Page History

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What worked well? Where did you see opportunities for improvement?

Wins - Communication

• WIKI good. Used it. Good to have meeting notes.
• No negative feedback from community.
• VPF sent business impact info.

Challenges - Communication

• Highlight test database more. Which test environment to use to test? Hard to find, confusing.
• Use newer version of Wiki.
• Not everyone got cutover weekend updates. Make it voluntary if interested. Sign-up roster. 
• Expected update for each step - not sure if steps 1-x done.
• Some confusion about UAT start and end dates. Then took 2 days for Lisa to do closing. Delayed due to fixing issue. Show FI close in the schedule from the start. 
• Explore what other testing can continue while close in progress. But have to keep close accurate.
• No idea what is in the enhancement packs. Didn't know it was on the Wiki.
• Send final documentation (validation steps, weekend schedule, ...) earlier.

Schedule - The project schedule was primarily based on prior years experience and it's start and finish times were restricted to a window whose  start is dependent on the time packs are made available by SAP and whose finish be completed before the start of the new Payroll year. Although not entirely flexible, there might be some opportunities to change details within our schedule.

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• • (September - October) - Plan, create master script catalog, improve test scripts, move pending work to production
  • 10/05/2009 - Last date to implement projects until freeze ends on 12/24/2009 (Except Open Enrollment & Union Structures)
  • 10/19/2009 - Production snapshot at end of day - will be used to refresh dev & test environments 
  • 10/22/2009 - Last date to implement support & enhancement changes until freeze ends on 12/24/2009
  • 11/03/2009 - 11/08/2009 Unit Test
  • 11/09/2009 - 11/22/2009 System Integration Test (SIT Task List)
  • 11/23/2009 - 12/09/2009 User Acceptance Test
  • 12/11/2009 - 12/13/2009 Golive Weekend
  • 12/24/2009   Development Freeze ends

Wins - Schedule

• Friday noon well advertised. Worked well. Friday better than Monday.
• Could compress test time, maybe cut days or a week off UAT, but current schedule allows for issues, absences. 
• Freeze period not a problem. Criticals can go during freeze.

Challenges - Schedule

Testing Tools and Materials - Test Cases were located on the Wiki and Request Tracker was utilized for reporting issues. The SAP SH2 environment was updated with the support packs and was refreshed with a snapshot of production data taken on October? 

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 Was Request Tracker an effective tool for logging issues?

Wins - Tools & Materials

• Good to have central repository of all test cases.
• Test environments, recently refreshed good.
• RT worked fine. No issues in reporting problems.
• Liked scenario testing. Do more in the future.

Challenges - Tools & Materials

•  Too  Too many test cases. Go with downloaded list organized by business owner.
• Plan intermediate state testing earlier.

Other (Governance, Process, Project Mgmt, Risk Mgmt, Sponsorship, Staffing Levels, and Teamwork)

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Did the project have the right teams assembled with the appropriate team members?

Wins - Other

•  Gill  Gill representing facilities worked.

Challenges - Other

• Steering committee IS&T heavy, business owner light. Gerry O'Toole, Wayne Turner. 
• Or Christine & Gillian are steering committee*.*

Steering Committee - January 20, 2009

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Wins - Other

• Communication
  • No paper handouts were generated during this project. Overhead presentations, emails, system messages and the wiki were effectively utilized.
  •  updates were timely and informative
• Schedule
  • Cut-over down time had no practical impact on Singapore operation.
  • The overall project and each of it's major phases were completed on time inline with the original plan.
  •  contingencies were needed and utilized
• Governance
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• Process
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• Project Management
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• Risk Management
  •  Recommended that we assign back-up managers
  • contingency Contingency time was and is a must for the cut-over weekend
• Sponsorship
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• Staffing Levels
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• Teamwork
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• Other
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Challenges - Other

• Communication
  •  steering  steering committee mtgs could be scheduled around milestones
• Schedule
  • leave time for pre-development systems preparation
  • SAP delivers the packs for analysis in October
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• Governance
  •  Others  Others are welcome to participate on the steering committee. Strive for balance of SAIS & Business representation.
• Process
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• Project Management
  • Recurring nature of this project could allow for on-the-job training for future managers.  A new role (eg. project coordinator) could be defined to both prepare next year's leader fill in as back-up as needed.
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• Risk Management
  •  Recommended that we assign back-up managers
• Sponsorship
  •  
• Staffing Levels
  •  
• Teamwork
  •  
•  Other
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