Implementation Methodology

Contents

Introduction Challenges in large implementation projects 3

What we suggest to solve it? 3

How is it different? 3

Methodology Key concepts 4

Phases 6

Business Need Analysis (15%) 6

Full Featured Prototype (15%) 7

DataImport&SpecificDevelopment(50%) 8

Validation&Training(10%) 9

Deployment:Golive(10%) 10

Second Deployment 10

What to expect from your customers 11

Fullsupportfromtop-levelmanagement 11

Customer’s Project Manager 11

Integrate90%ofyourbusiness,not100% 11

How to set customer expectations? 12

Whatisthebuyingprocessforanewproject? 12

Shouldthecustomerwritedetailedspecificationbeforecontactingyou? 12

Howtonegotiate? 13

3

Introduction

Challenges in large implementation projects:Odoo isagreatsoftware.There isnodoubtaboutthehugebenefitsyour

customerwillgetfromusingit.Themainchallengeisintheimplementation:

deliver expected benefits on time and within budget.

Whatwesuggesttosolveit?Weencouragetokeepprojectssimple.Weknowhowtoavoidunnecessary

pitfallssuchascustomdevelopments;themainsourceofcomplexitiesand

risksofdelay.It’seasytosay,butveryhardtodo.

Weknowhowtomapspecificbusinessneedstofitthestandardfeatures,

youcansay“no”tocustomersandprovidealternativesolutions,inorderto

optimizeefficiencyandtogetthemostoutoftheproduct.

Thisdocumentisourpreferredmethodologyanditisforinformationalpurposes.

Weencourageyoutoreaditandapplyanybestpracticesthatsuittoyour

particularsituation.

Howisitdifferent?Thefocusistoselltheleastamountofservicespossibleinordertoletthe

customergetthebenefitsfromthesoftwareononehandandgiveyouasan

odoopartner,theopportunitytofocusonnewprojectsontheotherhand.

Inthissense,youarealignedwithyourcustomers’objectives:ontime,within

budget,andwithoutunnecessaryextras.Thismethodology isdesignedto

achievethisgoal.

4

Methodology

Key conceptsPRIORITIES:

• Thecustomerdefinesthebusinessneed,thewaytosatisfyitisdefined

bytheproduct

• Thepriorityisthesuccessoftheproject.Youcanchallengeusersde-

mand if needed

KEEPING THING SIMPLE:

• Deliverasoftwarethatcoversallbusinessflowsand80%oftheex-

pectedfeaturesinafewweeks,notmonths.Thisisthefirstdeliverable,

beforeanyspecificdevelopment.

• Projectmanagersshouldbeabletoconfigureandcustomizethesoft-

ware.Avoidintermediariesthatarenotexpertsintheproducttomake

productdecisions.

• Avoidcustomdevelopments ifpossible, launchingthemonlyasa

lastresort.

5

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Theresponsibilityofaproject’sfailure/successbelongstoyou,nottothe

customer

• You assume this responsibility, and you do the implementation and

product design decisions to guarantee the success of the project and

tosavetimetotheclient’sbenefit.Refusetodosomethingthatgoes

againsttheseobjectives.

PROJECT MANAGERS:

• Thekeysuccessfactorofanyimplementationistheprojectmanager.

Gooddecisionscansaveyoudaysofwork.Ontopofmanagingproj-

ects,theymustbeproblemsolversandexpertsintheproduct.

• Invest in recruitingthebesttalentforthechallengeandtrainthem

extensively,retainingonlythetopperformers.

• Evenwhenyouhavethebestprojectmanagers,theycanstillmisscrit-

icaldetails.TopOdooexperts,externaltotheproject,canreviewand

challengeyourworkatcriticalstepsoftheproject(availablethrough

thepartnersupportpacks).

