Project Phases in an Implementation & Implementation Strategies

There is a large, and constantly growing, proportion of business application software in the entire application portfolio) and more and more decisions are being taken on the basis of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which incorporates license fees, as well as implementation and operating costs.

Also greater demands are being placed on IT to react more flexibly and securely to strategic challenges: new, international markets, stagnant demand, greater market transparency due to the Internet, lower customer loyalty rates, and technological innovations.

The five project phases are characterized by the following end products and corresponding activities:

• Preliminary Project: This phase includes the business plan, selection of overall concept and product.
• Project Preparation: The project preparation phase includes overall vision of the solution, securing the technical requirements, procuring and installing hardware and software, compiling and organizing the team, if required, initial team training, clarifying, imparting and realizing project objectives.
• Business Blueprint: The Business Blueprint phase includes compiling and defining the target status of the business processes concerned, technically precise concept, installing the development system.
• Realization: The Realization phase includes configuring the application, if necessary, performing modifications, installing a quality assurance system, ongoing integration and functional tests, installing the live system, system documentation.
• Final Preparation: The Final Preparation phase includes the data migration, load tests, adjustments, preparing and conducting user training, setting up support infrastructure (for example, help desk), user documentation.

The five different phases from the project start until the live date each require on average between 2 and 4 months. Whereas some of these phases were carried out in strict succession, in other projects they overlapped. Sometimes the Project Preparation and Business Blueprint phases overlapped, other times the Realization and Final Preparation phases.

The transition between the preliminary project and the actual implementation project was usually more clear cut often marked by a separate kick-off as was the transition between the Business Blueprint and the Realization phase.

What are the Implementation Strategies

• Big bang strategy: The big bang strategy, that is, all modules “go live” immediately.
• Roll-out strategy: The Roll-out modules go live successively according to organizational units. Often, these
  are regional companies, production sites, and so on
• Function-oriented strategy: The Function-oriented introduction strategy whereby one module goes live in all operational units, for example, sales goes live in all countries at the same time, but the marketing module will go live in these countries at a later date.
• Process-oriented strategy: The Process-oriented introduction whereby all components that are required for a particular business process go live, for example, all functions in sales and in marketing that are required for lead management.

What are the different Industries

• Processing industry: Processing industry includes chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, steel, pulp and paper.
• High tech industry: High tech industry includes IT hardware and software, electronics, telecommunications suppliers, aviation and astronautics, as well as the armaments industry.
• Automotive and mechanical engineering industry: The Automotive and mechanical engineering industry includes automotive suppliers and producers, as well as all types of mechanical engineering and plant construction.
• Production: This is a collective category for all other companies that are not service providers, including producers of building materials, timber, furniture and furnishings, textiles, packaging materials, food, watches and jewelry.
• Financial and corporate services Industry: The Financial and corporate services Industry includes banks, insurance companies, management and IT consultancy firms, in addition to IT service providers.
• Infrastructure services: Infrastructure services includes utilities, providers of telecommunications, media and logistics Services.
• Public sector industry: Public sector industry includes all institutions that are under state control, in so far as they are not assignable to other sector groups in respect of content.