Patent ID: 6687677
Filing Date: 2004-02-03
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
In a system for effecting through presales, assessment, preparation, development, deployment and support stages a transition from a legacy process to an integrated, cross-functional general procurement and accounts payable application, a deployment system, comprising:a server; a storage device connected to said server for storing a playbook database including a plurality of summary and detailed tasks organized into assessment, preparation, development, deployment and support processing stages for said integrated, cross-functional general procurement and accounts payable application; a plurality of team terminals; a communication link interconnecting said server and said terminals; said server; maintaining in said database templates and data fields describing procedures for deploying said application on said storage device; serving said templates to customer, transition management and quality assessment team members operating said terminals to display 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 stare 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; 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; and responsive to input to said data fields at said terminals by said customer, transition management and quality assessment team members prior to operation of said application, updating said database for coordinating, recording and tracking team activities with respect to said general procurement and accounts payable application; thereby executing with reference to said playbook database deployment stage processes comprising said general procurement and accounts payable application before actual operation for identifying and resolving problems prior to operation.