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The Adventures of Super User Exploring the Idea of the SAP Super
User in Documentation, Training, and Support in SAP Authored by
Cristin Merritt of Insite Objects In consultation with Dirk Manuel
at ExxonMobil and Suzette Hannah-Hessler of Applied Materials
Additional input provided by David Hall, Elizabeth Ivester and
Marcos Mella of Insite Objects. Paul Mattos of Applied Materials
Summary With the pressure on companies to shine, investment in
systems like SAP has bred a powerful individual, the SAP Super
User. Gifted with the talents of knowing their portion of the
system well, they often are asked to go beyond the role of their
day-to-day job to provide or assist in the provision of
documentation, training, and support engaging users and providing a
personal touch to bring harmony between the people and the SAP
system. This paper explores the SAP Super User model,
implementation of this model, sustainment of the model, and
improvements that could bring the education world and the Super
Users a much-needed boost. Utilizing interviews with ExxonMobil and
Applied Materials, along with the results of a 10-question survey
answered by 100 SAP users, the goal of this paper is to offer both
advice on how to use this model and areas of improvement to the
model.
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Paper Contents
SECTION ONE: THE MODEL 3
SECTION TWO: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODEL 5
SECTION THREE: SUSTAINING THE MODEL 8
SECTION FOUR: IMPROVING THE MODEL AND CONCLUSION 13
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Section One: The Model The Super User model, sometimes called
the Power User or Champion User model, is based on the concept of
bringing talented users into positions of leadership for the SAP
system. Doing this will result in:
1. More engaged use of the SAP system as there is a personal
face assigned to champion the system and make acceptance of the
technology less challenging.
2. A significant time and cost reduction as companies are not
seeking or hiring new or temporary resources for the purposes of
developing and/or delivering documentation, training, and
support.
3. ROI or proof of concept of the SAP investment should be more
easily achieved as users are directly involved, thereby using the
system invested in, which benefits the company overall.
Simplified Super User Model
Model Considerations
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In order to adopt the Super User model, the following must be
considered:
1. How the Super Users will be found. 2. How much time the Super
User will spend in this role. 3. What this role will encompass. 4.
How many users the Super User will coach.
The considerations of the project itself will further refine the
model. In the two case studies conducted by Insite in support of
our surveys, we found two companies at opposite ends of SAP
experience, but sharing the same common goals. Each speaks to the
pros and cons of having the Super User model as their primary
education model. The Long-Term Client: ExxonMobil ExxonMobil has
been utilizing SAP for over 15 years. During that time, Dirk
Manuel, a consultant for ExxonMobil and long-time specialist in
Change Management and Organization Readiness, has worked with
several variations on the Super User model. The pros and cons of
sustaining a mature SAP cycle include:
- Understanding the Employee Base: ExxonMobil has been using SAP
for a greater period of time and therefore has more data on how
people flow through their job using SAP. Because of this they have
a strong grasp of their desired Super User candidates.
- Understanding the Super User Ratios: Because of their
experience with a vast majority of different-sized projects, they
are more competent in estimating the percentage of their time a
Super User will spend in that role, and also how many users the
Super User will coach.
- Project-by-Project Scoping: The greatest problem of a
long-term client is that not all projects get the same time, money,
or resources. This can lead to a lack of standardization in how a
company handles documentation, training, and support across
projects.
The Expansion Client: Applied Materials Applied Materials has
used SAP since 1995. For the past two years they have been in
preparation for a phased global rollout, the first phase due for Go
Live November/December 2008. This project will reach an eventual
22,000 SAP end-users and is currently considered the second largest
in-progress SAP rollout today. Suzette Hannah-Hessler, Senior
Manager, and Paul Mattos, Programs Manager of the Learning and
Development Center of Expertise, have a combined 33 years of
experience in adult education and understand the complexity and
nuances involved in bringing training and support to thousands of
individuals. Because the project has a complete buy-in to the
model, they are in a position to create a model that should be
sustainable and be more robust company-wide. Their pros and cons as
they approach the project are:
- The Benefit of Hindsight: Many past SAP implementations,
refined education models, and adult learning research provide a set
of knowledge for them to build a solid foundation. As they have a
clean slate to work with, this allows them the chance to develop a
cohesive plan that can be adopted globally.
