Our Services

PROJECT GOVERNANCE

Training

Three types of training are typically conducted during projects:

• Core Team Training – Training for the Core Client Project Team on basic understanding and usage of the Microsoft Business Central and RPM functionality. The Core Team training will support the “Train the Trainer” approach to deploying a solution. This training will focus on building application competency in the core team members so that the core team will be able to conduct the “End User Training” prior to the project “GoLive.” The Core Team training is only one component of building application competency, and it must be supplemented with appropriate and consistent “hands-on the system” by the Core Team members. The ClientProject Team will also be trained on the implementation tools provided by Suite Engine. This training will focus on the proper methods to create and manage test cases and uses.
• Integrations and Interfaces – During the Alignment Phase of the project, the interface list will be validated and updated. Any additional interfaces surfaced during the Alignment Phase will be reviewed and approved by the project Steering Committee and will be managed through the Change Management process at the end of the Alignment phase.
• Data Migration – During the Mobilization Phase of this project, Suite Engine will assist the client in creating a data migration strategy and will provide recommendations and/or advice on the client’s data migration efforts. All other data migration activities other than the migration strategy are the responsibility of the client. Suite Engine is not responsible for data integrity; the data integrity responsibility belongs to the client.

PROJECT GOVERNANCE

Acceptance Management

At specified milestones throughout the project, Suite Engine will submit completed project Service Deliverables for the Client’s review and approval. Service Deliverables will fall into the following categories:

• Document Deliverables (e.g., Word, Excel, Monday.com)
• Functioning Components or Solution Deliverables (e.g., custom source code).

The Client’s use or partial use of a Service Deliverable will constitute acceptance of that Service Deliverable. The client may provide their acceptance and/or rejection of deliverables electronically via email. The following details the acceptance process for each of the deliverable types.

• Accept the Document Deliverable by signing, dating, and returning the Service Deliverable Acceptance Form, or
• Provide a written notice rejecting the Document Deliverable, including a single and complete list describing every reason for rejection.

• Document Deliverables shall be deemed accepted unless the Client provides a timely, written rejection notice as described above.
• Suite Engine will correct problems with a Document Deliverable that are identified in the written rejection notice, as described above, and within the scope of this Statement of Work, after which the Document Deliverable will be deemed accepted. Issues that are outside the scope of this Statement of Work and feedback provided after a Document Deliverable has been deemed accepted will be addressed as a potential change of scope pursuant to the Change Management process outlined in this SOW.

Functioning Components or Solution Deliverable(s): The functioning solution is typically comprised of configured commercial software and custom source code and associated objects. Review and acceptance of the solution or custom source code.

PROJECT GOVERNANCE

Our project governance framework defines the key decision makers, communication protocols in respect of day-to-day task completion, reporting, and the cyclical progress reporting mechanism available to the whole project team to gauge where we are in the project lifecycle. Additional details will be provided in each SOW.

Communications Plan

The following is used to provide formal communication during the project:

• The Suite Engine Project Manager and consultants, working in conjunction with the client will compile weekly status reports for distribution to both the client and Suite Engine Management.
• Weekly status meetings will be held to review the overall project status, the acceptance of deliverables, the project schedule, and open issues.
• In addition, a comprehensive Communications Plan will be jointly developed by the Client and Suite Engine in order to outline the following information:
• Project Narrative
  • Project Team Structure
  • Project Contacts
• Information Tracking and Reporting
  • Status Reporting
  • Weekly Invoicing
  • Tasks
  • Weekly Touch Points Meetings
  • Deliverables
  • Decisions
  • Issue & Risk Management
  • Actions
• Changes
• Executive Steering Committee
• Project Escalation Process
• Calendar of Meetings and Reports

PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH

Our Implementation Methodology provides Suite Engine with a competitive advantage that supports accelerated deployment and increases the quality of implementations. We deliver on time and within budget with increased client satisfaction. Our methodology turns away from requirements-driven implementation to “industry best practice” that leverages our accumulated knowledge gathered from past projects and turned it into our methodology that is always updated. Our pre-configured drop-in product provides our clients with a fast-track approach to implementations that are repeatable, low-risk, and easy on a dealer’s resources.

Our implementation focuses on our clients having direct experience with the entire process at every level.  This drives value that is really seen at “Go-Live” when our clients are well-prepared and trained.  They are ready to assume responsibility and control of the new system, business processes, and administrative responsibilities to make “going live” a non-event.

