Computer Design & Integration

Project Kickoff & Pre-Discovery

CDI strives to build rapport with customers, and we begin working together by identifying key team members within the organization and how they will be participating in the project. After reviewing project scope and billing structure, we describe the discovery process and anticipated timeline and deliverables. Finally, we establish a meeting schedule and create a high-level agenda based on the scope of the project.

Discovery

CDI meets with the customer’s project stakeholders, key team members, and members of the technical team. Elements of the discovery phase consist of an initial meeting to outline goals and priorities; departmental/functional meetings to glean knowledge of relevant processes and systems; a system review to evaluate current applications and/or existing Salesforce; a wrap-up meeting to confirm implementation approaches, phasing, timing, and scheduling impacts; and a final discovery findings document for both parties to sign off on final project scope.

Project Plan Development

After considering the required project milestones, reviewing customer blackout periods, discussing competing customer resource priorities, and determining key CDI resources, we establish a high-level iterative cycle schedule. We identify any challenges that may exist within the implementation life cycle and provide a project plan.

POC/Data Model Development

In effort to create a solid foundation for the Salesforce instance, CDI reviews, identifies, and clarifies data and business requirements before starting the initial system build. From there, completed initial configurations are demoed to the customer.

Data Migration

CDI views data migration as an ongoing exercise during design, implementation, integration, and go-live. We work with each customer to help shape designs and clarify how data will be physically moved between systems, giving them a data migration plan that identifies all sources and high-level mappings of respective sources into appropriate Salesforce objects. We utilize the process of automating data migration, scripting all migration so that it can be automatically re-run as needed.

Iterative Build

CDI works closely with clients in each iterative build cycle to ensure a strong and robust solution. Each cycle includes planning, development, testing, review, and feedback.

Project Finalization

In effort to prepare for project close and go-live, CDI focuses on addressing key areas related to final planning, testing, training, and data migration. We establish a plan that incorporates key dates and go-live and document a process for cutting over that includes activation of system interfaces, how data is migrated, and what systems are affected. We then guide the customer to develop a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) plan, which is reviewed and completed by the customer. After activating the system interface and confirming that source data matches reconciliation reports, the customer signs off on the final data migration.

Training

Training is a mission-critical component to project success. We consider training a combination of train-the-trainer (training key users and subject matter experts to ensure they are adequately prepared to train other users), technical shadowing (for customers interested in including their developers in the build process), and live processing assistance (to support customer questions on system use).

Ongoing Support

To ensure customer success and complete adoption, we make available our team of experts for initial go live support as part of the implementation process. For any further assistance required, CDI offers various admin as a service options.