- Establishment of Standards: As they are going into this
implementation with a set of rules, they can set the post for time,
money, and resources. The unification of how a company is educated
globally has a much better chance of succeeding if put in place at
the start.
- Employee and Ratio Scoping: As they are new to SAP, they will
have to spend more time creating a better scope for the type of
Super User they wish to promote. Estimated ratios of time spent in
the role, and the role definition itself will go through several
changes as they mature with the system.
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The balance that must be drawn between older, established
clientele and newer/expansion clientele is creating a general model
which can be applied to any size of project, at any stage of SAP
use, and be able to be implemented, controlled, and sustained as a
company grows. Section Two: Implementation of the Model Insite
conducted a blind survey by emailing 12,000 SAP Users in Insites
user database and posting to active forums in training and support
at ASUG (www.asug.com). We invited participants to answer a set of
10 questions about the Super User in SAP. Insites database
encompasses both customers of Insite and non-customers, and the
information has been collected over 15 years of operations,
including the acquisition of a services company. The goal was to
see how the model is implemented, used, and sustained, without bias
to Insites clientele. We received an active response from 100
individuals. Where does a company begin?
Of the 100 respondents, 72% currently utilize a form of the
Super User model. The question is: where is this talent pool found
and drawn from? 88% of respondents reported having an accurate idea
of where their Super Users are.
Much of finding a Super User involves knowing who to talk to and
what to ask for. ExxonMobil and Applied Materials both have refined
lists of criteria and specific questions that they take to managers
or functional teams. In short, they manually seek out the Super
User who fits a profile. The survey respondents pointed to knowing
who to use and finding the ones who care as part of the overall
profile of a Super User. Companies lucky enough to be small
instances of SAP may have no problem in finding users via profiling
and lists, but as the project grows so does the difficulty of
finding the right users. The Human Element While SAP as a solution
provider is constantly looking for ways to improve its use, the
most difficult measurement to make with SAP is the human response
to it. If a person does not like the
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system, and does not use the technology, then the technology
will inevitably become obsolete and/or be replaced. The human
element is not a standard that can be easily measured from company
to company, and even within a company, from department to
department. Personality, intelligence, and social skills all come
into play when a Super User is being identified. The human factor
is extremely important, as the Super Users are the human face of
the companies SAP system. Applied Materials stressed that they see
the Super User as a company representative. ExxonMobil, in
complement to this, sees the Super User as an advocate of the
system, and a key component in fostering positive support for it
amongst the user population. The Analytical Element The new
pressure to be able to meet company goals of ROI (Return on
Investment) and KPI (Key Performance Indicators) has spawned an age
of management reporting. While human factors are crucial in the
determination of Super Users, there is a very real need for
analytical studies of how people perform in the companys SAP
environment. Currently the area of analytical studies is only being
minutely utilized, as only 8% of the survey respondents noted
having any. Studies made are being pulled together through change
requests, help desk calls, and audits or analysis of the SAP
system. Later in the paper we will discuss this further, but it
should be noted that this trend, if developed and embraced
properly, should be able to take a substantial burden off certain
users and empower the entire SAP user base. What is a Super Users
responsibility? Once the group of potential users is found, the
question becomes: how much time they will spend in this role, and
what will they be doing? 81% of the survey respondents indicated
that the majority of the Super Users time was spent on training,
with individual training (also known to some as first tier support)
being the most common task for the Super Users. The next most
common training tasks were train-the-trainer, classroom training,
and lab or specialized groups.
Not identified by the survey, but mentioned in interviews were
time and user management ratios. Here the answers varied, and also
entered the political ramifications that occur when developing a
Super User base. After all, once these talented users are
indentified, how can you ensure that they will remain balanced
between their actual job and the new role they are assigned? And
how can this be done without burning out the Super User or causing
issues with their direct superiors,
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because they are no longer performing their real job 100% of
their time? How does a company justify their cost?
