developing & deploying complex systems in a global environment

© 2002 IBM Corporation

European Business Transformation & Information Management

Developing & Deploying Complex Systems in a Global Environment

Chris CromackEuropean Business Information Manager


Developing & Deploying Complex Systems in a Global Environment CJC Oct 2003 © 2002 IBM Corporation2

The lecture will cover a number of key points which are critical success factors for large global systems. It will not focus on technical aspects of programming or development techniques.

Introduction and background

Context and business environment

Assumptions

Focus areas

Summary and conclusions



Introduction to the lecture

Seminar objective - present Managerial & Organisational Issues associated with Commercial Programming

All projects have issues, managing them is the key to success Issues can be best shown by looking at the most complex and working back to where you will

start your career The issues I will describe are not found in complex technical challenges, but in complex

environments

My background

Degree in Electronics / Electrical Engineering Test & Manufacturing Engineer, Programmer, Functional & Systems Architect, Development &

Project Manager, Consultant, Senior Technical Staff Member Work both internally and for IBM's customers and clients

• My current role

Responsible for all operational IT systems in Europe which support Personal Systems Group (PSG) and the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC)

Responsible for all European Business Transformation for PSG and ISC



Here are some examples of global e-business initiatives which have been deployed in IBM in the last 7 or 8 years.

One of the first end to end e-business systems (PartnerInfo) Capability to Business Partners for Catalogue, Commerce and After Sales

Deployment of IBM’s selected ERM toolset (SAP) Deployed to 61 countries across Europe

Deployment of IBM’s selected Advanced Planning toolset (i2)

“Direct” customer e-business system (Easy Access) Extremely complex deployment Not a “green field site” Multiple organisations and systems to be integrated

Now moving into the on demand arena A completely new set of challenges



Ibm.com Sales and Service

ITSTechnical Support

OutsourcedManufacturing

IGSApplication Dev’t

Customer Fulf’tOrder Management

IGSService DeliveryService Mg’ment

BusinessTransformation



Today’s business environment is very complex, this adds significant challenge to the process of systems design, deployment and support

Extremely competitive marketplace

many products becoming commodities

High volumes required for profitability

Volatile supply environment

Fast product turnover / technology upgrade

Multiple suppliers, both component and finished goods

Key AttributeScalable, Reliable Network B/W (>1GB) Servers (2-3X capacity) Storage (95% utilization)

24x7

fast and flexible

high MTTF (mean time to fail)

low MTTR (recovery)

Business Environment

Business Expectation

Key AttributesSecure Access control (1.5 IDs/emp) Intrusion Detection (100%)

Key AttributesAvailable E2E Availability (99.5%) Disaster Recov (<8-48 hrs) E2E Trans Perf (5-10 secs)



Putting this subject into context is very important, the Business Environment underpins the need to get this right.

All business environments are moving much more quickly than in the past not only limited to "high technology" customer expectations are extremely high

quality is now a given, service and speed are the new battle lines

All businesses increasingly rely on some form of technology, placing huge demands on those who provide / develop the technology

It’s not like the early days of the ".com" revolution, a few guys/girls with an idea and a basketball hoop in the office !!

Smaller companies may not appear to need much of this advice however, it is needed, but may have a slightly different form even small companies can now have a global presence, a 24x7x365 customer base

There are many more people and aspects to consider than in the past - Customers, Support Staff, Global Leaders, Company Strategies.

Covered in more detail later



Let’s remind ourselves of the phases of e-business adoption to see why these discussions points are so critical

Access Enterprise Integration on demand

AccessAccess TransactTransact Integrate Integrate ExternallyExternallyPublishPublish Integrate Integrate

InternallyInternallyAdapt Adapt

DynamicallyDynamically

“Get on the Net” “Buying, not browsing… Working, not surfing”

“Optimise operations… dynamically respond to the needs of customers, employees, partners.”



