Typical Project Lifecycle

At a high level, a typical project lifecycle consists of discovery and solution design, implementation, testing and launch.  An example project timeline showing the different phases is shown below.

• Discovery is the initial phase of the project.  This phase involves gathering business requirements, generating the backlog, and updating project estimates and schedules.
• Implementation covers configuration, development and testing phases.
• System Integration Testing (SIT) is used to test individual integrations between systems (i.e. end-to-end).  Performance Testing is used to confirm the peak volumes for orders and inventory loads. 
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is where the business signs off on the end-to-end business scenarios and reporting. Typically, the client is onboarded just before UAT, so they can effectively use the web apps (Fluent OMS and Fluent Store) user interfaces during testing.
• Launch and 'go live' carry out the production deployment, data staging and validation testing phases of the project lifecycle

Parts 1, 2, and 3 in the diagram below consist of the discovery topics, which are all critical for project success. Topics are grouped into three parts.  When structuring the workshop, the recommended approach is selecting the topics most relevant to the client's requirements.  

Ecosystem & Integrations

Discovery topics here help to determine information relevant to the current ecosystem and technical integrations.  Includes integrations such as:

• What systems will be integrated  (e.g. Salesforce, Adobe, SAP)
• How many brands the client owns and in what regions do they operate (e.g. Asia-pacific, Europe, Australia only)
• How many order channels are going to be integrated with the Fluent platform (e.g. Amazon, eBay, e-commerce website, point-of-sales system)
• What systems are going to provide product, inventory and location information to the Fluent platform and product, inventory and location information (e.g. A client may have 20 locations: 15 stores, 2 warehouses, and 3 suppliers.
• Expected volume and frequency of information updates (e.g. 1000 inventory positions per minute)
• Other system integrations needed to communicate with the Fluent platform:
  • Customer service systems; logistics/carriers systems for orders that require delivery (e.g. Australia Post, Ship It)
  • Payment integrations (e.g. Afterpay, Paypal)
  • ERP/WMS
  • Systems required for reporting

Having a good background understanding of Products, Locations and Inventory information determined in Part 1 makes the next part (Omnichannel Experiences) much easier to complete.

Omnichannel Experiences

Omnichannel Experiences help to determine how the Fluent platform can help to achieve client-specific objectives and requirements in the domains of Order orchestration, Inventory management, Product availability, and Store fulfilment. 

Business Operations, Project and Change Management

Topics covered in this part help determine who the internal and external stakeholders are (e.g., suppliers) impacted by the change in processes and systems.  A change in systems and processes will require staff training to become familiar with the process and system changes.  

Includes topics such as:

• Planning for system testing after development and a plan for how this will be rolled out.
• Non-functional issues, such as:
  • how many inventory positions are expected to change every day and how frequently;
  • how many orders does the client expect on a regular day vs. Black Friday sale.
• Operational support after rollout:
  • Monitoring systems, systems to alert or escalate issues when they arise after rollout / SLAs for support.

Discovery and Solution Design

Designed to assist with discovery and ensure successful implementation of Fluent Order Management.  It's popular with partners and clients who are still learning the ropes and would benefit from having support from an Expert Service Consultant to help guide the process and ensure that implementation commences in the right direction.  It includes the provision of technical and functional guidance throughout project delivery according to Fluent Order Management best practices.  The team is also there to help conduct detailed technical and functional checks and reviews, and also assist with:

• Integration mapping support and design
• Domain-specific workflow design (Order, Inventory, etc.) such as rulesets, rules, states, and user actions
• Best practices, both technical and functional
• Help with designing rules
• Help with user experience design

Order Management Experience

Designed to assist with:

• Analysis of existing Admin Console and Service Point configurations
• Analysis assessment walk-through with Client and/or Partner
• Best practice guidance in developing the Fluent UX Framework
• Adoption of the Fluent OMS and Fluent Store web applications
• Guidance around customising the web applications to a client’s business requirement
• Report with findings and actionable recommendations

Go-live readiness

Designed to support the successful go-live of Fluent Order Management.  It includes an oversight over multiple checkpoints to ensure the solution is certified to launch. This process is intended to be run 2-3 times to ensure the implementation is in a state of 'fit-for-production' and is documented and issued in a Ready For Launch report (RFL) for partner and client records.

Configuration Analysis

Analysis of the general account setup, such as settings and users. It also includes the verification of key platform feature toggles, which are required for any new Fluent account.

