Qentelli’s RFP Response to
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Executive Summary

Qentelli LLC (Qentelli) thanks NCH Corporation (NCH) for providing us the opportunity to respond to the RFP for a strategic IT Partner. We understand the vision of the RFP is to help NCH in consolidating and enhancing the ability to develop and maintain software systems operated by NCH.

The key objectives from a business and technical perspective are outlined below

BUSINESS OBJECTIVESENGINEERING OBJECTIVES
1. Consolidate, optimize, and improve the IT footprint, spend and efficiency1. Complete core IT Projects on Oracle EBS platform across EAS, Marketing, Global Business and other areas & move to “Evergreen” status
2. Allow for a lean IT Operation with the ability to scale as needed in specific areas globally, without needing NCH to sign multiple local contracts2. Complete Roadmaps across Infrastructure, Security and Support Operations

Qentelli believes our proposal addresses these objectives and much more. As such, Qentelli is pleased to respond to NCH with the following foundational and guiding principles for the proposal:

 

  • Engineering Excellence – Architecting and developing high-quality, resilient platforms through professional expertise, maintaining high quality standards, and following modern Software Engineering practices
  • Collaborative culture – Co-creation of Business Value through close collaboration with Business and IT stakeholders at NCH through the following shared values:
    • Build Trust through transparent communications
    • Fix issues, learn from them and move quickly – blameless post-mortems
    • Track, learn, Calibrate and Continually improve
    • Fail Fast, Learn Faster mindset
  • Right shoring, right sizing, and right skilling – From our experience, IT systems need to run like a well-oiled machine – when done well, you don’t know it’s there, but when it does not operate properly, it slows down the organization considerably without everyone not recognizing the crisis. We will review and retain key skills, right shore roles that can be done effectively at a lower cost, as well as optimize the teams as needed

Qentelli is a technology company that accelerates digital and cloud transformation journeys through implementation of DevOps, Automation, Agile, and next gen technologies in AI including Machine Learning & Deep learning.

We help clients to deliver software faster, more efficiently and affordably. Qentelli is headquartered in Dallas, TX with a global presence. The services teams are powered by the Innovation Group that provides the thought leadership, problem-solving and technology needed for modern applications. Our Intellectual Property which includes AI based products/tools, frameworks, methodology and process playbooks help accelerate and deliver Digital Transformation, Cloud Adoption, DevOps, and Quality Engineering solutions to our customers. Some of our experience in the BFSI Space that underscores our expertise in the services in the scope of this RFP include:

  1. IT-as-a-Service for a Global leader in Financial Services for managing their Revenue generating and internal platforms.
  2. Digital Transformation, DevOps, DevTestOps and DevSecOps for one of the largest Regional Banks in US by modernizing their revenue generating monolithic application into microservices architecture on Azure Platform.
  3. New Application Development on Microservices & Frontend for the World’s largest financial consulting organization.

We believe that our proven expertise in Digital Transformation makes Qentelli the vendor of choice for this initiative. Qentelli Executive Leadership team assures NCH that it fully aligns with and will go the extra mile to help achieve the above objectives.

 

We recognize and appreciate that one of NCH’s core objectives for this RFP is to run a cost-optimized IT function. To help in achieving this goal, Qentelli offers the following commercials

 

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Pricing Summary

Year

Professional Services Cost

NCH

Current Spend

 $                            12,863,742.00

Qentelli

Year 1

 $                            12,363,742.00

Year 2

 $                            11,363,742.00

Year 3

 $                            10,863,742.00

Cumulative Savings with Qentelli for the span of 3 Years : Professional Services

 $                           2,000,000.00

What is included in this pricing

  • Rebadging of 26 NCH FTEs that NCH deems to be thought leaders or “super techs” – whose continuation will be critical to NCH’s plans for the next 1 year
  • Retention or replacement of 70 NCH FTEs – replacements may be moved to any Qentelli location, including India
  • Retention or replacement of 58 Contractors – Qentelli may choose to replace them or sub-contract with the existing contracting companies

What is excluded from this pricing

  • Any additional lead/manager roles for offshore positions
  • All roles which will be in operation (Qentelli or Contractors) will continue to be managed by NCH leads and Managers
  • Any consulting services
  • Guarantees of retention for any other resource

