cases
Testing Tools
Testing Environment
Critical success factors:
Deliverables:
Completed Unit Test Documentation
Completed Component Test Documentation
Completed Integration Test Documentation
Completed System Test Documentation
Completed User Acceptance Test Documentation
A validated Software Offering.
In step 218, the system management team accesses summary task P68 and its subsidiary or drill down detail tasks in the course of establishing production transports and verification. Template P68, Table 26, provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the system management team through the steps for doing so. A check list is also provided for tracking the status of the deliverables. The business objective of the BSAP process is to automate the process of creating and outputting purchase orders with reference to an existing contract without buyer intervention.
TABLE 26
SUMMARY TASK: SET UP PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT
CREATION STATUS
Category: I/T
Team: System Management
Offering type: Req/Cat, SAP, Req/Cat & SAP
Stage: 4. Deploy
IMPORTANCE BUTTONS
Education: Yes
Certification: Yes
Auditable: Yes
Milestone: Yes
Critical path: No
IMPLEMENTATION
Executed by: Service Provider
SUMMARY TASK DETAILS
Description:
This summary task is made up of all detail tasks necessary to
ensure a complete and stable production environment to support
the selected service offering:
Convert Vendor Master into Production Environment
Determine EDI tasks for Production Environment Set Up
Set Up Trading Partners in Production Environment
Vendor Lead Client Deployment
Execute SAP Cutover Checklist
Set Up SAP Production Environment
Establish SAP Batch Schedule
Establish Cutover Checklist and Perform Pre-cutover Activities
for SAP Production Environment
Establish Cutover Checklist and Perform Pre-cutover Activities
for e-Req/Cat Production Environment
Deliverables:
Conversion Tracking/Status Document
Customer acceptance at each required step
Final customer acceptance after verification (sign-off)
Updated/Complete EDI Go Live Check List
Exceptions and Risks Documented
All EDI Trading Partners set up in SAP Production Environment
Status of all EDI Trading Partners changed to "Production" in
the GPEDI data base
Communication to Project Office
Populated target system with vendor data, and working ALE vendor
connection
Cutover checklist with all items marked as complete
Complete Set of Transports sent to the Production environment
Completed Production Batch Schedule
Complete ASAP/BSAP Table Requirements Document
List of Objects to be Transported
Code Reviews for ABAP Objects
Completed Transport Request Form
Production System Ready for Processing
Completed Batch Job Form
Updated Job Schedule
Job Set Up on SAP
Complete Pre-cutover Checklist
Complete Req/Cat Cutover Checklist
In step 220, the testing team accesses detail task template PC26 in the course of performing the user acceptance test. Template PC26, provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the testing team through the steps for doing so, including a check list table for tracking the status of each of the steps. In step 222, the transition management team accesses detail task template PD52 in the course of performing the client readiness assessment. The purpose of this step is to complete a final check to ensure the client is ready for the final transition and implementation of the new process and system. Once the checklist is completed the final steps can be taken. Any issues identified as part of the check should be brought to the attention of the project manager. This is especially true if issues related to any technical, system, or process items are identified. Issues related to transition management are to be handled by the transition team at the client and the Service Provider. Template PD52 provides, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the transition management team through the steps for doing so, which are: (1) Acquire the latest copy of the client transition assessment checklist. (2) Between the client transition management team and the service provider team complete the survey. This is usually carried out as part of a formal review. The results of this session is reported to both the client management and the service provider project leadership. This will provide all parties with a measurement of readiness for implementing the system from the perspective of how prepared the client is ready to receive the new process and system. This is NOT a technical readiness but instead an assessment of any personnel or human resource issues that might arise and bloke the smooth transition. (3) Analyze the responses on the checklist to ensure all element of preparations are completed or well underway to make the go-live transition date. (4) Identify any exposures to the go-live date. (5) Develop specific actions to get all elements ready for full deployment. These plans must be reviewed by client management and the service provider project management for completeness and feasibility. (6) Create contingency plans to cover for those elements that might be delayed. This is done to ensure a go-live in the face of having some pieces of the transition plan not yet completed. These plans must be reviewed by client management and the service provider project management for completeness and feasibility. (7) Report the results of the assessment to the client management and the service provider project leadership. For step 224, see step 294, supra. In step 200, the process team accesses summary task template PE1 in the course of going live. The purpose of these tasks is to establish the operational link between customer commodities and the responsible enterprise or service provider buyers, and enter the customer's Blanket Orders so as to be operational at cut-over date. Template PE1 and its subsidiary detail tasks provide, either directly or by way of links to other documents, instructions, flow charts, sample questionnaires, report models and checklists for guiding, coordinating and documenting the work of the process team through the task steps. The inputs or prerequisites include (1) customer commodities have been allocated to buyer codes, and (2) customer blanket orders applicable to enterprise GP have been identified. The resulting output is (1) all customer specific commodity master data updated with appropriate buyer codes, and (2) all applicable customer blanket orders entered and operational. Advantages Over the Prior Art It is an advantage of the invention that there is provided a system and method for evaluating a client's general procurement and accounts payable (GP/AP) system. It is an advantage of the invention that there is provided an optimized solution for out-sourcing procurement of goods and services. It is an advantage of the invention that there is provided a system and method for training service providers. It is an advantage of the invention that there is provided a system and method for managing service providers to assure quality of service. It is an advantage of the invention that there is provided a system and method for managing a project. It | ||||||