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Initial Implementation Project

Having a plan and following it

Your software implementation project will be a partnership.  Recognition and understanding of the following issues will assure your satisfaction with the final solution as well as the schedule and the budget.

Who does what?

  • Many of the activities in the project must be done by us.

  • Many of the activities must be done by you.

  • Some may be done by you or you may choose to delegate them to us.

  • Will the scope of the project change?

  • As the project unfolds and you become more familiar with the capabilities of SAP Business One, you may identify additional capabilities of the software that you wish to take advantage of. We use a methodology that allows you the flexibility of changing the scope of the project (or not) at strategic points in the project.

Our Five-Phase Methodology

This methodology divides the initial implementation of your SAP Business One system into 5 phases with a sign off at the end of each phase.

  1. Project Preparation.  The goal of this phase is to prepare your IT infrastructure and staff to begin the implementation project.  First, you will designate the members of the project team.  The team prepares and conducts a project kick-off meeting. Also in this phase, you will need to insure that appropriate equipment (e.g. servers, workstations and printers) is installed.  When your equipment is ready for operation, then our consultants will install SAP Business One software on your system. Each member of the project team will then need to complete the appropriate on-line training.  At this point we are ready to move into the details of your implementation.
  2. Business Blueprint.  The goal of this phase is to define a detailed list of customizations and data conversion for SAP Business One, including those identified above, that are required in order for the system to meet your business objectives.  Before developing that list, our consulting staff will provide your project team with initial training on the standard SAP Business One software system.  This empowers them to fully participate in assessing the need for customization.  At the end of this phase we will provide you with an estimate to complete this project.  At that point you will have an opportunity to accept or reject proposed customizations before moving forward.
  3. Project Realization.  The goal of this phase is develop an SAP Business One system which contains your master data and is customized to your needs.  The first step in this process is for our consultants to implement the agreed upon customizations and import your master data into a test database on your server.  When this is completed, then our consultants will work with your project team to insure that the customizations perform as agreed and that they meet your needs.   At the end of this process, you will be in a position to determine if your SAP Business One system meets your needs or if further customizations are needed.  When no additional customizations are needed, then we move to the final preparation phase.
  4. Final Preparation.  The purpose of this phase is to complete final preparation (including user and administrator training, system management and cutover activities) for go-live readiness. Upon successful completion, the SAP Business One system is ready to be used as a productive environment. 
  5. Go-Live and Support.  The purpose of this phase is to move from a project-oriented, pre-production environment to live production operation. The most important elements include setting up production support, monitoring system transactions, and optimizing overall system performance.

 

 

If you need a software solution, contact Carolina Cipher now!

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How are you paid?

How are implementation services priced?

If you receive what appears to be a fixed price quote from a consultant, it is probably really simply a quote for a block of time, or may be an unrealistic estimate.

We will do our best to estimate the cost for you as realistically as possible, but like most consultants we are a service business and bill for our time.  The fact is, the cost is under your control more than ours. 

Some suggestions for minimizing the initial implementation costs include:

  • Do the routine work with your own staff , using us only for the technical  functions your people cannot reasonably  do.
  • Don't plan on going live with the entire system initially, but plan to implement it in stages as much as feasible, doint the easiest stages first if possible. Then when you get to the more difficult stages, everyone is basically familiar with how the system generally works.
  • Keep customization to a minimum initially. If you can go live with standard software, it will greatly reduce your time and cost. Later you may find that some of the customizations are desirable - or not. If so, then you will have a better feel for how you want it done after your people have become familiar with the system.

CAROLINA CIPHER

1500 Pinecroft Rd; Suite 123; Greensboro, NC 27407