Global Business Transformation, SAP, ERP, Cutover Management, Manufacturing Excellence, Blackout period Management, Direct and Indirect Procurement, Business Intelligence, Data Management and Analytic,
2. 2
Agenda
Introduction to Cutover: What is Cutover?
Plan for the Plan
Cutover Planning Process
Cutover Plan Vs. Business Readiness Plan
Contingency Planning
Must Get Right
3. 3
What is Cutover?
Cutover is the process of planning, managing and executing ALL of the tasks and
activities that allow the impacted business/function to ‘cutover’ to the SAP system.
Business Preparation Activities related to Cutover and Legacy Integration/
Shutdown are key components of the Cutover Plan.
Cutover Planning and Execution Activities are organized and managed under the
following categories:
System Build (Technical & Functional)
Data Migration/Verification
Business Preparation
Legacy Integration/Shutdown
Business Startup Activities
These are the primary building blocks of Cutover and success
requires rigorous, detailed and integrated planning.
4. 4
Cutover Activities
System Build
– Technical / Infrastructure Build
• Build Production environment
• Connectivity to middleware, Bolt-Ons, and legacy environments
• Setup of printers and scanners
– Functional build
• Apply all transports (Configuration, Security and Development)
• Perform manual steps
Data Migration & Verification
– Data Accuracy Testing
– Extract and transform data
– Load master data into production with end user sign-off
– Load transaction data into production and reconcile with end user sign-off
5. 5
Cutover Activities, cont’d
Business Preparation
– Business activities and procedures in support of the Cutover process e.g.:
• Last Processing of Business Transactions
• Inventory procedures
Legacy Integration/Shutdown
– Legacy System freeze schedules
– Shutdown/decommissioning procedures
– Legacy interface re-pointing
Business Startup Activities
– Restarting the business based on the new solution (processes, data,
technology)
– Focused on key identified areas
6. 6
Plan for the Plan
To prepare a detailed cutover plan leveraging resources from project and various business
units, a Plan for the plan is necessary. Plan of the plan helps in planning & tracking various
milestones and effort. The milestones defined are as follows:
1. Initial Cutover Planning
– Define roles and responsibilities, Cutover meeting cadence
– Establish Cutover Schedule
– Define Scope, approach of Initial cutover planning workshops
– Conduct Initial workshops
1. Detailed Cutover Planning
– Conduct Detailed cutover workshops with Process and Horizontal teams
– Review Communication Plan, Site Readiness plan
– Create and Review Contingency plan
– Facilitate issue based workshops
– Road-show/ Communication of “Draft Cutover Plan”
1. Cutover Rehearsal
– Create rehearsal Plan
– Execute Cutover Rehearsal
– Facilitate Lessons Learned for Cutover rehearsal
1. Release of “Final Cutover Plan”
7. 7
Initial Planning
Objective
– Kick start planning activity by identifying the key tasks and
planning team members
Inputs
– Planning Accelerators (Planning workbooks for different teams)
– List of Interfaces and Legacy IT systems
– Prior Release Contingency Plans
– Prior Release Lessons Learned
Outputs
– Preliminary List of Cutover Tasks (Draft Workbook)
– Planning Team Members
• List of team members (SAP team, Data team, Legacy IT &
Interface Coordinators)
• Business Resources
8. 8
Detailed Planning
Objective
– Develop a Draft Cutover Plan, aligned
with Business Readiness and
Shutdown plan
– Develop a Draft Business Startup
Plan
Inputs
– Preliminary Planning Workbook
– Business Readiness Plans (incl.
Shutdown Plans)
Outputs
– Draft Cutover Plan
– Draft Startup Plan
– Cutover Rehearsal Plan
Key Takeaway: there is much iteration as we go
deeper in each process subteam and then integrate
across processes; it is very likely that business
team members will find some overlap as we look
into detailed Cutover tasks and plan for Shutdown
because the tasks are heavily interdependent
9. 9
Cutover Rehearsal
Objective
– To practice, to greatest extent possible, Cutover and build
lessons learned into the final Cutover Plan
– To practice Startup (limited to transactional processing, not
operations)
Inputs
– Draft Cutover Plan
– Draft Startup Plan
Outputs
– Final Cutover Plan
– Updated Startup Plan
Key Takeaway: not everything is rehearsed; specifically not
every Business Prep task is a candidate for rehearsal;
conversely, some activity will have been rehearsed many times
by this point (e.g., Data Migration)
10. 10
Cutover
Objective
– To successfully Go Live
– To have a well orchestrated Startup
Inputs
– Cutover Plan
– Updated Startup Plan
Outputs
– New SAP Production Capability (this is not just about a system!)
Key Takeaways: (1) Startup activity that needs to be done
within SAP before Go Live must be in the Cutover Plan, (2) the
Cutover Plan is a controlled document with change control – we
need to get it first time right ! (3) Startup planning is not just a
site or division – everything is now integrated !
