Transcript Ariba Application Upgrade Best Practices

Ariba 9r1 Best Practices
Rob Steinberg
Account Manager
November 3, 2009
A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009
9r1 Upgrade Lessons Learned
Best Practices
 Plan The “Whole” Project
 General Process Changes – model/test scenarios in the application,
plan approach, and communicate!
 Redesigned Module/Feature Impact
 Test Scripts (refresh/rewrite implications)
 Allow sufficient time for both testing AND fixing of issues
 Resource need (both functional and technical)
 Build out a 9r1 Demo environment
 Perform hardware assessments early
 If updated hardware is recommended, get the process started early
 Ariba can give you guidelines, but the specifics will need to come from
your hardware vendor
 If upgrading hardware, upgrade Development, Testing and Production
hardware
 Realize that you will have many environments running at the same time
• Production Support – 8.2 / 4r4 Dev & QA
• Upgrade Project – 9r1 Dev, QA and Mock Cutover
A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009
9r1 Upgrade Lessons Learned
Best Practices
 Plan your review of the new functionality
 Things have changed in the user interface
 Don’t wait until system testing / UAT to manage this change
 Delta training (technical and functional) is available
 Admin staff needs to understand architectural changes and
administrative differences
 Understand your customizations
 Make sure Ariba has all documentation related to your
customizations (and you have test scenarios)
 Further testing (on-site) should be anticipated before end
users are granted access to the system
 Manage code/configuration changes during the upgrade
A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009
9r1 Upgrade Lessons Learned
Best Practices
 Dedicate resources to upgrade test scripts early
 Demo environment will be critical here
 Incorporate different testing groups
 Core Team
 Power Users
 Reduce / Eliminate other responsibilities of testers during the time scheduled
for testing
 Execute your comprehensive test plan
 Make sure your test cycle for both System Test and UAT contains time to resolve the
issues
 Complete test cases should exist for both your basic functionality and your
customizations
 Expect more than one mock cutover
 There are too many moving parts to get this 100% the first time
 There will be multiple iterations of the cutover process to ensure a clean execution
during go-live weekend
A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009
Don’t Forget the Users
Change Management
 Involve the Users
 User Advisory Committee
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Set expectations
Select the members wisely
Involve in User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
 Communication is Key
 Well laid out communication plan
 Overview session
 Positive Outcomes
 Reduction in post go-live support
 Hoping for increased user adoption
A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009
Don’t Forget The Users
Communication Plans
Article in Quarterly eNewsletter
Brown Bag meetings
Administrator presentations
Hands-on Overview Sessions
Lecture Style Overview Sessions
Customized Overview Sessions for key depts.
Key announcements on websites
Announcement on Company Portal
A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009
This is Spend Management
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A R I B A® C O N F I D E N T I A L
2009