The Sliding Time-Scale
Applied Materials has put together a sliding time-scale of how
much time a Super User should devote to a project. This is
comparable to ExxonMobils logic. In it, they perceive that a Super
User should be found and put in place during the Testing Phase, and
should expend the bulk of their effort in this role during Go Live.
These are the most precarious parts of any SAP project, in which
special care should be made as users adapt to the system. This,
however, is a tough sell to managers, as asking them to borrow
their prized employee for up to 50% of their work week can become
problematic. It should be noted that ideally, in a stable system, a
Super User should only spend 10% of their time in this role. Ratios
How many users should a Super User coach? Again, while not part of
the survey, both interviews addressed this question. This is often
assessed on a project-by-project basis, and can include many
variables. From our interviews we were able put together the
following considerations:
1. How stable is your SAP system? o If very complex or small the
ratio is approximately 1 Super User: 10 Users. o A large project
with moderate management yields 1 Super User: 40 Users. o A 1 Super
User: 100 User ratio is likely for long-running, consistently
stable
systems. 2. How many End Users are in your SAP system?
a. The smaller the system, more likely to consistently maintain
a 1 Super User: 10 User ratio regardless of project.
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b. Moderate system (under 10,000 users) maintain at 1 Super
User: 40 Users or 1 Super Users: 100 Users.
c. Large, global systems (over 10,000 users) receive the most
inconsistent numbers, and so no final ratio can be averaged.
3. What kind of support are you providing to the Super User?
(The more help available, the better the chance for a stable use of
the system.)
a. Online access for support variations in customized support,
standard support, and its level of integration with users and Super
Users.
b. Help Desk size and availability. c. External support
Functional Team, Training Team, Competency Center
availability. Putting it altogether Once a company finds,
establishes the functions of, and determines the work ratios of the
Super Users, the Super Users are ready for action. But how does
this model work in the real world? Our survey results, along with
our interviews, provide the following points for proper
implementation of the model: 1. Get them early Unanimously, all
respondents believe in identifying a Super User very early in the
process. The philosophy behind this is: The earlier they are found
and brought in, the earlier the overall buy-in to the new SAP
system. 2. Train them well ExxonMobil uses a standardized,
systematic process for identifying, training, and releasing Super
Users. This same process is used across successive projects,
although is often tailored depending on the needs of the project,
as identified during the project planning stage. Applied Materials
has a tiered approach to finding the Super Users. Super Users are
divided into those who can teach, and those who support training.
Cultivated Super Users who are selected to take up training
positions adopt a different set of functions to those cultivated to
function as onsite support. These latter individuals may instead be
recruited to assist in documentation and one-on-one training. 3.
Give them support Although this can vary from project-to-project,
ExxonMobil has a six-week guarantee of their work from the time of
Go Live (sometimes referred to as a warranty period). This means
that all core players are on-call to assist the Super User and
their team. They have also in the past set up online support
systems integrated with SAP that are managed by each project team.
As Applied Materials is new to SAP, they plan to maintain a core
team and provide consistent online support. This will be grown and
released in phases alongside their roll-out. Section Three:
Sustaining the Model Once the model is running the task becomes to
keep the model consistent. It is often after a project has been
live for some time that people will notice deterioration in user
performance. This is primarily seen through out-dated materials and
the change of people and their roles within the SAP system. Often,
companies will stop and start the use of this education model when
they need it, with no consistent or proven success, which is
detrimental to consistent SAP system use. Fears
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The vast majority of the budget for an SAP implementation is
spent prior to Go Live. This is the time during which there are
countless internal and external resources working day and night to
meet deadlines. Once that has passed, there is a period of system
stability, but many of the problems that occur dont always happen
in the six weeks after a launch. Down the road minor problems can
crop up here or there, which then add up, increasing stress levels
on the ground that may or may not reach the management level.
Communication is a strong factor here, but may not always be
readily available. When conducting our interviews, we found two
main fears. (1) Despite all the preparation work involved in
finding and training up the Super User, there is a sense that the
project team is dumping information and running to the next
project, not giving the Super User the sustained support they need.
