M-Commerce influenced by Business analysis

Today shopping has become easier as compared to earlier days with just a click we have ready to go options that help users to have their requirement fulfilled. This encourages the users to become accustomed to technology slowly and steadily, making it an accessible option in the day-to-day busy life. As we often see with forecasts about emerging technologies, a sense of irrational exuberance can cause predictions to get out ahead of the realities of consumer behaviour. But recently it appears to be an inflection point, with many consumers now expanding use of their mobile devices for more advanced functions – including digital commerce transactions

What is M-commerce?

The delivery of electronic commerce capabilities and different type of goods directly into the consumer’s hand, using wireless technology is M-commerce. It’s assumed that Mobile Commerce as meaning "a retail outlet in your customer’s pocket."

A new study reveals that 94% of Twitter users in the UK are engaging with mobile commerce on their Smartphone, by browsing, researching and buying products. This is one of the results from new Path to Purchase research conducted by Nielsen looking at the role Twitter plays in influencing consumers’ shopping behavior on their mobiles.

Here begins the crucial aspect of the entire process as to how and in what manner is the analysis done to maintain this M-commerce? The answer to the same is with the help of Business analyst. A Business Analyst is the one who begins from the grass root level approaches ahead slowly and steadily from gathering all the data and is someone who analyzes an organization designs its processes and systems, assessing the business model and its integration with technology. Business analysis with respect shopping application deals mainly with online shopping, retail and customer benefits of avoiding the wastage of time required to personally reach a store and shop rather have variety of choices that s just a click away using mobile phone and tablets.

There are at least four tiers of business analysis involving any Business:

1. Strategic planning — to identify the organization's or User’s business needs
2. Business model analysis — to define the organization's policies and market approaches
3. Process design — to standardize the organization’s workflows
4. Systems analysis — the interpretation of business rules and requirements for technical systems (generally within IT)

The Business Analyst is someone who is a part of the business operation and works with Information Technology to improve the quality of the services being delivered, sometimes assisting in Integration and Testing of new solutions.

Shopping applications on phone have a wider scope of approaches to the users as they are well planned, organized with the help of analysts. All the basic essentials of providing security to efficient delivery of goods is achieved via the same so the users feel safe enough to proceed ahead with the same. With all the shopping retail sites including Flipkart, Ebay, Myntra, Jabong taking over the online shopping and proving to be a boon to all the consumers by providing all the satisfaction required the consumers. This can happen only if in today’s complex business environment, an organization’s adaptability, agility, and ability to manage constant change through innovation can be made as keys to success. Conventional methods will no longer guide to reach objectives under existing economic conditions. That’s where business analysis comes in. Inventive corporations achieve goals through projects that decipher customer needs into new products, services, and profits. And business analysts make it all happen more economically and efficiently.

Being properly marketed and presented are the main show stealers for such type of applications that are the important tasks performed by the business analysts. From deciding which factors can attract more users, enhancing the existing features, which points need to be monitored so as to witness growth in the same.

There are many characteristics that can be achieved using the M-Commerce - Very large market place, Ease of management, Competitive rates, less capital intensive.

Responsibilities of Business Analyst in building Successful M-Commerce Application:

A business analyst plays a vital role in building and creating successful M-Commerce Application, he accumulates all the required information so as to improve and enhance features of various Mobile applications. Find out which area does the application lack and create an improvised version of the same. Business analyst accumulates data, manipulates it according to user requirements, presents it and gather reviews and makes changes to make statistics of growth higher for the application thus making it more fruitful to the consumers.

Any application is always judged on the basis of its presentation, analysis and the amount of customer satisfaction it provides. Making an application efficient enough promoting it and making people aware of the same and helps it grow. This can take place only by creating that interest which attracts viewers to facilitate required change and progressing in the same that pulls the crowd to be a part of the any desired application.This stands out to be an strategic base that relies mainly on the business analyst who coordinates and manages various activities for smooth and efficient functioning of M-Commerce applications.

About Author:

Varun Shimoga is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: varun.shimoga@spluspl.com

Concept Of Powershell

What is PowerShell?

PowerShell is a new command shell and scripting language for Windows. It is cool for a lot of reasons: The language is sane, especially when compared to CMD. Scripts and command line share a language.

Why PowerShell:

1. PowerShell is both a command-line shell and scripting language.
2. PowerShell can interact with a dizzying number of technologies.
3. PowerShell is object-based.
4. PowerShell can help anyone working in the Microsoft ecosystem
5. Microsoft is putting its full weight behind PowerShell.

