Small Business Cloud ERP Implementation Guide:

Transcription

1 Small Business Cloud ERP Implementation Guide: Including the Major Differences between Implementing an ERP vs. Implementing an Accounting System VersAccounts Best Practices Series White Paper Contact Us: North America: Europe: Discuss This Whitepaper at VersAccounts By: Sunil Pande, CEO VersAccounts Limited sunil.pande@versaccounts.com This White Paper is for informational purposes only. VERSACCOUNTS MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS WHITE PAPER. VersAccounts cannot be responsible for errors in typography or photography. Copyright 2014 VersAccounts Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of VersAccounts Limited is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact VersAccounts. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. October 2014 Page 1 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

2 Contents A Personal Message... 4 Market Overview Types of Small Business Software Systems... 6 Small Business ERP vs Basic Accounting - We're Not in Kansas Anymore STEP I - Plan Kickoff Meeting Product Demonstration Requirements Finalization Solution Finalization Project Plan STEP II Data Extract & Transformation Map Data Extract Data Clean and Correct Data Transform Data STEP III Sandbox System Overview Setup & Test Load Data Configure & Customize Product Training for Testing Testing and Validating STEP IV - Training Standard Product Training STEP V Production System Setup & Test Load Data Configure & Customize Import Open Transactions Import Closing Balances Smoke Test & Validate Sign-off STEP VI Go-Live Go-Live Monitoring & Tuning Cut Over Implementation Options From Load-N-Go to Enterprise Class Load-N-Go Implementation Option October 2014 Page 2 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

3 Load-N-Go Plus, Implementation Option Simple, Implementation Option Standard, Implementation Option Implementation Process Comparison Final Thoughts on Small Business ERP October 2014 Page 3 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

4 Section 1 A Personal Message Dear Prospective Customer: Thanks for downloading and reading this VersAccounts Best Practices Whitepaper. My name is Sunil Pande and I am the CEO of VersAccounts, a 21 century born in the cloud business software company that offers a 100% Mobile Cloud ERP system to Small and Medium Sized (SMBs) Businesses globally. With over 20 years each invested in developing and delivering business software to a broad spectrum of Customers from global Fortune 500 companies to small micro businesses, my team and I at VersAccounts have developed definite ideas around what works and what does not. How things should be and how they should not. This Whitepaper like VersAccounts is a result of these learnings. In our minds it is out with the old ways of doing business and in with the new. Implementing Heritage ERP software has traditionally been a confusing, difficult, and exhausting experience. VersAccounts wants to change that. This White Paper in the VersAccounts Best Practices series has been written to give business software buyers like you a good idea of what you should expect, in fact demand with respect to implementing a Small Business ERP system. Our goal with this Whitepaper, which is part of the VersAccounts Best Practices Series, is to make that process of selecting, buying, implementing, and using the software you need shorter, simpler, October 2014 Page 4 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

5 more enjoyable, less stressful and ultimately less expensive than it might be otherwise. Of course, this not an entirely selfless exercise. While I promise that the Whitepaper will not be a shameless advertisement for VersAccounts, that the contents will actually be useful to you, I do want to hear from you if you are in the market for an ERP system for your small or medium size business. We know that VersAccounts is a great solution for many SMBs across the globe, and we hope you will consider evaluating it for your business as well. I would also like to hear from you on what you thought of this Whitepaper and how it could be improved in the next revision. Please join the discussion at VersAccounts Finally if you are already considering an Accounting or ERP solution other than VersAccounts and would like to discuss a particular issue related to that purchase feel free to give me a call. I will be happy to spend 15 minutes on the phone and give you my point-of-view and make a friend. I promise not to try and change your mind or derail your plans. Regards Sunil sunil.pande@versaccounts.com Phone: Ext 701 October 2014 Page 5 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

6 Section 2 Market Overview Types of Small Business Software Systems The market for Business Management Software for Small and Medium (SMBs) sized businesses has traditionally been seen in terms of the following market segments: Entry Level Accounting Small Business Enterprise Accounting Mid-Market ERP The Traditional View of Business Software Market Products like QuickBooks and Sage 50 serve the larger businesses in the Entry Level Accounting market, while the smaller ones are serviced by newcomers like QuickBooks Online, Wave, Zoho, and Zero. October 2014 Page 6 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

