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As part of the
consulting service, Our consultants may
recommend implementing third
party software if they believe
that is the best possible solution. In
such a scenario, Our Application
Integration and Product implementation
team provides complete cycle of services
needed to complete the implementation
An implementation consists of the
following steps:
Gap Analysis
The gap analysis is
performed by the Business Analyst. It
involves matching business functions to
application functionality and
identifying processes where the
application needs to be
extended/modified to cater for specific
scenarios. As part of this analysis,
Request for Changes (RFC) are prepared
and submitted for development. The
priority of each RFC is also determined.
Customization and
Reports Development
Based on the RFC
created, the customization of the
product is initiated. Customization may
require additional functionality to be
developed and/or modification to the
base application. Typically, a number of
new reports and inquiries are required
to be produced as part of an
implementation. Before the development
is initiated, a Functional Specification
is produced and approved by the user
representatives.
Interfaces
The relevant
interfaces which are essential for a
complete implementation are identified.
Since any new application will be
exchanging data with others, the success
of the implementation depends to a large
extent on the quality of integration
that is achieved. Where an application
needs to be implemented in phases,
temporary interfaces need to be
developed to support functions that will
continue to perform in the previous
system.
Interfaces that need
to be developed may be real-time data
communication, batch file transfers or
utilize messaging based middle-ware.
Application Setup
Application setup
consists of populating the reference
files and configuring the system
parameters. Some of the reference files
may require data conversion (see below)
and others would need to be keyed-in.
Data Conversation
Data conversion
involves writing automated processes
that convert data from one format to
another. This may involve migrating data
from one platform to another and
combining multiple data files into one
or vice versa.
Acceptance Testing
As changes are
rapidly being implemented in the
application, it is essential to verify
not only the correctness of new features
but also to ensure that base features
continue to function correctly before
the modules are rolled out into
production. This involves performing
functional as well as regression
testing.
Application Rollout
Roll-out involves a
close coordination between the IS
department and the business users to
ensure that system is available and is
being used to capture the transactions.
It also involves resolving issues
regarding the need to run the legacy
system in parallel and ensuring that
correct transactions are being posted in
the new system. Deployment issues of
applications also need to be addressed
before the rollout.
Training and User
Support
The training material
is developed to train the end users.
Documentation is also produced to help
users to perform the business functions
and to provide users with a quick
reference. Where required Computer Based
Training (CBT) is developed and web
based documentation is produced and
hosted on the company intranet. A
crucial element of user support is to
help users adapt to the new system. This
would include understanding of the
business practices employed by various
user groups and finding equivalent
application features and/or adapting the
workflow within the constraints of the
application. |
