The Kronos & PeopleSoft & every other software Change Control Guide

Upgrading complicated software, such as Kronos and PeopleSoft can be a challenge at best. Typically, this process takes up to six months with many hours of testing, design and development. There are several key elements that every organization needs in order to effectively maintain change control: standardization of customization's, updated documentation, standardized testing requirements. Maintaining these requirements helps improve the quality of an upgrade and improved SOX and SAS-70 requirements.

The primary issue with change control is keeping track of customization vs. delivered code. It is not uncommon for clients of large scale ERP solutions to make changes or customization's to support the uniqueness of their organizations. There are several approaches to keep track of the customization without the use of speciaized software. The first approach is to develop a unique naming standard for custom vs. delivered code, for example, prefixing a unique client identifier with the name of the delivered program.  One example is the delivered program PROG01, customized to C_PROG01. The benefit to this approach is during the upgrade process, the program is easily identified as a delivered program that was customized. Custom programs, written from scratch to support a client need  would have a unique identifier associated with them, such as PAYPROG01 - a totally custom payroll program. Online objects would have similar constraints associated with them. For example, field names such as C_FIELD_NAME would be identified as a totally custom data object, easily identifiable as a custom object. Records, pages, components and other  objects would use the same approach to maintain their integrity.

Once the custom changes are created it becomes imperative to store them separate from non-customized objects. Creating custom object libraries is important to totally keep client written objects separate. This will facilitate the complex upgrade process by total segregation of source, easily identifying the modules that need changed and allowing developers to focus on business critical needs. Customization's can be easily tracked and modified and enhanced where needed. Delivered code is protected during the development process.

The final benefit of using this approach is to focus on a key component of an upgrade - testing. The overall of mantra of an upgrade is to have minimal impact to the end-user, except where new software needs dictate. Therefore, by segregating source code from delivered to custom allows the testing team to focus on business critical objectives. Custom objects can be easily isolated for a test plan and regression and impact testing can be much more streamlined with objects separated. The overall mantra should be test, test and retest. With the overall impact to focus on testing, a much better product will be realized.

Finally, IT governance has been a challenge in the development arena. Sign-offs, proof of testing and proof of user acceptance are critical for auditors. By effectively controlling the customization's through simple naming standards, it becomes easier for auditors to verify what changes need to be reviewed for Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS-70 requirements. Segregating the objects allows the audit team to identify customization's, verify the test plan and focus on implementing the processes more effectively.

In conclusion, change control is a concept that needs to be practiced to support any upgrade process.  With the complicated number of objects typically associated with large scale ERP solutions, by using an effective naming standard, the testing and development effort can be reduced to business critical processes.

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Jeff Hill PMP, CPP is our newest guest blogger. He's a Senior Consultant for a large PeopleSoft consulting firm responsible for project management and functional implementation of large-scale HRMS & Payroll solutions. He has spent 20 years working with both ERP and MRP solutions for manufacturing, retail and defense industries. IOW, he's a serious PeopleSoft, Payroll, HR guy about whom you can find more on his LinkedIn profile.