7 Entry Level Accounting products are usually purchased by SMBs when they are starting out. All they need at that stage is a simple software package to manage the company s finances GL, AR, AP. The price of Entry Level Accounting products range between $600 per year for 1 user, to $15K for 25 users. As these businesses grow, they find they need software that supports more users, and more of their operational needs across the business. Maybe they need Inventory Management. Maybe it is support for more complicated Pricing Policies. These needs can sometimes be met by the Enterprise or Quantum versions of products like QuickBooks, and Sage 50. At other times integrating with a complimentary package like MiSys delivers the capabilities they need for light manufacturing. The price of Enterprise Accounting Products range between $3K for 1 user per year to $27+ K for 25 users. Beyond Enterprise Accounting, is the Mid-Market ERP market. This segment is comprised of solutions like Infor, Microsoft Dynamics and others. While the complexity of business operations supported by these products is many orders of magnitude greater than that supported by Enterprise Accounting products, so is their price. Mid-Market ERP solutions can range from $25K to start with 1-2 users to many 100s of $K to support the number of users required by medium sized business. The result has been predictable. As SMBs grow, they have little difficulty migrating from Entry Level Accounting solutions to Enterprise or Quantum versions of offerings. Usually, they don t have to learn a new package just new capabilities and the price increase while significant, is still within their reach. October 2014 Page 7 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

8 The next step up is more difficult. The complexity of the products is considerable, the migration process daunting, and most significantly the costs are almost always outside the realm of affordable. So these businesses make do. With the Accounting systems, Spreadsheets, and Manual processes. Till their Revenues catch up to the complexity of their operational needs finally allowing them to purchase and implement a so called Mid-Market ERP system. In the interim though, Spreadsheets have piled up, Workflows have gotten more complicated and awkward, Duplicate Data Entry has become pervasive, Accuracy of Data is a problem, Access to information has become harder, and Costs to run the business have increased substantially due to the inefficiencies. This is changing. Much progress [Head In the Cloud] has been made in the years since the current crop of so called Heritage Mid-Market ERP solutions were created. Agile Development techniques have been discovered. Team collaboration methods have become more efficient. Industrial strength Open Source software development tools and infrastructure has become available. Cloud infrastructure and technology removes the need for large capital investments that were previously required to deploy and operate Heritage ERP solutions. October 2014 Page 8 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

9 The result is that business system functionality that was once the exclusive domain of high-end Mid-Market ERP systems can now be delivered at the 5-10x lower price points of significantly less capable Heritage Accounting products. This is illustrated by the diagram below. The New Small Business ERP Market Segment Modern technology along with modern product development and delivery techniques have bent the Price Capability Curve dramatically downward to create the entirely new Small Business ERP market segment, a market segment within which VersAccounts is a pioneer. That is the good news. The bad news is that while 30 years of technology and product development methodology advances have brought powerful ERP functionality within the reach of more small businesses than ever before, implementing and learning how to use these advanced systems is still challenging. Definitely more challenging than the implementation and adoption of the Heritage Accounting systems that these small business have in place today ever was. How much more challenging? October 2014 Page 9 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

10 Not as much as it might take to implement a Heritage Mid-Market ERP system for sure. Thirty years of progress have ensured that. But it does take more time, and effort than a Heritage Accounting system effort nevertheless. Think of it as migrating from a bicycle to a car. You did have to go through Drivers Ed? It s the very same when you go from the experience of implementing and adopting a Heritage Accounting system, to that of rolling out VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. You do have to go through a lot more Training, Planning and finally Implementation steps October 2014 Page 10 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

11 Section 3 Small Business ERP vs Basic Accounting - We're Not in Kansas Anymore Consider the typical story of a small business owner like Julie (name changed to protect the exhausted). It was She had been running her light manufacturing job-shop cum distribution business for a few years using spreadsheets and . It was hard to continue this way. She needed an Accounting system. She asked her accountant to recommend one. Talked to friends. Everyone suggested the leading small business Accounting package. So she drove down to the mall and purchased a copy. Bought a computer as well. Her accountant came over and set it up for her. A few days of training and away she went. Selecting, implementing and learning how to use the new Accounting package took some effort. But in the end it was easy enough. Over the years the business has grown. Julie and her staff have learnt more about the different features available in their Heritage Accounting software and applied them to the business. They have found workarounds when the features did not work as they would have liked or when the needed feature did not exist at all. They have purchased additional software packages and learnt how to transfer information between packages so that they could use them together including an Inventory Management package and a Point of Sale (POS) system. They have built spreadsheets. They use to transfer files. There are manual processes in place to take care of what the software won t. Now, several years later, the Heritage Accounting system that has served them so well has to be replaced. October 2014 Page 11 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

