To define what the support organization should look like:
· Which teams need to be involved in support of the solution
· Whether outsourcing should be considered as an option
The support organization should include:
Application
support
Manages the business processes and implements later changes in business
processes (bug fixing and new change requests). For each business process,
define a process champion from the functional department. In case of major
problems with the business process, the champion is the main point of
contact.
Development
support
In charge of development maintenance (bug fixing) and new developments. This
team needs to work very closely with the application and system management
support teams.
Program
scheduling management
In charge of scheduling, monitoring, and error handling for background jobs.
This is normally a virtual team that includes members of the application team
as well as members of the software and system management teams.
Software and
system management
Includes all the activities (monitoring, error handling, performance
management) of all the technical components involved in the solution
landscape. Software and system management can be done by one or many teams in
the same or different organizations.
Help desk
Key point in communication between user and support organization. Also
responsible for classifying and dispatching problems to the right parts of the
organization. The help desk can solve some problems directly, for example, by
resetting a password.
Defined and formalized support requirements
Understanding of the scope of the solution to be supported
· Estimate the resources required for support.
· Estimate the costs involved in supporting the system and the business processes.
· If required, invite tenders for support contracts.
· Decide on the structure of the support organization.
Defined support organization
Early in the project, decide whether to outsource support for the solution or systems. Decide early to ensure that the outsourcing organization is involved in the design and setup of the operations.
With this strategy, you will minimize risk at handover and ensure that the support organization is familiar with the environment.