The pastel colors of the sunrise are slowing rising in the sky, Kip Moore is blaring on the radio and I am pulling into the parking lot as another day dawns on our final days of the iVUE^® implementation. Another day closer to Go Live!

September arrived, kids have gone back to school, the long Labor Day weekend ended and unofficially summer was over. We came back to work from Labor Day and began parallel testing. We do not have the volume of staff that allowed us to duplicate all of the entry from our legacy system into iVUE^® but we duplicated as many of our daily processes as possible. Service orders were created and processed, payments entered, collections ran, and bills processed. Hundreds and hundreds of bills were printed and verified between the legacy system and iVUE^®.

Parallel testing allowed us to fine tune the system, verify the accuracy of the bill and ensure our employees know how to use the software. All the project tasks slated for September were implemented. The remittance system was configured, credit card machines were ordered, cash drawers and printers installed, and the new payment line was ready. We are ready for the cutover week when our legacy system will be set to Inquiry only, the final data cut sent to NISC for the go live conversion and a few days of “normal working hours”.

With all of the long hours we sometimes just need to take a break and get away from the implementation. Usually this means lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant or an ice cream break but a couple weeks ago my employees found the time to celebrate my birthday complete with streamer, cake and all sorts of goodies. My boyfriend surprised me by taking me to see Ed Sheeran in concert.

The implementation is concluding and in the not so distant future I will be seeing sunsets on the beach instead of on the drive home!