12 Their needs have outgrown the capabilities of the basic Accounting system that they have, as well as the other systems they have connected to it. It is time to implement something more capable. More integrated. Like an ERP system. An ERP so they can get rid of those spreadsheets and manual processes that take up large amounts of time and introduce errors that are hurting the business. That are getting in the way of the company s growth. It is time to implement a comprehensive system that automates all aspects of the business in a single package. So all the information is available to everyone, from any module at any time. So mistakes are minimized. So that no one forgets what has to be done. Yet, it is not time to start over. There is no clean slate. Far from it. Implementing a new system does not mean starting from scratch like she did when she implemented the Accounting system she has now. Her business has a way of doing things that is captured in the Accounting system she has now, as well as the systems it is integrated and used with, in the manual processes that have been implemented around these systems, in the spreadsheets. These flows must be mostly preserved. Changes they make, must be for very specific reasons. Making workflows smoother. Eliminating chances of error. Automating inefficient manual processes. In fact existing ways of doing businesses must be understood and many existing workflows and business processes have to be migrated to the new system. Those that are not migrated, have to be replaced by designing and implementing new ones. Data has to be mapped and migrated as well. Testing must be done to ensure October 2014 Page 12 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

13 nothing was broken during the move. And everyone has to be retrained. Migration FROM Accounting to ERP is a considerably bigger task than migrating TO Accounting. The table below shows a typical Implementation Plan for a Small Business ERP system like VersAccounts. We will get into the details in the remaining sections of the White Paper. Timeframes for Implementation vary depending on the complexity of the Implementation as well as the availability of Customer staff. It can take as little as 2 weeks to complete an Implementation, and at VersAccounts we have also done Implementations that have taken 9+ months. Implementation Activity Start End STEP I: Plan October 6, 2014 October 31 Kickoff Meeting Product Demo for Further Requirements Collection Requirements Finalization Solution Finalization Project Plan STEP II: Data Extract & Transformation October 20 November 21 Map Data Extract Data Clean & Correct Data Transform Data STEP III: Sandbox System November 3 December 12 Setup & Test Import Data Configure Product Training for Testing Test & Validate STEP IV: Training December 15 December 26 Standard Product Training STEP V: Production System December 22 December 31 Setup & Test Import Data Configure Import Open Transactions Import Closing Balances Smoke Test & Validate Sign-off Go-Live January 1, 2015 Monitoring & Tuning Cut Over October 2014 Page 13 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

14 Section 4 STEP I - Plan Kickoff Meeting Product Demonstration The Kickoff Meeting is the official start of the Implementation Project. It is usually attended by the Implementation Team from VersAccounts as well as the Customer s Implementation Team. It is typical that the Customer does not yet understand who should be on the Implementation Team because Customers do not understand the Implementation Process yet. This is not a problem. The goal of the Kickoff Meeting is for VersAccounts Implementation Team to take the Customer through the Implementation Process in detail, and discuss how it needs to be adapted to the Customer s situation. Team members are identified and their roles discussed in the context of project tasks. Approximate timeframes for each step are discussed as well. The goal of this step is NOT to come up with an Implementation Plan, but to come up with a plan to come up with the Implementation Plan. The Kickoff Meeting can last anywhere from 1-2 hours for a simple Implementation to 4-6 hours for one that is complex. It can be a single meeting or it can be done in parts. The Kickoff Meeting usually identifies several additional Customer employees who need to be involved in the Implementation. Maybe Jill in Receiving. Maybe John in AR. Jack in Sales. It is fundamental to a successful Implementation Project that everyone who will eventually use the new VersAccounts Small October 2014 Page 14 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