With our methodology, we have the framework to control and manage each step of the project process. Our disciplined project control processes will guide the implementation through each phase and provide our clients and consultant with the tools they require effectively manage and reach target dates and budgets.  Adherence to an approach like this, which is proven to deliver projects on time and avoid unnecessary risk to a client’s business, is a professional philosophy that all Suite Engine consultants, project managers, and principals rely upon.

Almost all of our project activities have an element that considers eliminating or mitigating risk.  We strive to ensure that our consulting, project management and technical teams work with our clients to actively consider the potential risks of any design or implementation strategy.  As a result, our project teams are well-prepared to minimize unanticipated and manage any issues as we progress through each phase.

ADHERENCE TO FUNCTIONALITY 

The initial analysis of our pre-configured functionality is performed in our Alignment Phase to confirm that all relevant functions are being utilized before the development of custom solutions. Leveraging existing tools from our solution can create substantial time and cost savings and limit excess resource utilization.

Benefits of Adherence to Pre-Configured Functionality

• Creates baseline processes for core functionality needs
• Provides pre-configured solutions for rapid deployment to all relevant stakeholders
• Allows for quick market deployment with limited risk as a result of prior testing and validation processes
• Establishes a standard set of processes for core functionality across departments and minimizes post-go-live support

The business process must focus on aligning existing processes to the capabilities and leading practices that exist within our solution. Likewise, this will mean leveraging the embedded processes of the software to standardize processes across all departments. Leveraging the embedded processes and conducting the business process re-engineering effort can reduce the likelihood of forcing existing processes into our solution.

Our clients must thoroughly understand the time, cost, resource use, and risk associated with custom development. Deviating from our business processes through customization can impact the future costs of maintenance and upgrades, negatively impact ongoing application support, and reduce the ability to take advantage of future enhancements offered by the software vendor.

IMPLEMENTATION TOOLKIT

Our methodology comes with a robust Implementation Toolkit that will jump-start the implementation process. Each process is designed to accelerate deployment while keeping a focus on controlling the overall project scope and minimizing customizations. Our goal is to keep the project on time and within budget. Our Toolkit includes:

• Pre-Configuration Environment – that provides a workable system utilizing Microsoft’s Rapid Start functionality to create an environment that we have implemented for other equipment dealers.
• Data Migration Template – predefined data Configuration Packages that will point our clients in the right direction.
• Security Roles & Permissions Template – We’ve mapped out business processes and tasks and have Identified Roles that are responsible for performing each task within each business process.
• Detailed Project Plan Skeleton – utilizing Monday.com we have identified tasks to help manage the implementation
• Project Portals – Suite Engine utilizes Monday.com for each implementation project to effectively manage all aspects of a project.

PHASES

Mobilization Phase

Project Mobilization is a key management engaging activity that will provide a clear understanding of the project management standards by which the implementation will be governed. This also serves as an opportunity to unite the team behind a common vision and to prepare them in the best viable way for the engagement that lies ahead.

A key initial task in this activity is conducting the planning, identification, and assignment of initial human resources for the project. Detailed planning will occur once the project plan is further established and confirmed in the Alignment Phase. But it is important to commence human resource planning against the identified roles as early as possible to avoid potential delays to the project due to experience, availability, and capacity of resources.

The client’s preparation for the Implementation Kick-Off includes conducting Project Mobilization Meetings with senior management and the core team to review the Project Plan. Review of the Implementation Phases, Tasks, Deliverables, and Discussion of critical success factors such as level expectations and uniting the team behind a common vision.

The team will gain a comprehensive view of the background of the project, the business reasons for undertaking the implementation, and any other valuable information regarding Business Processes as well as Integration and Interface requirements. The team will also have a good understanding of the current Information Technology landscape, as well as the short- and long-term IT strategies.

Finally, the skill sets of the proposed team will be reviewed to ensure that all skill requirements are met. Any additional skills required should be noted, and a training and/or recruitment plan should be defined accordingly.

The deliverables for the Project Mobilization Phase of the project are as follows:

• Deliver Business Central and RPM and Introduce the Preconfigured Environment
• Client access to the Monday.com site
• Review the High-Level Project Plan and Timeline
• Review Data Migration Requirement
• Begin Task Assignment
• Review requirements for Preconfigured environment

Alignment Phase

The Alignment phase represents the official start of the implementation for the entire project team. The project will begin with the project managers working together to finalize project schedules and prepare for the project kick-off presentation with the core team. The Alignment phase is initiated with planning sessions designed to validate the project vision, scope, and objectives. In addition, the sessions cover the schedule, milestones, resources, roles and responsibilities, deliverables, and communications with the Executive Sponsors.

