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REDPRAIRIE SOFTWARE
UPGRADE GUIDE
Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
June 6, 2012
The Open Sky Group, LLC
RedPrairie Software Upgrade Guide Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
© 2012 The Open Sky Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 2 | P a g e
CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3
Define the Impact of a Software Upgrade to Your Organization ................................................... 3
Upgrades are not Trivial ..................................................................................................... 3
Upgrades Will Impact Operations ......................................................................................... 3
Upgrades with Customizations are Complicated ..................................................................... 4
Justify the Upgrade .................................................................................................................. 6
Valid (and Invalid) Reasons to Upgrade ................................................................................... 6
How Do I Estimate the Costs and Effort of an Upgrade? ............................................................. 7
Is an Upgrade as Complicated as a New System? What Can I Do About That? .............................. 7
Can my Original System be Leveraged in an Upgrade? .............................................................. 8
What Else Should I Know About Estimating an Upgrade? ........................................................ 9
How Do I Estimate the Savings Achievable with an Upgrade? ..................................................... 9
Implement an Upgrade ............................................................................................................10
Software Upgrade Alternatives..................................................................................................11
Custom Enhancements to Current System ..............................................................................11
Implement New Software Package .........................................................................................11
Legal Notices ..........................................................................................................................13
Confidential Information .......................................................................................................13
Trade Marks & Service Marks .................................................................................................13
RedPrairie Software Upgrade Guide Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
© 2012 The Open Sky Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 3 | P a g e
INTRODUCTION
Considering an upgrade of your RedPrairie® software? Do you have questions about where to start,
how to make sure it’s worth it and how to make sure you don’t lose the capabilities you have in your
current version? If so, this guide can help you in your quest to lead or manage a successful upgrade
project.
After numerous upgrade projects involving various versions of RedPrairie software, and in response to
many client questions and concerns about upgrading, we created this guide to help you think about,
plan for and achieve an on-time and on-budget upgrade of your RedPrairie software. We’ll cover a
number of topics including how to think through the impact of an upgrade, recommendations on how
to justify one, important considerations for implementing the project, as well as possible alternatives if
the justification for upgrade isn’t there.
DEFINE THE IMPACT OF A SOFTWARE UPGRADE TO YOUR ORGANIZATION
Answering the question, “What does an upgrade entail?” may be one of the most misunderstood parts
of a RedPrairie upgrade project. Many corporate decision makers believe that a RedPrairie upgrade is
an IT-only project that can be completed in as little as one weekend with no impact to operations.
Sometimes companies just take on an upgrade thinking it will be easily accomplished, only to realize
the project is far more complicated than first thought. Often the projects are shelved or a search
begins for a third party to step in and help before the midway point of the project is even reached.
The following sections will help you and your team to clearly set expectations with respect to what an
upgrade entails. If this level of effort and complexity is not in line with your team’s expectations, you
may want to evaluate the recommendations listed in the Alternatives section. These may help you to
determine if you could achieve your business goals with a less complex and more cost effective
solution than an upgrade.
UPGRADES ARE NOT TRIVIAL
Unfortunately, when it comes to a RedPrairie software upgrade project, it’s not as easy as just getting
the path to the setup files. RedPrairie software is as complex as your supply chain, and, just like you
could not move to a new building or re-plan all your truck routes in a single weekend, you will not be
able to simply type “install” and have the project complete in a few days. A RedPrairie software
upgrade requires project planning and careful implementation – you’ll see why over the next few
sections.
RedPrairie Software Upgrade Guide Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
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UPGRADES WILL IMPACT OPERATIONS
In the past five years, RedPrairie has significantly altered every major process in their WMS1
software. There have been three revisions to the RF Terminal driver, two major revisions to the GUI
client and numerous changes in the GUI screens. Further, many of the changes were not backwards
compatible.
An upgrade is not an IT only function; it will impact your users. There is a good chance your system
will not have the same Standard Operating Procedures after the upgrade as before, so operations
management should be involved in planning as well as have a team involved in the implementation
itself.
UPGRADES WITH CUSTOMIZATIONS ARE COMPLICATED
Your system has probably been customized at some point since it was first installed. We commonly
have clients tell us that they implemented “vanilla” RedPrairie only to find dozens if not hundreds of
custom objects when we analyze the system. The complexity of your customizations should be
analyzed by an expert and accounted for in any upgrade project before you make a decision or they
will drive the project over budget during implementation. Customizations will require review, recoding
and regression testing. This includes MHE and ERP integrations, custom processes, custom reports,
custom RF modifications and custom GUI modifications.
