OTM Support Winning Approach Post Production Support Made Easy

Transcription

1 OTM Support Winning Approach Post Production Support Made Easy Deloitte Consulting LLP August 2014

2 Presenters Cameron Gauntner Satya Narayanamurthy Vabilisetty Madhavi Chinnam Paroma Biswas Oracle Technology Consultant with Deloitte Consulting LLP Over 3.5 years of experience in OTM implementations Experience with a variety of clients in areas such as: Industrial Manufacturing Retail 3 rd Party Logistics High-tech Manufacturing Experience with OTM versions 6.2 and 6.3 2

3 Contents Introduction Objectives Right Approach to Drive Support Plan and Design for Support Identify and Categorize Issues Define Resolution Process Enlighten, Educate. Equip Users Best Practices Appendix Some common issues and resolution provided 3

4 Objectives The purpose of Post Implementation Support is to establish a methodology and structure to manage and support the production environment with the appropriate resources, tools and procedures. This presentation highlights the following key areas: Support Challenges in OTM Expectation Management Demarcation of the Support function SLA/SLO Management Support Resources Documentation & User Training Educate and Empower the End Users OTM support issues Matrix Functional areas Technical areas Support Tools Best Practices of OTM support 4

5 The Right Approach to Drive Support A well-managed production environment can provide cost-effective long term use of systems and realize a higher rate of return on investment. Identify Support team and define roles and responsibilities Demarcate the Support teams based on the roles and responsibilities Identify client SPOC for the team Lay down a clear communication process Understand, Educate and train the client and the support teams. Empower the client community with tools and accelerators Prepare and maintain knowledge repository Continue to enhance the process Plan and Design for Support Enlighten, Educate. Equip Users Successful Support Identify and Categorize Issues Define Issue Resolution Process Define clear categories for day to day issues based on Parameters Train Client and Support user community to categorize the issues Capture as much data as possible Define clear Service Level Agreements Implement a resolution process to meet the SLA s Use Support tools to monitor and report Establish a clear escalation path Monitor Support matrix 5

6 Plan and Design for Support Post implementation support is often overlooked by businesses keen to return to business as normal. Planning support for an OTM implementation is key to the success of the solution. Components Issue and Impact Leading Practices Plan Support Team Identify Roles and Responsibilities Lay down Communication Path Identify Client Team OTM solution support requires knowhow, experience and deep application expertise Likely Impacts: lack of trained teams to support issues, Inadequate contingency plan, longer timelines for issue resolution Unclear roles, inadequate support teams and poor resource planning Likely Impacts: Passing the buck, user community is unable to assign issues to the right team; longer resolution time and missed SLA s Lack of a good communication templates and tools to identify, raise and communicate issues and missing information. Likely Impacts: Inadequate information in the issue, unable to assign issue to right team and resource, lengthier resolution time Lack of client super users and business users Likely Impacts: Unable to assign accountability for testing resolution Establish a comprehensive, scalable support team to support the day to day needs of the application. Clearly define team structure including responsibility, ownership, and expectations of all team members. Institute a strong governance program, in which procedures and communication channels are explicitly outlined. Collaboration between teams in order to ensure understanding of ownership and accountability of testing and approval process. Transition and Training Lack of proper transition about the client business processes, OTM solution, configurations and issues faced in the testing cycle Likely Impacts: Unable to resolve issues efficiently, unable to realize criticality and business impact Routinely update design and configuration documentation and also augment end user system knowledge through ongoing training and support. 6

7 Support Accelerators Typical Support Areas Categories Identify and Categorize Issues A successful support model must clearly define a simple way for the user community to identify and categorize issues in buckets or queues followed by assigning severity levels that will determine resolution timelines. OTM Configuration OTM User Interface Integration with ERP General and 3 rd Party Bulk Plan Outputs Null Pointer exceptions Route built by the plan New carrier has been contracted Remote exception while processing Tender PCMiler/ Kewill / Carrier Connect fetching wrong data Missing Fuel Surcharge Fields not available on the screen Fonts on the screen set New users and access related issues Increase the count of records in the screen Inbound Order Interface Outbound Trip interface Tenders to carriers Data integrity in the interface Time taken for interface jobs to complete Reports and the related data Code and mapping Bulk Plan performance and time OTM and ERP systems have time zone mismatches Application is brought back after bounce PCMiler/ Kewill / Carrier Connect servers not responding Capture Issue using Support Tools Assign Severity to Issues based on Score Card Assign to the correct Queue The more the information the faster the resolution 7

8 Identify and Categorize Issues Common Examples Categorizing issues can save time and increase efficiency by leveraging knowledge from prior experience. Some examples of common customer requests that can be mitigated quickly and efficiently include: OTM Configuration and UI Proactive Response: Proposing / recommending fixes for potential issues: Notify the user before the rate expires Monitor Business Monitors Monitor and investigate Bulk plan diagnostics Reactive Responses: Fix any configuration related areas Set up access and controls to enable correct users from controlling master data Set OTM to send notification s on integration failures Shipment Tender offer for multiple logistics involved party contacts on a shipment Increase Bulk Plan numbers Enable service providers to add equipment initial number on an accepted shipment Details provided in the Appendix Technical Reuse the code fixes for recurring issues Tune performance to increase bulk plan throughput and reduce time. Large Bulk plans, elaborate workflows, lengthy saved queries used in reports/agents Tune interface performance to expedite the inbound and outbound flow of orders and shipments into and out of OTM Web Tier: slow painting of screens, large number of users logged into OTM App Tier: Multiple Bulk plans and large volume of transactions running simultaneously, slow web logic memory, high App server CPU usage, OTM threads related to workflows DB Tier: DB locks, updates to OTM are slow, Retrieval of data to results screen is slow General and 3 rd Party PCMiler/ Kewill / Carrier Connect servers not responding Integration with 3 rd party EBS tools Integration with GTM related 3 rd party tools Data loading CSV files Set up a recurring processes to send shipments to external systems without duplication Reload data into FTI(Fusion Transportation Intelligence) Database after it was already sent 8

