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BearingPoint's Upgrade Playbook: Align Business Strategy with Technology Adoption
Two important editions of Oracle's procurement applications that are targeted for availability in 2007—Oracle Advanced Procurement 12.0 and Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Supplier Relationship Management 9.0 (see related stories in this issue)—are expected to propel users to upgrade to new (or recent) versions of Oracle procurement suites.
But according to Bhargavi Kosaraju, senior manager in the strategic sourcing and procurement solutions practice at BearingPoint, the global technology consulting company, just completing the technical steps required to install a new version of software doesn't guarantee business success. To boost the odds of getting all possible benefits, companies should develop a broad upgrade strategy that assures a smooth transition to the new capabilities.
Rather than focusing only on new features or technology, companies should develop a broader strategy that aligns technology changes with business process. Kosaraju advises clients to perform four key preupgrade steps.
- Conduct a formal impact analysis. Organize ongoing, formal discussions between IT, procurement, and line-of-business managers to identify the impact that the application upgrade will have on the overall procurement system and any applications that will interface with the new software. Determine if any of the associated applications are also slated for near-term revisions. "If so, decide if it makes sense to do one entire upgrade of all the applications or separate upgrades as each new version comes out," Kosaraju says.
Next on the impact-analysis list is business processes. Highlight any business practices that will be modified and make sure staff members receive proper training. "Even a small change in the look of a familiar screen can throw some people off," Kosaraju warns.
Finally, document any previous customizations to the core application to avoid incompatibilities.
- Get buy-in from suppliers and distributors. Change management is important when it comes to integrating partners with changes to procurement applications and processes. "The key is communication," Kosaraju says, "so everyone can prepare for the eventual switchover."
- Solicit your technology vendor's input. In addition to obvious questions about costs and standard support policies, organizations should ask their procurement software vendor about implementation best practices that it has learned from other customers. "Ask the vendor what it has seen at other clients," Kosaraju explains. "I would expect my software vendor, especially one that's seen global implementations, to provide advice and even have a seat at the table during planning and impact discussions," she adds.
- Conduct prelaunch testing. A pilot project can identify unanticipated problems in the communication between the core application and related programs. Testing also provides a reality check to make sure end-users are satisfied with the revisions. This helps avoid what Kosaraju calls "disconnects" between the technology and business users who find out too late that the new system won't meet their needs.
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