15 Business Cloud ERP, or their designated representatives, be involved in the Implementation Process from the start. They should sign-off on how things will be done once the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP has been implemented. How workflows will look? What kind of reports need to be available? What Data needs to be migrated from the old Heritage Accounting system to the new? How will the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP be tested? How will cutover be accomplished? Will the old and new system operate in parallel for some period of time? Waiting to familiarize employees with the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP till just before Go-Lived is the surest way of ensuring that the Implementation will be badly received in the best case, and fail badly in the most typical. Yet this is one of the most common mistakes business system Implementation Teams make. And it is the one most easily avoidable. So, all potential users of the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP should be exposed to it as soon as possible in the Implementation Process. That is the purpose of the Product Demonstration step in the Implementation Process. During this step the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is demonstrated to all employees (or their designated functional representatives) and their input is taken. The Product Demonstration can be conducted in a single long session with all stake holders in attendance, or in multiple shorter ones sessions with smaller groups of stakeholders. Demonstrations can be conducted functional area by functional area or to cross functional teams that examine workflows like Order-to-Cash and Purchase-to-Pay together. The end result of these demonstrations vary. Additional Requirements may be identified, that need further exploration and prioritization. There may be additions to the Implementation Team. October 2014 Page 15 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

16 If so the new members need to be familiarized with the Implementation Process. The Timeframes for the Implementation may need to be changed. Besides, everything else the most important outcome of this step is buy-in by everyone in the company into the planned use of the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. By the end of this step, everyone in the company should feel like they have a strong stake in the successful Implementation of the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP, and that their voice has been heard and that their concerns will be addressed. Requirements Finalization Solution Finalization Given the almost certain expansion of the Implementation Team as a result of the Product Demonstration, and the new Requirements that came up, the next step is to explore the new Requirements in depth and finalize how they will be handled. Do nothing? Leave for after the initial Implementation is complete. Include them in the initial Implementation? What these new Requirements are and what needs to be done with them will have an impact on the Project Plan as well as Costs. It is typical that both are revisited after this step and redone. As Requirements are finalized so are the Solutions. This step is usually executed in parallel with Requirements finalization. For example it may be decided that the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP has to be changed in some way. That the change has to enumerated as a Specification that nails down the new way the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP will work. Perhaps an Integration needs to be put in. How it will work exactly may need to be specified and documented in detail as well. The final Solution Specification should provide a good idea of how roles and workflows will change once the new VersAccounts Small October 2014 Page 16 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

17 Business Cloud ERP is implemented and live, how Data will be mapped from the old system to the new etc. Everyone should have a clear idea of how the daily operations that were executed in the old system, will eventually be executed in the new one etc. Project Plan The final Implementation Project Plan can be put in place once all Requirements and how they will be fulfilled have finally been nailed down. The final Project Plan will include specific tasks, deliverables, owners, and timeframes. The Plan will not only include the Implementation of the ERP system but also changes to the ERP system, as well as Integrations and everything else that the Customer needs, to make the deployment of the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP a success. It would be important to take the view that VersAccounts as the vendor of the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is in the business of providing the Customer a whole solution of which the ERP system may only be a part. This new approach would be radically different from the one traditionally taken by Heritage Accounting and ERP software vendors where each vendor installs their software and leaves after verifying that product has been correctly implemented, regardless of the challenges the Customer may face with respect to making the aggregate of deployed systems work together as is needed to successfully support smooth business operations. October 2014 Page 17 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

18 Section 5 STEP II Data Extract & Transformation Map Data Mapping Data from the current Heritage Accounting system to the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is the next step in the Implementation. It is likely that some of the Mapping would already have been completed as part of Solution Finalization discussions in Step I. Whatever remains, must be completed now. The result of completing this step is a non-ambiguous Mapping of each Data type in the old Heritage Accounting system to one or more Data types in the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP, including transformations that may be required as part of the Mapping as well as any Custom Fields that may need to be created. Some common Data types that will need to be considered include: Chart of Accounts Customers Suppliers Categories Units of Measure Parts Services Products Fixed Assets (Open) Bills (Open) Invoices Account Balances Pricing Policies October 2014 Page 18 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