Pricing Assumptions [Important to confirm by NCH]

  • All in-scope resources transitioned to Qentelli will work on best effort basis for completing the FY23 and FY24 IT Plans.
  • As the estimates for schedule and team size were not provided and agreed by Qentelli, Qentelli reserves the right to review and propose alternate plans for the above planning
  • All existing infrastructure costs, including but not limited to hardware, purchased software/systems, subscription software, Cloud provider costs, licenses
  • All laptops and other software issued to retained employees (though rebadged by Qentelli) will continue to be supplied by NCH
  • If any NCH FTEs request additional compensation for retention, Qentelli will pass on the additional cost
  • NCH agrees to negotiate with FTEs that both parties agree to retain, in order to ensure continuity
  • All Change Management, internal communications and risk management for this transition will be owned by NCH with significant contribution from Qentelli

Value Proposition to NCH

The RFP response has more details, but here are some of the benefits that Qentelli is uniquely positioned to underwrite for NCH.

  1. Commitment to YoY savings to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to NCH over the 3 Year period of Engagement through
    • Overall savings of USD $2.5M through the levers of utilization efficiency, right-shoring of people, defect prevention and driving automation
    • Technology investment of USD $250K (USD $85K per year) through our Products and Frameworks implemented for NCH
  2. Founders’ [President and CEO] commitment from Qentelli on partnering with NCH through
    • Active Participation in the Steering Committee for Strategy, Governance and Relationship
  3. Engagement Leadership
    • Qentelli will invest in a Senior Delivery Leader, based out of the US, who will work in close proximity to the CIO and IT Function Leaders on Strategic areas, provide thought leadership and drive towards achieving common goals.
    • As needed, Qentelli will also bring in experts for consultative needs around Architecture, DevOps, Infrastructure, and InfoSec. Depending on the purpose and duration, such consulting assignments may be investments from Qentelli or charged at a discounted price to NCH.
  4. Other elements of the Value Proposition include
    • Access to Qentelli’s University for Upskilling & Cross-skilling
    • Access to Qentelli’s Resource Management Group to help you address spikes / business demand across your Enterprise needs
    • 80% Guaranteed retention of Key Named Resources agreed by NCH and Qentelli for a period of 3 years

We are excited to bring our proven expertise in IT for Enterprises such as NCH and we hope to be the vendor of choice to NCH and your long-term strategic technology partner. Along with our Executive Leadership team, we assure NCH to go the extra mile to help achieve your business objectives.

With Appreciation and Excitement,

Sanjay Jupudi

Founder & President

SanjayJ@Qentelli.com | +1 469 600 0696

Prasanna Singaraju

Founder & CEO

Prasanna@qentelli.com | +1 469 600 3217

To meet the goals for this RFP, Qentelli will align with the IT functions at NCH today and provide support across the different tracks.

Key Pillars of the Solution

People

In such large Transitions, it is critical to ensure that

  • Knowledge Transfer – Knowledge of systems and operating practices are transitioned effectively, given that many people have long tenures at NCH
  • Organizational Change Management – Staff may have developed close working relationships; a large-scale change can potentially lead to resistance and resentment. Managing such change through frequent and transparent communication from NCH is important to ensure that the initiative is successful
  • Retention, right shoring and right sizing – Qentelli will make every effort to retain all the 26 Key FTEs identified by NCH for at least a year along with compensation benefits. However, there may be a flight risk for some people which needs to be planned
  • Culture – With operations in multiple countries, understanding each country’s cultural nuances and managing them for optimal performance is a key success factor. Qentelli has experience working in multiple geos, working with local partners and being able to decentralize some decision-making to the functions and country leaders.

 

Process

Qentelli’s approach to this initiative will follow a well-proven Framework that integrates all the other pillars of the solution. The Framework is a directional aspect with each function within IT having its own set of Processes, Tools, Structure, Governance and Reporting. Here, we are addressing our perspective for the whole of IT.