How we Use PowerShell?

PS1 file
PS1 files are a bunch of PowerShell command in which a command appears in different line. It is a simple text file in which extension must be .ps

Execution permissions

As we know it is a series of command so, it must be have some permission and execution policy to prevent wrong commands. Also you can set policy as per user request. There are four types of policies namely Restricted, RemoteSigned, AllSigned, Unrestricted.

Running a script

To run the shell script you can go to the PS1 file path and type name of PS1 file and press tab key to Execute.

Pipelining

Pipelining means output of one command use as input to next command.

Variables

Store the output of command we need a variable so we can declared variable also. To declared variable use '$' Sign.

The @ symbol

'@' symbol is use for convert contains of list into an array. This is useful for storing multiple values.

Split

Split is used for splitting a string. Suppose we need to store a string into an array in that case we use split function.

About Author:
Vishal Kudale  is enthusiast .net developer who works as associate consultant with Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. He in free time reads and write on various web technologies. He can be contacted at: vishal.kudale@spluspl.com

Importance of Project Management

Project Management has gained huge importance over the years. Especially in IT projects, it is considered on the top priority list. It is one of the most popular requirements among most of the certifications. This shows the increasing importance of project management over the years. Thus, it can be seen that there has to be definitely a considerable amount of value addition of having a skilled project management team in place for a project.

Following list some of the main challenges faced in a typical project:

1. Scope of Project: Defining the exact scope of project is a crucial task. It defines and drives the entire project and any errors early on can lead to an exponential increase in effort and costs. This may lead to loss to either client or vendor. This is avoided by drawing proper scope of work for the project which would ensure a win-win situation for both the client and vendor. After all, well begun is half done!
    
2. Resource Planning: Resource planning is allotting appropriate resources with required skill set for the project based on the scope of work. This can be a major challenge if not managed properly resulting in wastage or shortfall of resources. This can also result is inefficiency affecting the quality of the project. Both the cases are not favorable for successful implementation of the project. Analysis of the scope and the kind of resources required is a key skill required of a potential project manager considering the timelines of the project and the type of system/application being dealt with.
    
3. Project Plan: This is another important factor for a project. A project without a project plan or with unrealistic timelines is like a body without soul and can lead to frequent clashes over timelines and deliverables! Also, neither the client nor the vendor will have a clear picture on the progress of the project which will be a major obstacle in affective decision making for the success of the project. Frequently shifting project timelines are like a moving target which can never give a true picture of when tasks will be completed. The project manager needs to draw a realistic project plan detailing each and every aspect of the project based on discussions with the clients and shares it with the client so that both client and vendor can be on the same page from start till the delivery of the project.
    
4. Escalation: Another important aspect is to know when to escalate. Too many or too few escalations can wreak havoc with the team and not to mention additional headaches for stake holders. The project manager as well as the team working on the project should be able to realize when an escalation is required and to whom. This is normally used for monitoring and control. For a project to be successfully implemented it should have a hierarchy in place for monitoring and control. Escalations make sure that deliverables are delivered in time and if not then the issue is escalated so that it is brought under notice of higher authorities who will take necessary steps to fix it.
    
5. Coordination & Communication: This is a hidden and overlooked aspect of project management which directly or indirectly contributes for the successful delivery of a project. This includes, conducting regular meetings, related documentation and calls and a lot more. This helps both the client and vendor understand that the project is on the right track and deliverables are as required. Absence of regular and properly formatted co-ordination and communication results in deliverables not matching the requirements, dead ends for certain limitations identified during the project as no alternative solutions were suggested or provided. Hence, it is important to have project management approach to set up processes for regular and timely meetings / calls to discuss and analyze the deliverables and related issues with proper documentation and written communication.

Thus it can be seen that for a successful implementation of a project it is very important to have a good project management approach in place. Otherwise, driving the project becomes a major obstacle resulting in delay in effective delivery within speculated timelines. This results in client or vendor bearing the loss.

About Author:

Amol Bhembre is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: amol.b@spluspl.com

Business Analysis Lessons from the Brazil World Cup!

I am not a huge sports fan. But with so much buzz about the “FIFA World Cup 2014”, I decided to watch a few matches. Every sport teaches you something, and this football fever taught me a few things too. As a Business Analyst I feel I could apply the learning’s to my work life. Here are a few things I have taken as points from the game:

Target, kick...Goal!