Unfortunately, in most cases you don’t get to work in a green field site, you have to manage developments and deployments in a complex and “live” environment ……..



Most companies already have significant investment in applications and systems. Here is a high level view of IBM’s e-Business architecture



Supporting that global application architecture is a very large and complex wide area network, a simplified view is shown below.

Portsmouth

US

Europe

Stockholm

Greenock

Essones

Vimercate

EhningenMainz

Uithoorn

Brussels

La GaudeMontpellier

Hursley

Madrid

Paris

Zoetermeer

Warwick

Asia

Tokyo

Nankoh

Yamato

Kawasaki

Sydney

Yasu

BoulderSan Jose

Raleigh

Poughkeepsie

BurlingtonRochester

Austin

Dallas AtlantaCharlotte

BethesdaLexington

SterlingSF

Southbury

White Plains

Latin America

Sumare

Guadalajara

Mexico City

Caracas

Buenos Aries

NZ

Indonesia

Mal

Thailand

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Beijing

Korea

>34Mb

>30Mb

>19Mb

>22Mb

>17Mb

>29Mb

>15Mb

24Mb



OK, so we understand the business and systems context in which we have to operate, but what are the key factors that have to be considered ?



Assumptions are basic to any project, development, system etc... along with scope, they begin to set expectations and drive issues early in the process.

The end date will be aggressive

There will be limited (too limited) funding and resources

Even good ideas will have critics

No matter how well you plan there will be last minute changes / technical problems include contingency (but call it something else) !!

A Global project will always take longer and deliver less than a Local project

The Development is the easy bit ......

Service Delivery (infrastructure, operational management, SLAs etc.) is the difficult part covered more later

However, Technical Complexity does play an important part see next chart



Normally we look at a project / development using the traditional "triangle", i.e. we can vary scope, end date and resource.

However, I would contend that a project has a fourth dimension which must be managed very early in the development, technical complexity.

Technical Complexity

optimistic developers …."back-seat drivers", experts seeing adverts widespread "awareness" drives high demands applies huge additional risks mitigate with clear, concise, unemotional, facts

EndDate

Scope

Resource

Technical Complexity



Let's look at some of the key areas on which you must focus to ensure a successful project.

Defining the problem, specifying the requirements and agreeing the priorities

Building the team and communications within the team

Creating the management system

Buy-in from customers, sponsors and global leaders

Testing

Deployment

Service Delivery and Service Management



Defining the problem and specifying the requirements is always difficult, operating in a global environment multiplies the complexity ten fold.

Each country / geography has it's own unique focus areas and issues some of these will be "real"

e.g. legal / fiscal items, competition driven however some will be more internally focussed

internal strategies which may differ from worldwideexisting applications which offer specific functionality

Very important to handle this stage sensitively but firmly must set correct expectation level regarding scope of the global project legal / fiscal must be covered unique functionality must be justified by business case

Set up a comprehensive requirements process (see more in management system) heavy involvement from countries / geographies must include reviews/feedback at senior management



Building the team and the team spirit is one of the most important items in any project, in a global project it is vital as the majority of the

communications will be electronic, not “face to face”

The classic elements of a team still hold variety of personalities, need for skills and experience etc.

There are however a few extremely key individuals for success the Leader, Sponsor and Project Manager

The LeaderAn enthusiastic, energetic person, should have credibility and determination

This person push the project forward, overcome the pitfalls

The SponsorHas to be involved, personally committed and responsible

This person will overcome the strategic and organisational issues

The Project ManagerExperienced, involved, determined

This person will drive the details and the day to day movement forward



Communications are critical, there are many ways to overcome the obvious difficulties of a global project and all should be considered.