Inventory Management Analysis

Involves the analysis of inventory management, such as the nature and frequency of inventory batches. Inventory processing in large volumes can result in computer-intensive operations within the Fluent platform, resulting in a potential impact on the overall execution of business logic. Because of this risk, another focus area is on the analysis of inventory volumes, which can lead to required optimisations and changes in the way inventory is handled.

Workflow Analysis

Includes analysis of workflows in the account with a focus on the structure, readability, consistency, and maintainability of the workflows.

Custom Plugin Analysis

Includes analysis of the custom plugin and a review of the corresponding code. Similar to the workflow analysis, the focus is on the structure, readability, consistency and maintainability of the plugin.

Integration Analysis

Integration analysis focuses on the integration of the Fluent platform with other systems. It covers the most important aspects when integrating with the platform.

Engagement of Expert Services

When the engagement of Fluent's Expert Services team begins and ends is shown in the project timeline below:

Partner-led vs. Expert Services-led Deliverables During Ready for Launch

Ready for Launch occurs 2-3 times throughout the implementation depending on the project complexity.  At a minimum, it is done:

• At least once as a mid-point project review. 
• At the conclusion of the implementation phase.

By doing this, it gives both partner and client the opportunity for early feedback and the ability to take any remedial action not to delay the project timeline. It further provides the input that the solution will be fit-for-purpose.

Partner-led and Fluent Expert Services-led activities:

Fluent account types

A typical setup of a Fluent ecosystem for a project will include production and non-production (or sandbox) accounts. 

Clients and Partners are provisioned with the following standard Fluent accounts:

• 2 x Sandbox for Dev, SIT, UAT
• 1 x Production

Provisioning of Fluent Accounts

Fluent accounts will be provisioned upon request and at the project milestones (as shown above).  The process to request the provisioning is through your assigned Expert Services consultant.  Any accounts issued to clients or partners can only be used for specific project-related phases/activities.

Development Sandbox Account

Development Sandbox accounts are provisioned during the Discovery phase, typically towards the end so we have an idea of what the implementation is going to look like.

SIT/UAT Sandbox Account

SIT/UAT Sandbox accounts are provisioned as you get closer to 'dev complete' for finalising the requirements so that we have a fresh environment for users to perform their SIT/UAT.

Production Account

Production accounts are typically provisioned within about 6 weeks of Go-Live, and once everyone is relatively confident with the implementation on the UAT account, and the Ready For Launch (RFL) report has no blocker issues open. 

Projects are led by either the Implementation Partner or the Client, directly involved in implementation.

Sponsors and Governance

A Project Sponsor (or Project Manager) on the client side is matched with an Expert Services Senior Manager or with a member of the Client Success team from Fluent Commerce.  They will also be matched with the Account Lead and/or the Project Manager on the Implementation Partner's side.

Steering and Design

The Solution Architect, Business Analyst, and Tech Lead on the Partner's side are matched with the Product Owner, Enterprise Architect, and Expert Services Consultant on the client side.

Implementation

During the implementation process, the client's IT team, Fluent Commerce's Expert Services Consultants, and the partner's QA Tester/Engineer and team of Java + React Developers work together.

Workshops and Testing 

During Workshops and Testing, Business and IT Stakeholders, Key Users from the client side, Expert Service Consultants from Fluent Commerce, and a Business Analyst from the Partner's end come together.

Approaching Project Estimation

A possible approach to estimation post-discovery is shown in the example provided below.  A similar approach can be taken as a good jumping-off point in identifying the solution types, estimating task sizes and prioritising sprints as the project progresses to development.

Solution Type

Depending on the scope of the project, you may define these Possible Values separately, but as a point of reference, the Base solution could be the out-of-the-box solution you get from Fluent Commerce.

Estimation

Estimation again there is the T-shirt size understanding whether it is base or should be minimal effort (0 to 1) days. Small simple configuration ranging from 1 to 2 days. Medium, Large, all the way up to X-Large where it’s a complex custom solution that's gonna need to be designed and can potentially be 20 to 40 days. 

Priority

In addition to identifying the solution type, and T-shirt estimates against each requirement, it is also important to run through the priority. 

The MUST, SHOULD, COULD and Won’t is a good place to start to be able to prioritise the sprints as we move to development.

Estimation by priority

Estimation by priority (Must, Should, Could and Won't) is a good place to start to be able to prioritise the sprints as you progress to development.  In the example below, priority estimates are in days (min, max and total) are placed against features and integrations. Statement of Work (SOW) or project deliverables can be translated into a resource workload to identify the project team requirements from project implementation to launch.