Whether you win or lose a football game, it all depends on the number of goals the team scored.  It is a good practice for every Business Analyst to set goals, move towards them and keep revisiting and refining them. Setting and working toward good business analyst goals can help to improve your performance and increase business agility.

Avoid  yellow/red cards

In football, a penalty card is used as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalizing a player, coach or team official. It indicates that a player has committed an offense. On projects expulsion can happen when trust has been broken. Hence a Business Analyst must keep a check on happenings in his project. He must ensure all the processes are being followed correctly.

Training all the way

Football training helps to target the right muscles for fitness. Football is a sport that requires a multitude of athletic abilities. To be a high performer as a Business Analyst, you need to keep practising and gradually you get better at what you do. If you can force yourself to work through the pain, and get better at the skills that add value to your organization, the rewards are going to be huge.

Good Mentoring

A good coach should help to improve the performance of the players (and the team) both physically and psychologically. The position of coach is demanding and multi-faceted. Many BAs grow significantly in a short period of time while working with a coach or mentor. Try to get the most benefit from the experience, looking for valuable insight on how to develop your skills. Also when a mentor thinks you are ready to step-up, he will be the best person to provide you with the best opportunity.

It’s all about the teamwork

Whether you’re on the field or in the workplace, it takes a team to win. Football teams share a commitment to a common purpose, mission and goals and work in an environment of mutual accountability.  A Successful team head by a BA can develop effective group process, using ground rules and norms to promote effective interpersonal communication.

Everyday teaches us new things. It’s up to us to learn and gain from whatever the surrounding teaches us. You only live your life once. Gain the most and use it to enhance your career. The rewards will always be fulfilling.

About Author:

Shweta Samudra is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at: shweta.samudra@spluspl.com

5 Rules for Project Success: Analogy with Cricket

Let it be T20, Fifty Over or Test Arena we have few basic rules that must be observed to succeed in any format of the cricket match. Same goes with Project. Let it be small project, module or a program some basic rules must be followed to successfully complete and deploy a project.

You must be amazed that many success rules can be compared and understood with the basic rule of cricket:

Rule 1: Set clear goal and plan each session/innings realistically

In any cricket match, each team has clear goal (Considering both scenarios – Fielding first or batting first). They also come up with the plans to achieve the goal.

But most importantly the goals and plans are realistic. Coach, captain and team analyze the scenarios and environment and accordingly create strategy. It is easy to say that in T20 game if we score 300+ runs batting first, we would be clear winners. But is it realistic?

Same goes with the Project. Project Manger/Business Analyst must analyze the scenarios, constraints and accordingly come up with the realistic strategies and project Plan.

Rule 2: Opponents are not to help you win!!!

Like in any other game we also have opponents in cricket. We need to plan how to overcome their strategies that they have planned against us.

In Project, Opponents can be competitor companies, support functions/ departments, “To be” members who couldn’t make to the project. Project Manager/Business Analyst must also consider these factors during planning and strategizing for project.

Rule 3: Sachin is Retired hurt on 49*……what next?

Assume that for a cricket match management and captain has done excellent plans. But in actual match, what if our main bowler could not perform? Our star batsman is injured retired hurt? It rains and pitch conditions change? Can captain declare that there were many changes which were not considered in start so the match should be declared cancelled or draw? Captain must have Plan B and Plan C for overcoming such risks which are commonly observed in any match. [Now I am not taking of an unanticipated risk where it starts to downpour in the month of December in Mumbai Match].

Similarly in any project, Project Manager must also have to plan for the anticipated risks that can usually arise in the middle of implementation of project. It is mostly observed that more the risks anticipated and planned in start more are the chances of the project being successful.

Rule 4: Cricket is Team Game; so is the Project:

Excellent performance from one player does not ensure win for a team. If “Team” performs well then only a match can be won. Same goes with Project. Project manager must allocate tasks smartly to the team members. In turn team members must feel themselves responsible for the allocated tasks and try to achieve the same in best way as possible.

Rule 5: Umpire is never wrong:

No player is allowed to argue with umpire. The decision of umpire is final and binding to all.

Same goes with project. Project sponsor / client decision is binding. PM should avoid argument with the client but plan or re-plan project based on any changes which client might come up with between the projects.

It is said in the game of cricket – Match is not over till last ball is bowled. Similarly in a Project, Project manager must not lose hope till the project is finally deployed on Production.

