Tangible and Rapid Adoption of Cloud Technologies

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1 Die Cast Framework for your Cloud Adoption Tangible and Rapid Adoption of Cloud Technologies 1 Theme: Technologies for redefining India 2 Keywords: Cloud Adoption, SaaS, Rapid Adoption 3 Abstract Enterprise software implementation project management has traditionally been different from any other application development program and with the increasing desire of business owners to move their processes to the cloud, a so called rapid project management method has come into picture.a framework to liquefy your current business processes and die cast them into a cloud prototype model with little or no customization, this the latest method that many organizations choose to adopt in their attempt to revolutionize their IT landscape and technology appetite. As we see world embracing cloud for application, platforms, databases etc. as a service, a program management mechanism to put this journey in to a structured method becomes imperative. So how do we move from the plan, do, act and check model into a rapid process where it s less of phases and more of crisp tasks embarking the project into various milestones and completing the implementation in less than 30 days. The die cast framework is the answer, we would discuss about the steps taken to build the casting mold which will be our prototype and how we move the client s business processes into this mold and recast to bring up a successful enterprise platform. 1

2 Table of Contents 4. INTRODUCTION DIE CAST FRAMWORK ARCHITECHTURE & PROCESS FLOWERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 6. COMPONENTS OF DIE CAST FRAMEWORK...ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 7. PROCESS ELABORATION SIGNIFICANCE OF CLOUD APPLICATIONS IN DRIVING THIS FRAMEWORKERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 9. KEY DIFFRENTIATORS CONCLUSION...ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 2

3 4 Introduction In today s era of rapid deployment of enterprise solutions, business need of moving IT applications to the cloud is an inevitable ask of business owners or executive sponsors across global organizations. The need of a methodology to fulfil this ask is usually crafted by the principal company owning the enterprise solution e.g. Oracle has OUM (Oracle unified method) and SAP might have something in their own space. However methodology is not sufficient to ensure a smooth transformation journey and hence a project management process to govern the entire migration is essential to ensure success of such programs. In a competitive environment where implementation partners win deals based on their sharp governance mechanism, taking a step further how about providing the consumer of the enterprise solution with an option of using a proven die cast method of helping them sail through their application and business process transformation journey. The method subjects the user community of the application to share as much information possible about their current business process and relevant applications managing those processes, helping them translate these processes into features and then mapping these features into the cloud application to show an easy alignment path and gain better user confidence in dealing with the project milestones and eventual progress. 5 Die Cast Framework Architecture& Process Flow The foundation of the framework is an intuitive Microsoft excel book (Die cast Feature Book) with an exhaustive list of features for each business area. This is the starting point of comparison for any Cloud enterprise application implementations. The next gate is a template for the business user to fill for describing their own business processes and current applications that cater to these processes. With the user filled template as an input to the architecture, the die cast feature book alongside, the die cast method then does a key word comparison to match features to client business processes and generates a compliance report. This compliance report is the key business requirement document for the implementation partner then. By now we have liquefied our clients business processes and just ready to die cast them to the new application features. This die cast scope is reusable if the business processes remain same for future migrations to variety of cloud applications. 3

