System and method for deploying a procurement and accounts payable system

A method for deploying from a customer legacy system through presales, assessment, preparation, development, deployment and support stages an integrated, cross-functional general procurement and accounts payable application, comprising the steps of:

• structuring a playbook database to include a plurality of summary and detailed tasks organized into assessment, preparation, development, deployment and support processing stages for an integrated, cross-functional general procurement and accounts payable application;
• maintaining in said playbook database a database of templates for describing procedures and collecting data from customer and supplier teams for deploying said general procurement and accounts payable application;
• operating a plurality of web-enabled user terminals to access via a server said database for coordinating tasks by a plurality of enterprise teams and said customer and supplier teams implementing said procedures, said tasks including quality review, project management, and transition managements
• displaying at said user terminal in a playbook summary view a create a summary task selection button, a create a detailed task button, a folders and views section, a task title display and selection area;
• responsive to member selection of said summary tasks selection button presenting in said selection area a listing of deployment stage tasks organized by categories, said categories including Production environment set up, production support validation, requisition catalog production readiness, electronic data interchange infrastructure, transition management deployment, and go live processing;
• responsive to user selection of said Production environment set up category, presenting in said selection area a first listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said first listing presenting to said user a first task template, said user, responsive to said first task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to convert vendor masters into a production environment, determine electronic data interchange tasks for production environment set up, execute an accounting driver cut over checklist, set up an accounting driver production environment, establish an accounting driver batch schedule, set up trading partners in said production environment, and deploy a vendor lead client;
• responsive to user selection of said production support validation category, presenting in said selection area a second listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said second listing presenting to said user a second task template;
• said user, responsive to said second task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to validate accounting driver production support for system management, validate production support for accounts payable, validate production support for a customer service center, validate production support for general procurement, and validate requisition catalog production support for system management;
• responsive to user selection of said requisition catalog production readiness category, presenting in said selection area a third listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said third listing presenting to said user a third task template;
• said user, responsive to said third task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to confirm a requisition catalog for a production environment, set up requisition catalog tables in production, prepare a requisition catalog production copy, and execute a requisition catalog go live checklist;
• responsive to user selection of said electronic data interchange infrastructure category, presenting in said selection area a fourth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said fourth listing presenting to said user a fourth task template;
• said user, responsive to said fourth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to validate image production support for system management;
• responsive to user selection of said transition management deployment category, presenting in said selection area a fifth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said fifth listing presenting to said user a fifth task template;
• said user, responsive to said fifth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to ensure a new process management system is in place, perform a client readiness assessment, perform transition management go live activities, and manage human resources activities;
• and responsive to user selection of said go live processing category, presenting in said selection area a sixth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said sixth listing presenting to said user a sixth task template;
• said user, responsive to said sixth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to allocate buyer codes to commodities, and enter blanket orders.

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for deploying a general procurement and accounts payable application, said method steps comprising:

