Infosys-Oracle Blog : EBS R12 Roadmap: Upgrade Vs Re-Implementation Decision

In my last blog on this topic,

http://www.infosysblogs.com/oracle/2009/09/ebs_r12_roadmap_a_global_retai_1.html

I mentioned that a judicious decision on any Upgrade Vs Re-Implementation decision is always based on a combination of objective considerations (parameters where decision can be relatively easily made) and subjective considerations (parameters which vary in importance depending client’s particular business issues and the significance of the factor for any given situation).

In this blog, I will try to list down these objective and subjective considerations which will help in deciding as to what is desirable in any client scenario. Let us look at the possible Objective Considerations and desirable Upgrade or Re-Implement decisions for each parameter.

PARAMETER- Project Objectives and Product Version	Upgrade	Re-Implement
Is “Business Transformation “a major objective of the project?	No	Yes
Is lower budget and shorter time frame the main constraint and show stopper?	Yes	No
We are happy and just want to move to the latest oracle version to leverage the improved features?	Yes	No
Is “Instance Consolidation” a major objective to have a Single global instance in place of existing many production instances?	No	Yes
Have you already moved to multi-Org Architecture version (11i) and not currently in Multi-installation version (...pre multi-org version)?	Yes	No

Let us look at the possible Subjective Considerations and desirable indicative Upgrade or Re-Implement decisions for each parameter.

PARAMETER- Business Strategy and configuration	Upgrade	Re-Implement
Current Application configuration maps very well to current business? (considering Mergers & acquisitions, growth, expansion, divestiture, etc )	Yes	No
There is a critical need to make changes to configurations that cannot be easily modified (Flex field Structures, Costing Method, Calendar, COA, etc.)?	No	Yes
There have been significant changes in Business Structure in the Organization since last implementation (e.g., more/less business units/orgs, currencies, shared services)?	No	Yes
Massive “Globalization” and expansion across geographies is planned”?	No	Yes
Is Business Process Re-engineering is a key objective of the project?	No	Yes
There have been significant changes in Business Structure in the Organization since last implementation (e.g., more/less business units/orgs, currencies, shared services)?	No	Yes

PARAMETER- Level of customization and Integration	Upgrade	Re-Implement
Level of customization/extension of application is very minimal?	Yes	No
Many of the customizations/extensions can be replaced by new features or functionality?	No	Yes
Significant integration with other applications that could be replaced with new Oracle Applications modules, features or functionality?	No	Yes
PARAMETER- Application Scope	Upgrade	Re-Implement
Are you currently utilizing Application Modules that have significantly changed (e.g., Financials etc.)?	No	Yes
Do you have Application modules that you have configured, but are no longer utilized? Do you have complicated configuration of significantly changed functionality?	No	Yes
Do you have extensive or complicated configuration of obsolete features or functionality?	No	Yes
PARAMETER- User/Org Experience	Upgrade	Re-Implement
I am extremely wary of the user adoption and ownership issues and this is a major factor in arriving at a decision?	Yes	No
Now that you are an educated user of Oracle, do you wish you had another chance to implement the application differently?	No	Yes
“Requirements Revalidation” can possibly create significant change mgmt, or other internal /political issues within organization?	Yes	No

PARAMETER- System State	Upgrade	Re-Implement
System Data Quality is “very good”. (Good to very bad scale)?	Yes	No
All of system data is still very relevant and important?	Yes	No
Do you have a significant volume of data?	No	Yes
“Production Down Time” is very critical to your Operation?	No	Yes
Is your current environment highly complex due to customizations, additional integrated custom or packaged applications that will result in an unacceptably lengthy down time for an upgrade?	No	Yes
Do you need to move to a “significantly different” Hardware platform or OS?	No	Yes

To conclude, Parameters mentioned in section above are representative and are at a high level; brought out to help give direction to Project Evaluators and Managers. Actual decision making (as mentioned in my earlier blog) should always be based on the business case prepared by an exhaustive analysis of all factors and their weights as applicable.