(2) Concerns that the company will run out of the resources
required to keep everyone in good shape as the project expands,
which could result in budget overruns and personnel stress. There
are ways to ensure this does not occur, however, as the suggestions
of ExxonMobil, the plans of Applied Materials, and the experience
of Insite can attest. Phase One: Documentation Management Often
considered as an after-thought is the use of the Super User in the
creation and maintenance of documentation. Whether for training or
support, if an online system of help or training manuals become
out-of-date, Super Users are often first to be questioned on
changes or inconsistencies in any materials. By involving them in
the creation and update of materials, you can relieve first tier
support pressure, as well as have a better set of material to
update when the next upgrade arrives. The automated capture tool
and document management system Of those who answered the question
regarding ownership of an automated documentation tool, 63%
confirmed owning one, with 3% indicating that they were in the
process of building or finding one. Why did Insite bring up this
question? It is two-fold. First, many companies would benefit from
more knowledge about the power of automated tools, and second,
Insite wanted unbiased results related to the tool we provide for
SAP, which is the RESITE Performance Suite. (Of the respondents,
68% are not clients of Insite.) Corporations frequently struggle to
properly allocate resources, time, and money to projects. Because
of this, certain levels of project sustainment, the primary example
being documentation, are often abandoned as an unnecessary or
unjustifiable expense. Both ExxonMobil, who has suffered from this
in the past, and Applied Materials, who are hoping to stand firm on
utilizing their capture tool, believe strongly that utilization of
the Super User model will help address this. The Sustainers and the
Trainers At this point, variation in the type of Super User can be
introduced. This is so that resources can be spread out to handle
different aspects of the creation and maintenance of training and
support, rather than place burden on a small number of Super Users.
If a Super User is more of a process guru than one who wishes to
teach, you can limit their role, for example to being responsible
for the maintenance of the process in documentation. This way you
can still empower the Super User, and relate that power back to
their actual job role. Trainers, on the other hand, are a bit more
visible, but again you play to their strengths by allowing them to
concentrate more fully on training. The key is to maintain
communication between both, so that no one side takes on more
burden than the other. The role of the Super User and
documentation
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In considering the future of any project, you must consider the
human element in the changes that the SAP system will inevitably
undergo. When people cannot understand a system they seek help. If
that help fails them, they will slowly abandon the system. To
relieve pressure on both the user and the Super User, a system for
managing documentation must be in place. To do this one must:
- Create a secure repository for the documentation. - Provide a
system for feedback from users to designated Super Users to the
Functional
Team or Management to be able to make changes in a timely
manner. - Allow for authoring control to extend to a team, whether
management or Super User, in a
flexible/scalable manner. This should help to deal with ramp-ups
and maintain a stable system.
- Allow for flexibility within the documentation system for the
users to have some degree of control, such as being able to
introduce personal notes.
- Allowing an editing history to be maintained for the
documentation. This is mostly for company audit purposes but can
help save time in looking for outdated materials.
The approach to identifying and purchasing an automated tool is
often project-by-project in pre-existing SAP clients because of a
lack of unification in documentation, or sadly, not even knowing
where the documentation is. Added to this the IT problem, of how to
integrate another tool into the existing system landscape.
Fortunately, most automated documentation tools can plug directly
into SAP and provide both training and support, provided the IT
group allows for this installation. Rules on how far this
integration can be made may vary by company or even division within
a company, but not providing this ability can prove detrimental to
both the user and Super User. Projecting the size: Installing, SaaS
or a Wiki When a company approaches the decision to incorporate an
automated tool, they are often at the mercy of a budget. First,
before starting a project, companies should check to see if tools
are already available within the company that are flexible to their
needs. In the case of pre-existing tools, or the ability to
purchase tools, there can be two paths:
- Adding on to the system in place, or installing a new system.
This involves (re)configuring the system to provide space for the
new project, loading core documents for the project, and adding
authoring rights to selected team members.
- Looking for a hosted or SaaS system to manage their
documentation, while gaining authoring rights to the tool.
