Upgrade

Upgrading IFS enables an organisation to deliver an improved ERP service to all its business users, however undertaking an upgrade initiative is not without inherent risks and issues.

Totalamber’s approach to upgrading IFS is to mitigate issues and risks before the upgrade and ensure changes are applied to the environment in a structured manner which minimises business disruption and does not delay the upgrade roadmap. Using Totalamber’s Integrated Services Component Model to deliver an upgrade programme provides an organisation with the tools, methodology and approach to identify and mitigate risks and issues associated with the upgrade.

It is not uncommon to find the following symptoms associated with an upgrade initiative:

• Limited knowledge of the differences between the current and latest versions – organisations tend to have insufficient information on the differences between current version and latest version of the application and so find it difficult to determine the true business benefit from undertaking an upgrade initiative
• Limited understanding of the benefits of an upgrade – many upgrades focus on the IT aspects of the upgrade and do not consider the holistic environment – many benefits are derived from non-IT based changes and so considering the whole environment enables an organisation to understand the true benefit of upgrading
• Lack of an upgrade roadmap – many organisations do not develop an upgrade roadmap and so are unsure of the approach, activities, timescales and resource requirements for an upgrade
• Limited management appetite and buy-in to an upgrade - because management does not see the true benefit of an upgrade, they very often do not buy-into the upgrade
• Need for clarity on upgrade costs – the true cost of an upgrade needs to be determined. During an IT-led upgrade, many organisations solely consider the licence fee, however, there are a number of other costs and all of these need to be included in the upgrade roadmap to ensure the business has full clarity over the costs and can then determine return on investment
• Need to understand upgrade rollout options and impact on business – the upgrade needs to minimise business impact, having a clearly defined plan including activities and resource requirements will identify who is needed and when and enable each business unit to understand the impact of the upgrade on their activities
• Limited or no senior buy-in –lack of senior management buy in or an unsupportive leadership team often results in failure of upgrades
• Business disconnect many organisations consider upgrading to be an IT-led initiative and do not pay sufficient attention to other key aspects –the people, process and business strategy when designing the blueprint and overall solution
• Business Process Improvement –upgrading provides organisations with the opportunity to review and improve business processes, many organisations do not consider improvements in business process and continue to automate old practices

Totalamber's tools, methodology and approach are all designed to assess the holistic environment of the IFS system, incorporating assessments of the business strategy, people, process and technology environments prior to the commencement of any initiative to upgrade IFS, ensuring the key aims and objectives of the programme are fully understood and agreed by all stakeholders and any risks and issues have been identified, enabling the programme to mitigate these during the upgrade initiative.

Totalamber’s approach is to assess the requirements of an upgrade using its Upgrade Needs Analysis(UNA) tool which provides a complete review, assessment and analysis of the holistic IFS environment using Totalamber's Diamond Methodology to assess business strategy, people, process and technology.

The UNA uses the following tools and techniques to assess the IFS environment, identify risks and issues and provide the business with the most appropriate roadmap for delivering the rollout programme:

• IFS Snapshot - An initial survey and questionnaire designed to elicit key feedback on the current system and environment from a cross-section of key stakeholders (management, super/key users, users) and to determine their views and aspirations for a rollout of IFS
• Landscape Internal Support Assessment (LiSA) - An on-line tool that assesses the issues and capabilities of the current support provision within an organisation
• Support Needs Analysis (SNA) - A detailed assessment of the specific Support needs of an organisation assessed against Totalamber's 6 layer Support Tower

Analysis of the findings from each of the tools enables Totalamber to feed information into the Upgrade Project Configurator which provides an initial indication of the proposed structure and approach to upgrading IFS across the organisation. The associated Statement of Work provides a detailed assessment of the key activities required to deliver the rollout initiative, mitigating risks and guaranteeing the success of the project.

There are a number of strategic reasons why an organisation may embark on an upgrade of their IFS implementation. Strategic changes to the business may benefit from new and improved functionality, the current version is being de-supported, the business can derive tangible business benefit and performance improvements through a strategic review of their current system and the implementation of a new version of IFS.

