Defining the Business Application Life Cycle

ESP negotiation and contracting (if applicable): Based on the agreed to project charter and plan, the ESP contract can be executed. Billing rates, staffing durations, specific ESP resources, scope change control and ESP resource turnover are key elements for consideration.

Active implementation: Although only one step in the life cycle, implementation (or deployment) is often a multiphase activity that includes package installation, gap analysis, package configuration, custom development, integration, data conversion, testing, trading-partner integration, training, piloting and cut-over. This stage also includes the design and deployment of appropriate infrastructure. The active implementation stage uses the greatest number of resources for the most concentrated set of activities and delivers the greatest amount of "real work" compared with prior and future stages and activities. This is where "the rubber meets road"; this process involves, not a paper deliverable, but the delivery of a tangible software product and the rollout and deployment of fully tested business processes.

4. Manage

This set of activities involves the expansion of processes, technologies and functionality following the completion of the initial implementation, including ongoing enhancements, upgrade considerations and retirement of systems. This phase includes end-user retraining and the measurement of process improvement and ongoing added value. Much of the work during this phase is not project-driven and, therefore, is often taken for granted as day-to-day activities.

Support: Once live, the support function must be in place to handle user problems and vendor patches, security and recovery, archiving and reporting, and an array of other post- implementation activities. This support organization must be structured appropriately and have a formal set of processes for problem resolution and knowledge management. In some cases, support will be maintained through a third party as part of a hosting agreement.

Improvement: To obtain more value from existing investments or improve conditions immediately, enterprises should seek short- term initiatives that target specific areas. Adjusting processes, refreshing user training, tweaking and adjusting configurations, and commissioning small customizations are all potential improvement tactics. In some cases, further deployment of base functions, beyond the initial implementation, is required to achieve the application's complete vision. In such scenarios, initial projects are reduced in scope to yield incremental benefits, and require an additional phase to gain full deployment.