To help yourself evaluate how extensively your RedPrairie WMS may have been customized, search
the LES\src\* directories for the following file name extensions and record how many files you have of
this type:
1 This paper specifically addresses the RedPrairie WMS known as one of these names: DCS, Discrete, DLx/D. These WMS products are all based on RedPrairie MOCA.
File Extension
*.mcmd
*.mtgr
*.c
*.rdt
*.rpx
*.dda
What it Does
MOCA Component Files
MOCA Component
Trigger Files
C Language Component
RF Form
MOCA Report File
Data Driven Application
Typical Count
<10
<5
<5
<5
0
0
Your Count
RedPrairie Software Upgrade Guide Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
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You should also get a count of how many DDA’s and Custom Policies you have:
UPGRADES MAY BE EXPENSIVE
A RedPrairie software upgrade is most likely going to be expensive. By expensive we mean expensive
relative to the complexity of your initial implementation. Depending on your customizations, your
current version and your desired upgrade version, it’s safe to say that you will spend a significant
percentage of your original investment on an upgrade. You and your team have probably already
raised a number of questions regarding justification for an upgrade project. We hear frequently about
projects that were undertaken for all the wrong reasons – these ultimately do not provide any return.
If your business isn’t going to get something out of the upgrade, why do it?
If you and your team have not considered the implications of these facets of upgrading your
RedPrairie software, it would be a good time to get a handle on just how your business might be
impacted by an upgrade. The next section will help you think about how to justify an upgrade (or not).
Object
DDAs
Custom Policies
Typical Count
<10
0
Your Count
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JUSTIFY THE UPGRADE
Before you begin an upgrade, we strongly recommend making a thorough evaluation of why your
organization needs to upgrade and whether or not an upgrade will generate a return on the
investment of time and budget it will require. The first step is to create a list of valid reasons for an
upgrade (we’ll talk more on this topic below, as well as covering reasons we’ve found to be invalid).
Once the list is created, a cost and savings analysis should be conducted to determine whether the
savings from the list financially justifies the effort of upgrading. We frequently see companies begin
upgrade projects without this kind of clear justification and goals for the project. Those projects end
up lacking purpose and cannot be analyzed for return and the inevitable conclusion reached is that the
project was unnecessary. This may cause the system to be viewed negatively by your organization. If
your team cannot clearly justify the upgrade, you may want to consider either tabling the project or
analyzing more cost-effective alternatives.
VALID (AND INVALID) REASONS TO UPGRADE
Do you need help getting started in creating a list of valid reasons? A good place to start is by
developing an understanding of how your current system fails to meet the needs of your organization.
The list of shortcomings can become the basis of both the justification for performing the upgrade and
the measurement of success after the project is completed. In general all items on this list should be
an answer to one of the following questions:
1. What functionality does the new version provide that the current one does not? Common
reasons include new supported processes or vendor compliance requirements.
2. What are your key complaints about the current version? These commonly fall into lack of
performance, functionality or compatibility.
3. How soon will a third party render your current software obsolete (i.e., RedPrairie 2006.1 GUI
client is incompatible with Windows 7. Microsoft has announced the End of Life for Windows
XP to be 2012. To maintain support availability on your workstations, you will need to
synchronize a RedPrairie upgrade with your Windows 7 rollout)?
4. Does your corporate IT vision include significant changes in the future that make your current
software configuration outdated or out of sync with executive plans? Common vision elements
include third party hosting, virtualization, operating system standardizations, hardware
standardizations and DBMS standardizations.
Simply having a list is not justification for an upgrade project. Cost estimates and savings analyses
are necessary to prove out a justification. If the justification is not there in savings, there are
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alternatives to upgrades that we’ll discuss in a later section. These might be more cost effective, while
still achieving the goals of your organization.
You probably noticed that the list of questions did not include any mention of how long ago you
implemented your current system. We do not recommend upgrading just to stay current as many
times there are significant changes from version to version of RedPrairie software. We’ve found that
clients who try to stay current often spend years of time doing nothing but implementing upgrade
projects without time for actually optimizing their supply chain software, leading to little or no return
their upgrade investment. Our general recommendation is to keep a system for seven to twelve
years. Unless the list of issues generated by answering the questions above and working through the
cost savings provides justification for an upgrade at an earlier date, you should stick with the version
you have to save costs. Implementing RedPrairie software is very expensive and it often takes time to
see a return. If your current system is working well enough so that the list of shortcomings is
minimal, an upgrade project might very well do nothing but defer any return you’re expecting further
into the future.
