project management and methodologies - erp r12 upgrade

ERP R12 upgrade

Project Management and Methodologies

Eyal Shapira, Advantech eyalsh@advantech.co.il

Agenda

• Why Upgrade EBS 11i to R12?• Upgrade Approaches• Which Release to Upgrade to ?• Upgrade Timing• Project Planned Duration• Project Preparations• Project methodology, plan and key activities• Testing

Agenda

• Reducing Downtime• Post Tests and User Preparation for down time• Resources• Oracle Support• Development Freeze

Why Upgrade EBS 11i to R12• Supporting new Business requirements:• New Business flows• New Modules• New features

• Newer Flexible technological components. • Oracle continues support, 11.5.10 extended

support is till November 2013.• Preparation for Fusion, Only R12 can be

migrated to Fusion.

Upgrade ApproachesRe-Implementation• Review and Validate Business Flows • Review and Validate Current customizations.• Review R12 Vanilla Processes and decide:• Which Customizations to replace with Vanilla

processes.• Which new Vanilla Processes to implement.

• Test Processes, reports, etc’• Fix Bugs• Train Users

Upgrade Approaches

Technological • Upgrade the system• Test Processes, reports etc’• Fix Bugs• Change processes, reports were it is

mandatory since infrastructure has been changed.

• Train users where necessary.

Upgrade Approaches

How to migrate• Install New Instance and Migrate data,

customizations etc’• Upgrade Current 11i to R12.

Which Release to Upgrade to ?• Choose the latest Release.• Install all update packs and critical patches from

the start.• Check (If possible) with Other Oracle Clients

which additional patches they installed.• The whole upgrade process is oriented to the

release you choose, changing the release during the upgrade has risks that can affect your project timeline.

• Keep your Upgrade instance up to date with Critical patches and update packs as much as you can.

Upgrade Timing

• Actual upgrade can take from 3 days, depending on System size and complexity.

• Check which time slot is most convenient for your organization (Financial / Operation) etc’

• Check timing with Oracle support

Project Planned Duration

Project Planned Duration is affected by • New Process and Modules• Number and type of customizations• Number of OU’s• Number of implemented modules (Especially

financial)• Interfaces to external systems• Reporting systems – Disco, BI

Project Preparations

• Map and document Processes and customizations

• Prepare Detailed test scripts for all your processes, Customized and vanilla.

• Using IT tools for testing, documenting and managing bug fixes can save you a lot of time.

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Repeating cycles (At least 3, the more cycles the better preparation)

• Document each action and measure its timing in project cookbook.

Cycle Methodology

Pre-Upgrade

Upgrade

Post Upgrade

Clone Test instances

Test, Fix, Document

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Pre Upgrade Steps• Copy fresh 11i instance from PRD• Keep Reference Instance (If required)

• Clean and close open financials transactions.• Clean WF’s (were possible).• Clean Interfaces• Data Fixes.• Setups.• Install Patches.

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Upgrade the system (DBA’s tasks)• Document & Measure timing in a cookbook.• Prepare and test backup fallback plan.

• Post Upgrade Steps• Install customizations• Setups• Data fixes.

• Clone upgraded system to new instances (As required).

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Test, Fix, Document• Test the system with all documented processes.• Fix the problems (Setups, Customization, Patches

etc’) and document it in the cookbook.• Implement the fixes as part of a new upgrade cycle.

Project methodology, plan and key activities

Cycle 1 (DBA’s)

Cycle 2

Cycle 3 (UAT)

Go Live

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Start new upgrade Cycle in parallel to existing tests and other activities

• First Cycle is basically technical and can take a month till completion.

• Next cycles time should be reduced and should reflect actual down time.

• Last Cycles and especially Rehearsal should be identical to PRD.

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Next cycles time should be reduced and should reflect actual down time.

• Last Cycles and especially Rehearsal should be identical to PRD.

Project methodology, plan and key activities

• Keep in mind and plan time and resources for users training:• New Framework Forms (Customers, Suppliers

etc’)• New Processes / Modules (Payments, Report

Manager, Agis, E-Tax etc’)

• Plan CRP and UAT cycles with key user that will let you enough time to fix new problems

Testing• Test different scenarios of same flow of• New Data created in R12.• Upgraded Data created in 11i (Closed and In process)

• Pay highest intention to Financial tests and in particular to localization related flows, especially to Israeli Localization that has changed dramatically between 11i and R12. (reporting to Tax authorities )

• Use 11i Reference Instance to check how old data was migrated (Planning, Finance etc’)

Reducing Downtime

• Project actual down time affects business processes.

• Reducing the down time is a key factor for effective project.

• Synchronizing Down time tasks, hundreds of different dependent and independent tasks done by several teams in parallel is and is a key factor for down time management.

Reducing Downtime

• In 11i Purge unnecessary data – Log tables, Old WF’s, Old transactions that are not required any more.

• Review if it is required to migrate all financial records to XLA.

• Each upgrade action item can be moved from Downtime to 11i production should be done in advance.

Post Tests and User Preparation for down time

• Notify all the user of Downtime in advance.• Prepare and Monitor Pre-Upgrade Plan so

that user can “clean” their queue• Invoices• Payments• Closing subledger periods • WF’s

In order to Avoid known problems - stuck transactions for example after the upgrade

Post Tests and User Preparation for down time

• Create production clone before the upgrade for users View Only.

• Refresh your Reporting systems (Disco / BI) with latest data prior to upgrade start.

• Plan In details which and what issues need to be validated by functional team and key users before Go Live.

• After the system is released to the users and transactions are entered to the system it will be very difficult to go back to 11i.

Resources

Functional and Tech• Dedicated Upgrade Project team (In parallel

to On Going system maintenance)• Dedicated DBA’s.• Dedicated Functional team• Development can be shared with ongoing

activities.• It is highly recommended to combine external

Financial functional resources with past experience in R12 and / or upgrade to R12

ResourcesHardware & Storage• At least 3 test instance in parallel• On Going Upgrade (PRD Like)• Dev• Test• Patch (Recommended)• 11i Reference (If required)

• High availability and speed of backup and restore.

• 1 Instance Production Like for Performance testing.

Oracle Support• Project active partner

• Steering committee members• Project sponsor• Prioritize SRs• Follow up meetings on progress• Go Live 24x7 support

• Critical Account • 3 month before Go Live• Direct access to product managers• Escalations to P1s • Clear deadline for solution delivery• High resolution rate

Development Freeze

• New customizations will be developed to 11i in parallel to Upgrade project.

• All new customizations need to be designed developed and tested for both 11i and R12.

• Development Freeze need to be coordinated with the users allowing enough time for upgrade project successful completion.

Q&A