The Framework consists of the below central Themes:

  • Transition Model – A Phased approach to Transition that includes Knowledge transfer, Secondary support (Shadow support), Primary role and Steady state. This is applied across all tracks
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  • Governance – An effective IT Governance framework using industry standards such as COBIT as a model is required to address the rapidly changing IT Landscape. We recommend modeling the CIO office at NCH around the following functions to ensure a standardized, lean and consistent approach to IT.
    • Our Governance approach has multiple layers at Strategic, Tactical and Operational levels. The Strategic Governance model is applied at the overall IT Function level, while Tactical & operational governance is applied within IT Departments.
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    Governance needs to be operationalized at various levels and must be performed consistently based on uniform tasks/criteria for it to be effective. Our Governance Review approach is shown below

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    Note: the weekly and monthly reviews that will be performed within each track as Plans, Progress, Capacity and Performance will be different

KPIs and Metrics

The “Goal-Question-Metric” (GQM) approach is a proven method for driving goal-oriented measures throughout software organizations. With GQM, we start by defining the goals we are trying to achieve, then ask clarifying questions around those goals, and finally answer our questions through objective metrics. By mapping business outcomes and goals to specific measures, we can form a better picture of the Agile environment and clearly demonstrate how we are performing across the enterprise.

The KPIs should help the teams and management make decisions based on the value at a point in time or trends over time. If no decisions are being made, then the metric needs to be reviewed for usefulness.

It should also be recognized that KPIs/Metrics can and must change over time. When you start the process, you may focus on certain metrics to ensure that your baseline objectives are being met. After the baseline has been achieved and your team has adopted the practices, you should move to a different set of metrics to track how the team(s) are evolving.

From our experience, we have observed the following:

  • Metrics drive behavior
  • If KPIs are reported & not used for making changes, people will lose value for that data
  • Punitive use of data will cause people to report false data
  • Onus of metrics is on the “Consumer” rather than the “Producer”

KPI Program – Our Approach

The following framework defines the steps starting from metrics definition to measurement to continuous improvement.

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GQM for Metrics Definition

A typical template used for identification of metrics with some samples is provided below:

Business Goal 

Questions 

Metrics 

Notes 

Bring New Products and Features quickly to the market 

What factors impact time to market? 

 

What is our current baseline? 

 

What is our current process to introduce new features? 

Lead Time to Deploy 

Average Cost per Feature 

People utilization 

 

 

There may be other metrics that can be defined based on detailed answers to the questions 

Prevent Issues from being discovered by the Customer 

What are our Quality assurance parameters? 

 

How do we detect issues before the customer does? 

Defect Density per feature (can be categorized by size of feature) 

% of Customer reported incidents that already have an open ticket 

Defect Density is a measure of # of defects detected by the team before release to UAT / Production. This needs Unit tests, QA coverage (Manual and Automation) etc. 

Technology

As outlined in each Track, we bring extensive expertise in different IT Domains, including Enterprise Platforms such as Oracle EBS & Salesforce, custom-developed Apps, DevOps, Network & Infrastructure, Enterprise InfoSec & Business-as-Usual across multiple geos.

A humming Technology organization will usually have solutions for almost all areas shown below – Qentelli’s responsibility is to make it leaner and transparent

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Track-Level Solutions

A summary of the different Tracks and our approach is described here – please refer to the detailed RFP Response for each track.

Track 1: Process Change

We plan to introduce a Portfolio Approach to IT Capacity through the use of Quarterly Planning Cycles and an enhanced Demand Management process to manage change, prioritize business requests, scale capacity and institute chargeback models.

We will continue to use Ivanti and ServiceNow to manage Demand across NCH IT.

Track 2: Oracle EBS

We will apply a dual service delivery model for this stream as described below:

  • We will participate in Oracle EBS development, integration, QA and rollout of different modules for different Business units as outlined in the FY23 and FY24 planning documents
  • We will continue to provide support through L1, L2 and L3 levels using a Plan-Transition-Steady state model

The plan is to retain, replace or augment as necessary to enable the delivery of Oracle EBS resources for technical & functional areas, while optimizing Oracle support.

Track 3: EAS Marketing

Similar to Track 2, we will adopt an Application Delivery Stream Global Order Entry and rollout for EU/other regions including China rollout in 2024 along with support for existing apps such as current Order entry system, NCH Live & SCORE.

Qentelli proposes a 4-phase process in this engagement.

