Project delivery Guide

PROJECT DELIVERY GUIDE CONTENTS DELIVERY GUIDE

2

CONCEPTION

2

Project brief

2

Scope

2

Architecture

2

PROJECT PRINCIPLES

3

The Milestone Gates

3

Conception

3

Build & Tailor

3

User Acceptance Testing

3

Training

4

Data

4

Go-live

4

Handholding

6

Closure

6

Key Items

6

Exceptions

6

A Data Plan

6

Risk Register

7

Change Control

7

Delivery guide This guide is to assist in providing an insight into what to expect from the Enhanced Solutions Delivery team and the Software Project.

Highlighting the key milestone gates, considerations, and tips to assist a Joint outcome of a successful result Provide clarity on specific key steps Aid visibility of the journey This looking to enable clarity to aid communication, resourcing, and expectations for both teams.

Conception The - Reason / Detail / Deliverables

Project brief This is the brief of what the project looks to achieve and address for the business.

The reason(s) for undertaking the project.

Scope The scope is to capture the detail to enable the configuration & build of the solution to meet the desired processes and deliverables to the business from the project.

To comprise the Functional areas of the business to be addressed and the detailed processes and flow of data this needs to perform the tasks within the business.

The outcome is a documented detailed level of what needs to be included and the setup required in the application(s) to align with the business deliverables.

Architecture The architecture is the how of mapping these needs to how to build and address the deliverables.

So the scope & architecture go hand to hand to establish the what and the how that confirms what is achievable and hence what are the deliverables.

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Project Principles Enhanced has a tried and tested method of project deployment based on several clear Project Milestones & Gates. This enables clarity on the project progression, next steps, and control of key tasks within manageable slices of the overall project.

The Milestone Gates Conception The output from this Gate is a documented Scope of requirements which details what is to be delivered in the following Project.

Upon finalisation and acceptance with the client, this can then progress to the conception of the project.

GATE 1 – The scope requires client sign-off that it covers the project deliverables.

Build & Tailor During this gate, the application(s), integration and bespoke as applicable, (as detailed in the Scope), will be configured & tailored in line with the Scope & Architecture.

As the build progresses there will be several steps undertaken – •

The Enhanced team will be working on setting up the system and tailoring it.

•

On-site time will be included for checking, understanding, and showing elements as they are progressed

•

Interim Checks / tests will be carried out by the Enhanced Team to aid progression and check aligned to the whole deliverables

•

End-to-End Test – Enhanced will carry out a simulated end-to-end test of the system when all the build is at first complete build to check if any remaining elements or tuning is needed.

GATE 2 – The project can only progress to the next step if this initial level of Testing has been successful. So Project timelines could change at this time to ensure the project only proceeds when ready.

User Acceptance Testing This is where the client gets to really try out the system to uncover if there are any gaps, tweaks and amendments needed to make the solution align with the deliverables and work in the real environment.

At this stage, training is provided to the Client’s key testing team and an initial joint run-through to aid the testing.

The client can then focus further on testing to cover all processes and functions they will need from the system to operate in the real world.

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The more than can be checked and addressed at this stage then the smoother live use will be.

GATE 3 – This requires joint agreement that the solution is ready for live use and all the required amendments have been addressed.

Training Once the system has passed the UAT stage the Build is now fixed and won’t change before Live.

Anything else now needs to go into a follow-up phase.

The Training can now take place on the finished system based on providing end-user training and focused on how the business will use and process in line with the way it has been built.

Moving to a new system is always going to take a while and so whilst the training is very important there will also be ongoing handholding and support.

GATE 4 – This requires the client to consider and confirm they are comfortable with the training provision to then progress to Go-Live ready.

Data There are typically several data related tasks at various points of the project.

Specifically, the initial project is based on a Test instance of the software and would include the following elements •

As the system has started to be configured static data can be imported to aid the ongoing build, checking and testing. For example, as say the sales & purchase ledgers and inventory are set up then client data can be brought into the Test system.

•

This provides both a test of the transition from the source data to the new system and provides a more familiar and relevant system to then work on.

•

During testing and training additional data elements of both setups for say drop-down lists and transaction entries will also start to add to the test system data and aid build the picture of the end solution.

As the project progresses to finalising the final solution the Live system will become key and the data will need to be maintained, checked, and updated as required.

So the Data Milestone is an element that flows through many of the project milestones focused on checking off the data and its upkeep alongside other gates.

