What are Implementation Roadmaps and how they are helpful in an Implementation?

Implementation Roadmaps support project teams through out the complete life of the project. Implementation Roadmaps support the project manager and project team throughout the project. Solution Maps and Business Scenario Maps help in early stages of the project. Best Practices are valuable during the prototyping and could be used as baseline for solution configuration. Implementation Content provides business scenarios and processes to simplify the solution design and configuration.

Implementation content is essential for success of the implementation methodology and is key component in delivering successful solutions.

The Implementation Roadmaps Content fits into two categories:

• Roadmaps that outline sequence of activities for successful implementation, upgrade or enhancement project.
• Solution Specific content that is delivered in various forms created to support all stages of implementation from early business process mapping in pre-sales cycle, through high-level scoping through actual solution blueprinting.

The Implementation roadmaps outline the activities involved in implementing, upgrading, or enhancing solutions enriched with set of deliverables, accelerators, role descriptions and additional guides. The Implementation roadmaps provide content such as methodology including deliverables, samples and accelerators that can be used during the entire project lifecycle.

What are the Benefits of Implementation Roadmap

• Transparent, proven approach helping the project team to really work as a team and to reduce implementation time, costs and risks.
• Achieve better results since you base your project on the experiences others made before. Both hard facts as well as soft skills are addressed.
• Knowledge management - use the Implementation Roadmap for solutions to gather knowledge on how to organize and run your implementation projects.

• Accelerators: Documents (Templates, Checklists, Tips & Tricks, etc.) which can be used to support the creation of deliverables and/or support the execution of activities and tasks.
• Processes & Procedures: Descriptions how to perform standard operations and activities within projects in a structured repeatable effective and efficient manner.
• Deliverables: Descriptions of Work Output Items from the Project, attached are processes, procedures, accelerators, etc. as to how to achieve.
• Activities & Tasks: Descriptions of Work Items which have to be performed in the Project, attached are processes, procedures, accelerators, etc. as to how to perform.
• Milestones / Quality Gates: Check points with associated procedures and criteria which must be satisfied before subsequent steps in the Project can be started.
• Roles: Who is necessary in the Project, who is responsible for what.

The Implementation Roadmaps are your means of navigation for the successful Implementation such as initial, upgrade, extension of software solutions. The Implementation Roadmaps are a clear path through the Methodology Content and Toolset identifying the Processes, Procedures, Tools, Accelerators, Contents etc which should be used and the order of usage to meet a particular predefined challenge.

The different Roadmaps Types are Implementation Roadmap, Global Template Roadmap, Upgrade Roadmap and Solution Management Roadmap.

• Implementation Roadmap: Implementation Roadmap for Solutions provides the methodological framework for the project team to leverage in the implementation of a solution. It covers, among other things, the necessary project management, requirements gathering, design, configuration of business processes, technical implementation, test procedures, training and organization change management.

In this roadmap deliverables represent the main objects within a project. Each deliverable then provides outline of the Outputs components creating the deliverable and relevant Methods that represent the activities and tasks the project team conducts.

• Global Template Roadmap: The Global Template Roadmap describes how to organize and how to run a project in which a corporate template is developed. The Global Template Roadmap is geared to more complex implementation or harmonization projects, typically involving more than one kind of solution, and a variety of sites, possibly in different countries. The corporate template is rolled out to other sites in a follow-up project.
• Upgrade Roadmap: Upgrade Roadmap is designed to help you carry out the customizing activities required for an upgrade. These customizing activities are essential if you want to continue to use the same functions in your business application components after an upgrade.
• Solution Management Roadmap: The Solution Management Roadmap provides a methodology for the implementation of the technical infrastructure and its operation. The Solution Management Roadmap complements the Implementation Roadmap.

Each phase has a set of deliverables that are produced during the duration of the phase and serve as the input to follow-up phases. Each deliverable provides list of Outputs it consist of and Methods that are used to produce the deliverable.

The individual phases of the Implementation Roadmap are:

• Project Preparation: In the Project Preparation phase the project formally initiated and planning well under way.
• Business Blueprint: In the Business Blueprint phase the project team gathers requirements and conducts conceptual design of the solution.
• Realization: In the Realization phase the system solution is built and integration tested, end users trained.
• Final Preparation: In the Final Preparation phase the authorization to cut over to new system solution is done.
• Go Live and Support: In the Go Live and Support phase the solution confirmation and project closure is done.

What are the phases of Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1 - Project Preparation

The Project Preparation includes Change Charter and preparation of the Goals, objectives of org. change management.

• Project Plan - This is a first cut focusing on milestones and Work Packages. Details to come.
• Scope - Sets the initial definition of the project; input from sales cycle.
• Project Team Organization - Sets the who of the project. Standards & Procedures - Sets the why and how
  of the project.

Phase 2 - Business Blueprint

Requirements are reviewed for each Reference Structure & defined. The Business Blueprint is the output of the Q&Adb and is the key document in.

Phase 3 - Realization

The Realization phase includes Master Lists preparation which define business scenarios and transactions to be realized in the system.

• The Business Process Procedures representing the transactions; used for unit testing & documentation.
• Solution Planning which defines how the configuration will be done and how it will be tested.
• The Development Programs provides details of the external programming requirements.
• Training Material - End User training material and process documentation.

Phase 4 - Final Preparation

The Final Preparation phase includes Stress & Volume Tests, Cut Over Plan, and Training.

• Stress & Volume Tests - Plans for confirming the production hardware’s capabilities.
• Cut Over Plan - The details of how to move to the production environment and go live.
• Training - Delivery of the necessary levels of training prior to going live.

Phase 5 - Go Live & Support

The Go Live & Support phase ensure system performance through monitoring and feedback.