  • Assessment – Discover the current system setup, solutions developed, current maintenance process, understand the business value and support model. Also, Determine the adoption strategy and roadmap in alignment with business vision and technology setup.
  • Transition – Knowledge transfer across all business processes, business logic, modules, development methodology, integrations, deployment approaches, in-transit operations, and support history
  • Steady State – Operate the system development and support tracks through retain/replace strategy based on the Planning and KT conducted earlier
  • Optimization / Transformation – Bring in best practices and thought leadership to optimize the current setup, help migrate old systems to the new systems and bring in automation as necessary to help improve timelines and optimize cost.
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Track 4: Cloud Migration

Qentelli team will help NCH data center to migrate all or part of its IT infrastructure to the cloud and suggest the cloud services based on business needs and the volume of data, the principles of working with them, the presence of a geographically distributed network of offices, and other factors. The generally accepted scheme can be broken down into several typical steps

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SQL Server Migration

Qentelli understands NCH is running MS SQL Server for many of their applications. This document identifies the current SQL Server landscape and proposed migration below:

  • There are 7 physical servers hosting 25 virtual servers
  • 800 MS SQL Server databases running on these 25 virtual servers

As part of this engagement, Qentelli is proposing an approach towards migrating to Azure cloud

Key considerations while planning database migration

  • At high level 800 databases will be migrated to Azure
  • Qentelli recommends the following proven execution methodology to minimize any project risk
    • Methodology consists of Discovery, Plan, Migrate, Cutover and Optimize phases. In a separate section, tasks involved in each phase will be given

Patch Management Policy and Procedure

Qentelli’s Patch Management Policy and Procedure provides the processes and guidelines necessary to:

  1. Maintain the integrity of network systems and data by applying the latest operating system and application security updates/patches in a timely manner
  2. Establish a baseline methodology and timeframe for patching and confirming patch management compliance

Desktops, laptops, servers, applications, and network devices represent access points to sensitive and confidential company data, as well as access to technology resources and services. Ensuring updates and patches are distributed and implemented in a timely manner is essential to maintain system stability and mitigate malware, exploitation, and security threats.

Track 5: Infra Management

Qentelli Infra support team considers NCH IT infrastructure & Security Services as a highly specialized service, designed for information management systems based on Oracle, Salesforce, MS SQL, Cloud, Mobile and other diversified platforms.

Qentelli will follow certain IT infrastructure maintenance principles with a few variances, these practices can be customized based on the unique context of NCH requirements.

IT infrastructure maintenance can be classified into some key areas includes Server, Desktop, Backup and Security, Telecom, Firewalls, Switches, routers, and Server rooms /Data center maintenance. The maintenance operation frequencies are real-time, daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, as needed. This service ensures system availability during a specified timeframe through constant monitoring and control of SLAs

Track 6: Shadow IT Analysis & Recommendations

Shadow IT is a reality in most organizations and reflects the demand for Information Systems from Business to remain competitive and to drive efficiency. However, Shadow IT systems can pose serious risks to the organization including Financial, Legal and Compliance issues.

Qentelli will set up a Core team consisting of Infra, Application, Cloud, and other specialists to perform an Assessment of all Business verticals. At the end of the Assessment, this team will produce an “Inventory” of all IT systems (including hardware, software, subscriptions, storage, and other tools), along with details on use case, costs, contracts, and other information.

Based on this inventory, NCH and Qentelli can decide which areas to bring in scope for IT.

Why Qentelli?

RFP Track 1: Process Change and Demand Management

Business Demand vs IT Capacity Management

We will continue to use Ivanti and ServiceNow to manage demands on IT Capacity across NCH – to track Real time access to demands and know what’s coming next from every Business function in the organization. Centralized Demand Management process provides a central hub to manage and prioritize demand.

Key steps:

4. Introduce Quarterly Planning cycles with Business and IT leaders to plan for planned requests on IT Capacity

  • Introduce IT Portfolio Management process, managed by IT PMO, to approve, track, measure & decide on overall IT work. NCH VP of IT, IT Directors & Qentelli leaders will participate

5. Ad-hoc requests during the quarter will be considered for the next planning cycle unless deemed “Critical-to-fly” by the Business and goes through an Exception process

  • Business Case to be submitted by Business functions – Need, Scope, Criticality/Impact, benefits and ROI, time to ROI and other parameters may be included

6. Funding source to be discussed – Business-sponsored initiatives will be given precedence. IT Budgets will be used primarily for projects that benefit the Enterprise

  • NCH can now leverage Qentelli’s Core-Flex Model to manage variations in Business requests – it will now be possible for NCH to have short-term capacity to complete projects without any long-term financial commitment for those resources

7. Release Planning and Governance will ensure that there is a “Release Train” to maintain predictability over major software and infrastructure changes

 

Figure 2: Intake Process

The above image shows how NCH IT would manage the intake process once the Demand-Capacity Management process is implemented.