HOW DO I ESTIMATE THE COSTS AND EFFORT OF AN UPGRADE?
How much will your RedPrairie upgrade project cost and how long will it take to implement? Because
there are so many factors involved, there’s no quick way to answer this question, nor is there any sort
of meaningful cost and effort range that can be offered. What we can do is offer some guidelines and
help get you started.
One of the first places to examine is the project plan from your original system implementation,
paying particular attention to the level of effort and timeframe requirements. In some respects, an
upgrade must be treated as a brand new system so the original plan is a good basis for comparison.
While that’s a good starting point, just know that estimating is generally more complicated than that
depending on compatibility of custom objects and the degree to which major portions of the system
have been changed between your current version and the upgrade version. Those two factors can
cause drastic variations.
IS AN UPGRADE AS COMPLICATED AS A NEW SYSTEM? WHAT CAN I DO
ABOUT THAT?
In a lot of ways, an upgrade is a completely new system. We’ve found that if you treat the upgrade
more like an implementation with roles and activities like project management, discovery and testing,
you will be infinitely more successful in bringing the project in on time and on budget.
RedPrairie Software Upgrade Guide Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
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The roles required will be similar to the roles needed to implement the original project. It may or may
not require as much effort from each role owner, but the roles must still be filled. One particular role,
the project manager, will have a similar amount of work as with the original implementation so that
effort can be pretty fairly estimated from the original.
Many companies omit the discovery phase of upgrade projects. It’s important to remember that there
is no guarantee that the processes currently used by your operations will even be supported via the
exact same screens in the new version (or even supported at all), given the sometimes significant
changes from version to version. Just as with the initial implementation, you’ll want to generate a
GAP list (items not supported by the new version) and evaluate the system’s readiness to handle your
operation’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS). In some cases, you may need to change your
SOPs to fit the new system. Anticipate that this process will most likely take as much time as your
initial implementation’s discovery phase and require a similar level of effort. The only exceptions to
this would be the inevitable increase or decrease in scope associated with major increases or
decreases in business complexity since the original implementation. During the discovery phase, you
may want to consult experts to analyze your current system and the differences between your current
and upgrade versions, particularly if your team is considering skipping this phase to save time.
Finally, an upgrade project must be tested like it is a brand new system. Due to the significant degree
of change that can occur in RedPrairie’s standard product from one version to the next, the system
must be fully regression tested including interfaces and operational processes. This will ensure that all
portions of the system function exactly as they should. The level of effort to perform this testing will
be very similar to the effort required to test the original. [NOTE: One timesaving tip in this phase is to
leverage the existing test scripts from the original implementation as appropriate. This could
significantly reduce script writing effort for the upgrade.]
CAN MY ORIGINAL SYSTEM BE LEVERAGED IN AN UPGRADE?
Unfortunately the degree to which your current system can be leveraged in this process varies greatly.
The main factors include your current system’s level of customization, the complexity of your
operations and the differences between the current and upgrade software versions. In general, most
customizations will be portable to the new version with minimal effort compared to the original
development. Similarly, system configurations can be converted via scripts so that complex work like
the building of mapping and policies can be transitioned to the new system. One bright spot is that the
development of conversion tools and changes to move, or port, code to the new version will require
significantly less effort than the original implementation. The effort required to complete this work is
not dependent on the complexity of code so much as it is on the volume of code to review. This
estimate would be best provided by the same system expert who analyzes your custom code.
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WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT ESTIMATING AN UPGRADE?
The final major estimate of an upgrade project involves changes to the code that result from major
changes in the standard product software. As RedPrairie improves its products, there are frequently
significant data model changes that may invalidate entire custom processes or cause a significant
reconfiguration effort. The level of effort for these changes will depend entirely on differences
between your current version and the upgrade version. A system expert is well suited to help you
develop a list of any such changes, as well as provide estimates.
HOW DO I ESTIMATE THE SAVINGS ACHIEVABLE WITH AN UPGRADE?
How would an upgrade drive down costs? To answer that, you’ll need to look at savings. The savings
estimate should be driven entirely from the list of reasons you developed of why your organization
would benefit from the upgrade. To be effective, each reason should be associated with a real cost
savings or revenue loss prevention, as in the case of regulatory and compliance requirements.