The add-on to an existing system or the installation of a new
system is better for large scale and global projects when looking
at the need for strict automated communication between multiple
sites, or the maintenance of a competency or training center. If
this becomes too difficult to manage, hosted systems will allow for
a project-by-project approach, with each project able to manage
their own material. This gives the ability to budget per-project,
and also saves time over attempting to approve a company-wide
installation. The hosted solution may also remove the IT burden of
an in-house documentation management system. In small projects, or
those not needing tight control or approvals over documentation, a
wiki system may work. Under such a system, all user documentation
is placed in a location (typically a Web server) from where all
users can display it, and selected users (most likely including the
Super Users) can update it. The only concern will be in regards to
control of the documents, as changes made to documents in the wiki
are often made immediately available, without a formal pre-emptive
review. However, when the company is ready to move to a full
management system there will exist a set of documents in place to
work from, provided communication between projects remains
active.
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The Ideal Model Once an expanded, purchased, or hosted
documentation system is functioning and editing permissions are
granted, the continuous update and improvement of the help and
training material can begin. Dividing Super Users to their talents
of sustainment or training, duties are spread so as to not place
the total burden on one group of individuals. Giving automated help
to users directly also offsets the first tier support burden. The
expanded view of the model can now be seen as follows:
Phase Two: Trend Measurement The corporate office would probably
admit, if pressed, that the human element regarding the use of
their technology is not the first concern, so long as the
technology works and saves them money. Balancing the reality of the
ROI with the needs of people on the ground can give rise to a war
between the bottom line and employee competency and satisfaction.
In order to prove a Super User model works, one must have a means
of measuring the model. Otherwise it has no demonstrable value to
either the corporate office or the people on the ground. Wheres the
value? In the survey conducted, only 28% of respondents have a way
of measuring satisfaction, competency, and value, versus the 72%
who have nothing in place. Most of these (20%) use a survey system,
and those who use certification, scientific means, or a combination
make up the remaining 8%. Subjective versus Objective
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Despite Insites extensive survey, it is, in the end, just a
survey. It is largely subjective and open to interpretation. In
using subjective methods, such as a survey, to gain knowledge of
competency and satisfaction, careful consideration must be made to
the following:
- Are the questions generic enough? Are they unbiased and
encourage people to answer honestly?
- Is the survey blind (with anonymous respondents), or is there
value in knowing their names?
- How will the survey be taken and administered? How long will
it take to complete? Should it be detailed or high level?
- How will the data be quantified? Will results be published and
made public?, or is this data used internally?
Problems can persist even with the most carefully constructed
survey. A person may answer as he or she feels the company wants
them to (especially when asked to provide personal information), or
the questions may not be asked in ways that are fully understood by
the respondents. If responding to the survey takes up too much of
their time a respondent may elect not to participate, or only
answer the questions they consider most important. It is, however,
important for people to have systems of safe feedback, as this
gives a core or functional team more personal connection to their
company and how it uses SAP. Objective value methods, however, are
completely impersonal and can provide immense benefit to the
company without taking up any of the users time. Those who elected
to tell us about their collection methods for competency,
satisfaction, and value often looked to the Help Desk. Work
requests and error counts are common means of figuring out what is
potentially going wrong. Narrowing down the areas of concern is
paramount for any core team, as this can help preempt blowouts
later down the road. However, this can be difficult as well, as the
human element once again rears its head. Some people will suffer in
silence rather than tell people they are in trouble, and others may
have missed a training instance and over-utilize the help as a
secondary means of training. Still others may want to lean on
actual people, such as the Super User, and strain those resources.
The Trend in Trending Tools What becomes important in balancing
subjective and objective data for proof of concept is to look for
trends over errors. Trends allow for more broad-approach thinking
and, when coupled with the ability to see into a process, user, or
t-code at the error level, provide a more complete picture.