 

Figure 3: Demand Management System

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Figure 4: Project Proposal Workflow

Our Stage gate process to match Business Demand vs IT Capacity Management is based on multiple parameters for decision making:

  • Requests that are aligned with on-going IT Projects as part of approved Roadmap
  • Business Cases that show strong ROI in shorter periods of time (direct or indirect contribution to Revenue growth, improving efficiency and productivity, improving quality)
  • Business-funded requests
  • Skillsets needed
  • Build vs Buy – Commercial product implementations or legacy modernization efforts can be long and expensive
  • Contract, legal or regulatory compliance
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Figure 5 Business Case Request form

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Figure 6: Force-ranking business Cases for prioritization

Once Projects are approved, tracking them for Budget, schedule and other metrics is key to determine continued funding

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Figure 7: Strategic Planning

 

Responsibility and Timeline with organization capacity to achieve Company Goals:

Strategy Execution and Transformation plans require a lot of financial and human resources. Therefore, strong human resource management and finance and budget management functionalities are a must for managers to know on what to focus their resources to achieve success.

Get everyone on the same page

A high-level Portfolio Tracker that visualizes Initiatives, Program and Project in an easy-to-understand timeline, you provide managers and stakeholders full visibility of the plan.

Case Study

In a recent 18-month period, we reduced our new project intake by about 40%, by hard decisions on which projects would be funded.” ~ Ed Cohen, CIO

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  • Significantly increased # of requests from Business for IT Capacity
  • Skillsets not scalable quickly
  • NCH historically has not engaged temporary contract resources (independent contractors or vendors) to augment capacity
  • No clear boundary on chargebacks – who is going to pay for these initiatives: IT Budget, Discretionary IT Budget or Business Sponsors
  • Quarterly planning cycles either not conducted or not consistent to gather Business needs and plan for the next few quarters
  • Focus from Executive leadership on core NCH Capabilities – IT support is “after-the-fact” and not budgeted in the business projects

Our research shows the following areas where Industry leaders are prioritizing their IT Budgets:

RFP Track 2: Oracle EBS

 

Qentelli is given to understand Oracle EBS implementation as listed here below:

  • EBS for ASIA & North America was upgraded to 12.2.8 (NOT OCI) in Jan 2022.
  • The upgrade effort required remediation of 5000 CEMLIs and 1500 Discoverer Reports
  • EBS for EUROPE is being upgraded to 12.2.8 and OCI, Target Feb / Mar of 2023
  • EBS for NCH’s Plumbing Products Group (PPG) is excluded for EBS supported. Only has been upgraded to 12.2.9 and on OCI as of fall 2021.

The support of PPG EBS code is EXCLUDED from this RFP. The environment is shared (licensed code, servers, hosting, etc.) and is therefore included

 

Scope of Oracle EBS

Region

Description

Comments

North America & Asia

EBS 12.2.8

 

Europe

EBS (version not clear)

Need to upgrade and support 12.2.8

Plumbing Products Group

EBS 12.2.9 

Support to the environment and not EBS

All the above Regions have thousands of enhancements and Discoverer reports

 

EBS Module coverage

     Sln#

Application

Asia-NA

Europe

Fin

Cash Management

Yes

Yes

Fin

Fixed Assets

Yes

Yes

Fin

General Ledger

Yes

Yes

Fin

Vertex Series O for US

Yes

 

HR

Advanced Benefits

Yes

 

HR

Human Resources

Yes

Yes

HR

Incentive Compensation

Yes

Yes

SCM

Inventory

Yes

Yes

SCM

Shipping Execution

Yes

Yes

SCM

Warehouse Mgmt.