About Author:

Saurabh Kane is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: saurabh.k@spluspl.com

For Process Optimization-Implement Business Process Engineering!!

Have you wondered what BPR is? : It is an integrated set of  project management procedures, modelling, analysis, design and testing techniques for analyzing existing business processes and systems; identifying and designing new processes and systems; testing, defining new designs prior to implementation; and managing the implementation process.

Business Process Re-engineering Life Cycle:

From the diagram above, there are different phases involved during each stage of the Process. For each of the eight phases, a competent business analyst should perform tasks at the senior, intermediate and junior levels.

1. Develop Vision and Objectives
   The first step in reengineering is to prepare and communicate the “Gap” and the “Strategic vision”. The “Gap” is a skeleton of the business problems of the organization. The “Vision” describes how the organization is going to work and what results should be achieved. Here the Senior Business Analyst forecast, quantifies and resolve issues with objectives. The Intermediate Business Analyst applies techniques in discussing requirements with clients and uses specific methods for Collecting Requirements. Junior Analyst assists in Requirements gathering using basic techniques. 
   
   
2. Understand Existing Process
   During this phase, all Levels of Business Analyst (Senior, Intermediate, and Junior) need to gain a better understanding of the existing processes, concerning what they do, how well or how poorly they perform, and the critical issues that govern their performance.
   
   
3. Identify Process for Re-design
   In this phase, the most important business processes are identified and are described from a global perspective using a set of process maps since it is unrealistic to reengineer all the high level processes of an organization at the same time. Therefore, it’s the job of Junior and Intermediate Level Business Analysts to identify which all processes need to be redesigned. This is a very important part of a BPR effort. Once the Processes are identified for reengineering, Senior Business Analyst forecasts the impact to customers, chances of successful reengineering and how it will contribute to organizations objectives.
   
   
4. Identification Change Levers
   During this phase, there are 3 levels of Business Analyst working. They are Senior Analyst, Intermediate Analyst, and Junior Analyst. Senior Business Analyst visualises the impact of the reengineered processes and decides which processes need to be redesigned. Intermediate Business Analyst and Junior Business Analyst are the sub processes who help in reengineering the identified processes.
   
   
5. Implementation of the identified business processes
   All the new business processes that are identified are implemented. The processes are implemented in such a way that a process management approach is followed.  Senior Business Analyst suggests concurrent changes in management approaches. The intermediate and Junior Business Analyst work on the changes suggested as by Senior Business Analyst.
   
   
6. Make new process Operational
   In this phase, the identified processes are made operational. Senior Business Analyst has the responsibility of monitoring the performance of the processes across the various functions involved. The intermediate Business Analyst examines cross-functional enhancements that are needed, and Junior Analyst work on the changes required.
   
   
7. Evaluate the new process
   Here all the processes are tested and performance is assessed based on the results. Also impact of new technologies on process improvement is evaluated. The Senior Analyst monitors user acceptance testing and responds to problems. The Intermediate Analyst prepares the test cases and test plans. Junior Analyst validates knowledge of test Strategies, plans and execution.
   
   
8. Ongoing Continuous Improvements
   Here set of procedures are put in place to monitor and measure continuous improvements in the redesigned processes by Senior Business Analyst. A redesigned process must include a set of measures which enable the firm to monitor and improve the performance of that processes. Intermediate and Junior Business Analysts work on the improvements suggested as by Senior BA using different Modelling Techniques and thus help in improving the efficiency of process cycle.
   
   

Impact of Business Process Reengineering through a case study

In 1990s, Mahindra and Mahindra, one of the largest Automobile Manufacturer was facing loses at its 2 plants (Igatpuri and Kandivali) in Maharashtra. Reasons for Loses were inefficiencies of the workers, corruption, poor productivity, long production cycle, sub-optimal output. They tried implementing various business schemes but failed. Then, eventually, they decided to implement Business Process Reengineering. It was kind of a risk for them as it was a new concept altogether in India. While implementing they just focused on two major things i.e reengineering the layout of the existing processes and changing the methods of working which help increasing the productivity of the company. Soon after the implementation, the first signs of benefits were evident. Earlier 70 engines were produced by 1200 employees but after implementing BPR 100 employees could produce 35 engines a day.

BPR implementation in M&M had seen radical change for the better not only in its functions but also in its results. As the technology keeps advancing and the processes get old and obsolete over a period of time, Reengineering of the processes becomes an important aspect as it helps business grow and enhance the working methodology.