19 Extract Data Clean and Correct Data Once the Data Mapping has been completed for a Data Type it can be extracted from the existing Accounting system. Extracting the Data into.csv or.xls is the most convenient. If the Customer is unable to do the extract themselves, VersAccounts can usually assist. Extracting Data from the old Heritage Accounting system is only the first step towards migrating it to the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. Just like moving houses or offices is a good opportunity to get rid of the junk that has been piling up, moving to a new ERP system is also a good time to clean out accumulated junk Data. Junk Data we hear you say? We don t have Junk Data! Think your Data is clean? Think again? Ever entered a partial Price Quote and forgotten to delete it? Have duplicate Customer or Supplier accounts in your Heritage Accounting system? How about blank description fields for Products? Old Product Codes that are no longer in use? Data in Excel that is NOT in your Accounting system? If you have answered yes to any of the above, your Data probably needs to be Cleaned prior to Go-Live with the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP Data Cleaning can be complicated and how much Data Cleaning should be done needs to be discussed in detail during the Planning October 2014 Page 19 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

20 Transform Data Phase of the Implementation Project and the desired approach to Data Cleaning should be finalized. What is to be done with respect to Data Cleaning is as important as deciding what will not be. The key to success with respect to Data Cleaning is to involve the users who use the Data in Cleaning it. To standardize the records, validate the information, de-dupe, input missing Data, etc. Finally, where should the Data Cleaning occur? The answer depends on where and how you are able to find the Dirty Data. Some of the Data that needs to be cleaned can be identified even before you try and bring it into the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. This is accomplished by examining (sorting and searching is one method) the Excel spreadsheets you exported out of the old Heritage Accounting system that you currently use. Yet other Dirty Data will be identified for you by the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP when you try and load the Dirty Data into it. This is usually in the form of Data Import failures. Dirty Data once identified by the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP can be cleaned outside the ERP typically in Excel before it is re-imported. Finally some of the Dirty Data can only be discovered once it has been Loaded into the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. Cleaning or correction of this data will then have to be done inside the ERP. Once you have Cleaned the Data exported from your Heritage Accounting system it is time to Transform it into a Data Format that can be used to Load the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. This is usually quite simple for someone with basic Excel skills. The VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP has Standard Data October 2014 Page 20 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

21 Formats for Data to be Loaded into the system and these Loadable Data files can be created quite easily using the Data Mapping that was done earlier. October 2014 Page 21 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

22 Section 6 STEP III Sandbox System Overview Setup & Test Now that the Data from you Heritage Accounting system has been Cleaned and prepared for Loading into new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP it is time to set up a temporary instance of this system for the next step in the Implementation Process. This temporary instance of the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is commonly referred to as the Sandbox and it is setup by the VersAccounts Implementation Team. The idea is that we will use the Sandbox to experiment with Data Loading and system setup till we have it just right. This may require Resetting the Sandbox several times, Importing and Reimporting Data until we have it free of error etc. Not something you want to, or can do in the Production instance of the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP that Customer will finally use to run their business. So the Sandbox is used till the final configuration of the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is achieved and the Data in it is complete and correct. Once that is done getting the Production system up and running is relatively easy. All that is required is the transfer of configuration and customization information from the Sandbox to the Production system, as well as the Loading of the final Data files. The first step then is for VersAccounts to Setup a SandBox for the Customer. This includes creating users, setting their permissions, setting basic configuration options etc, based on how the Customer expects to use the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. October 2014 Page 22 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

23 Load Data Configure & Customize Once the Sandbox has been setup for Data Loading, VersAccounts and the Customer will start the process of importing the prepared Data into the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. Expect a large number of Data Load failures initially. In most cases this is good news. The failures occur when VersAccounts detects inconsistencies in the Data. Unpopulated fields where Data is required. Wrong Data Types. Out of Range values. These and a whole host of other problems are detected by the VersAccounts Small Business ERP system when a Data Load is attempted. Once Data errors are detected, the corresponding Data files must be examined and the issues resolved. Then the Data Load is tried again. Sometimes a Data Load corrupts the system and it is necessary to Reset it and start over. This process continues till no more Errors are found at which time we are ready to move to the next step. In parallel with Data Loading the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is also being Configured and Customized to the Customer s Usage Scenarios and specific Preferences. This includes Customizing existing Forms and Reports, and Creating new ones, as well as enabling specific Integrations if necessary. Configuring and Customization is done at the Company level as well as the level of Individual User s Preferences. Product Training for Testing With the Data loaded and the Sandbox VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP configured for use, the time to Test the Sandbox has arrived. Based on the Implementation Plan and Customer Requirements, VersAccounts will now take the Customer s Implementation Team through Training on how to Test the Sandbox VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP and ensure that it has been set up correctly. October 2014 Page 23 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