Yes

 

SCM

Demantra

Yes

 

SCM

Mobile Supply Chain

Yes

Yes

Manf

Advanced Planning

Yes

Yes

Manf

BOM

Yes

Yes

Manf

Discrete Cost

Yes

Yes

Manf

Manufacturing

Yes

Yes

Manf

Process Cost

Yes

Yes

Manf

Quality

Yes

Yes

MDM

Product Data Hub (PIM/PDH)

 

Yes

OTC

Advanced Collections

Yes

Yes

OTC

Advanced Pricing

Yes

Yes

OTC

Order Management

Yes

Yes

OTC

Receivables

Yes

Yes

PTP

iExpense

Yes

Yes

PTP

Payables

Yes

Yes

PTP

Purchasing

Yes

Yes

Common

Automation Anywhere for BOT Processing

Yes

 

Common

Formula

Yes

Yes

Common

Oracle Discoverer

Yes

Yes

Common

Precision/QAD TMS V16.1 system for US/Canada

Yes

 

Common

System Admin activities

Yes

 

Common

Oracle Localizations

Yes

Yes

Integration

Boomi

 

 

 

Scope of Support Services

Tier

Description

Comments

L1, L2, L3 and L4

Initial Analysis

· Production support 

· System Administration 

· Data fixes 

· Performance & tuning 

· Functional / User issues 

· Integration Issues 

 

Simple data fixes

Selective RCA and CIP for repeat issue reduction, User Enablement Automation and Process improvement

 

L1, L2, L3 and L4

Small / Medium Enhancement

· 12-80 hrs. of effort per request

· Provide design and specifications

· coordinate with production environment for change scheduling

· coordinate with techno / functional teams, developers, testers

· postproduction support (4 – 6 weeks) 

 

Projects

· More than 80 hrs. of effort

· Discretionary fund

· RFP is needed

· End-to-End execution

 

Ticket statistics

Monthly Ticket (Aug ’21) – Total 370

Category

Peak ticket size (for all regions)

Region wise breakup

· NA-172

· Europe -139

· APAC-38

Function wise breakup

· FIN – 67

· SCM – 41

· CRM – 44

· SR/Sys Admin - 197

 

Region wise Functional usage

Functional Area

Corporate

North America

Latin America

Asia

China

Europe

General Ledger

x

x

x

x

X

x

Payables

x

x

x

x

x

x

Receivables

x

x

 

x

x

x

Advanced Collections

 

x

 

 

 

x

Cash Management

x

x

 

x

x

x

iExpense

x

x

 

x

 

x

Fixed Assets

x

 

 

x

 

x

Advanced Benefits

x

 

 

 

 

 

Human Resources

x

 

 

 

 

x

Human Resources (light)

 

 

 

x

 

 

Payroll (Cerdian Dayforce)

x

 

 

 

 

 

Order Management

 

x

 

x

x

x

Advanced Pricing

 

x

 

x

x

x

Incentive Compensation

 

x

 

 

x

x

Discrete Cost, Manufacturing, Quality, BOM

 

x

 

 

 

x

Process Cost, Manufacturing, Quality, Formula

 

x

 

x

x

x

Inventory

 

x

 

x

x

x

Warehouse Mgmt. (costing only - one org)

 

x

 

 

 

 

Shipping Execution

 

x

 

x

x

x

Purchasing

 

x

 

x

x

x

Advanced Planning

 

x

 

x

x

x

Demantra

 

x

 

 

 

 

Vertex Series O

 

x

 

 

 

 

Precision TMS (V16.1)

 

x

 

 

 

 

Clear Orbit*

    

 

x

Mobile Supply Chain/Intellinum

 

x

 

x

x

x

Oracle Discoverer

x

x

x

x

x

x

Noetix Views *

    

 

x

Oracle Localizations

 

 

x

?

?

x

Sales Applications (Global OE/SMART/SCORE)

 

x

 

x

x

x

NCH Contracts

 

x

 

x

x

x

Salesforce

 

x

 

x

x

x

 

Oracle Tech Skills Required to Support

Technical Area

Corporate

North America

Latin America

Asia

China

Europe

Oracle Forms

x

x

x

x

x

x

Oracle XML Publisher

x

x

x

x

x

x

Oracle Reports/6i

x

x

 

x

x

x

Oracle Discoverer/Client/Admin

x

x

x

x

x

x

Oracle Workflow

x

x

 

x

x

x

Oracle Fusion Middleware

x

x

 

x

 

x

Dell Boomi Integration

 

x

 

