The Accelogix Supply Chain IT Implementation Methodology
We all know that successful enterprise software implementation requires both expertise and discipline. No matter how long you have worked in logistics, you have either heard about, or experienced, a painful go-live, failed system implementation, or extended stabilization project. Implementation fatigue after difficult projects can have lasting negative effects on a business, including fear of growth and innovation.
We empower your business to grow by achieving exceptional and dependable results. We meet this standard by employing a consistent and lean approach refined over decades of combined implementation experience.
Our Methodology calls out the following six phases:
Discover
The Discovery Phase is perhaps the most important part of a Supply Chain Execution System Implementation. We will never know your business as well as you do, but we want to be experts in your operations so that you can talk to us like we’re part of your team. During this phase, we come to your site to observe current operations, meet with key personnel to discuss processes, pain points and future state goals, and ultimately learn as much about your business as we can.
To design a seamless implementation, we need to understand what your business does, how it works, what your goals and objectives are, what you’re trying to accomplish with this project, and what unique qualities give your business a competitive advantage. To do this, we need to understand what gaps in your business or processes you’re trying to account for and close with this implementation. This involves sitting down with your business process experts, who could be operations managers, warehouse managers, IT directors, system experts, and even floor supervisors who understand the day-to-day challenges of the current system.
Our role is to help paint a picture of what you can get to, so we want it to be a back-and-forth where you can catch us up on where your business is at and what you’d like to see. It is important that we be thorough since the information gathered during this phase lays the framework for the rest of the project.
Design
In the Design Phase, we evaluate the changes needed to achieve your future state objectives to determine how the system can be manipulated to close those process gaps. The first step in deciding the best means of achieving future state goals is to design flow charts for each step of the process. We work closely with your team to accurately diagram business processes like receiving, picking, loading trailers, cycle counting, or any other relevant process, and then devise desired process flows for gaps.
Once each new process is modeled and reviewed by your team, we can move forward in designing the solution that will achieve the objectives outlined in the discovery phase. At the end of the Design phase, you will have a clear picture of what will be changing, why it will be changing, how it will be changing, when it will be changing, and how much the change will cost.
Execute
The Execution Phase is when our team leverages its experience in configuration, technical development, and operational transformation to merge the future state design and standard product system into a unique solution that is capable of managing the operations of your business. This is when modifications and interfaces are designed and tested. Unit testing is done to troubleshoot the new system.
Upon request, we can help with testing by bringing in an operational, non-technical person to assist with the execution of test scripts and communicate any issues found back to the technical team. This can be highly advantageous because you may not know the proper details that the technical team needs to know in order to fix the problem.
Deliver
The Delivery Phase is the process of introducing your solution in a way that minimally impacts the functionality of your business. Before a solution can be introduced, a number of critical go-live preparation tasks must be accounted for. Carefully planned facility and IT preparation ensure that the proper equipment is there and all code and configuration is delivered to the proper server setup and installed correctly.
Once the new solution is ready to go, operational staff must be trained and mock go-live tests completed to ensure that the solution meets all business requirements. The goal is to make the go-live and subsequent stabilization period as smooth as possible to ensure your business is not negatively impacted by challenges in accepting all the changes.
Support
The Support Phase is an ongoing process where we act as a resource to help you through system problems that cannot be handled in-house. We offer support desk services to all clients, and all support requests are well-documented to expedite future requests.
Enhance
The Enhance Phase might be considered optional to other companies, but to us it is a crucial step in our partnership with your business. In addition to providing support, we help you adapt to business changes by providing quick and cost effective post-go-live enhancements and consulting. These enhancements can allow you to get the most out of your software investment by leveraging its existing standard features and providing new ones that meet emerging business needs.