Congratulations! You have just purchased Oracle ERP (Oracle E-Business Suite) for your company, organization, City, State, or Federal Government. Now what?

Are you prepared for the challenges involved in implementing Oracle ERP - or any other ERP, for that matter?

If you are going to have any success in your implementation, you must address the following questions before/during your implementation:

1. Have you received buy-in from all the executives and functional teams in your organization that will act as the super users during the implementation? Stakeholders should be committed. Are your stakeholders really committed to ‘Completion’?

2. Have you selected an experienced implementer?

3. Is it a Fixed Price Contract or Time-Material Cost Contract?

4. Have you selected an experienced subject matter expert (SME) to guide you through the implementation?

5. Have you and your implementer reviewed your detailed requirements? Are your Requirements understood and signed off?

6. Have you and the implementer reviewed the gap analysis?

7. Have Key Considerations for Managing Scope, Project Planning, Governance, Implementation Methodology, and setting up the Center of Excellence been made and reviewed?

8. The project may need CEMLIs—Configuration/Customization, Extension, Modification, Localization, and Integration. Have CEMLIs been addressed?

9. Has Oracle EBS been configured, e.g., Chart of Accounts, and designed to best suit your current and future needs?

10. Have you and the implementer agreed on a go-live date?

11. Have you and the implementer agreed on who pays for the cost of a missed go-live date?

12. Is data conversion required, and if so, what process is used?

13. Did you know that Oracle R12 offers many out-of-the-box reports, averaging around 50+ per application?

14. Are reports within the scope of the implementer? If not, who is responsible for the reports? Have you allocated a separate budget for reports?

15. Is the Scope detailed enough in the statement of work?

16. Has the implementer spelled out all R12 applications and key features in Scope?

17. Has the implementer mentioned all the integrations that are in Scope? Are all data conversions listed?

18. Is the acceptance criteria for each Scope item clearly mentioned?

19. Is there any ambiguity in the Scope related to the statements of work?

20. If scope details are unsatisfactory, is there any consideration for commissioning an assessment with a smaller team to finalize the Scope?

21. Can we defer the implementation of specific applications if they require complex constant maintenance and may provide less value now?

22. Can Oracle solutions fit all aspects of your business?

23. Is the process of handling changes to Scope well-defined? Should you have criteria for prioritizing and documenting an impact assessment with appropriate approval?

24. Are the milestones clearly defined in the plan and agreed upon?

25. Based on the scope, is the budgeted time for requirements analysis and associated mapping, tracing, and gapping exercises sufficient?

26. Did you focus on business processes and requirements first?

27. Are you doing the appropriate number of conference room pilots?

28. Have you finished resolving key decisions early in the project, such as the multi-organization structure and Key flex fields (e.g., Chart of Accounts, Item Master, Territories, etc.)?

29. Is the resource loading aligned correctly? Shouldn’t technical resources come later in the project?

30. Has the project phasing and/or pilot go-live been considered before the project starts?

31. Have the key risks been identified early on? Is a mitigation plan in place?

32. Has the training started before the project begins? Have the key super users completed the R12 boot camp yet?

33. Is the communication plan in place?

34. Have you developed an Issue and Problem Management Strategy?

35. Have you developed a Change Management Strategy?

36. Have you developed a Configuration Management Strategy?

37. Have you developed a Quality Management Strategy?

38. Are the key roles for the project fully identified?

39. Have the training needs for resources been identified? Has the training plan been implemented?

40. Have all appropriate resources been briefed on the implementation methodology?

41. Have the key resources read the project charter, goals, SOW?

42. Has the process for monitoring team performance been finalized?

43. Are the resources for post-implementation support been identified?

44. Are the essential resources (both customer and integrator) identified? If not 100% available, is the percentage of requirements at various project stages spelled out?

45. Is delivery team compensation aligned with project completion and goal achievement?

46. Has the support strategy been formulated even before the project is complete?

47. Has the service level agreement been developed and agreed to?

48. Has the support team been identified?

49. Have the post-implementation performance measurement metrics been defined?

50. Has the support and escalation process been communicated to the user base before going live?

51. Has the operational readiness plan been developed and shared with the implementation team, user base, management, and executive?

52. Do you plan to iterate any of the tasks within OUM, and if so, what are the number of iterations being agreed to?

53. Has the implementer reviewed the Key Deliverables from OUM’s 200+ Deliverables with you?

54. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the RD030 Develop Current Process Model Business Requirements with you?

55. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the RD011 Develop Future Process Model Business Requirements with you?

56. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the RD045 Prioritize Requirements (MoSCoW) Business Requirements (RD) with you?

57. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TA020 Technical Architecture Requirement and Strategy with you?

58. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the CV020 Data Acquisition, Conversion and Data Quality Strategy with you?

59. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TR010 Training Strategy with you?

60. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the CV040 Conversion Component Design Data Acquisition with you?

61. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the AN100 Analysis Specification with you?

62. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the DS140 Design Specification with you?

63. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TE010 Testing Strategy with you?

64. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TE020 Unit test scripts with you?

65. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TE035 Integration Test Scripts with you?

66. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TE040 Integration Testing with you?

67. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed TE120 User Acceptance Testing with you?

68. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the DS030 System Configuration Design with you?

69. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed DO070 Publish User Guide Documentation with you?

70. Has the implementer reviewed and discussed the TS020 Cutover Strategy Transition with you?

71. Has the implementer program manager and the IT team defined the scope of the Cutover?

72. Have you developed a Help Desk strategy?

73. Does the final Cutover Checklist ensure that all application areas and the technical team are ready to go live?

74. Has the contingency plan developed by the implementer program manager and the IT team been agreed to if an unresolvable issue arises, causing a delay in going live?

75. Are documented issues being resolved or planned for resolution?

76. Is the Production System established and validated?

77. Are End Users using the Production System?

78. Are live transactions being entered into the production system?

79. Has the help desk strategy been implemented?

80. Is the production environment ready for go-live?

81. Have you determined who pays for interfaces?

82. Have you developed a risk management plan?

THANK YOU!
Contact us today @

[email protected]

Mike Ike
Tronmaster, LLC