Totalamber has a wealth of experience gained through upgrading IFS and its key guiding principles when developing a strategic, but pragmatic upgrade strategy is to:

• Assess the current landscape – across four dimensions of business strategy, people, process and technology
• Deliver project clarity – provide management and the project team with clarity on plans, resources and risks
• Develop a benefits realisation plan – to measure tangible business benefit from the upgrade and manage the delivery

Totalamber’s Integrated Service Component Model consists of a toolkit, methodologies and approach which are designed to ensure an organisation fully understands the strategic approach to an upgrade. Totalamber’s initial approach when asked to upgrade an IFS system is to capture the current IFS landscape across a number of workstreams and against core business operational areas (e.g. Sales and Marketing, Operations and Planning, Manufacturing, Distribution (Supply Chain) and Finance).

Workstreams include:

• Processes Template & Blueprint / New working practices
• IFS application set up and configuration
• Business buy-in, change management and communications
• End User Training and Documentation
• Business Data and Reports
• Testing – IFS Testing and Business Acceptance
• Technical Infrastructure and Environments
• Process and Systems Integration (Interfaces)
• Pilot Implementation and Full rollout

Totalamber’s Upgrade Configurator is used to determine the timelines, costs and resources required for an upgrade and assess the upgrade requirements across a number of strategic dimensions:

• Number of users – per module and per country/site
• Modules – which module has been implemented in which country/site
• Localisation – what local modifications are included
• Modifications –what modifications have been applied to the current system
• Data – what proportion of data is static, transactional, historical and how much is automated and manual
• Training – what is the profile for training – number of days, trainers, session format

To provide direction, Totalamber will develop a detailed Upgrade Roadmap and Project Charter which will provide the structure, methodology, approach and governance for the delivery of the upgrade initiative.

Upgrading IFS is not just about the installation of the IFS software application into a new site or country. There are many other aspects that need to be considered in order for an upgrade to be successful and deliver tangible business benefit to the organisation. Understanding current business processes and ways of working enables an organisation to make significant improvements in the re-engineering of processes and ways of working when upgrading IFS and taking advantage of new features and functionality and improved automation facilities.

Totalamber’s approach is not to just focus on the technology aspects of the upgrade, but to assess the holistic environment across four strategic dimensions of people, process, business strategy and technology. As IFS is already implemented, the upgrade provides the opportunity to review and enhance current business processes and ways of working.

Totalamber’s Integrated Service Component Model consists of a toolkit, methodologies and approach which are designed to ensure an organisation fully understands the impact of an upgrade initiative on the organisation, ensuring that effective controls, governance and communication is in place to successfully deliver an upgrade initiative. Totalamber’s approach is based on the following guiding principles:

• Provide project clarity – provide a clear definition of the project activities, aims and objectives
• Engage the business and maintain ownership – ensure the business is fully bought into the upgrade initiative and maintains ownership, addressing and resolving issues as they arise
• Provide clarity of scope – define the scope of the upgrade initiative against the following areas - processes, reports, modules, users, sites
• Ensure team governance – through clearly defined mobilisation and engagement plans
• Provide change control – to manage change within the system and ensure the business approves any change initiatives

Totalamber’s approach is to start with an IFS Performance Review(IPR) which is a 360 degree review, assessment and analysis of the holistic IFS environment using Totalamber's Diamond Methodology to assess business strategy, people, process and technology. Assessment of the findings from the IPR provides the basis of recommendations for the “To Be”, upgraded system.

Once the “To Be” system has been defined and agreed by the organisation, Totalamber’s Integrated Services Component Model provides the tools and approach to upgrade IFS in a controlled manner.