Face to Face In a global project this is a very important element Clearly expensive and to be used sparingly, however a few areas where it is critical Country/Geography team leads and Core team (Leader and Project Manager) will operate

more effectively if they have met in person Team members meet within country/geography if possible

Phone / Video Conferencing Extensive use of conference calls will be necessary

Ensure the basics are in-placequality (full duplex) speaker phones, phone etiquette, agendas/minutes

Use Video Conferencingnow cheap and easily set-up

Instant Messaging A invaluable tool, has become central to the success of global developments MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Lotus Sametime



The Management System which is used is a fundamental item for a Global Project. Smaller projects can be successful with a simple management system, global projects require more sophistication.

What is a management system ?A combination of processes, meetings and rolesSomething which controls and ensures success

IBM has evolved a comprehensive management system for Large ProjectsBusiness Transformation Management System (BTSM)

Critical that the Leader and Sponsor are integral to the management systemProject Manager and Project Office will operate the management system

People

Process

Tech

nology

BTMS

Concept Plan Develop Manage Life Cycle

Qualify Roll Out



It sounds obvious, however ensuring "buy-in" is something which is often overlooked, or taken for granted.

Customer there are many "customers" of a new system end users, end user management, customers executives the type and scale of project will define the level of buy-in needed critical to identify the decision makers and influencers in all categories

Sponsors one of the most critical without 100% support the project will not succeed will be needed to overcome issues with strategy, funding, schedule etc.

Others who must not be forgotten operational teams local management and executives both must identify with benefits of project, or strategic important



Deployment is an area that most text books ignore. However, in a global environment it is one of the most critical items. It is the link between the development and the real world.

The Deployment team should be staffed with experienced operational and development people

They should be part of the project from it's concept through handover to an operational team

The deployment team provide the link between the operational users and environment and the development team

ensuring that the final product will be accepted and be useable

A fully integrated part of the management systemshould have a voting position on exit checkpoints



There are many kinds of testing and it is easy to allow testing to become a black hole for resource and time, it is however important to put the tests into perspective and to complete a risk analysis

Types of test "development" tests

– Component, System, Integration etc. "deployment" tests

– performance, end to end, acceptance

Performance this test is critical to ensure that the infrastructure (which is normally complex) is not degraded

by the new application it will require significant, but mandatory, investment

End to End most system require data to pass between various applications and databases development tests ensure that the interfaces between applications and databases are correct end to end test ensure that the transaction can be processed thru the whole path

Acceptance Normally conducted a representative of the major stakeholders in the various customer

organisations



Deployment testing - it is not a simple extension of the development environment.

When should it be planned ? it should be one of the early items, part of the "design" or "plan" phase of a project

it will drive significant workload, investment and time into the schedule

Who should participate ? the deployment team, in the countries/geographies test scripts should be constructed

regression for unchanged functionality

When should the test be run ? performance test can run in parallel with integration test end to end test must follow signoff of the development

always allow for some change / development during end to end testalways allow for time following end to end test to finalise fixes

user acceptance test can be completed in either the end to end test environment or the production environment



Today, the infrastructure is probably the key element, possibly even more important than the functionality. Users can work around functional issues, but not infrastructure.

Infrastructure is a very broad subject servers, networks, helpdesks, capacity monitoring, alert management and more

Organisations which support infrastructure must be part of project team from concept In IBM the teams are called Service Delivery and Service Management

Infrastructure for global projects is likely to be spread in many areas development in one area / part of the world installation may be central or distributed operational support may be combined with other applications

Ensure development teams do not make assumptions regarding infrastructure capability what is possible in a lab may not work when scaled around the world

Ensure that the infrastructure limitations are fully understood e.g. different time zones will affect the operational SLAs of the system it is difficult to find a maintenance window in a 24x7 SLA



So, we’ve been through a lot of the context and the systems landscape that faces developers and project managers, here’s a summary of the key points

Getting the basics of assumptions, team building and management system is vital

Remember technology and system complexity must be balanced against the schedule

Buy-in and expectation has to be continually worked

Don’t forget testing and actual deployment of the “techie” bits

Infrastructure and on-going support are as, if not more, important than the actual code development



business on demand

developing & deploying complex systems in a global environment

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