6

Phases

First quotation

Phase 2

Implementation project + Enterprise contract

GAP analysis (5d)

Full featured POC (5d)

Data import & developments

Test & training

Deployment

Deployments

Deployments

GO LIVE

Business Need Analysis (15%)

Thefirststepallowstheprojectmanagertocompilealltherelevantbusi-

nessneedsofthecompany.Thiscomesintheformofaseriesofinterviews

withdepartmentmanagerstoanalyzetheirworkflows.Thefinaldeliverable

isaprototypespecificationandaGAPAnalysis.(cfrexample)

Beforebeingdeliveredtothecustomer, this analysis can be challenged by

a top Odoo expert that is external to the project (available through the

partners support packs). The goal is to reduce the implementation lead

timebysolvingspecificneedswithstandardfeatures.

DELIVERABLES:

•Listofallbusinessneedsbybusinessunit,andtipsfortheprototype

•Estimatedplanning,phasingandbudgetofthenextsteps

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Full Featured Prototype (15%)

ThenextstepistofullyconfigureandcustomizeOdootocoverallbusiness

flows.Thescopeisdefinedas“the maximum you can get from a standard

solution, with customization but no development”.

Althoughnodataisimportedandnothird-partysoftwareisintegrated,the

softwareshouldbefullyfunctionalandthecompanyshouldtheoreticallybe

abletostartusingitasis(evenifsomestepsarestillmanual).Attheendof

thisphase,keyusersshouldhaveafulldemonstrationaswellasaccessto

testthesoftwareagainstallthenecessarybusinessflowsthecompanywill

need(withonly80%ofthefeatures).

DELIVERABLES:

•Afullyconfiguredsoftwarethatcoversallbusinessflowsand80%ofthefeatures

•Demoofthesoftwaretothekeyusers

•GAPAnalysiswithalistoftheremainingdevelopments

8

DataImport&SpecificDevelopment(50%)

WithafullyfunctionalPOC,thecustomerandtheprojectmanagershouldbe

abletodemonstratethefinalsolutiontokeyusers.Asaresult,youwillbeable

tovalidatetheremainingdevelopmentsthatareworthinvestingtimeon.

Splitremainingdevelopmentsintotwogroups:

1. Developmentsthatareabsolutelynecessarybeforegoingintoproduc-

tion(i.e.thecustomercannotoperatethebusinesswithoutthem).

2. Developmentsthatcanberolledout intheseconddeploymentphase,

after theproject goes live (i.e. the customercanoperate thebusiness

withoutthem,butit’snotefficient).

AtopOdooexpert,externaltothisproject,canreviewthissplitoffeatures

(availablethroughthepartnersupportpacks).

Atthisstep,youcanlaunchthreephasesinparallel:

• Import of data

• Specificdevelopmentsforfirstdeployment(onlythefirstoftheabove

twogroups)

• Third-partysoftwareintegration

Thesethreephasesarehandledbyateamofdevelopersandeverythingis

testedandvalidatedbytheprojectmanager.

DELIVERABLES:

•Completesoftwarewithcustomer’sdata

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Validation&Training(10%)

Oncethesoftwareisready,youcantrainallusersinthecompany.During

thesamephase,thecustomerisresponsibleforallfinaltestsandshould

providethegreenlight,toallowyoutogointoproduction.

Writingthedocumentationistheresponsibilityofthecustomerasagood

documentation should match customer’s internal processes. Having the

customerwritethedocumentationisagoodwaytoensuretheyhavefully

testedthesoftwarein“standardpractice”beforegoingintoproduction.

DELIVERABLES:

•Customer:Finalvalidationbeforeproduction

• Project Manager: Training for all end-users

10

Deployment:Golive(10%)

Oncewegolive,theprojectmanageranddevelopersshouldhandleallis-

suesthatmayariseassoonaspossible.

DELIVERABLES:

•Fixissues

2Second Deployment

Aroundonemonthafterthefirstdeployment,youreviewthelistofremaining

developmentsthatwerenotlaunchedinPhase1(i.e.developmentsscheduled

forPhase2:youcanoperatethebusinesswithoutthem,butit’snotefficient).

