Services

The purpose of this page is to provide a brief description of services which lead up to the implementation and use of our computer software products.

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• preliminary analysis
• implementation assessment
• project implementation specification

to go home:

Preliminary Analysis is a pre-requisite for a company that is considering the use of our computer software products. The work is conducted remotely, using a Preliminary Analysis Questionnaire which can be downloaded from our intranet. The questionnaire is detailed and includes questions about all of the matters which, in our experience, are important to gaining an understanding of the likely scope and scale of an implementation.

Implementation Assessment assists a company to understand the implementation requirements of our computer software products when used in that company's environment and with that company's business practices. This is a short, sharp, highly focused front-end study. It is a fundamental step for any company considering implementation of our computer software products and is usually conducted onsite at the company after completion of the Preliminary Analysis mentioned above.

A Statement Of Work documents the services to be provided by FST (IP) in undertaking an Implementation Assessment. It covers:

• the scope and objectives of the work, including specific issues which the company wishes to have addressed
• the approach to be taken
• the deliverables from the work
• the proposed scheduling and staffing
• responsibilities to be undertaken by the company
• the proposed fees and expenses

The goals of the Implementation Assessment can be stated as:

• to determine how the company can take advantage of our computer software products
• to determine the effort and cost involved

The specific objectives required to fulfill the above goals are:

• to understand the relevant current business practices and methods used
• to understand how those business practices and methods are currently being performed and handled by the company's existing systems
• to understand how the company's requirements differ from the out of the box contents of our computer software products, and, therefore, what customization will be required

The approach taken is to divide the Implementation Assessment into three work streams defining broad areas of activity. The streams are:

• current business practices stream - which has a focus on the relevant current business practices of the company
• information technology infrastructure stream - which maps at a high level the current data flows, application and IT systems which support end to end processing
• new requirements & implementation stream - which identifies the changes needed to the out of the box contents of our computer software products so that they can meet the company's business requirements

The output from the Implementation Assessment consists of:

• a presentation to senior management that summarizes the main findings
• a detailed Implementation Assessment Report covering the areas detailed below together with recommendations regarding the next steps for the realization of the improved business practices, methods and environment

The Implementation Assessment Report addresses three broad topics:

• opportunity areas - identification of the benefits than could potentially be realized from an effective implementation of our computer software products
• business impact analysis - estimation of the overall impact on the business together with an indication of 'remedies' where applicable. The principal areas covered are:
• budget impact - an estimation of the funding needs for implementing and using our computer software products
• operational impact - identification of where changes and improvements to operational processes are required to support the use of our computer software products; the impact on any other aspects such as policy and organization are highlighted
• implementation issues - identification of the IT support needs resulting from the opportunity areas and business impact analysis described above. This covers:
• the functional areas that need to be addressed due to requirements of the company
• estimated data volumes
• high level implementation plan that identifies a first cut phasing of the operational and IT changes

Following an Implementation Assessment and a decision by a company to proceed, FST (IP) produces a Requirements Document. Subject to the company accepting this document, FST (IP) then produces an Implementation Specification. This document describes, in detail, all customization that is required to meet the company's requirements. These documents form the basis for project implementation.