Implementing enterprise software solutions like ShareDo requires meticulous planning and strategic thinking. A high-level design serves as the foundational blueprint that guides this process, offering essential benefits to streamline the implementation and ensure alignment with business and organisational goals. It provides a foundational understanding of the solution that allows all members of a project team to understand what their goals are and what they are agreeing to work together to deliver. 

The High Level Design also provide a vehicle for organisations to get an understanding of the costs, timescales and resource requirements required to deliver a project. 

Blueprint 

Similar to planning the construction of a building, a high-level design for ShareDo allows stakeholders to visualize and define the entire solution before implementation begins. It outlines the structure, key components, and interrelationships within the platform. This blueprinting phase is crucial as it:

• Shared Understanding: By detailing out both the end user journey and the high level configuration details the high level design provides a common understanding with everyone involved in a project as to the end deliverables. It ensures that information captured during the definition process has been correctly understood and interpreted into the ShareDo solution.
• Identifies Common Elements: By mapping out the solution architecture, the design identifies common elements and processes inherent to all ShareDo implementations. This includes defining structures such as key dates and work type categories and providing a standardised framework for subsequent customization.
• Ensures Operational Efficiency: Thoroughly considering ShareDo's hierarchy functionality during blueprinting ensures that the system operates efficiently from the outset. This involves defining organizational hierarchies, user roles, and permissions in a way that optimizes workflow management and decision-making processes and makes use of the ShareDo inheritance capabilities.

Aid Memoire to Solution Architects

The high-level design document acts as a guide in itself, ensuring that critical elements are not overlooked and that the foundation for the solution is solid. This structured approach not only prevents gaps in planning but also:

• Provides a Common Framework: While allowing flexibility for adjustments, the base blueprint ensures stability by laying out a cohesive framework for the implementation of ShareDo. The high-level design template provides sections for all key configuration areas and thus ensures these aren't overlooked during definition. 

Planning and Estimating 

• Supports Practical Planning: Businesses rely on accurate cost estimations and well-defined project plans to manage IT deliveries effectively. The high-level design facilitates this by enabling the creation of detailed project timelines, resource allocations, and costings. It serves as a reference point for stakeholders to align expectations and track progress throughout the implementation phase.
• Supports Resource Allocation: Detailed configuration instructions enable accurate estimations of time and resources required for configuration tasks. This ensures efficient resource allocation and reduces the risk of delays or budget overruns during implementation.

Streamlines Project Delivery 

• Detailed Configuration Instruction: In addition to outlining the solution architecture, a high-level design includes detailed configuration instructions. These instructions provide configurators with clear guidance on setting up ShareDo and making the best use of the inheritance structures and core features.

What happens after the blueprint?

Through experience, we have found that creating a blueprint at the start of a project significantly improves the outcome and ability to meet the business objectives. The foundational elements of ShareDo, such as work type hierarchies and common processes require a degree of foundational thought.

Having a foundational high-level design is crucial because it sets a clear blueprint at the project's outset, significantly enhancing the project's outcomes and its ability to achieve business objectives. Elements like ShareDo's work type hierarchies and common processes necessitate thoughtful foundational planning. 

The rapid nature of ShareDo configuration means that powering through the first part of an implementation to get in the base work type hierarchies and structure can quickly give the business a real world view of the solution. The HLD allows this process to happen very quickly.

As the project progresses, iterative sprints allow for refinement and enhancement of functionality, crucially involving business users to ensure alignment with real-world operations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a high-level design for ShareDo is pivotal in ensuring successful current implementation and maximising the platform’s effectiveness from the outset. It provides a structured framework for solution architects to conceptualise, plan, and execute tailored solutions that meet immediate organizational requirements. By serving as both a blueprint and a strategic thinking tool, the design fosters collaboration, reduces implementation risks, and sets the stage for operational excellence. Investing time and effort into crafting a comprehensive high-level design is essential for organisations looking to leverage ShareDo as a robust and efficient solution for their current operational needs.