24 Testing and Validating Best Practices are shared and the Customer s Implementation Team is coached on developing a Test Plan. What should be Tested? How? Who should do it? In what order? Coordination mechanism are discussed and the Testing & Validation is started. With the Test Plan in place, the Testing and Validation is started. As Errors are found root causes are traced and the Errors fixed. It is not unusual, at this stage to find errors that require the Implementation Team to go back to the Data Extract and Transformation step and start over. It is also not unusual to find Errors at this stage and determine that they can be ignored. October 2014 Page 24 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

25 Section 7 STEP IV - Training Standard Product Training Finally with the Sandbox configured correctly and with the correct Data loaded, VersAccounts and the Customer s Implementation Team are both ready to Train all Customer employees who will be using the system. There are several approaches to Training that can be taken. Training can be over the Web or onsite face-to-face. It can be spread over several sessions or it can be done in a single session of 1 day. Training can be by Functional Area at a time, or by focusing on all the Owners of a particular Business Process at the same time. Training can also be based on Product Features or Business Workflows. VersAccounts offers Customers a choice with respect to how they would like this training to be delivered. One or all approaches can be used. The exact approach to be used is identified in the Implementation Plan and then worked on by both VersAccounts as well as the Customer Implementation Team. October 2014 Page 25 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

26 Section 8 STEP V Production System Setup & Test Load Data Configure & Customize With the Sandbox setup correctly and Training complete, very little remains to be done. The next step is to setup the Production System exactly as the Sandbox has been. This is done by the VersAccounts Implementation Team. Then the final Data files loaded into the Sandbox System are loaded into the Production System. The Production System is Configured and Customized exactly as the Sandbox System was. Once this has been done the Customer s Implementation Team can start examining the Production System to ensure that it has been setup as expected. Import Open Transactions Finally, on the day before Go-Live, open transactions (Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Invoices etc.) from the Heritage Accounting system are migrated to VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. Import Closing Balances In addition, Closing Balances are transferred to the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. October 2014 Page 26 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

27 Smoke Test & Validate Sign-off With Open Transactions, and Closing Balances migrated, all that remains is to give the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP a quick once-over to ensure that no last minute glitches have been introduced. Creating a so called Smoke Test Plan and executing it should be the collective responsibility of the end users who will use it for smaller companies, and representatives of each functional area for larger companies. Smoke Tests should take no more than an hour or two and should be performed together across the company. With Smoke Tests complete a final Sign-off is good practice. Typically a Sign-off Meeting should be called and each responsible team member should review what tests were performed, the results obtained and the recommendation of their team with respect to Go- Live. Once a Go-Live decision is made, the Production VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is frozen till the chosen time for Go- Live. Typically the Sign-Off meetings take place the night before Go-Live. October 2014 Page 27 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

28 Section 9 STEP VI Go-Live Go-Live Go-Live occurs when the Customer starts using the Production VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP in their business. This usually occurs the morning after the Sign-Off Meeting from the prior step. Go-Live does not necessarily mean that the Customer will stop using their Heritage Accounting system immediately. Many Customers choose to use both the Heritage Accounting system as well as VersAccounts Cloud ERP in parallel for a period of time. This period of time can vary between a few days, weeks and even months. Monitoring & Tuning What happens immediately following Go-live is crucial to the success of all Implementations. Workflows must be monitored for smooth execution. Reports for correctness. If the Heritage System continues to be used, processes must be established to compare both. And there must be a process in place for Investigation and Corrective Action. This is usually a very interesting time for Customers who will usually find discrepancies between the Heritage Accounting system they have been using to date, and VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP, only to discover that the Heritage Accounting System is in error. October 2014 Page 28 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