About Author:

Nisha Bhatt is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at: nisha.bhatt@spluspl.com

Availability Management

Availability within Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is defined as the established time when IT services are available to end users. As technology has become the epitome interdependency between the Business process and the IT operation has developed to the point where IT is affected the whole business is affected.  Availability can only be achieved when a conscious effort is made on realizing the integration of IT services and business requirements – if they are being fulfilled.

Customers are demanding for more flexibility in the way they work completely free from any bounds of time and place, so the demand for all the services to be available becomes very essential.
Availability Management is one of five components in the ITIL Service Delivery area. Few of its purpose are to warranty:

• That the applications / tools adopted by the organization are running as per the defined timeframes in the Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Incorporation of the managing facets for the Services and Configuration Items (CIs) / Components utilized by the respective business / organization
• To hone the potential of the IT infrastructure and supporting organisations to deliver a cost effective and sustained level of availability that enables the business to satisfy its objectives
• Consistency in availability of IT levels by measuring and monitoring with adopting certain metrics in place
• Ability to achieve customer satisfaction by having a action plan based on few foreseen scenarios
• Continuous improvement of availability 

Availability Management definitions:

1. Availability
2. Reliability
3. Maintainability
4. Serviceability
5. Resilience

The means to quantifying percentage of availability (generally calculated in %) is as follows:

% Availability = (Agreed Service Time – Downtime) * 100
                                ----------------------------------------------------
                                                     Agreed Service Time

Downtime = Time to repair

Over and above, Availability Management boosts and scrutinizes all the IT services / infrastructure so as to ensure that the services do not hamper the end users expectations and still achieve the business objectives in a cost-effective and compliant manner with SLAs also it ensures that all areas of risk to service availability is accounted for - that the overall IT infrastructure and the maturity of the process is duly compliant and sufficient.

Mainly two natures of actions are taken into consideration that is reactive and proactive in Availability Management Plan. The plan helps in overlooking the long term activities that focuses to improve the availability of IT services in a cost-effective manner. The process flow should ideally cover the additional operational processes and necessary measures that would consist of testing procedures, training the employees, preparing regular reports and communicating it to the concerned audience etc. to have a holistic approach. Reporting can be achieved on few availability measures:

• Mean time to repair (MTTR) = Downtime
• Mean time between failure (MTBF) = Uptime
• Mean time between system incidents (MTBSI) = Time between MTTR and MTBF

Click here to know more about our ManageIT Services

About Author:

Mohini Bhandari is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at mohini.b@spluspl.com 

Business Analysis

Business analysis is identifying the business practice, problems and suggesting the solution to overcome that problems. Solutions generally include the implementation of a system or a process which removes the existing bottle necks and make process smooth. The person who carries out this task is called a business analyst (BA).

Process

Engagement

Engagement of the key person or source is very important because it the base of first hand source of information for the business analyst. It is also because of following

• Determining the primary stakeholders to engage in defining the project’s business objectives and scope, as well as any subject matter experts to be consulted early in the project.
• Understanding the project history so that you don’t repeat work that’s already been done or rehash previously made decisions.
• Understanding the existing systems and business processes so you have a reasonably clear picture of the current state that needs to change.

Objective

Analysis is done to improve the current processes and to move to the next level. Before putting all efforts objective of all process should be very clear.

• Why: Discovering expectations from primary stakeholders – essentially discovering the “why” behind the project.
• Reconciling conflicting expectations so that the business community begins the project with a shared understanding of the business objectives and are not unique to one person’s perspective.
• Ensuring the business objectives are clear and actionable to provide the project team with momentum and context while defining scope and, later on, the detailed requirements.

Discovering the primary business objectives sets the stage for defining scope, ensuring that it don’t end up with a solution that solves the wrong problem or, even worse, with a solution that no one can even determine is successful or not.

Documentation

Documentation of scope is the boundaries and limitation of the whole process. There should be clarification between the stake holders and business analyst on the limitation of the entire process.

• Defining a solution approach to determine the nature and extent of technology and business process changes to be made as part of implementing the solution to the primary business objectives.
• Drafting a scope statement and reviewing it with your key business and technology stakeholders until they are prepared to sign-off or buy-in to the document.

Plan

Planning is the key element of the entire process as this stage gives the estimated deadlines of the entire process activation.