Following the Project Kick-off meeting, the functional consultants conduct agile, 30-day sprint, business process workshops to document and model the Suite Engine RPM pre-configured business processes. The validation of the future state processes is formally documented in Monday.com along with all significant gaps which could impact the timeline or budget. In the rapid project implementation gaps and subsequent changes will be minimal. A series of agile 30-day sprint workshops will be used to conduct iterative sessions.

The Process Workshops review the pre-configured business process and process flows proposed to be adopted by the client. Several related sub-processes may be grouped together to form a workshop. Functional requirements are validated, and gaps are identified. In a rapid implementation, there will be minimal updates to the Scope Document based on the workshop findings. The core project team will begin reviewing the provided feature unit test scripts and documenting any client-specific user stories to support the business requirements associated with the processes covered in the workshop.

The consultant demonstrates the business process back to the workshop teams. The client team provides feedback and potential issues are documented with respect to how processes are required to work. The core team members are expected to participate hands-on in the solution executing the base business transactions being covered during the workshops.

Any identified potential issues or gaps between business needs and the standard solution are documented including possible workarounds and business impact. The Core Project Team members will edit and document the feature unit tests associated with the processes covered. Each requirement must be linked to a step in the sub-process. A single process step may have one or many requirements. The Core Project Team will be responsible for updating/changing the Visio process models if desired.

The deliverables for the Alignment Phase of the project are as follows:

• Business Process Analysis Sessions
• Data Migration
• Configuration Package
• Security Training, Job Role Definition

Execution Phase

The goal of the Execution Phase is to define how to implement the business requirements. The phase includes configuration of the overall software and the design of specific customizations that are necessary to satisfy business requirements identified and approved by the Project Steering Committee during the Alignment Phase. As this is a rapid implementation, the customizations will be minimal or non-existent and thus the Execution lifecycle is significantly reduced. The customizations can range from simple user interface or report modifications. This phase also includes activities to design the integrations and interfaces and data migration elements that are required to support the requirements. The Execution Phase builds on the previous Alignment Phase by acting on the deliverables that result from the requirements workshops conducted for each cross phase.

Sprint Cycle Testing is a key activity during the Execution Phase. The repetition and learning associated with this activity will build application competency among the client core project team members. For all gaps, there will be a “Business Case” document that outlines the gaps and is presented to the Steering Committee for approval or defined as an “After Go-Live” review. A Functional Requirements Document (FRD) may be completed by the Suite Engine development team for complex modifications. This is done at the determination of the Suite Engine Solution Architect.

The deliverables for the Execution Phase of the project are as follows:

• Data Migration
• Production Setup / Configuration
• Security Role Refinement
• Training the Trainers

Deployment Phase

The Deployment phase is where all the efforts of the project team come together for a successful transition to the new solution. Key activities in this phase include User Acceptance Testing, and End User Training as well as the actual move to the new production environment.

The Deployment Phase involves ongoing project management activities to manage risks and issues, communications, change requests, and project plan updates. The Deployment Plan that was initiated in the Design Phase is finalized and approved by the client. This plan forms the basis of the deployment or cutover tasks that need to be managed before go-live.

Any training guides or materials are prepared and finalized by the client’s core project team members and end-user training sessions are planned and given. Suite Engine Consultants will support the End User Training preparation but the primary responsibility for all End User Training activities is that of the client’s core project team members. Final User Acceptance Testing (UAT) can be conducted. Upon successful completion of UAT by Key Users, a business go/no-go decision is made on whether to proceed with the go-live or to defer until any critical issues are resolved. User Acceptance Testing must be conducted on migrated data and complete security setups. The deliverables for the Deployment Phase of the project are as follows:

• Ongoing project management activities
• The deployment plan is finalized and approved by the client
• Final User Acceptance Testing
• A Go/No-Go-Live
• End User Training
• Go-Live Checklist
• Final Data Migration
• Go-Live

Another parallel activity that is performed upon completion of UAT is the initial data load into production by the data migration team. If necessary, after the initial load is complete, periodic batch loads may be executed to load ongoing data from legacy systems.

Operation Phase

The Operation Phase defines the activities that are required to close the project and provide postproduction support. Key objectives of this phase include providing post-go-live support, transitioning the solution to production support, performing a final quality audit, and providing project closure. The functional and technical team will hand off the resources that are required to provide post-go-live support and resolve any issues that arise out of deployment to the user base. The deliverables for the Operation Phase of the project are as follows:

• Transitioning the Solution to the Suite Engine Support Team
• Ensure all Phase II Requirements are Documented
• Project Closure