 

 

 

PL*SQL

x

x

x

x

x

x

Unix Shell Scripting

 

x

 

 

 

x

OA Framework

 

x

 

 

 

x

Oracle AME

 

x

 

 

 

x

Automation Anywhere RPA

 

x

 

 

 

x

J-Developer

x

x

x

x

x

x

Desktop ADI

x

x

x

x

x

x

Toad/SQL Developer

x

x

x

x

x

x

.NET

x

x

x

x

x

x

Oracle Database

x

x

x

x

x

x

SQL Server

x

x

 

x

x

x

Financial Statement Generator

x

x

x

x

x

x

Oracle Report Writer

 

 

 

 

 

x

Oracle APEX

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instance Details

Instance

Description

Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transition Activities, Deliverables and Exit Criteria

This section outlines the activities related to the takeover of EBS environments by Qentelli. Qentelli has a well-established process for smooth transition and our proven methodology ensures that the knowledge acquired is managed well. The Transition Approach across phases and tracks are shown below:

 

The objectives for each track are described below:

TRANSITION TRACK

OBJECTIVE

Functional/Technical Track

· Achieves the goal of knowledge acquisition of the NCH EBS business process and Functional knowledge

· This also ensures technical details for CEMLI are acquired

· Demonstrating effective knowledge acquisition through Playback sessions and Hands-on ticket resolution

Process Track

· Achieves the goal of knowledge acquisitions of Common Enterprise Processes

· Development of policy and procedure documents addresses various functions to support EBS

· Finalize the Lifeline support processes like Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, etc., as this will be very different for EBS compared to home-grown applications

People Track

· As NCH has diversified implementation across multiple countries, it is very important to understand geographic specific dynamics and implementation to serve better

Infrastructure & System Access

· Since EBS produces heavy load on Database and system administration, a step to identify how the environments are maintained and access will be needed

· Ensure support team has been provided access to all systems and tools required for NCH Support

 

Planning Phase

Key Activities covered

  • Appraisal of Knowledge Transfer methodology and produce Master transition plan which will specify transition timeline, which is termed as ‘wave.’
  • Group list of modules and their associated CEMLIs and sequence them in Wave1, Wave2, etc.,
  • Preparation of Daily Knowledge Transfer Plan for each wave
  • Initiating the connectivity setup between NCH & Qentelli
  • Share documents to Qentelli for going through them. Some of the key information that needs to be part of the document are, as an example
    • Functional requirement documents (RD50)
    • Setup document (BR100)
    • Security profiles (BR110)
    • Architecture related (if applicable) (TA20, TA40, TA90)
    • Extensions (MD50, MD80, MD100, MD110)
  • Ensuring all needed logistics are in place
  • Transition plan will be created to address set of modules for each Wave and expected duration for KA, Shadow support and Primary support
  • Post finalization of Knowledge transfer plan, send meeting invites along with relevant details to NCH SMEs
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Transition Boot Camp:

  • Documents that are received will be used for self-learning of NCH’s business processes, IT Landscape, support processes and service levels, based on information provided by NCH.
  • Inform all key stakeholders within NCH on the activities that are going to take place during Transition phases
  • Set expectations on requirements from NCH – sign offs, go-ahead deliverables to expect, support needed by Qentelli etc.)
  • Address queries that NCH may have regarding roles, responsibilities, methodology & activities during transition
  • Discuss Governance and Escalation mechanisms
  • Outline and explain the exit criteria of each phase, so that all stakeholders within NCH are clear about what parameters the transition would be measured upon, helping in providing signoffs on for Go/No Go meetings

In Pre-Engagement Planning phase, Qentelli will invest half a day Transition Boot Camp with NCH that will be conducted in person/over Video conference.

The main objective of this phase to agree on the transition approach, expectations and resources needed as well as timelines and deliverables.

