Managing the Challenges of R12: Strategies for Upgrades and Ongoing Change Management

Transcription

1 Managing the Challenges of R12: Strategies for Upgrades and Ongoing Change Management Alan Shook Senior Solution Architect Quest Software 2009 Quest Software, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

2 Agenda Why upgrade to R12? Criteria for a Successful Upgrade What to do once your on R12 The Stat Solution Benefits/Results Questions and Answers 1

3 Why Upgrade to R12? Newest functionality and modules More Java-based Use of Forms Personalizations and XML Publisher objects (also available in CU2) Easier to get enhancement requests accepted New enhancements are usually made in the newest version and do not always get ported to previous versions 2

4 Criteria for a Successful Upgrade to R12 1. Upgrade Strategy/Plan Agreed upon time frame Expectations/Milestones Backup and recovery options 2. Process control Approvals Workflows Notifications of key events Projects Security 3. Allocation of Appropriate Resources Personnel Hardware/Software 3

5 Criteria for a Successful Upgrade to R12 4. Migration and Patching Plan Migrating customizations/extensions Migrating configuration/setup changes Applying Patches Automation Testing 5. Reporting Who did what, when, and why? Progress reporting Tracking consultant time and costs Audit and documentation trail 4

6 Agreed upon time frame Upgrade Strategy/Plan How long to implement How many phases and corresponding dates How long to run prior version in parallel Cut over/go-live date Expectations/Milestones How many modules for first phase Realistic goals Backup and recovery options How often will you refresh What is the backup strategy 5

7 Process Control Approvals Managers need to control what changes are made Supporting documentation for changes will protect all parties Workflows Need repeatable and consistent process May need different ones for each type/severity change Require enforcement of separation of duties Notifications of key events Keep key stakeholders aware of change and milestones Help to alert for milestones being reached or missed Projects Help coordinate efforts Separate entities for tracking Security Protect the environments Limit access with privileged users and passwords 6

8 Personnel Allocation of Appropriate Resources How many people are needed Do you need outside consultants How many man hours do you need to budget for Hardware/Software Do you need additional servers Will you use any virtualization What platform will work best for you 7

9 Migration and Patching Plan Migrating customizations/extensions What individuals can do migrations to what environments One or many custom tops How will you version control objects What will be the recovery policy How often will changes be made Migrating configuration/setup changes What individuals can do migrations to what environments How will you version control objects What will be the recovery policy How often will changes be made Applying Patches How often will patches be applied How will impact analysis be done Automation Will migrations and patching be manual or how can you leverage automation Need to reduce human error Testing Need testing plans Should be part of workflows 8

10 Reporting Who did what, when, and why? Need visibility into changes Who has done what Progress reporting Report progress to upper management Ensure milestones are being achieved Tracking consultant time and costs Help maintain accurate costs Ability to adjust goals accordingly Audit and documentation trail Ability to show internal/external auditors what has been done Help achieve compliance 9

11 Why You Need Change Control Effectively Enhance Oracle (reports, forms, views, personalizations, setups, etc..) Better manage patches Efficiently review, assign and report on Change Requests Manage an upgrade in parallel Adhere to SOX or any compliance requirements 10

12 Challenges of Upgrading to and/or Maintaining R12 Without a CM Tool Tracking changes (What have we changed, what environments are the changes in etc..) Manual migrations and process Patching and impact analysis Environment refreshes Security issues Keeping environments in sync Migration of configuration/setup objects Project and Time tracking Overall complexity of process 11

13 Change Management Tool Requirements Implement a single tool for enhancements, bug fixes, and patches Ease of implementation and adoption by users Ability to handle all types of objects natively Ease of use (Developers/DBA/Users/Migrations) Visibility of Change Requests and Tasks Cost Effective Will help enforce security and compliance Validation from Oracle 12

14 What is Stat? Complete change lifecycle solution Specially designed for PeopleSoft & OEB Integration validated by Oracle Market leader with over 500 customers Stat for PeopleSoft in market since 1997 Stat for Oracle E-Business in market since 2004 Online user community to share knowledge 13

15 Why Customers Choose Quest s Stat Meets high-level business requirements One tool for complete end-to-end change management Ability to associate file, developer, setup, AOL, and schema objects with requests and migrate easily Integrated workflow and security Cost effective 14

16 Advantages to using Stat for Upgrades Integration with 3rd party helpdesks Separation/Segregation of duties Automatically generated approvals via Ability to check in/out objects Full version control Drag and drop migrations Patch application and impact analysis Side by side code comparisons When audit trail and reporting 15

17 Process Flow - Entry (Client) 16

18 Process Flow Review CSRs 17

19 Process Flow Approve Request 18

20 Process Flow Move to Development Queue 19

21 Process Flow Object Management/Archive Sets 20

22 Process Flow Object Management/Archive Sets 21

23 Process Flow Object Management/Archive Sets 22

24 Process Flow Object Migration 23

25 Process Flow Migration to UAT Ready/UAT 24

26 Process Flow Migration Approval 25

27 Process Flow Migration from UAT to iprod Ready 26

28 Process Flow Migration to Production 27

29 Process Flow - Schedule and Apply Patches 28

30 Process Flow Production Release Message 29

31 Benefits/Results of using Stat Reporting/Status/Visibility Status at a glance when logging into Stat Over 190 seeded reports Management reporting better Time by project, by date, by initiator, etc Requests by project, by date, by initiator, etc Migrations Migrations and objects are dynamically and permanently tracked Automated migrations Mass migrations (monthly releases in one-step) When migrating any changes with Stat, the Process Request console gives real-time feedback on the state of the request along with complete log information of the request/change 30

32 Benefits/Results of using Stat Cont Workflows Approvals are controlled Provides a status/queue of where the CSR is in the lifecycle Automated s for requests and status updates User Classes/Physical Locking Users have enough rights to perform their duties and nothing beyond Patches Scheduling and application of patches Proactive approach to identifying customizations/extensions Automatically merge several patches into one via a point-and-click environment. (Also from the patch inventory screen) 31

33 Quest Stat: A Unique Solution In Upgrading or Maintaining R12 Complete application change management: not just a patching tool or a reporting interface Reduce downtime of your internal and customer-facing applications through proactive impact analysis Enforce change processes and reduce risk through workflow and approvals Automation mitigates risk and ensures consistency Save time and reduce risk through automatic version control and documentation Enable your application team to be more responsive to needed changes 32

34 Question and Answers Topical Webcasts Check for a listing of upcoming events White Papers and Technical Briefs Compliance (SOX, OMB-A123, etc) Change Management Best Practices Understanding ITIL and Change Management And more! 33

35 Questions? 34