11. 11
Cutover Plan and Business Readiness Plans
Business
Readiness Plans
(Planning lead by Business
Leads)
Cutover Plan
(planning lead by
SAP Team)
System Build
Data Migration
Legacy System Shutdown
Business Prep
(e.g., Shutdown)
Legacy System Integrations
Prepare SOPs
Business
Continuity Plans
Benefits
Ownership
Start UpPlanned by SAP
team
(planned at the
executable level of
detail)
Planned by the
Business
(planned at the
executable level of
detail)
Planned Collaboratively
(planned a the milestone level and
then the executable level of detail is
carried in the most appropriate plan)
12. 12
Cutover and Business Readiness Plan Milestone Dates
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
These are the critical Cutover Milestones; these
are fixed dates/times and are in the Cutover Plan
These are the key milestones that form the critical path
for the Level 1 dates (e.g., last 3rd
Party Invoice paid
before A/P closed, close Sales/Inventory); these are also
fixed and shifts need to be approved/negotiated; these
are also in the Cutover Plan
These are the important milestones that the
Business or Legacy IT must achieve in order to
accomplish Level 2 dates (e.g., turn off legacy
system for Requisitioning); these are flexible
only to the extent that Level 2 milestones stay on
track; these are expected to be in Legacy
Business Readiness Plans but higher risk
milestones may also be carried in the Cutover
Plan
13. 13
Contingency Planning
Contingency Planning is needed to ensure that organization can continue to perform
their critical business functions in an acceptable period of time
Two types of Contingency Plan are developed:
1. IT & SAP Contingency Plan
a. One way of SAP Vs. another way – What If Scenarios
b. Interface Vs Manual SAP transaction
c. Hardware (Network, Printers, SSO etc) & Software (Internet explorer
version Vs Mozilla Firefox etc)
Developed by Project Implementation Team during Cutover meetings
2. Business Continuity Plan at Business Unit level
a. Leveraging Manual processes in the event of non SAP
b. Paper based/ Legacy system Based
c. Decision on Procedural Checks and Balances
Developed By Business (reviewed & agreed by Project team)
14. 14
Must Get Right
Approval from Project sponsors for Key Cutover Strategies, Draft Cutover schedule and Key
Timelines
Clearly defined and documented roles and responsibilities of Cutover Team
– Cutover Lead
– Data Migration lead
– Interface Coordinator
– Legacy IT Coordinator
– System Build (Functional & Technical) Coordinator
Clear agreement from Business about their participation and involvement
Change, Communication and Training Team should be in loop in the entire process and
should help drive communication and change initiatives aligned with Cutover Schedule
Infrastructure arrangement for Cutover Rehearsal should be similar to Actual Cutover. There
shouldn’t be any compromise during rehearsal in terms of participation of business or effort.
One should pay very close attention to User provisioning, role definition & testing of roles
Business Verification transactions during Cutover rehearsal should be detailed enough and
should include security roles too.
Although most of you are already aware about the Concept of Cutover, however, I would to start with Introduction to Cutover
Time: 1 Min
Cutover Definition
The definition of the categories are explained in more detail in coming slides
Time: 1-2 minutes
In this slide, I would talk about details of System Build:
Technical system build: Build of Prod environment
Pre-transport manual activities by process teams
Application of transports
Post Transport manual configuration activities by process teams
-- Data Migration and verification activities
Data Verification activities differ from business to business i.e.
a. Validated business Vs Non validated business
b. Strategy of data migration & Testing (Target testing, Load testing etc)
c. Sensitiveness of client about the data quality
Post data migration, manual activities by process teams
Time: 3-4 min
- Business Prep activities i.e. Business Cutover activities: Detail process and procedure about Business cutover tasks in different areas and their dependencies
Last processing of business transactions and their exact timings
Dependencies of the business tasks
Ascertaining the timing, responsible and accountable person for the tasks
Agreement with Business for the tasks
Legacy Integration and Shutdown
Agreement about the system freezing schedule
Legacy system readiness for shutdown/ decommissioning Schedule
Interface start timing – Last file send & Receive date and time
Agreement about the timing of interface readiness date and time
Time: 4-5 min
To be able to manage a Big cutover of more than 300 project resources, one needs to have a very well defined planning approach for Cutover Planning:
To effectively plan a big cutover with optimum utilization of project resources, it is extremely essential to have a Plan for the Cutover Planning
Mention about the Definition of Roles and Responsibilities for Cutover:
Full time Resources
Cutover Lead & support
Data Migration Lead & team
Interface coordinator
Legacy System Coordinator
Infrastructure Coordinator
On Need basis
Process teams and Horizontal teams
Business leads
Time: 4-5 min
Planning Workbook to capture cutover tasks per team
List of interfaces and legacy systems
Contingency Plan – template
- Full time Resources
Cutover Lead & support
Data Migration Lead & team
Interface coordinator
Legacy System Coordinator
Infrastructure Coordinator
On Need basis
Process teams and Horizontal teams
Business leads
Time: 2-3 min
Conducting detailed cutover meeting
Aligning business tasks and IT (Interfaces, Legacy extraction)
Agree about the date, time, Volume of business etc
Alignment with Business readiness Plan
Start up Planning
Time: 5 min
Time: 1-2 min
Time: 1 min
Distinction of Business Role Vs. Role of Cutover team
Time: 1-2 min
Time: 3-4 Min
Time: 2-3 min
A Contingency plan template will be available in download form for reference