Intergrated Financial Managemant Systems (IFMIS).

 IFMIS implementation at the Government of Zambia is using ASAP methodology; Accelerated SAP (ASAP) is a comprehensive solution which is capable of handling continuous change by optimizing time, quality and efficient use of resources. SAP has developed this implementation methodology to speed–up the process by avoiding the need of a Business Process Reengineering which remarkably require a long process. Thus ASAP main concern is to prevent the organization from developing their own reengineering by providing “the best business practice” preventing the use of unnecessary time and resource wastage during the system implementation where all negative effects can be minimized. This method in itself is “at the best of business process engineering” which has been clearly documented and fulfill universal rules of business practice. However some minor issues throughout the implementation are still require adjustments in the organization to support the changes and ensuring their alignment.

The ASAP Roadmap consists of a project plan with the detailed description on what to do, how to do and why doing all the activities required to implement SAP. The Five stages of ASAP’s Roadmap are:

·         Project Preparation phase in which the project team is identified and mobilized, the project standards are defined, and the project work environment is set up. In this phase, project leader or key executives will define clear project objectives. All internal and external issues need to be documented including every predicted or unpredicted tasks and events, outlining the tasks which require more attention.

·         Business Blueprint in this phase all the business processes and requirements are defined, detailed and documented as the Business Blueprint document. The scope of the SAP implementation is clearly defined, selecting the business modules or functions which need to be implemented.

·         Realisation in which the actual SAP R/3 is installed and the system configured, knowledge transfer occurs, extensive unit testing is completed, and data mappings and data requirements for migration are defined.

·         Final Preparation takes place before going live in real production area, so that the final integration testing, stress testing, and conversion testing are conducted, and all end users are trained. The R/3 system will be handed over to the individual user who will actually run the system in day-by-day basis. Manuals and user documentation are also prepared to help the end user in operating the new system as well as disaster recovery plans are prepared and implemented.

·         Go Live & Support, finally the data is migrated from the legacy systems, the new system is activated, and post-implementation support is provided. This is the phase where the whole system Go Live in production processes and will be supported by SAP experts who will monitor and analyse the system performance.... Read More

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