In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the differences between installation consultants and technical consultants. In Part 2, we dug into the details of technical landscape design. In this third and final post of the series, I'll outline some of the Column5 Technical Services that can help ensure your project keeps moving forward in the post implementation environment.

Application Hosting in a Development Environment
The client procurement process (hardware/software) can often impact the initial application installation and consequently project timelines. This service effectively mitigates the risk and enables application development by immediately leveraging the Column5 hosted application development environment.

• Clients can leverage the Column5 hosting environment during the development phase
• Service includes:
  • Complete managed end-to-end solution
  • Secure FTP functionality for uploading and downloading
  • Secure isolated client specific environment (not shared)
  • Access via SSL from any location and/or via hosted terminal services

Technical System Administration
In-depth, instructor-led, classroom-style technical training--from Column5's EPM Academy--enables clients to support the SAP EPM platform technology to increase application stability and promote user adoption.

• 30 hours of intensive technical content focusing on relevant platform technologies and EPM application and configuration services
• Course combines lectures and live workshops utilizing the Column5 hosted EPM infrastructure
• Supporting documentation, whitepapers, and support notes from both SAP and Column5--soft copy distributed to students
• Course intended for IT professionals

Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Planning
Develop, test and deploy an automatic or manual disaster recovery plan based on client service level agreement

• Review client standards for downtime and acceptable data loss
• Customize solution based on client technology core skill set
• Document requirements and build solution for EPM application(s)
• Test solution and transfer knowledge
• Disaster recovery technology plan for EPM suite application(s)

Technical Review
Includes review of the environment for Column5 and SAP best practices.

• EPM applications evolve and change over time. Ensure your systems continue to perform as usage and data increases
• Validate your application is operating optimally
• Health checks ensure you are up to date on the latest configuration and optimization improvements
• Document and explain specific recommendations for improving the environment
• Technical review report captures the steps required to improve system performance, scalability and overall reliability

Extended Support
Ensure your EPM solutions keep running smoothly and you get the most from your SAP investment with Column5 support services:

• 4 support plans to choose from
  • Choose the plan that fits your needs
  • Monthly or quarterly subscriptions
• Not your normal vendor support
  • With Column5 support you have access to the entire consulting team
  • When a support request is logged, our support team triages the request. If the issue can't be addressed by support, it is routed to the subject matter expert for resolution
• Our services include a number of features:
  • Our on-boarding process includes a health check to ensure there are no dormant issues or concerns
  • The support team is briefed by the implementations team upon handover of primary support responsibility to ensure good collaboration and knowledge transfer and sharing
  • Using our online support logging system gives you access to our searchable, ever expanding, knowledgebase which may provide instant answers

So, the next time you ask for a proposal involving any aspect of EPM, look carefully at the contents--and ask yourself these three questions:

• "Am I getting an installation consultant or a technical consultant...and which do I need?"
• "How thorough is the technical landscape design process?"
• "What are the support services available after we go-live?"

And as you're researching the answers, remember the cautionary quote my colleague Rick Bryant recently cited in his post, "EPM Implementations: The Cost of Buying on Price Alone": "The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory."