09 Ace 2010 Aras Implementation Best Practices

2010 International Conference

Implementation Best Practices
Implementation Best Practices
How to Plan and Implement a phased rollout

Mark Beaulieu
300 Brickstone Square
www.aras.com Suite 904
Andover, MA 01810
Andover, MA 01810
[978] 691‐8900
www.aras.com

Copyright © 2010 Aras All Rights Reserved. aras.com

Agenda

Methodology Overview
Why is it a good fit for Innovator
Tools to help
Use cases
Check lists
Project Plans
Final thoughts
Questions

Copyright © 2010 Aras All Rights Reserved. Slide 2 aras.com

Aras Methodology Overview

Based on Rational Unified Process (RUP)
Designed to use the “Small Win” approach
Take a well defined problem(s) and implement with
less risk and a higher degree of confidence
Implement a series of Production releases that
comprise the complete solution
Each release provides value to the business
Scope each release to be completed in 60‐90 days


A little about RUP
Designed to use an iterative approach to solution development
Well defined but not a concrete prescriptive process
Provides an adaptable implementation process framework
Intended to be tailored by selecting the elements that meet your needs
Based on Best Practices of software development
Develop Iteratively, risk is the primary iteration driver
Manage Requirements and scope
Manage Requirements and scope
Continuously verify quality
Control Changes
Manage customization

All this leads to improved quality and better predictability
All hi l d i d li db di bili


Iterative Development
The RUP lifecycle

Business value is delivered incrementally in
time‐boxed cross‐discipline iterations

Inception Phase
Decide what to do
Primary Objectives:
Scope the system adequately
Validate initial costing and budget estimates
Activities
Establish Business Case and high level Req’s
bli h i C d hi h l l ’
High level (cloud) Use Cases
Project Plan and Initial Risk Assessment
Project Plan and Initial Risk Assessment
Milestones:
Stakeholder concurrence on scope, cost, and risk
Stakeholder concurrence on scope cost and risk
Initial requirements defined (not a lot of detail)
j
Project Plan concurrence and is realistic
Business case makes sense

Elaboration Phase
Plan the details
Primary Objectives:
Improve requirements and validate
End to End skeleton
Activities
Requirements elaboration & Use Cases
Design Workshops
Visual prototypes & user validation
Milestones:
Req’ & Use Cases identified and 80% complete
Project Plan refined, cost & risk are managed
Detailed plans for next iterations in place

Construction Phase
Build it
Primary Objectives:
Build the system
End to End skeleton
Activities
Behavioral Prototypes
Data Migration
Unit test
Milestones:
Solution is acceptable to deploy
Stakeholders are near ready to deploy
Project Plan refined, cost & risk are managed

Transition Phase
Deploy it
Primary Objectives:
Move the system to production
Training & fine tuning
Activities
End user training
Documentation
Full system test (production environment)
Milestones:
Solution & documentation is ready to deploy
System is functional in production


RUP Disciplines
Business Modeling
The goal is to describe the vision of the end
g
user (business) in a way that can be
understood by others (developers)
Requirements
The goal is to elicit, document, and agree
upon the scope of what is and what is not to
th f h ti d h ti tt
be built
Analysis and Design
Analysis and Design
The goal is to analyze the requirements for
y g
the system and to design a solution to be
implemented, taking into consideration the
requirements and constraints

RUP Disciplines

Implementation
The goal is to transform the design into a solution and to
perform a basic level of testing
Test
The goal is to perform an objective evaluation to ensure
quality. This includes finding defects, validating that system
quality This includes finding defects validating that system
works as designed, and verifying that the requirements are
met
Deployment
The goal is to plan for the delivery of the system and to
execute the plan to make the system available to end users


RUP Disciplines

Change Management
The goal is to manage access to the project’s work
products. This includes not only tracking versions over
g g g g
time but also controlling and managing changes to them
Project Management
The goal is to direct the activities that take place on the
The goal is to direct the activities that take place on the
project. This includes managing risks, directing people
(assigning tasks, tracking progress, etc.), and coordinating
with people and systems outside the scope of the project
ith l d t t id th f th j t
to be sure that it is delivered on time and within budget


