Ascent Technology Project management and implementation services

Ascent Technology's Vice President of Sales and Marketing is responsible for overseeing project implementation, and, most importantly, for ensuring you are satisfied with the Ascent Technology products and the work Ascent Technology performs for you.

During project implementation, a dedicated Ascent Technology team works closely with you, using face-to-face meetings, video conferences, teleconferences, and Internet-based interactions to keep you informed.

Ascent Technology typically divides project implementation and product delivery into phases:

Pre-implementation, which includes developing a mutually-agreeable statement of work and project management plan; gathering and analyzing technical and functional specifications; specifying necessary product customizations, extensions, and enhancements; specifying connectivity software; specifying hardware and software components; and identifying business knowledge and rules for the knowledge base
Implementation, which includes configuring and testing the knowledge base; developing specified product customizations, extensions, and enhancements; developing specified connectivity software; testing integration; installing hardware and software; performing factory, site, and acceptance tests; and training users, system administrators, IT staff, and managers
Post-implementation or production, when you use the Ascent Technology solution in your operations and Ascent Technology maintains and supports the solution.

Ascent Technology manages its work according to the project-management plan that we develop and maintain jointly with you. The project-management plan describes our respective responsibilities, tasks, dependencies, contingencies, milestones, and deliveries. It also contains delay-mitigation strategies. You always have the ability to view all information captured in the project-management plan; there are no surprises or hidden tasks.

When you begin to use one of Ascent Technology's solutions, interactions continue in several ways, some purely technical, others involving discussions between your users and Ascent Technology's customer support team. To ensure continuity during the post-implementation phase, Ascent Technology's Vice President of Sales and Marketing works closely with Ascent Technology's Director of Customer Support Services.

A key element of long-term success is the Ascent Technology technical infrastructure for software maintenance and customer support. The secure telecommunications link Ascent Technology establish with you enables the Ascent Technology customer support team to gain access to your systems remotely and to deliver help quickly in the event users experience problems. The infrastructure enables the Ascent Technology customer support team to:

Download new versions of the Ascent Technology products
Download software patches to correct errors
Monitor the performance of your system proactively
Analyze your system logs and replicate problems
Assist users interactively.

The Ascent Technology customer support team can also provide training and help you to refresh your knowledge-engineering information.

On-going communication is designed to ensure that you are—and continue to be—satisfied with Ascent Technology's solution and performance. During periodic conference calls, which generally range from thirty minutes to an hour in length on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, we discuss concerns, problems, possible problems, and recommendations for improvement. Ascent Technology provides information about upcoming upgrades and new releases. Prior to each call, Ascent Technology provides a report about outstanding concerns and problems. When problems occur, Ascent Technology provides a report that describes what happened, how the problem was or will be corrected, and whether additional work is required or recommended.

To give you a better idea about how Ascent Technology manages its work, here is a representative, high-level example of a recent licensed-software project implementation plan:

Task Description
Provide project management Ascent Technology will manage its activities, measuring and evaluating its progress against the project-implementation plan, providing frequent status reports. The Ascent Technology project manager will review project status regularly with the customer project manager by telephone conference call and attend scheduled project management meetings.
Develop technical and functional specifications Ascent Technology will develop written technical and functional specifications for the solution, analyzing current operations and future plans with customer managers, IT staff, and users.
Perform knowledge engineering Ascent Technology will perform knowledge engineering activities at the customer site, gathering information about customer policies, procedures, standards, and preferences for resource planning and management. Ascent Technology will incorporate the knowledge engineering information into the knowledge base.
Specify and install hardware, third-party software, and telecommunications services Ascent Technology will specify, install, and test hardware, third-party software, and telecommunications services with which solution will operate.
Develop and test custom software Ascent Technology will specify, develop, and test customized, extension, and enhancement software and connectivity software needed to integrate existing customer systems.
Install Ascent Technology solution Ascent Technology will install, configure, and test the Ascent Technology solution on the hardware and third-party software.
Perform quality-assurance tests Ascent Technology will perform the Factory Acceptance Test, and the Site Acceptance Test. Ascent Technology will assist customer to perform the Acceptance Test at the completion of training. In all cases, Ascent Technology will review observation reports, make necessary corrections, and repeat tests as needed.
Provide training Ascent Technology will provide specified training courses to users, system administrators, and IT staff; Management Overview courses to help managers understand how the system operates; and Operational Training/Transition Support Services to assist users to move to the new method of operation.
Provide software maintenance and support Ascent Technology will provide on-going software maintenance and customer support services.

Task	Description
Provide project management	Ascent Technology will manage its activities, measuring and evaluating its progress against the project-implementation plan, providing frequent status reports. The Ascent Technology project manager will review project status regularly with the customer project manager by telephone conference call and attend scheduled project management meetings.
Develop technical and functional specifications	Ascent Technology will develop written technical and functional specifications for the solution, analyzing current operations and future plans with customer managers, IT staff, and users.
Perform knowledge engineering	Ascent Technology will perform knowledge engineering activities at the customer site, gathering information about customer policies, procedures, standards, and preferences for resource planning and management. Ascent Technology will incorporate the knowledge engineering information into the knowledge base.
Specify and install hardware, third-party software, and telecommunications services	Ascent Technology will specify, install, and test hardware, third-party software, and telecommunications services with which solution will operate.
Develop and test custom software	Ascent Technology will specify, develop, and test customized, extension, and enhancement software and connectivity software needed to integrate existing customer systems.
Install Ascent Technology solution	Ascent Technology will install, configure, and test the Ascent Technology solution on the hardware and third-party software.
Perform quality-assurance tests	Ascent Technology will perform the Factory Acceptance Test, and the Site Acceptance Test. Ascent Technology will assist customer to perform the Acceptance Test at the completion of training. In all cases, Ascent Technology will review observation reports, make necessary corrections, and repeat tests as needed.
Provide training	Ascent Technology will provide specified training courses to users, system administrators, and IT staff; Management Overview courses to help managers understand how the system operates; and Operational Training/Transition Support Services to assist users to move to the new method of operation.
Provide software maintenance and support	Ascent Technology will provide on-going software maintenance and customer support services.