4 Figure 1: Die Cast Framework Architecture & Process Flow 4

5 6 Components of the Die cast framework 6.1 Die Cast Feature book Global organizations have various business functions apart from their core business area. E.g. a manufacturing company could have finance, HR, Procurement, Supply chain etc. functions that would be a probable candidate for a cloud migration, apart from manufacturing which is their core business area. The Die cast feature book is an intuitive MS Excel book that is prepared with enormous inputs from standard best practices of the respective business function along with the inputs from the relevant business users. The book lists down the key business features with details about the respective process and required outcomes. This is a onetime activity which can be driven by the functional organizations and submitted to the project management office for repository mantainence. The features also map onto respective applications that currently are used for these functions. This document is a version controlled asset which needs to be updated as and when the application governing the business function is updated or upgraded. 6.2 Business Process Template A standard analysis of the business function across industry best practices are recorded in this template and user community of the client is required to fill this template with relevant information about their application. E.g. Human Resource Management business function -> Performance management-> cycle details, goal details, process flow etc. These are the fields that the client needs to fill to describe their current business process. The template is rich with the underlying business process knowledge that is leveraged to build it in the first place. The Die Cast Feature book & this template are owned and maintained by the project management office of the implementation partner. These are key enablers for the partner to ensure a smooth cloud adoption journey that instills confidence among business user community right from the initiation phase of the project. 6.3 Liquefaction Tool The Business Process Template is an input to this tool, the program driving the tool can be built using native java or any other document comparison tool, to read through the business process template filled by the client and compare it with specified keywords in the die cast feature book. The comparison report is an template based output that brings out the key features that map an existing standard functionality as per the die cast book and identify clear gaps if any (these gaps are reference point for the functional organizations who have created the die cast book to update it with the relevant feature, PMO drives the change management of this document and coordinates the required updates) 6.4 Die Cast Scope Statement The comparison report of the liquefaction tool is the final scope statement that defines the current business function in a way that can be casted onto an enterprise solution available off the shelf (e.g. Oracle/SAP/Salesforce). This scope statement can be reused any no of times for future cloud application migrations. E.g. a global Banking organization uses this tool to create a die cast scope for this HR function and as of the current year plans to move its performance management system to Oracle cloud and in the next year wants to move its compensation and benefits management to SAP cloud, this scope statement can be used for both the cloud implementations over the years. The reusability of the scope statement makes it a valuable asset that is a strong document to introduce awareness among user community about the clear processes involved in their own business areas. 6.5 Enterprise Solution Alignment tool This tool is usually built dynamically by the functional implementation team of the particular product in question. E.g. Oracle Performance management is the product that the client is evaluating, then the implementation partner s functional team would use the die case scope statement as a business requirement document and feed it into the OUM methodology to come up with the release plan of the performance management implementation. Why a scope statement is better than the normal BRD as a starting point for an enterprise implementation? The answer is very obvious, a BRD is prepared on demand based on the product selected for implementation, whereas a die cast scope statement is an asset built by the client as a preparatory step to 5

6 align with the organizational strategy of overall enterprise application modernization. Hence the time required to build this asset is a onetime effort which might be part of the strategy analysis phase and is not part of the project implementation timeline. This effort certainly reduces the time required to deploy a cloud application because there is zero effort required by the business users to contribute towards requirement workshops in planning the enterprise application migration. 7 Process Elaboration 7.1 Liquefaction The Liquefaction process is the first step in leveraging this framework for building organizational assets for creating a reusable scope statement. The process involves comparing the client s business processes with Die cast feature book using document comparison tool to come up with the report highlighting alignment and gaps if any. We try to help clients drill down their business process and then answer the questions in the business process template (which are granular to the core) and this gives them an opportunity to rediscover their own processes and make appropriate process transformations or fine tuning if any. The die cast feature book is a standard asset that is prepared by industry experts of the specific business area to make sure that the book captures all possible scenarios and relevant features of the business function. The framework is flexible, hence the choice of the comparison tool is left to the global organization based on their IT regulations and global tool usage criteria. 7.2 Scoping The scoping phase begins by reviewing the liquefaction report and then making appropriate modifications if any prepare the final die cast scope statement. This asset is usually signed off by business function owners to make it an official asset for reusability across enterprise platform. 7.3 Alignment This step is usually not the immediate outcome of scoping as it varies across organizations based on when they decided to move into cloud applications, was the liquefaction and scoping done as an organizational effort to have streamlined business process documentation or was it done to specifically address a cloud migration implementation program. 8 Significance of Cloud Applications in driving this framework Enterprise cloud applications are usually non extendable and are built based on standard industry practices of the specific business function, hence any cloud application adoption is usually a configuration vs a development program. Configuration is easy to standardize, hence a die cast framework approach is feasible for a cloud implementation and might have limitations if attempted to be utilized in traditional application development programs. 9 Key Differentiators Flexibility in being adopted by organizations for process improvisation or by implementation partner companies to showcase accelerators. Scalability in extending the framework to multiple business functions Engaging PMO in maintaining the framework to showcase it as a project management initiative in improving governance effectiveness across cloud application implementations. Caters to a variety of enterprise solutions like Oracle, SAP etc. and not limited to any specific application. 6

7 10 Conclusion Cloud adoption is accelerating and global organizations foresee the business need to move to cloud applications using flexible cost models, rapid deployment options and above all assurance of business process alignment to the future application. Under this given scenario, a model to ensure such migrations are uneventful is a need of the hour. Whether the implementation partner decides to invest in building this die cast framework or large or mid-size consumers invest in such initiatives or both (the implementation partner & the consuming company) collaborate to jointly innovate and construct this framework, the outcome is a happier user community, greater return on investments and accuracy of business processes on the new cloud application. 7