Totalamber’s Integrated Services Component Model provides a toolkit and methodology that enables organisations to:

• Assess and establish upgrade workstreams – define the worksteam and activities that are involved in the upgrade process
• Define specific roles and responsibilities – identify and agree who is doing what and when
• Determine upgrade scope and priorities – what activities are in scope, who is responsible for delivery and what is the priority for each activity
• Validate internal capabilities and availability – provide an assessment and validation of internal capabilities and availability to determine external requirements
• Present the upgrade strategy for approval – provide a detailed and documented approach and roadmap for the upgrade programme of work

Totalamber will then provide an organisation with a detailed upgrade Roadmap and Statement of Work that identifies the journey an organisation should take when undertaking an upgrade initiative. To manage delivery expectations, Totalamber’s approach is to identify three timescales – aggressive, moderate and comfortable. The organisation can then make decisions based on the upgrade roadmap.

The aims of any programme of work to upgrade an IFS implementation are to:

• Identify and implement strategic improvements as part of the upgrade programme
• Engage users to get buy-in and sustainability
• Enhance and improve the way the business is using IFS
• Maximise the IFS asset by leveraging functionality

Totalamber’s Integrated Service Component Model provides the tools, methodology and approach for the delivery of an IFS upgrade. The tools and techniques enable an organisation to:

• Mobilise the internal and external resources
• Run workshops to identify and map new functionality into the “To Be” environment
• Define and agree new ways of working
• Configure the IFS software to meet new requirements and business needs
• Run relevant tests to obtain business acceptance
• Run training sessions
• Deploy the new IFS version and verify data and functionality requirements

To achieve a successful upgrade, Totalamber’s approach is to deliver an upgrade initiative using some important guiding principles:

• Provide project clarity – provide a clear definition of the project activities, aims and objectives
• Engage the business and maintain ownership – ensure the business is fully bought into the upgrade initiative and maintains ownership, addressing and resolving issues as they arise
• Provide clarity of scope – define the scope of the upgrade initiative against the following areas - processes, reports, modules, users, sites
• Ensure team governance – through clearly defined mobilisation and engagement plans

Provide change control – to manage change within the system and ensure the business approves any change initiatives

Following an upgrade to IFS, organisations need to ensure they maintain a sustainable support function to enable users to continue to use the IFS application. Totalamber’s approach to delivering a sustainable support function is based around the following guiding principles:

• Involve the existing support function from the beginning of the project
• Map support into the project and ensure new functionality is included – especially when new technology and service providers are involved (e.g. hand-held terminals, new interface, reports)
• Review the capacity and capabilities of the support team – can they handle any increased support calls during the transition or from the impact of the upgrade
• Train and educate the helpdesk staff on new processes and functionality
• Where 3rd parties are being used, ensure they remain informed of the progress of the initiative

Totalamber’s approach to delivering a sustainable support service is based around Totalamber’s Integrated Services Component model which is designed to provide the tools, methodology and approach to deliver a sustainable support service.

The first tool is the IFS Performance Review (IPR) - Totalamber's IPR is a 360 degree review, assessment and analysis of the holistic IFS environment using Totalamber's Diamond Methodology to assess business strategy, people, process and technology.

The IPR uses the following tools and techniques to assess the IFS environment, identify risks and issues and provide the business with the most appropriate roadmap for delivering a sustainable support function:

• IFS Snapshot - An initial survey and questionnaire designed to elicit key feedback on the current system and environment from a cross-section of key stakeholders (management, super/key users, users) and to determine their views on the current IFS implementation
• Landscape Internal Support Assessment (LiSA) - An on-line tool that assesses the issues and capabilities of the current support provision within an organisation
• Support Needs Analysis (SNA) - A detailed assessment of the specific Support needs of an organisation assessed against Totalamber's 6 layer Support Tower

Following analysis and assessment of requirements, Totalamber will provide a client with the following:

• Detailed Support Roadmap – providing a visual indication of the duration of support service provision, the key workstreams associated with the support service and activities for each workstream
• Statement of Work – providing a detailed breakdown of individual activities to be delivered for the duration of the support agreement. Activities are defined using Totalamber’s 6 layer Support Tower