Odoo Implementation Methodology

Odoo Implementation Methodology

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  Implementation Methodology
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  Contents Introduction Challenges inlarge 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 Data Import & Specific Development (50%) 8 Validation & Training (10%) 9 Deployment: Go live (10%) 10 Second Deployment 10 What to expect from your customers 11 Full support from top-level management 11 Customer’s Project Manager 11 Integrate 90% of your business, not 100% 11 How to set customer expectations? 12 What is the buying process for a new project? 12 Should the customer write detailed specification before contacting you? 12 How to negotiate? 13
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  3 Introduction Challenges in largeimplementation projects: Odoo is a great software. There is no doubt about the huge benefits your customer will get from using it. The main challenge is in the implementation: deliver expected benefits on time and within budget. What we suggest to solve it? We encourage to keep projects simple. We know how to avoid unnecessary pitfalls such as custom developments; the main source of complexities and risks of delay. It’s easy to say, but very hard to do. We know how to map specific business needs to fit the standard features, you can say “no” to customers and provide alternative solutions, in order to optimize efficiency and to get the most out of the product. This document is our preferred methodology and it is for informational purposes. We encourage you to read it and apply any best practices that suit to your particular situation. How is it different? The focus is to sell the least amount of services possible in order to let the customer get the benefits from the software on one hand and give you as an odoo partner, the opportunity to focus on new projects on the other hand. In this sense, you are aligned with your customers’ objectives: on time, within budget, and without unnecessary extras. This methodology is designed to achieve this goal.
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  4 Methodology Key concepts PRIORITIES: • Thecustomer defines the business need, the way to satisfy it is defined by the product • The priority is the success of the project. You can challenge users de- mand if needed KEEPING THING SIMPLE: • Deliver a software that covers all business flows and 80% of the ex- pected features in a few weeks, not months.This is the first deliverable, before any specific development. • Project managers should be able to configure and customize the soft- ware. Avoid intermediaries that are not experts in the product to make product decisions. • Avoid custom developments if possible, launching them only as a last resort.
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  5 RESPONSIBILITIES: • The responsibilityof a project’s failure/success belongs to you, not to the customer • You assume this responsibility, and you do the implementation and product design decisions to guarantee the success of the project and to save time to the client’s benefit. Refuse to do something that goes against these objectives. PROJECT MANAGERS: • The key success factor of any implementation is the project manager. Good decisions can save you days of work. On top of managing proj- ects, they must be problem solvers and experts in the product. • Invest in recruiting the best talent for the challenge and train them extensively, retaining only the top performers. • Even when you have the best project managers, they can still miss crit- ical details. Top Odoo experts, external to the project, can review and challenge your work at critical steps of the project (available through the partner support packs).
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  6 Phases First quotation Phase 2 Implementationproject + Enterprise contract GAP analysis (5d) Full featured POC (5d) Data import & developments Test & training Deployment Deployments Deployments GO LIVE Business Need Analysis (15%) The first step allows the project manager to compile all the relevant busi- ness needs of the company. This comes in the form of a series of interviews with department managers to analyze their work flows. The final deliverable is a prototype specification and a GAP Analysis. (cfr example) Before being delivered to the customer, 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 time by solving specific needs with standard features. DELIVERABLES: • List of all business needs by business unit, and tips for the prototype • Estimated planning, phasing and budget of the next steps
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  7 Full Featured Prototype(15%) The next step is to fully configure and customize Odoo to cover all business flows. The scope is defined as “the maximum you can get from a standard solution, with customization but no development”. Although no data is imported and no third-party software is integrated, the software should be fully functional and the company should theoretically be able to start using it as is (even if some steps are still manual). At the end of this phase, key users should have a full demonstration as well as access to test the software against all the necessary business flows the company will need (with only 80% of the features). DELIVERABLES: • A fully configured software that covers all business flows and 80% ofthe features • Demo of the software to the key users • GAP Analysis with a list of the remaining developments
