1 Walk-in slide

2 How to Manage a System Upgrade The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Conversions David Cervelli Managing Consultant April 25, 2006

MK to ERP LN CONVERSION  Why Upgrade?  Assessment and Requirements  Resources  Project Management  Data Migration  Pilot Testing  End-User Training  Go-Live Planning  Conclusion

4 WHY UPGRADE ?  Version will not be supported  Need new functionality  Users not happy with current version  Corporate requirement

5 LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP ! Identify what is important – and – what needs to be delivered to...  Users  Business  Management  I/T

6 CURRENT APPLICATION AND ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT Conduct assessment of current systems and processes  Document current processes  Document business requirements  Rank requirements  Must have  Nice to have  That would be nice

7 RESOURCES Identify resources early in the process  Project Sponsor  Implementation Team  Power Users  Cross-functional participation  Project Leader  Systems

8 CROSS-FUNCTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION TEAMS Input from multiple sources improves the outcome  Get the Management perspective – make sure the right business goals will be met  Get the front line workers – they do the work and understand better than most  Leverage the power users knowledge of the business and systems  Need participation from each department  When one person covers many departments  Opportunities are missed  Assumptions may be incorrect

9 INTERNAL RESOURCES Strong leadership internally ensures success  Project scheduling and management  Requirements definition  Process decisions  Deliverables definition and tracking  Testing  Sign-offs

10 OUTSIDE RESOURCES Call upon external experts to fill the gaps and meet resource requirements  Programming  Data conversion  Pilot testing and training  Software and hardware installation  Documentation

11 PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES Managing the project is key to success  Project scope  Decision making powers  Communication  Risk assessment and management  Issue tracking  Identify milestones  Budget  Expectations  Process ownership

12 DATA MIGRATION  What data needs to be moved  Master data  Open transactions  History  Manual versus automated  Some data must be set up manually  Most data is easy to transfer using automated methods  Data Translation  Identify what needs new values  Don’t convert too much  Examples  Customer and Vendor Numbers  Chart of Accounts  Items

13 PILOT TESTING  Complete current business process flow before pilot testing  Perform a thorough pilot test early in the implementation cycle  Identify and document issues / gaps / additional requirements  Assign resources to issues, gaps and additional requirements  Don’t make process decision in a vacuum  Include cross-functional teams in pilot testing  Don’t assume you know all the upstream and downstream processes  Ask to people who do the work  Pilot test environment is critical to success  The right equipment  The right people  The right leadership

14 TRAINING END USERS  Thorough training required  Train all users not just a few  Don’t shortcut training – you’ll pay for it later  People have different styles of learning  Wait until  Test company set-up and configuration is complete  Your company’s data has been migrated to a test company  Pilot testing is complete  Major customizations are complete  Initial procedures are finalized  Training must be full time – part-time students don’t learn well  Training should be very close to go-live date

15 BRING IT ALL TOGETHER

16 GO-LIVE PLANNING  Timing  Resources  Data validation  System management  Expectations  Anticipate the unexpected

17 CONCLUSIONS  Planning  Resources  Time  Project Communication

18 Q U E S T I O N S ? David Cervelli Managing Consultant Strategic Systems Group, Inc.