29 Cut Over Cut-over, refers to the moment when the Heritage Accounting System is turned off and the Server hosting it is consigned to the basement. Congratulations! Now your business is running on the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP alone. Welcome to the 21st Century! October 2014 Page 29 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

30 Section10 Implementation Options From Load-N-Go to Enterprise Class Thanks for reviewing this White Paper on VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP Implementation Best Practices. The process described in this document is the Standard process we recommend to our Customers. It is the most thorough and least risky. It requires the least amount of effort from the Customer and provides the largest amount of Assistance from VersAccounts. However, it is not the only way a VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP can be implemented. For Customers who are experienced in Implementing ERP systems or have very simple implementations, VersAccounts offers other Implementation Options that have fewer steps and/or allow the Customer to take on more of the Implementation Process with less Guidance and Assistance from VersAccounts. These Implementation Options are described in the following paragraphs and summarized in the Table that follows them. Load-N-Go Implementation Option This Implementation Option is reserved for the simplest implementations of the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. It should only be selected by experienced ERP system implementers. Under this Implementation Option the Customer Loads Data directly into the Production System. VersAccounts provides training on how to load the Data, but no assistance. Loading is manual. There is no Requirements Analysis by VersAccounts and October 2014 Page 30 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

31 minimal Planning assistance is provided. No Sandbox is provided either. No Integrations are supported. Support is standard and 24x7x365 Phone Support is available on a paid basis. This Implementation option has the highest self-service component as well as the highest risk. Load-N-Go Plus, Implementation Option The Load-N-Go Plus Implementation Option adds a Sandbox to the Load-N-Go Implementation Option so that Data Conversion and Loading can first be Tested in a Test Environment before Setting up the Production System. This lowers the risk of corrupting the Production System with bad Data and requiring a Reset to start over, which is chargeable and expensive. Simple, Implementation Option The Simple Implementation Option adds Ongoing Guidance and Assistance during Implementation (to Load-N-Go Plus Option). Under this option Integrations with third party systems are supported. It also adds Free 24x7x365 Phone Support. Standard, Implementation Option The Standard Implementation Option is the Least Risky with the Largest ROI. It adds detailed upfront Requirements Analysis and Solution Development (to the Basic Implementation Option). The focus is on the whole Solution as opposed to just implementing the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. October 2014 Page 31 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

32 Implementation Process Comparison The following Table provides a side-by-side comparison of the various Implementation Options offered with the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. Detailed Pricing information for these Implementation Options can be found in the VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP Subscription Pricing & Implementation Plans, Data Sheet. October 2014 Page 32 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

33 Section11 Final Thoughts on Small Business ERP To be clear, just achieving feature parity with bloated 30 year old Heritage Mid-market ERP systems is not the main goal for VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP. VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP is not about offering a Heritage ERP compatible system at a lower price. VersAccounts Small Business ERP offers a Modern Mid-Market ERP System for the Price of Heritage Accounting Systems Rather the goal is to take what is relevant and good in those Heritage ERP systems and leave the burdensome and unused behind. That is the starting point. October 2014 Page 33 Copyright VersAccounts 2014

34 Then we have to re-imagine the future role of ERP systems among Small and Medium Sized Businesses 10, 20, 30 years into the future, and deliver those capabilities. Just like the Apple Watch that sits on your wrist. Is it really a watch? Or is it just sitting on your wrist where a watch might have sat 20 years ago but serving a completely different function? One that is relevant to life today much more than a watch from the yesteryear might be? Or the ipod? Was it successful because it was a better MP3 player? Or because it was something else entirely? In the end, the next generation of business management software that VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP represents will look nothing like the Heritage ERP systems of today. Of course these systems will have the basics accounting, inventory management, supply chain integration, etc. But that will just be the foundation. The meat will be something else entirely. The business systems of the mid-21st century, like the Small Business Cloud ERP system from VersAccounts are starting to be imagined and built today. Just like the Heritage ERP systems we have today were conceived and built 30+years ago. The Small Business ERP category of products has just been hatched from the CLOUD and the 30 years of progress that the term represents. Customers of offerings like the new VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP have just started out on their voyages to define and realize the untold benefits that await them in the new ways business will be done, and in the new ways businesses will have to be run, in the future. We are excited to be a partner in this voyage of discovery. October 2014 Page 34 Copyright VersAccounts 2014