Even the most elegant system will fail if employees are unable to do their jobs with the tools provided. Since your employees will be the ones using the new EPM application software, a comprehensive training program is required for a successful implementation to evolve into user efficiency, and ultimately provide the highest return of value. It is vital to select the right team and train them properly. As the implementation progresses, a core internal super-user team must be identified and given appropriate training. Such trained super-users can then guide others in effectively utilizing the new software. Whether it is through super-users, professional trainers or even your implementation partner’s training, you must ensure that you have comprehensive training materials and a training plan in place, preferably tailored to user roles.

Selection of training method:  It is important to choose the right training tools and methods. There are a variety of training methods and any one of them can be used.

Join us next week for our final posting, which will discuss post-implementation activities.

Visit AST Corporation at booth #220 at Kscope15 in Hollywood, Florida June 21-25.  Kscope15 offers great content from developers, administrators, architects, and business users, with more than 300 technical sessions and a variety of networking opportunities.

AST’s own Abhay Kumar, Oracle Ace, will be presenting a session on “WebLogic 12c: Top 12 Fundamental Tips to Boost Your WebLogic Server Performance” on Tuesday, June 23 at 4:45 pm.

It’s not too late to register.  We hope to see you there!

For several years, savvy computer users have utilized Dropbox, Google Drive, or other file synchronization and sharing tools to collaborate with specific friends or colleagues.  These apps allow users to sync files between various devices automatically, share files with password protection, and collaborate on documents with others, all the while satisfying the simple need to share files person-to-person.

Many applications have not been architected to meet the complex and ever-changing business community needs:  they rarely offer sufficient storage, version tracking, downloading to mobile devices, and they fail to offer the robust security required of enterprises.  Furthermore, when users turn to these tools for enterprise use, new risks are created for the organization.  Some IT departments have found that users have leveraged unauthorized simple document sharing applications for business purposes to facilitate sharing files (similar to enterprise content management) and synching files (similar to the apps listed above).  From an organizational perspective, these unauthorized apps represent a risky repository that isn’t securely governed or monitored for compliance by the organization.

Oracle Documents Cloud Service provides a properly architected, secure environment for business users to collaborate and share files within organizational policy.  The product is born of the need of users to share files and securely synchronize them and access them on any approved device.  It also remedies the problematic factors mentioned above to provide a strong and effective solution for the enterprise.  Most importantly, with the Documents Cloud Service approach, each customer’s data is properly isolated.

Oracle cites several benefits from Document Cloud Services that are enumerated in its whitepaper on the product.

A significant degree of platform flexibility is also offered to enterprises.  Oracle WebCenter Content is an industry leading onsite enterprise content management system; but now, with Oracle Document Cloud Service, organizations have three distinct choices for implementation.

·         An on premise solution for document collaboration and file sharing in WebCenter;

·         A Public Cloud option, where the application can be used as a Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment, which is essentially software on demand;

·        A Hybrid solution, which is a combination of Public Cloud and on premise solutions, which offers the best of both worlds in a solution.

Learn more about Oracle Documents Could Service here:  https://cloud.oracle.com/documents

Organizational Change Management is one of the most important factors in any software implementation process. When projects fail, the factors cited for the failure often fall into areas that can be addressed with an Organizational Change Management Plan, such as inadequate communications, lack of leadership support and a user base that is not ready to adopt the new system.

It is important for executive management to realize both the strengths and the weaknesses within the business and the team, and to facilitate an appropriate strategy and plan for managing the change within the organization. Remember to work with your implementation partner to define the strategy and drive it consistently throughout the project. It is essential for an organization to have a solid change management structure in place in order for the project to be completed successfully.

Very closely linked to Change Management is the approach your organization will use to train end users.  We will be discussing training options in our next installment of this AST Blog Series.

Let’s congratulate Ken V. for becoming AST’s Employee of the Month for June 2015!

Ken is being recognized for stepping in as AST’s System Administrator and completing his other responsibilities in parallel. Since taking over the System Administrator role, we have noticed an improvement in the onboarding process. He has been proactive in ordering laptops, configuring them and scheduling time with the new hires. We have received positive feedback from our employees regarding his calm, professional demeanor in dealing with IT related issues. He has continued to work on Managed Services duties in parallel with learning new technologies. Notwithstanding, driving the long miles to and from the office and arriving early is a great testament to his dedication.  It is exciting to see a fairly new AST team member tackle responsibilities with a positive outlook and smile.

Thank you, and keep up the great work Ken!

Welcome to week 8 of our exclusive blog series about saving time and money during your Hyperion implementation!  This week is all about security.

Defining security standards is a fundamental task for any software application implementation. EPM applications are in-built with a very robust and flexible security framework. This allows you to define security from the highest level to the most minuscule detail.  With so much flexibility, however, it is tempting to create complex security schemes which may not always be easy to maintain. Keeping it “simple yet strong” is the best way to properly map security to your firm’s business needs.

Role-based security is easier to maintain, because you define a role-based group and assign that group to specific artifacts. For example, if you want a particular ‘business rule’ to be run by power users only, then define a group called ‘Power Users’ and assign it to the ‘business rule’ artifact. This approach is easier to maintain and manage. As with every step of the project, you must work closely with your implementation partner to define a blueprint for a clean and easily maintainable security setup.