• Given the project scope, project methodology, and other key aspects of the project situation, choosing the most appropriate types of business analysis deliverables to create to specify the detailed requirements.
• Defining the specific list of business analysis deliverables that will completely cover the scope of the project and identifying the stakeholders who will be part of the creation and validation of each deliverable.
• Identifying the timelines for completing the business analysis deliverables.

Development

This is most important part of the process this is the actual action of the entire requirement and plan. It is the heart of the entire process. This task only be performed with the help of proper documentation of scope and better understanding.

• Implantation of the tools and technology which was decided initially for development.
• Actual resource allocation for various activities like development, management, testing etc.
• Allocation of sub task among the resources.

Implementation

This is the very curtail stage of the process as whatever decided, understood and developed will show up at this stage. During the implementation, there are many worthwhile support tasks engage that will help drive the success of the project and ensure the business objectives are met.

Your key responsibilities in this step include:

• Reviewing the solution design to ensure it fulfills all of the requirements and looking for opportunities to meet additional business needs without increasing the technical scope of the project.
• Updating and/or repackaging requirements documentation to make it useful for the technology design and implementation process.
• Providing training to the end user regarding usage of tools which is developed or the process which is implemented. This responsibility may include reviewing test plans and/or test cases to ensure they represent a clear understanding of the functional requirements.
• Creating availability to answer questions and help resolve any issues that surface during the technical design, technical implementation, or testing phases of the project.

Analyze

This is the stage which shows the success ratio of entire process after analyzing the reports which came after implementation. This is UAT phase. Analyzing part has be done very carefully as any single skip can result into big problem after solutions gets live for long time.

Enhancement

There is always a scope of improvement. After implementing a successful solution, whatever missed out and considered as nice to have features can be taken in enhancement. If enhancement is big in size then all the process will get carried again.

About Author:

Mukesh Mange is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at mukesh.m@spluspl.com

Hypercare Support

Definition: Hypercare in application support can be considered as the phase after application is live on production. The main purpose of the hypercare period is to closely monitor customer service, data Integrity and the smooth functioning of the implemented application. The thumb rule is that when hypercare support ends, the system is stable and can be release to more end users with the usual support activities continuing.

Most of the people in the industry have a misconception that hypercare includes only training. However, it provides end user with all type of support which is critical after Go-live. Some of tasks that come under hypercare support are as listed below:

1. Technical support
2. On-site training
3. Handling issues and queries
4. Escalation plan
5. Ensuring smooth handover

Technical Support: An important objective of hypercare support, this includes resolving technical queries of the end user working on the application and any bugs and fixes. This allows the application to stabilize and work efficiently in the new IT environment among other systems. This also takes care of the data integration taking place with various other existing systems.

On-site training: This is another aspect of hypercare support which includes on-site availability of the support team. This is implemented so that end user queries can be resolved on the spot without wasting any time. This also includes on the floor training for the end users which helps them get a complete understanding of the application which considerably reduces the number of queries hitting the support desk during on- going support. On-site training also facilitates the end user to get completely familiar with the application. This makes it easy to use thus satisfying the primary purpose of the application.

Handling configuration issues and queries: Handling of configuration issues and related queries are also managed under hypercare period. This includes configuration of fields, adding drop down values, modifying field names, changing locations of the fields etc. These are some of the tasks managed during hypercare for smooth functioning of the application related processes. This helps make the application more user friendly with minimum possible resolution time.

Ensuring smooth handover: This is the final activity that comes under hypercare support. This includes various handover activities like documentation, confirmation from the end users on various processes configured in the application. This also, includes handover of the application’s administrator rights to the support team. Confirmation on resolution of major issues are reported during this phase.

Disadvantages of not incorporating Hypercare in Application Support:

1. Increases the load on the Support desk after go-live increasing the resolution time and making issue management cumbersome
2. Even after go-live end users are not comfortable using the application which can result in under utilization of the application
3. Probability of rollback increases which in turn affects the brand name of the application
4. Critical issues are not prioritized resulting in application crashing or obstruction in smooth working of the processes in the application
5. Unavailability of the escalation plan can result in unnecessary wastage of time in taking appropriate action for resolving pending issues.

Thus, it can be seen that hypercare support phase is essential for smooth functioning and handover of the new application after its go-live. This saves a lot of time and rollback of the application in some scenarios. However, hypercare phase is not a mandatory and not implemented by many vendors while implementing an application. Hence, it is a non-mandatory but essential phase for a successful and smooth handover after the go-live of the new application.

About Author:
Amol Bhembre is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: amol.b@spluspl.com