The key participants during Boot camp are: -

NCH

Qentelli

· NCH Manager

· NCH Transition Manager

· NCH Competency Leads

· Key SMEs from NCH who will be involved in

§ Knowledge Transfer activities,

§ Shadow Support and

§ Primary Support

· NCH Process Track Lead

· NCH Infrastructure Lead

· Qentelli Transition Manager

· Qentelli Onsite/Offshore Delivery Manager

· Qentelli Transition Head

· Qentelli Service Delivery Manager

· Qentelli Support Team Leads

 

 

The Entry-Task-Deliverables-Exit Criteria Mapping for this phase is shown below

Entry Criteria

Key Activities

Deliverables

Exit Criteria

Planning Phase

· Agreement signing and conditions precedent satisfied or waived

· Finalize transition plan and Team mobilization for all the tracks

· Ensure all access and infrastructure is in place

· Finalization of transition communication plan

· Prepare application specific document repository assessment like functional and technical specs, test data

· Review entry and exit criteria for every phase and ensure NCH approves of the same

· Finalize reporting and escalation mechanism that will be followed during transition phase

· Review plan for the knowledge acquisition phase

· Review Planning checklist

· Detailed transition plan

· Transition Governance Plan

· Risk management plan

· Calendar for KAP workshops sessions

· Completion of detailed transition plan for all the tracks identified

· Transition plan approval by NCH

· Planning Check List signoff

 

Typical Transition plan that would be followed for EBS transition. This will be tweaked during the Transition kick-off period

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Knowledge Acquisition Phase

Qentelli follows a seamless approach to transition applications knowledge from NCH. The approach is designed to achieve the following objectives:

  • Understand the Business Scenarios implemented, all the setups, overview of CEMLI and other configurations
  • Review of the last 1 year all the Incidents, Problem permanent fixes, minor and major enhancements
  • Also review Oracle SR that were created for each module/region
  • Review major customization or integration details
  • Understand patch strategy, backup/Restore DR history
  • Document the knowledge acquired from knowledge transfer sessions
  • Confirm Knowledge acquired via playback sessions
  • Build confidence to handle post transition

 

Key methods that are used but not limited to during this phase include:

  • Document Study – Mandatory prerequisite prior to every session for the recipient
  • Classroom Sessions – Business scenarios overview presentations
  • Detailed knowledge transfer sessions
  • Hands on practice sessions by Qentelli with minimal NCH SME involvement
  • Clarification sessions – Need Based with Sufficient Notice
  • Creating and Updating of the SMTD & EPD documentation.
    • System Maintenance Technical Document (SMTD) that will give an individual a broader insight into the system i.e., the application architecture, functionality, configuration and customizations and integration touch points.
    • Execution Process Document (EPD) describes the steady state processes that will be followed by Qentelli
  • Playback Sessions to SME’s
  • Delta Improvement based on feedback
  • Playback to tower leads
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Knowledge Transfer Process Flow

Qentelli uses a 3 Level approach for transfer of knowledge from Incumbent support teams:

  • Level 1 - Process overview presentation and customer experience simulation
  • Level 2 – Process variants – Detailed Simulation, Dependencies on Master Data, Enhancements, Interfaces, Criticality, Impact analysis, Country Variants, Process / Object Documentation sign off, SR History, Test scenarios and scripts
  • Level 3 – Configuration relevance and rationale, associated Change Requests, Critical P1 and P2 tickets

 

Entry Criteria

Key Activities

Deliverables

Exit Criteria

KAP Phase

· Transition Plan approval by NCH

· Knowledge acquisition workshops, Hands-on sessions in development / test / training systems.

· Review of Business Process and Application set-up documents provided by NCH.

· Interact with 3rd party vendors to understand the dependencies and respective knowledge transfer.

· Identification of business events to be simulated during parallel performs phases.

· Review SLA’s, Perform Tools Integration.

· Conduct playback sessions.

· Preparation of draft Application SMTD documents.

· Finalize Secondary support plan.

· Transition review meetings and Review transition risk mitigation plan.

· Review entry and exit criteria.

· Playback sessions and presentations

· Draft System Maintenance Technical Document (SMTD) and Execution Process Document (EPD)

· Detailed plan for the Secondary support Phase

· SLA KPI document

· ITSM (IT Service management) Scoping document

· KAP checklist signoff

· Draft SMTD and EPD

 

Listed below are the gating criteria that Qentelli would leverage to determine the successful execution of Knowledge Acquisition Phase.

Objective

Description

Assessment Approach

Metrics

When

Timeframe for acceptance

Threshold

Dimension

Completeness

Completeness of knowledge acquisition conducted

KAP questionnaire