OK, GREAT !
,
Now how does this apply to Aras Innovator


RUP Best Practices
How they fit with Aras Innovator
Develop iteratively
Its always best to know all the requirements up front but
y q p
this is not reality
Don’t spend an inordinate amount of time upfront on
requirements and design w/o user validation
requirements and design w/o user validation
Model a little, test a little & repeat
Its what Aras Innovator is good at
g
Manage Requirements
Always keep in mind the requirements set by the users
y p q y
Model visually
Use diagrams and mock ups
Its what Innovator does

RUP Best Practices
How they fit with Innovator

Use Components
Break down large projects into manageable pieces
Item reuse is a big plus
Again, this is what Aras Innovator does
Verify Quality
Always make testing a major part of the project
Control Change
Insure changes are synchronized and verified constantly
Move packages from Dev QA Prod


A project example
Aras Innovator Product Engineering

Project Requirements
Parts and documents should be managed
Bill of Material management
Implement a change management process
Load Parts, BoMs and Documents from a legacy system
Interface to a legacy system for part/bom transfer
I f l f /b f
Develop user documentation
Develop training and train users
D l t i i dt i


RUP in an Aras Project


Making Iterations work
Things to think about

Work does not proceed entirely serial
This is not a waterfall approach
Work is done in a serial fashion but you don’t need
to finalize a discipline before moving on to the next
fi li di i li b f i h
Address some requirements, analyze, develop and go back
Iterations should be planned according to risk
Higher priority risks first
Near term iterations are planned in more detail
Longer term items may change in scope, etc
Doesn’t mean that longer term items are not planned


PLANNING YOUR IMPLEMENTATION
Who, What & How


Who do you need
Role
R l Responsibility
R ibilit
Project Manager • Direct Implementation resources
• Manage project schedules
• Track Status
Track Status
• Resolve conflicts and issues
Business Process Owner(s) • Provide project priorities and objectives
p p
• Direct participation of resources
• Resolve business process issues
Subject Matter Experts • Communicate current process
• Provide information details
• Support user community during rollout
I.T. System Support • Support site infrastructure
• Extract legacy data
• P id t h i l
Provide technical expertise
ti

Solution Architect • Analyze requirements
g pp
• Configure application
Technical Consultant • Develop customizations
• Provide technical expertise

How to approach it
Divide and Conquer
Divide implementation into phases
Preferably phases that provide business values and can be
yp p
deployed independently
Build a plan for each phase
Choose goals for each phase and make sure you address items
Choose goals for each phase and make sure you address items
with importance or high risk sooner
Divide phases into high level use cases (Clouds)
Each case deals with a separate business process
Its OK if use cases overlap
Divide cloud use cases
Di id l d
Detail each use case from a user perspective (sea level)
These will likely be developed iteratively
These will likely be developed iteratively


What you need
Work Products

Statement of Work (SoW)
All our projects have one
All j t h
Project Plan
Usually included with SoW
Usually included with SoW
Continuously refined at each phase
Other documents
Other documents
Use Cases
Requirements ocument
Requirements Document
Functional Spec (if required)
Meeting Minutes/ Issues list
Checklists and worksheets

Some things you can use
Worksheets


Use Cases

A good reference
Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn
You will likely write 2 types of use cases
High level (Clouds)
Detailed (Sea Level)
Use Cases are the foundation for many other items
Documentation and training material
Test plans


Use Cases
A Sample Sea Level Use Case

Explains how the system and end user interact


Final Thoughts
Dos and Don’ts

DO
Create visual prototypes and get user validation before
developing any method code
Develop accurate Use Cases and keep them up to date
Develop accurate Use Cases and keep them up to date
Look for “Small Wins” that provide business value
DON T
DON’T
Spend a significant amount of time developing specs w/o
prototyping the solution
prototyping the solution
Worry about not getting 100% of the detailed
requirements up front: Iterate !


THANK YOU
Questions?

Contact
Mark Beaulieu
mbeaulieu@aras.com


09 Ace 2010 Aras Implementation Best Practices

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