Gradually the Concur implementation project is turning into the home straight. After the exciting conception and configuration phases, and after testing, the finished Concur system is now ready for Cayos AG. All outstanding questions about the system up to this project phase have been remedied and answered by testing. The system is pretty much good to go!
Final milestones of the project plan
One last phase is still outstanding, however, production startup. The project team will pass several milestones and will on training for the Key Users and Admin Users, as well as on all activities connected with production startup and the go-live. In addition, a standalone system is not enough if it is not connected to an ERP system to FI or HR, in order to guarantee the correct booking of the travel costs. We will explain the details of this connection via interfaces to another ERP system or billing system in a separate blog article.
Fig. 1: Project plan
Training phase
This can kick off! We are starting the final phase by optimally preparing the employees to use their new system. So far, they only know the system from the system walkthrough and the extensive test phase. As a result, some of them already have the good fundamental knowledge for being able to use the system properly going forward. However, as not all key users were involved in the testing, Nagarro also offers various training courses during the project. The target audience for these are the key users, but also administrators who will be responsible in the future for managing the system. The difference between the courses lies in the fact that the key user courses focus on process steps within travel expense accounting and the error-free use of the system by the users. After the training they should feel comfortable and confident using the system.
The admin training, on the other hand, is aimed at a small number of employees. The focus of this course lies on the maintenance, adjustment and servicing of the system. After the complete handover of the system to the customer, scenarios keep occurring during normal work, in which the administrator has to make smaller changes in the system or has to know when they should open a support case with Concur. Traditional subjects that admins can resolve themselves include, for example, setting up user profiles for new employees or adjusting the booking codes. After the training, an admin user can do these small things independently.
A date is agreed for the respective courses, during which our advisors go through the content together with the corresponding Cayos AG employees. Employees are able to ask questions and confusion can be cleared up.
In addition to the courses, we create a training guide for each customer. The guideline reproduces the contents of the courses and naturally differs, depending on whether the training is for the key users or for administrators. Both documents are designed to support the frictionless management and navigation and serve as startup support.
Go-Live steps
Once the courses have been successfully held and the employees are ready to use the system, things move to the production startup and system go-live.
Some changes are made to the system for this. In the configurations and test phase, the system runs via a logic system (booking) created for test purposes. So that the system can be used in productive mode, a productive/logic system is setup. As part of this, the company code and the account allocation objects are replicated on the basis of the test system. In addition, the employee master data are also prepared. Previously, Cayos AG employees existed in the system, but only at the test level. So that the Concur system can be used productively, the employee data have to be uploaded again and rendered on the productive system. It is important there that all the roles and authorizations are assigned correctly in order to prevent errors in the processes.
Hypercare phase
The system is set to live by uploading the employees to the environment and replicating the account allocation objects, etc. The final step is to implement the hypercare phase. This is characterized by a 2-week additional support period for Cayos AG from Nagarro advisors. They are available again for all questions and problems that arise, they can make small changes and offer advice for handling. This phase plays an important, final role, as different questions can arise during live operation than during the test phase. And so that we can then leave Cayos AG well prepared and with comprehensive knowledge of their system from the implementation project, we always recommend accepting the support offered in the hypercare phase.
Cayos AG receives it finished system, and will therefore have a modern, cloudbased solution for HXM travel costs accounting and booking, bringing great efficiency to its processes.
And we look forward to next time you join us, when the topic will be “Cast off and away to new adventures in the HXM Cloud World”.
