The conversion scope and strategy that we decide on during pre-planning has a pretty big impact on the structure of the overall transition project, as does the work effort and direct cost for this implementation. Let's discuss how and what we focus on during this important phase in the pre-planning project, as well as what it means for your overall implementation.

There are three different kinds of data that we can talk about in terms of conversion: master data, transactional data, and historical data. Master data concerns vendors, items, HR organizational structures, and the chartered accounts, all of which obviously needs to be converted in the CloudSuite. We can exclude inactive or obsolete master data, with the exception of any older master data that's still necessary because of the dependent historical data conversion. Ideally, you want to use the CloudSuite implementation as an opportunity to clean up and reorganize this master data, while also keeping in mind that all of it will need to be mapped back to the legacy system. As part of the project, we establish a crosswalk to identify the transformation component.

When it comes to master data, clients usually want to know the projected length of the design phase since financial structure master data in v10 is so different from CloudSuite.

Let’s provide some context around the design during these migrations. This phase is pretty similar to a net-new implementation in that there's some current-state analysis and some super-user training to help educate the power users on the functionality of the systems. After this step, we have a series of design workshops to create a future state design document. Typically, we see these as ten-to-fourteen week periods, although sometimes they can be scaled down more aggressively if there's a very simple footprint. However, if the organization is more complex or if you're bringing in multiple business units and the like, these workshops can be extended. Next week, we will get into how we handle transactional and historical data during a pre-planning engagement.

About the Authors

Keith Wayland

Managing Partner, RPI Consultants

Keith is the Managing Partner of RPI and is certified on Infor Cloud Suite Financials and Supply Chain. He has been working with Infor & Lawson customers for 20+ years and his passion is helping leaders develop strategies to optimize their use of the software. Keith leads and sets the direction for RPI – he is a driving force every day of our customer centric strategy as well as pushing our team to be thought leaders. He “leads from the front” by being a common presenter and the master of ceremonies of most of our webcasts or as we say our “carnival barker”. Keith also interacts daily with customer and Infor executives to promote the positive forward movement of our industry, community, and customers.

Richard Leigh Stout

Partner, Infor Practice Leader, RPI Consultants

Richard has been sharing his passion for helping clients implement optimized Infor solutions for more than 15 years. As an RPI partner and head of the Infor practice, he is widely known throughout the Infor community as a though leader in the space as well as one of the foremost figures in designing, developing, and optimizing successful ERP architectures leveraging the Infor solution. In addition to helping clients achieve their immediate and long-term goals, Richard focuses on educating the wider community on best practices, optimizing solutions, and moving organizations to their next level.