9 Capture Issues and Assign Severity Capturing an issue at the right time and recording all required information such as static element, business impact, and user impact are critical for an effective resolution process. assigning the correct severity using predetermined criteria helps quick assignment to the correct Support queue causing least impact, ensuring steady business as usual 9

10 Define Resolution Process It is important to understand the nature of a problem before jumping straight to solutions. Establish a methodology and structure to manage the resolution process. Support Excellence Defined Process Flow Monitor SLA s and Metrics regularly Change Advisory Board Resolution and Documentation People & Change User raises ticket using support tool Support reaches out for more information Assigns severity Enhanc ement? Control and Advisory Board Approval Internal investigation and Issue resolution Resolve d? Information analysis & evaluation Test the solution with Customer if required Issue categorized into a bucket Deploy resolution Technology Enhancement IT Enhanceme Change nt Plan Management Plan Training Development & Delivery Request for more information Reach out to Support Knowledge Maintain base KPI s, SLA s 10 Train and educate the users Risk Management Training & Transformation

11 Enlighten, Educate and Equip Client Community Enlighten Educate Information and Awareness streamlines good business processes, which in turn enhances the utilization of technology. Order constraining constrains Bulk Plan from optimizing Too many agents and workflow causes processing overheads Introduce customers to Support communities provided by Oracle such as FAQ, OTM Wiki, Oracle Metalink Educate clients about OTM s functionality and their potential benefits through demo s Incorporate End user inputs to recommend changes to process owners and leads Arrange repetitive training sessions with end users Train Super users on functionality such as : Understanding Bulk Plan dialogists Creating custom logs Understanding top 10 reasons for specific planning results Loading data (Locations, regions, rates) using CSV templates Equip Equip the client with the right tools and train them to use the same e,g CSV template to load rates. User guides and UPK s prove the most effective tools to do 1 st level trouble shooting Explain the power of Business Monitor and Event based alerts and notification for proactive issue resolution. 11

12 Accelerators Shorten Issue Life Cycle OTM. Accelerators facilitate faster resolution within the support process.. Rate Loading Templates: Use mode based rate templates, with built in formulae OTM Monitoring tools 1. EMAN 2. Robotics 3. Wire Shark XML Template Automated testing tools (with Open Source code) 1. SOAP UI 2. Selenium 3. TestNG 12

13 OTM Support Best Practices Identify Process owners for each business process and module Identify, Involve, and train support teams effectively ahead of time for a smooth transition post go live. Create and Maintain documentation: BR.010 Design Documents MD.050 Functional Specifications MD.070 Technical Specifications User Productivity Kit in View it and Try it mode or User Manual OTM specific documents, with regards to criticality of issues, resolution and scenarios to reduce the turnaround time: Common Reasons for Inbound/Outbound interface failures and Resolution Guide Common Bulk Plan outcomes and possible resolutions Rate Inquiry with Kewill and Carrier Connect How to Upload files to, and extract files from OTM Enlighten, Educate and Equip the customer as an ongoing activity Periodic Health-checks of Live environments & methods of performing them Automated corrective actions (Interface errors) 13

14 Appendix

15 Scenario 1 Add content 15

16 Scenario 2 Add content 16

17 Scenario 3 Add content 17

18 Scenario 4 Set OTM to send an when inbound integration fails? 1. Set the properties in glog.properties on each server to include the following: glog.integration.servlet.transmissionstageerror.senderror = true glog.integration.servlet.transmissionstageerror.error from = [email protected] glog.integration.servlet.transmissionstageerror.error subject =Transmission XML Stage Error glog.integration.servlet.transmissionstageerror.error to = customer_ _id glog.integration.servlet.transmissionstageerror.includetransmissiontext = true 2. Restart server and try to upload an xml that fails to load through Integration web service OTM (Oracle Transportation Management) master data are interfaced from upstream systems. How do I address sequential interface errors or auto processing of multiple transmissions with ERROR status? 18

19 The Training and Knowledge Repository that works Based on Deloitte s experience with OTM support projects, here are a few key considerations to ensure success. Common Challenges Confusing documentation (Design, Configuration, scenario mapping) not related to Day-in-the-Life processes Lack of simple User manuals or UPK s Lack of understanding of OTM functionality that is not in scope of the solutions 1st time client users are unaware of the external user communities and knowledge repositories Best Practice Good documentation, that regularly maintained, reduces the need to re-invent the wheel and re-train, especially in cases of recurring issues How to documents can be of great help to users and support teams likewise to understand process and solution Train the trainers- Well-trained end-users(planners, rate loaders) can reduce the creation of requests for basic functions and processes Enlighten and educate 19