PeopleSoft Upgrade: Project Team Requirements

If you have ever performed a PeopleSoft upgrade or implementation, then you know that it requires key personnel and resources to make necessary business decisions and to be able to identify customizations and other business requirements. So you will need to identify these Key resources and create a resource plan accordingly.

If you have the members of your implementation still on hand, make sure you target these individuals as the key members of your project team. Their knowledge is extremely valuable. Make sure that you clearly define their roles and determine the amount of time they will be able to commit to the upgrade project.

Your project will need a Project Manager, Technical Upgrade Specialist, Installer, DBA, Network Admin, System Admin, Developer, and  Functional Resources. Once you identify each of these key role players, create a resource plan that documents their roles, their skills, any external assistance you need, and any additional training that is required for these team members.

After the resource plan is completed, you can start to establish your
working upgrade environment for your team. This will include workstations, phones, email groups, supplies, dedicated shared file
directories, and anything that is needed for the team to be successful. Finally, make sure you identify and establish standards for your upgrade project. These standards will ensure that your team works with documentation, issue management, communication, documentation of issues, and change control procedures

CREATE YOUR PROJECT PLAN

Now that you have identified and documented your gap fit analysis, key team members, roles, resources, technical requirements, and standards you are ready to create a detailed project plan that is  specific to your environment. The best way to do this is to utilize your documentation of the business fit gap analysis, the technical fit gap analysis, and the Upgrade instructions. This will allow you to create an outline of the detailed tasks that are required to execute the upgrade. You will also need to include testing and end user training in this process.

In the next post, I'll start talking a bit more about testing your PeopleSoft application, including defining your testing strategy and defining your testing requirements.