Currently, there are two tools on the market that are growing in
popularity: Knoa and RESITE Monitor. When coupling trends with a
safe feedback system, you will get a more complete idea about how
people use the SAP system. The Benefit of Trends and Safe Feedback
Proof of concept is important not only to the project team, the
core and functional teams, and the Super Users; it also reflects on
the company. Corporate offices respond well when figures show that
the chosen method of documentation, training, and support means
bottom line benefit and improvement. How can all of this work
together, and benefit the people called up to a role that they
generally arent compensated for?
- Trending tools can show priority in where you need to focus
efforts. o 1% of the budget on an SAP project is spent on training;
all areas should be
maximized and balanced to the best of a companys ability. o
Resources can always be accounted for or found.
- Trending tools can help you focus on areas which may become
problems down the road. o Get away from screaming situations and
filtering through errors.
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o Inform and move resources to areas of concern in order to keep
the users balanced in the system.
- Trending tools can help you spread the burden. o No single
group is saddled with all responsibilities. o Groups now have lists
of tasks for which they can budget time, not lists of
potential tasks that need much more time to research the
validity of and then resource.
When coupling trending at both a high level and a detailed level
with safe feedback, you will get both ends of the spectrum and
should find the model effective and worthy of expansion. Section
Four: Improving the Model and Conclusion Phase Three in this model
is continuing the cycle to cultivate, train, and move Super Users
through an SAP system. As most companies have not reached a proof
of concept point, and because trending tools are still relatively
new to the market, only time will tell what benefits exist in this
means of documentation, training, and support. In the meantime,
Insite has developed, through the survey, its interviews, and its
own work with trending tools, a sample implementation and
sustainment model. For this model to work the following is
incorporated:
- Finding Super Users: Both human elements and analytical
elements o Utilization of trending tools to find the best users (in
test mode for new projects,
and through the SAP production system in existing systems) o
Short listing those users and then going to management with that
list to identify
two types of Super Users: Sustainers and Trainers. - Division of
Super Users into two groups:
o Sustainment: Those who will take active role in maintaining
documentation and providing first line support.
o Training: Those who will take a more public role in training
and also provide first line support.
- A uniform documentation management system from core team down
to division. This should be a single tool, corporate-wide, to plan
for later expansion and company growth.
- A consistent support system. This may involve a uniform
decision passed to all IT departments in regards to integrated
support or a direct means of online support.
- Objective means to validate user performance, find new Super
Users (to preempt turnover and burnout), and look for targeted
areas of improvement.
o Trending tools are in play again, to bring new faces to the
forefront of projects. o Proof of concept and proof of improvement
validates corporate investment in
SAP. o The ability to reward those who function best is brought
into targeted perspective.
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Model as Envisioned for Sustainment and Improvement
Future improvements to the model go beyond the Super User and
include more of the general user base. Insite feels that in order
to further refine the model and increase the buy-in to the SAP
system, the following options should be considered:
- User-Managed Certifications / Self Assessment: Integrating a
Learning Management System into everyday SAP use so that Users are
empowered to improve their SAP skills while on the job, not away at
a training class (or taking up a Super Users time).
- Further refinement of documentation management: Further models
may be able to create subsets of users who frequently contribute to
the improvement of documentation and therefore the business
processes.
- Pre-emptive Support: Refinement of the support system
integrated into SAP to help users instantly, before they become too
lost or begin to seek the Super User.
Conclusion The Super User Model, Dirk Manuel says, is a model
which has to work. It is one of the best ways to connect with the
end-users of the SAP system at a human level, and is also the most
scalable and sustainable model. In order for it to work, and to be
able to be of value to the company and improve the bottom line, it
must be nurtured both analytically and humanly. The balance between
the two is paramount as the people involved the Super Users
themselves -
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are often extraordinary, highly-skilled and knowledgeable
people. From finding them, through training them, to supporting and
rewarding them, a consistent, ever-improving system should be
placed alongside consistent, ever-improving people. This
hand-in-hand approach between the two should mean above-board
involvement, and therefore superior use of a companys SAP
investment. Whether a small project or a major global rollout, the
time the Super Users give, the role they play, and the support they
provide are vital to the success of any SAP implementation, and
therefore, given the significant investment in such
implementations, vital to the continued existence of a successful
company.