Session ID:

Prepared by:

Managing Multiple Projects Within E-Business Suite Upgrade

10331

@KLambert61

Kyle LambertSenior Director, SolutionsEiS Technologies, Inc. Kyle.Lambert@EiSTech.com

Abstract

How do you manage multiple simultaneous projects without losing focus on the key objective or slipping deadlines?

Upgrading E-Business Suite is challenging all by itself.

However, when you need to upgrade your database version, payroll tax software and sales tax software, while changing hardware architecture, re-implementing your Receivables implementation and restructuring your Chart Of Accounts, plus adding launching Manager Self-Service and an externally accessible employee portal.

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Bad Joke Of The Day

How do snails fight?

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Bad Joke Of The Day

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They SLUG it out!!!!!!

Agenda

• About The Presenters/Audience • About EiS Technologies, Inc.• Who Was The Client?• Client’s Timing and Motivation• What Was The Client’s Challenge?• Creating The Project Team• Team Roles• Developing Project Approach• Putting First Things First• Keeping Projects On Track• Adapting To Changes• Assuring Quality• Preparing For Go Live• Measuring Success• Q&A

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About The Presenters/Audience

• Presenter & Contributors:– Kyle Lambert – Senior Director, Solutions

• Audience Profile:– Running E-Business Suite R11? R12?– Planning an upgrade?– Project Managers? Project Leads?– Use managed service?– Hosted?– Have a segment of your ecosystem in the cloud?– Totally in the cloud?

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About EiS Technologies, Inc.

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At EiS Technologies, we create tangible value for our clients by providing powerful and cost effective solutions that enable efficiencies throughout the

organization.

From Reporting and BI, to integrations, implementations, and upgrades, we stand by our clients, both as partners,

trusted advisors, and friends.

Who Was The Client?

• Leader in Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) industry• Hundreds of Franchisees & Corporate sites• Rapidly growing through organic growth and

marketing magic• Initiatives to drive operational efficiencies• Privately owned

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Client’s Timing and Motivation

• In late 2014, this QSR giant decided to upgrade EBS Applications from R11i to R12.1.3

• After a project assessment in December of 2014, the project team was assembled and a preliminary upgrade plan developed

• The upgrade started in January of 2015

• Challenged with a number of software de-support issues, the company needed:

– To prepare for explosive corporate growth– To gain better business efficiencies by implementing new EBS modules– To move from software laggard to main stream adopter– To create a foundation for adding new functionality and increased productivity – To create a hub into which all business process could feed and integrate

• A few business optimization projects were also included in the upgrade effort. These additional work streams were incredibly important to the business users and management team.

• Although the additions added complexity to the upgrade, the tasks were included in the plan and delivered as part of the on-time, on-budget project

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What Was The Client’s Challenge?

• EBS upgrade from 11.5.10.2 to 12.1.3• Database upgrade 10.2.0.4 to 11.2.04• Migrate hardware architecture from 32- bit to 64-bit• Re-Structure the General Ledger Chart Of Accounts • Re-implement Receivables • Develop a custom Receivables Portal• Implement HR Manager Self-Service• Decommission Discoverer• Upgrade Vertex Payroll Tax to a supported version• Upgrade Sabrix Sales Tax to a supported version• Migrate from 3rd party check printing to in-house• Fold in all R11 changes through the final CRP• All in 9 months – The end date could not be missed

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Creating The Project Team

Assemble Multi-Faceted Project Team– Client Project Manager– Implementer Project Manager– Technical Liaison– Operations Manager– Communications Manager

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Team Roles

Client Project Manager– Managing the scope of the projects– Reviewing & maintaining all budgets– Assuring milestones & adjusted priorities are

known to project team – Identifying resources for each sub-project– Identifying all client efforts– Supervising project teams– Being the final decision maker

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Team Roles

Implementer Project Manager– Identifying & managing project throttle points– Developing Project & Sub-Project schedules– Analyzing impact of change– Managing RAAID management– Prioritizing & burning down issues– Coordinating of all contractor efforts

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Team Roles

Technical Liaison– Managing on-site & off-site developers– Translating development activities into terms

of business impact for the project team– Attending to application technology changes– Addressing CEMLI remediation– Packaging code for migration– Identifying & scheduling patches

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Team Roles

Operations Manager– Architecting operational solutions– Upgrading & monitoring hardware– Upgrading & monitoring database– Adapting network configurations – Managing environment refreshes– Proactive & Reactive patching– Optimizing system performance

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Team Roles

Communications Manager– Setting & communicating user expectations– Coordinating & scheduling all client efforts

including training, testing & meetings– Communicating to users the projects’ status– Assuring users developed & signed-off test

scripts & results – Managing users complaints & attitude– Imparting ”What Is In It For Me?” to users– Identifying users hot-points– Keeping the client teams fed

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Developing Project Approach

• Starting with the end in mind– Taking a “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” methodology– Testing, Testing, Testing– Scheduling aggressively

• Focusing– Minimizing & scoping the projects changes– Sequencing milestones – Concentrating on throttle-points

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Putting First Things First

• Determining which sub-projects must or could happen early

• Determining which sub-projects could finish late• Assessing project & sub-projects dependencies• Prioritizing sub-projects based on how they merge

into main project• Aligning overlapping sub-projects for common CRP

– Some sub-projects had independent initial CRPs

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Keeping Projects On Track

• Developing Communication Plans– Holding daily meeting with the project team– Reporting statuses weekly to the user community– Providing monthly reviews to the executive

sponsorship

• Reviewing the project plans– Sequencing & managing project milestones– Managing to the throttle points

• Tracking progress– Prioritizing & reporting issue burn-down– Managing the budget burn-down & forecasting

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Adapting To Changes

• Managing scope– Adding only what had to be added– Being considerate & stingy

• Reviewing project plan– Vigilant prioritizing, reviewing and re-prioritizing– Remembering “The Perfect Storm” does happen!!!– Planning for contingency: Have plan A, B, C ready

• Being flexible– Expecting surprises – There will be plenty– Avoiding the Blame Game– Taking a “Can do, let us work it through” attitude– Adjusting project processes with mistakes & over time

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Assuring Quality

Building In Quality • Emphasizing “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” approach• Developing & reviewing test scripts early• Testing, Testing, Testing• Logging & reviewing RAAID by developers• Reviewing & validating issue remediation by

independent source• Diligently using version code• Utilizing existing Change Management processes

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Preparing For Go Live

• “Lather, Rinse, Repeat”– UAT testing was no different than the CRPs– UAT went faster than CRPs– Sign-Off meant readiness of production

• Remembering that there is always more to do

• Determining what is a ‘showstopper’ & when– What is required at ‘Go Live’?– What is needed day 30? – What is needed day 90?– What can wait for a future phase?

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Measuring Success

• All projects came in on time and on budget• CFO stated he kept informed but was not involved• CEO stated that the only update he got on the

project was that the company was live and project was successful

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Keys To Success

• Having a dedicated Communications Manager• Adopting a “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” approach• Having an independent Quality Review of

issues & documented solutions• Prefixing all emails with the issue number• Sequencing & managing project milestones• Managing to the project throttle points

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Questions & Answers

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Managing Multiple Projects Within E-Business Suite Upgrade

How do you manage multiple simultaneous projects without losing focus on the key objective or slipping deadlines?

Upgrading E-Business Suite is challenging all by itself.

However, when you need to upgrade your database version, payroll tax software and sales tax software, while changing hardware architecture, re-implementing your Receivables implementation and restructuring your Chart Of Accounts, plus adding launching Manager Self-Service and an externally accessible employee portal.