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  8 Data Import &Specific Development (50%) With a fully functional POC, the customer and the project manager should be able to demonstrate the final solution to key users. As a result, you will be able to validate the remaining developments that are worth investing time on. Split remaining developments into two groups: 1. Developments that are absolutely necessary before going into produc- tion (i.e. the customer cannot operate the business without them). 2. Developments that can be rolled out in the second deployment phase, after the project goes live (i.e. the customer can operate the business without them, but it’s not efficient). A top Odoo expert, external to this project, can review this split of features (available through the partner support packs). At this step, you can launch three phases in parallel: • Import of data • Specific developments for first deployment (only the first of the above two groups) • Third-party software integration These three phases are handled by a team of developers and everything is tested and validated by the project manager. DELIVERABLES: • Complete software with customer’s data
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  9 Validation& Training (10%) Once the software is ready, you can train all users in the company. During the same phase, the customer is responsible for all final tests and should provide the green light, to allow you to go into production. Writing the documentation is the responsibility of the customer as a good documentation should match customer’s internal processes. Having the customer write the documentation is a good way to ensure they have fully tested the software in “standard practice” before going into production. DELIVERABLES: • Customer: Final validation before production • Project Manager: Training for all end-users
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  10 Deployment:Go live (10%) Once we go live, the project manager and developers should handle all is- sues that may arise as soon as possible. DELIVERABLES: • Fix issues 2 Second Deployment Around one month after the first deployment, you review the list of remaining developments that were not launched in Phase 1 (i.e. developments scheduled for Phase 2: you can operate the business without them, but it’s not efficient). With the feedback from the users, the prioritization of developments will usually change (typically you will notice that 50% of the developments were not necessary and 25% of new developments have been added). DELIVERABLES: • Iteration on: developments, deployments
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  11 What to expectfrom your customers: Full support from top-level management Implementation projects are difficult. They require adaptations to a lot of changes by the users and a transformation within the company. There will be challenges and difficult decisions to make. In order to succeed, you need the full support of the management of the company. Trust and commitment from top-level management is a requirement in order to accept any project. Customer’s Project Manager: The customer must have an internal project manager. This person must be dedicated to the project, must have authority to make decisions on their own, and must have the leadership and autonomy to train and enforce pol- icies for most departments. This person should have direct access to the executive committee if needed. Integrate 90% of your business, not 100%: Your customer probably chose Odoo because no other software allows for such a high level of automation, feature coverage, and integration. But don’t allow the customer to journey in this direction. Customizations cost time and money, are more complex to maintain, add risks to the implementation, and can cause issues with upgrades. Be flexible; use Odoo the way it was designed to achieve optimal results fast. Learning
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  12 how it workswithout trying to replicate old system(s) and workflows will yield a simplified and functional result that provides long-term efficiency. How to set customer expectations? What is the buying process for a new project? The first quote to any new customer is a combination of Phase 1 and 2 (Pro- totype Specification + Full Featured Prototype). Alternatively, the customer can commit on the Prototype Specification only if their budget is low. A de- tailed quote for the next phases is provided as a deliverable of Phase 1. An initial budget is around 10 days; never ask to commit to a big budget or buy the whole project at this stage of negotiations. To help the customer to decide if he is ready to work with you, you can pro- vide a rough estimation of the TCO and different demos of the product. Should the customer write detailed specification before contacting you? Don’t let the customer waste time on writing detailed specifications. And never commit on full and detailed specifications solely written by the customer. This methodology is efficient because the project manager have the flexibility to solve business needs their own way. If specifications are frozen, service might not be as efficient. If the customer wrote detailed specifications, you can use it as a source of information to understand their business needs. But never commit to such specifications.
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  13 How to negotiate? Tryto avoid negotiation on rate/day unless the project is large (our estimation: large project > 100 days). The best way to reduce budget is to solve specific needs using standard fea- tures, which is the goal of Phase 1 and 2. On Odoo Enterprise, slight flexibility can be provided on the price if it is a contract of more than 100 users, or more than a year as initial contract. Odoo contracts have conditions that are designed to be fair for the cus- tomer. We cannot handle different SLAs or guarantees per customer. We have one way of working, we do it well, but we are not organized to manage exceptions per customer. So, our legal terms and contracts are not nego- tiable. That way, we all save time on legal advices expenses.