GATE 5 – The Data needs to be checked and confirmed at various points that it is correctly mapped on the Test Build and latterly that is correct, current and reconciles as expected at the go-live. This Gate as such is part of the review alongside a number of the other gates.

Go-live So the time has come to have a clear date from which all new system processing going forward takes place on the new system.

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A key activity for Live readiness is to be prepared and aware of all the Data elements that need to be checked, transitioned, and considered in the cut-over.

The specifics will be dependant on the project but below gives an overview of all the potential elements for consideration & planning –

Static data

Open transactions

Customers

Sales Ledger Entries

Vendors, (Suppliers)

Vendor Ledger Entries

General Ledger Codes & Schedules

Opening Trial Balance.

All Banks reconciled & List of any unreconciled transactions.

Opening VAT details to Journal.

Inventory Items –

Open Stock Values –

Pricing – sales & purchase

Quantity and Values

BOMS Routings Jobs

Opening Job Balances

From this, it is clearly visible that a number of these need advanced planning to aid cleanse any data in advance to lessen the work and to have the data ready. For example, this may be by undertaking a physical stock take prior to the switch and closing old sales and purchase documents from the old source system.

Once there is a plan to cover the date elements there are some key reconciliation checks to make on the go-live itself to have a clear starting position and as such being ready to GO! Below from an Accounting project perspective are the key reconciliation checks – •

Debtors Report for each currency to be checked against Debtors Control Account in G/L

•

Creditors Report for each currency to be checked against Creditors Control Account in G/L

•

Inventory Valuation to be checked against Inventory Control Account in G/L

•

VAT Return Box 5 to be Checked against VAT Control Account in G/L

•

Bank Account Balances to be checked against Bank Accounts in G/L

•

Opening Balance Control Account to be checked it balances to zero

•

Reconcile Job Ledger (possible WIP Values)

GATE 6 – With the data all imported and reconciled the live use of the system can now progress.

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Handholding When the Go-Live is complete then there will be assistance on hand to provide initial assistance and guidance to aid the early use and get the system underway. This will typically be assistance from the consultant team involved in the project and then the support team to aid the transition into normal daily use.

There may also be some specific sessions booked to aid with some key processing elements like first VAT or MTD Submission or Month-end where this has been arranged.

Closure Once in live operation, we would look to have a post-project review to aid any outstanding questions or say elements left for future phase review. On the basis there are then no outstanding elements for the project then this will close this specific project.

Key Items There are several key items to also be aware of and consider in the project that looks to aid progression and control of the process. These are summarised below

Exceptions The milestones and gates described are the core structure of the project although there may be acceptable exceptions to specifics within these.

Where these are relevant then they will be detailed as exceptions and noted alongside a Gate completion to both enable progression but also keep a note of the details.

Some examples to aid explain – •

Some financial opening data may not be available until post live for say the previous month's closing figures

•

Data could be imported that still needs cleansing / tidying. The key is that this would be known and documented

•

Something may not be delivered but is scheduled for later addition.

A Data Plan The key to the early discussions and requirements gathering is to establish the details on the Data.

Effectively a “Data Plan” encompasses the following key elements – •

What Data is going to be brought into the system?

•

Where are the sources for this data and how can it be accessed and extracted?

•

What needs to be cleansed or structure changed and hence then mapped between old and new, (e.g. stock coding, nominal coding etc.)?

•

Who and how will changes be maintained during the project and for live?

•

Who is going to manage which elements?

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Cleansing and/or mapping of the data can often take more time than anticipated and as such early visibility and ongoing monitoring are key to considering the risk and impact on the project progression.

Risk Register The risk register is effectively a key list to note, maintain and consider throughout the project to detail for shared awareness of items that could hamper the project. By having this awareness then consideration can be made to potentially mitigate or direct focus during training or handholding etc.

An example may be that a particular key business process can’t be fully tested on the system until live as relies on third-party integration that has no test facility. By knowing about this risk it can be looked to be mitigated by testing as soon as live with the right people available from the project on hand and having a manual route mapped out should it not be swiftly addressed.

Change Control During the project, there may be fundamental or process impact changes that were not previously covered in the requirements. Typically say a business need that has occurred since the start or something that only became evident once in the detail of the build.

The change control process is in place to capture these scenarios and look to aid detail this new requirement so that it can then be considered for either roll-out within the project or future consideration.

The impact and return to the business would form part of the detailing to aid the decision on if & when to action this change whilst still maintaining the overall project progression and plan.

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