• structuring a playbook database to include a plurality of summary and detailed tasks organized into assessment, preparation, development, deployment and support processing stages for an integrated, cross-functional general procurement and accounts payable application;
• maintaining a database of templates and data fields for describing procedures for directing enterprise, customer, transition management and quality assessment teams in deploying said general procurement and accounts payable application;
• and
• operating a plurality of web-enabled user terminals to access via a server said database for coordinating tasks by a plurality of said enterprise, customer, transition management and quality assessment teams implementing said procedures, said tasks including quality review, project management, and transition management;
• displaying at said user terminals in a playbook summary view a create a summary task selection button, a create a detailed task button, a folders and views section, a task title display and selection area;
• responsive to member selection of said summary tasks selection button presenting in said selection area a listing of deployment stare tasks organized by categories, said categories including production environment set up, production support validation, requisition catalog production readiness, electronic data interchange infrastructure, transition management deployment, and go live processing;
• responsive to User selection of said production environment set up category, presenting in said selection area a first listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said first listing presenting to said user a first task template;
• said user, responsive to said first task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to convert vendor masters into a production environment, determine electronic data interchange tasks for production environment set up, execute an accounting driver cut over checklist, set up an accounting driver production environment, establish an accounting driver batch schedule, set up trading partners in said production environment, and deploy a vendor lead client;
• responsive to user selection of said production support validation category, presenting in said selection area a second listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said second listing presenting to said user a second task template;
• said user, responsive to said second task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to validate accounting driver production support for system management, validate production support for accounts payable, validate production support for a customer services-center, validate production support for general procurement, and validate requisition catalog production support for system management;
• responsive to user selection of said requisition catalog production readiness category, presenting in said selection area a third listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said third listing presenting to said user a third task template;
• said user, responsive to said third task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to confirm a requisition catalog for a production environment, set up requisition catalog tables in production, prepare a requisition catalog production copy, and execute a requisition catalog go live checklist;
• responsive to user selection of said electronic data interchange infrastructure category, presenting in said selection area a fourth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said fourth listing presenting to said user a fourth task template;
• said user, responsive to said fourth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to validate image production support for system management;
• responsive to user selection of said transition arrangement deployment category, presenting in said selection area a fifth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said fifth listing presenting to said user a fifth task template;
• said user, responsive to said fifth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to ensure a new process management system is in place, perform a client readiness assessment, perform transition management go live activities, and manage human resources activities;
• and
• responsive to user selection of said go live processing category, presenting in said selection area a sixth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said sixth listing presenting to said user a sixth task template;
• said user, responsive to said sixth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to allocate buyer codes to commodities, and enter blanket orders.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer useable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for deploying a general procurement and accounts payable application, the computer readable program means in said article of manufacture comprising:
• computer readable program code means for structuring a playbook database to include a plurality of summary and detailed tasks organized into assessment, preparation, development, deployment and support processing stages for an integrated, cross-functional general procurement and accounts payable application;
• computer readable program, code means for causing a computer to effect maintaining a database of templates describing procedures for assessing, preparing, developing, and deploying by transition from a customer legacy system said general procurement and accounts payable application;
• and
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect operating a plurality of web-enabled user terminals to access via a server said database for coordinating tasks by a plurality of enterprise, customer, transition management and quality assessment teams implementing said procedures, said tasks including quality review, project management, and transition management;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect displaying in a playbook summary view a create a summary task selection button, a create a detailed task button, a folders and views section, a task title display and selection area;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect, responsive to member selection of said summary tasks selection button, presenting in said selection area a listing of deployment stage tasks organized by categories, said categories including production environment set up, production support validation, requisition catalog production readiness, electronic data intercharge infrastructure, transition management deployment, and go live processing;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect, responsive to user selection of said production environment set up category, presenting in said selection area a first listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said first listing presenting to said user a first task template;
• said user, responsive to said first task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to convert vendor masters into a production environment, determine electronic data interchange tasks for production environment set up, execute an accounting driver cut over checklist, set up an accounting driver production environment, establish a accounting driver batch schedule, set up trading partners in said production environment, and deploy a vendor lead client;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect, responsive to user selection of said production support validation category, presenting in said selection area a second listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from a second listing presenting to said user a second task template;
• said user, responsive to said second task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to validate accounting driver production support for system management, validate production support for accounts payable, validate production support for a customer service center, validate production support for general procurement, and validate requisition catalog production support for system management;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect, responsive to user selection of said requisition catalog production readiness category, presenting in said selection area a third listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said third listing presenting to said user a third task template;
• said user, responsive to said third task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to confirm a requisition catalog for a production environment, set up requisition catalog tables in production, prepare a requisition catalog production copy, and execute a requisition catalog go live checklist;
• computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect, responsive to user selection of said electronic data interchange infrastructure category, presenting in said selection area a fourth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said fourth listing presenting to said user a fourth task template;
• said user, responsive to said fourth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to validate image production support for system management;
• computer readable program code means for causing a commuter to effect, responsive to user selection of said transition management deployment category, presenting in said selection area a fifth listing of deployment stage tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said fifth listing presenting to said user a fifth task template;
• said user, responsive to said fifth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to ensure a new process management system is in place, perform a client readiness assessment, perform transition management go live activities, and manage human resources activities, and
• computer readable Program code means for causing a computer to effect, responsive to user selection of said go live processing category, presenting in said selection area a sixth listing of deployment stare tasks and responsive to user selection of a deployment stage task from said sixth listing presenting to said user a sixth task template;
• said user, responsive to said sixth task template, selectively executing deployment tasks to allocate buyer codes to commodities, and enter blanket orders.