The CEF Model is enhanced and improved into a finalized model based on the expert reviews and feedback primarily for the inclusion of a detailed checklist for each subcomponent based on Figure 4.29 and proposed a performance monitoring element to be in place. After which, Figure 4.30 shows the changes made on the previous proposed model for the more improved and finalized Cloud ERP Factory Model, which is then illustrated in Figure 4.31.
As per Expert Review Qualitative Feedback to
introduce monitoring element As per Expert Review
Qualitative Feedback to remove Functional Scope
Include Checklist in the Model
Each of the subcomponent checklists are focused on the ability of the subcomponent to provide Cloud ERP providers with detailed step by step method in implementing the CEF Model. Figure 4.32 until Figure 4.36 shows each subcomponent’s core model elements with its corresponding checklist in Table 4.18 until Table 4.22.
Figure 4.32 CEF Subcomponent - CEF Product Line Architecture
Table 4.18
CEF Product Line Architecture Checklist
No. Checklist Description Tick Box
1 The product line grouping should cover intended product family and its sub product as well as future product can be fit into of the product family. 2 Important and common ERP modules should be defined and grouped as Core
Module.
3 Model can be deployed to customer individually or in integrated mode (loosely coupled).
4
Core system, industry solutions and legacy can be integrated with standard interface protocols.
Table 4.18 continued
5 Future upgrades for one particular product should not affect the other system through backwards compatibility.
6 Each product has its own configuration parameter.
7 All product should fit in a common platform which has built-in product components.
8 All product information is systematically through a system. 9 Audit process and enforcement model are available.
Figure 4.33 CEF Model Subcomponent - CEF Platform Architecture
Table 4.19
CEF Platform Architecture Checklist
No. Checklist Description Tick Box
1
The product line grouping should cover intended product family and its sub product as well as future product can be fit into of the product family.
Table 4.19 continued
2 It should be able to integrate with existing legacy product through API. 3 Model can be deployed to customer individually or in integrated mode (loosely
coupled).
4 Future upgrades for one particular product should not affect the other system through backwards compatibility.
5 Each product has its own configuration parameter.
6 All product should fit in a common platform which has built-in product components.
Table 4.20
CEF Workflow Model Checklist
No. Checklist Description Tick Box
1 The jobs can be across the department depending on the responsibility the task performed.
2 Each department need to have their own department specific job complete with checklists.
3 Each job can be used for other department’s Work Template.
4 Upon confirmation of a Work Order, work order template will be used to distribute the jobs assigned to the designated staff within the system. 5 Each task should carry its own time frame to allow for tracking of progress
and at which task.
Table 4.21
CEF Product Control Checklist
No. Checklist Tick Box
1 Part number generation must be done with the event of new product released. (Concurrent only with a sale of a new product).
2 Product database should contain all documentation, which includes product specification, release notes, system algorithm and actual coding files. 3 Each product development owner is responsible for the release of the
developed product.
4 Serial number activation is required to allow for keeping tabs on the number of products being sold and/or deployed to clients.
Table 4.22
Knowledge Management Model Checklist
No. Checklist Tick
Box
1 The knowledge creator has full power over the content of the knowledge provided. 2 The updates of contents, training materials, guides, and related documentation are
conducted by the administrator, through the main knowledge management engine. 3 Able to ensure knowledge retrieval and logging through procedures in the system 4 The system ensures that all knowledge can be referred to from a single focal point
i.e. dashboard.
CEF Planning and Performance Monitoring Dashboard is another output of the CEF Workflow component. This planning and performance monitoring dashboard was developed as a planning tool to be managed by a planner to oversee the overall jobs progress in the Cloud ERP production environment. The planner is able to monitor the progress of the request tickets and jobs created as well as manually changing the priority of the job based on selected criteria. The selected criteria can be defined either based on the value of the project, customer work load, and due date provided.
In Figure 4.37, the CEF Planner is able to view four different types of monitoring information. Each monitoring information viewed provide the CEF planner with the necessary tool to make the decision to either increase or decrease the job’s priority level. Through this monitoring module, the planner is able to monitor the overall capacity of the production environment, as well as the resources required to complete the job. The CEF model capacity planning is very much similar to standard product manufacturing model. However, unlike a standard manufacturing model, inventory or stock level is not required in the capacity calculation. This is due to the fact that software products do not depend on raw materials to be manufactured. The capacity planning depends heavily on the manpower resources that operates the Work Center. Thus, the bottleneck for the production depends on any of the heavy-loaded Work Center for a particular software product work order routing template. The manpower resources for any particular Work Center in the CEF model production can be compared to the machine’s capacity of standard product manufacturing. During the production run, job performance monitoring can be used as feedback performance data for the capacity planning module to optimize production efficiency. Figure 4.38 shows an example of capacity planning dashboard that can be used to manage the resources’ workload by Work Center. The information can be used to feedback the job performance monitoring dashboard so that the software production is able to achieve an optimized capacity.
Figure 4.38 Visualization of Capacity Planning Dashboard
The detail of the production capacity calculation will not be discussed here as it is similar to the normal product manufacturing standard. This module is vital to the whole CEF Workflow model as it provides the overall view of the jobs created and distributed to the Work Centers. In general, by applying the CEF Workflow component, a platform has already been setup to manage the workload in a CEF production environment, which in turn, can be utilized to significantly reduce the workload as compared to traditional project-based approaches.