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98 Chapter 4 • Development Life Cycle

is eventually to be made available to the end users. The entire production platform
must be configured and built with the necessary hardware, network, security, soft-
ware, database, and real production data. The tasks identified in the gap analysis are
executed at this stage. These include customization of embedded software rules, data
in the database tables, input screens, and reports that come with the ERP system.
While the technical team is working on the installation, the change management team
works with end users on implementing the changes in business processes and prelim-
inary training with the sandbox version of the software. The data team similarly
works on migrating data from the old system to the new system. This can be an
extremely difficult task when the old system is a legacy application using a nonrela-
tional database. Data mapping, missing data, and data dictionary design are the major
tasks for data conversion. Finally, the ERP system needs to be configured with prop-
er security, implement the authentication and authorization policy for accessing the
system, and contain other modifications as recommended by the design plan.
Stage 4. Implementation stage. The focus for this stage is on installing and releasing the sys-
tem to the end users (i.e., “Go-Live”) and on monitoring the system release to the end
users. This production platform is a mirror of the development version of the system.
Errors found in the production version have to go through the help desk or support
staff. Any changes made to the development version are then retested and migrated to
the production system as regularly scheduled updates. System conversion is a major
activity for the new system and needs to be managed carefully. There are four basic
conversion approaches, which are visually represented in Figure 4-6. The first

Phased

New
Old New
“Go Live”

Pilot
Old
Old
New
New
“Go Live”
Parallel

Old Old
New
New
“Go Live”
Big Bang

New
Old Old New
“Go Live”
FIGURE 4-6 ERP Conversion Approaches