Switching off AS/400 at two Italian manufacturers, and translating what the business actually did into requirements a system integrator could build.
Mantero and Ramcro (via BIP Consulting) · Technology expert · 2020
A legacy AS/400 that has run a manufacturer for decades is not documented anywhere except in the habits of the people using it. Replacing it with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations means rebuilding that knowledge as explicit process and data definitions first, including product coding, which is where most of the ambiguity hides.
Technology expert on both engagements: the technical side of requirements, product and data coding, and the interface with the system integrator.
Process mapping and technical requirements for the migration off AS/400, product coding and data model definition, technical liaison with the system integrator, decision and status material for client management, coordination of security testing activities, and hands-on enablement of client staff, down to the difference between a spreadsheet and a database. Development and the testing phase were outside the mandate: testing started after my handover.
C-levels, client operations, production and finance functions, client IT, the system integrator, management sponsors.
IBM AS/400 legacy landscape, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, process and data modelling, product coding standards, requirements documentation.
Twenty-four processes migrated in scope at one client and thirty-six at the other, defined to the level of detail the integrator could build against, with product coding rationalised as part of the move. Handed over before the test phase.