Determining cost savings and revenue loss prevention is most effectively done by the
department/area of the business that added that upgrade reason to the list.
Once all savings estimation is complete, you can determine the potential return for your upgrade
project. Ideally this value should be used to drive the feasibility of the project and move it forward or
reconsider other options.
RedPrairie Software Upgrade Guide Tips, Considerations & Alternatives for Decision Makers
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IMPLEMENT AN UPGRADE
The most frequent mistake we’ve observed during implementation is poor organization and execution
of the upgrade. This almost always stems from lack of definition around project roles, and, more
specifically, over-reliance on the software vendor to implement the project.
The following diagram illustrates the roles and responsibilities that we account for in our project
upgrade plans. The number of activities necessary for a successful implementation are often greatly
underestimated, particularly the ones that are the responsibility of the software purchaser (items in
blue and orange).
Figure 1 - SCES Implementation Project Circle of Responsibilities
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SOFTWARE UPGRADE ALTERNATIVES
There are a few alternatives to upgrading your RedPrairie software that you may or may not have
considered. These solutions are not appropriate or feasible for all organizations and of course need to
be weighed against the benefits and cost savings estimates that you’ve already determined.
CUSTOM ENHANCEMENTS TO CURRENT SYSTEM
If one of the reasons for upgrading your RedPrairie software is to achieve new functionality available
in a new release, but your budget and timeline don’t support a full upgrade project, you may be able
to get the desired functionality by enhancing your current software. We’ve successfully completed a
number of enhancement projects and have found that they are often more cost effective than a full
upgrade. This alternative route is especially important to consider and talk to experts about,
particularly if the only reason you would upgrade is for a specific piece of new functionality. Even if
you are unsure, a quality third party software consultant can evaluate your needs and offer a
professional recommendation for the most valuable path for your organization. Often a brief phone call
spent discussing your needs may be enough for a third party to provide you with a rough order of
magnitude quote for an enhancement.
IMPLEMENT NEW SOFTWARE PACKAGE
If your organization is completely dissatisfied with your current RedPrairie software, then you may be
thinking about exploring an alternative software package. Obviously this decision should not be made
lightly, as something other than a RedPrairie system would likely not allow you to leverage any of your
previous investment in your current software.
Prior to selecting a new software vendor, we recommend a thorough assessment of your current
system and operations to identify the areas where your current system is simply not acceptable.
These areas are frequently caused less by poor software than they are by poor implementation of that
software. It may be possible for your company to find a return in your current system with a few key
changes. If the assessment shows that your operation is simply no longer a good fit for RedPrairie
software, a third party software consultant should be able to help you find a new software vendor with
more suitable product(s). The process of selecting new software generally involves a Request for
Information (RFI) or Request for Proposal (RFP) process and would be best treated as a completely
new implementation. Licensing costs vary by vendor so it’s difficult to make a blanket statement as to
whether or not it’s cheaper to implement a new system vs. upgrade a current one. You can be sure
the costs of resources could be significant (an unknown software package, retraining of users, etc.). In
our experience, depending on the software package and the needs of your operations, it might be
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possible to implement a new system with less investment than an upgrade would cost. That may seem
like a safe answer but as with any software implementation or upgrade, you have to do the work and
dig into the details to find out what is the best, workable solution for your organization that meets
your needs and provides a level of return you can be happy with.
Thanks for reading – we hope you found this paper helpful and informative.
If you have any feedback or would like more information, don’t hesitate to contact Open Sky today:
www.openskygroup.com
+1 866.359.4437
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LEGAL NOTICES
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
The information contained in this document is legally privileged and confidential information intended
solely for the use of the company identified in the Company Document Property and/or The Open Sky
Group, LLC. If you are not the intended recipient of this document, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or duplication of this electronic document is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this electronic document in error, please notify The Open Sky Group, LLC immediately at the
address below and delete all electronic copies of this document and destroy all paper copies of this
document.
The Open Sky Group, LLC
1421 E Broad ST
STE 305
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526-7119
USA
+1 866.359.4437
TRADE MARKS & SERVICE MARKS
The Open Sky Group, LLC is an independent company providing consulting services for RedPrairie®
Supply Chain Software Solutions and is not affiliated with or endorsed by RedPrairie Corporation.
RedPrairie® is a registered trademark of RedPrairie Corporation.