With the feedback fromtheusers, theprioritizationofdevelopmentswill

usuallychange(typicallyyouwillnoticethat50%ofthedevelopmentswere

notnecessaryand25%ofnewdevelopmentshavebeenadded).

DELIVERABLES:

•Iterationon:developments,deployments

11

Whattoexpectfromyourcustomers:

Fullsupportfromtop-levelmanagementImplementationprojects aredifficult.They require adaptations toa lotof

changesbytheusersandatransformationwithinthecompany.Therewill

bechallengesanddifficultdecisionstomake.Inordertosucceed,youneed

thefullsupportofthemanagementofthecompany.

Trustandcommitmentfromtop-levelmanagementisarequirementinorder

toacceptanyproject.

Customer’s Project Manager:Thecustomermusthaveaninternalprojectmanager.Thispersonmustbe

dedicatedtotheproject,musthaveauthority tomakedecisionsontheir

own,andmusthavetheleadershipandautonomytotrainandenforcepol-

iciesformostdepartments.

Thispersonshouldhavedirectaccesstotheexecutivecommitteeifneeded.

Integrate90%ofyourbusiness,not100%:YourcustomerprobablychoseOdoobecausenoothersoftwareallowsforsuch

ahighlevelofautomation,featurecoverage,andintegration.Butdon’tallowthe

customertojourneyinthisdirection.

Customizationscosttimeandmoney,aremorecomplextomaintain,add

riskstotheimplementation,andcancauseissueswithupgrades.Beflexible;

useOdoothewayitwasdesignedtoachieveoptimalresultsfast.Learning

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how itworkswithout trying to replicateold system(s) andworkflowswill

yieldasimplifiedandfunctionalresultthatprovideslong-termefficiency.

Howtosetcustomerexpectations?

Whatisthebuyingprocessforanewproject?ThefirstquotetoanynewcustomerisacombinationofPhase1and2(Pro-

totypeSpecification+FullFeaturedPrototype).Alternatively,thecustomer

cancommitonthePrototypeSpecificationonlyiftheirbudgetislow.Ade-

tailedquoteforthenextphasesisprovidedasadeliverableofPhase1.An

initialbudgetisaround10days;neverasktocommittoabigbudgetorbuy

thewholeprojectatthisstageofnegotiations.

Tohelpthecustomertodecideifheisreadytoworkwithyou,youcanpro-

videaroughestimationoftheTCOanddifferentdemosoftheproduct.

Shouldthecustomerwritedetailed specificationbeforecontactingyou?Don’tletthecustomerwastetimeonwritingdetailedspecifications.Andnever

commitonfullanddetailedspecificationssolelywrittenbythecustomer.This

methodology is efficientbecause theprojectmanagerhave theflexibility to

solvebusinessneedstheirownway.Ifspecificationsarefrozen,servicemight

notbeasefficient.

Ifthecustomerwrotedetailedspecifications,youcanuseitasasourceof

informationtounderstandtheirbusinessneeds.Butnevercommittosuch

specifications.

13

Howtonegotiate?Trytoavoidnegotiationonrate/dayunlesstheprojectislarge(ourestimation:

largeproject>100days).

Thebestwaytoreducebudgetistosolvespecificneedsusingstandardfea-

tures,whichisthegoalofPhase1and2.

OnOdooEnterprise,slightflexibilitycanbeprovidedonthepriceifitisacontract

ofmorethan100users,ormorethanayearasinitialcontract.

Odoocontractshave conditions that aredesigned tobe fair for the cus-

tomer.We cannot handle different SLAs or guarantees per customer.We

haveonewayofworking,wedoitwell,butwearenotorganizedtomanage

exceptionspercustomer.So,ourlegaltermsandcontractsarenotnego-

tiable.Thatway,weallsavetimeonlegaladvicesexpenses.