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Chapter 3: Assessing Strategies for Enabling Applications

This chapter explains how EuroSmart can help you to evaluate various strategies for euro-enabling applications.

3.1 Assessing Potential Strategies

You can use EuroSmart at a high level ato help you decide whether your approach to dealing with the euro is optimal. It can assist you to understand the consequences of your potential strategy before you commit to implementing it.

For example, assume that the proposal is to have two copies of your order entry system with one copy using local currency units and the other copy using euro units. First, you need to identify the areas needing change. You can then determine the additional effort in changing the system, and assess the long term benefit of maintaining a single source stream rather than two. Finally, you gauge whether changing to a single dynamic system handling both currencies is feasible in the desired time scales and is beneficial in the long term.

3.2 Scoping and Estimating Strategies

This section suggests how you can use EuroSmart to estimate rough costings for any strategy you are contemplating. Broadly, you make an estimate of representative samples and then extrapolate this across your complete application inventory. To do this:

  1. Select representative samples of applications that require work. Depending on your inventory you might select just one representative sample or several, categorizing them as high, medium and low complexity. The more representative samples you select the more effort you incur, but the more accurate your estimates will be.

  2. Develop a best practice analysis using the EuroSmart analysis tools and optimally with the help of Micro Focus Professional Services staff. Produce relevant reports documenting your best practice and recording your results along with all your assumptions.

  3. Extrapolate the results from the previous step across all the appropriate applications in your inventory based on the assumptions about possible strategies.

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