SOLUTIONS & CONSULTANCY
Solution consultancy sits at the heart of the LEVEL8 business
Delivering Solutions. As a business technology partner this is what LEVEL8 strives to do for our customers. We’re not providing a one-off product or service but implementing the software capable of driving more efficient business processes, then empowering organisations and their people to access its full potential.
Maximising what can be achieved for your business with cutting-edge software platforms through consultancy and support. This is what LEVEL8 calls a solution…

LEVEL8 On-Site Consultancy
We have been providing a quality service on client site, first as CODA employees, then independent contractors and now Unit4 Partners, since the 1990’s and we are not about to change that.
We offer the traditional face to face and on-site presence that most clients require, at least at certain critical points of a project or engagement. We understand that you need to be on-board with LEVEL8, you need trust in our capabilities as a company and as individuals and we would expect most first engagements to be completed almost entirely through on site consultancy.
Additionally, on UK projects this is our preferred method as it allows you to see us on site, note how we work, interact with us and gain the confidence that you need. This forms the foundations of a solid relationship going forward.
LEVEL8 Remote Consultancy
Back in 2005 some of the principal consultants at CODA were discussing their ideal roles. A recurring theme was using the internet as our office and method of service delivery. Ever since then the concept of web conferences, remote training and web-based training and consultancy have been growing.
We believe that a client’s budget should be spent wisely. Sometimes working on premise with the client team is the best use of time, money and resources. At other times it may be difficult to achieve and even counter-productive.
We believe that the time and money spent on travelling to clients offices sometimes with overnight stays can be better used by booking remote consultancy that offers convenience to all.
LEVEL8 offers services on an hourly and half day rates basis for remote consultancy only and full day rates for both on-site and off-site consultancy for all other consultancy work

The LEVEL8 Solution
Market-leading business software solutions AND expert consultancy services. It’s a powerful combination and provides the basis for every LEVEL8 solution.
– Whether we’re working with Unit4 Financials, Exact Synergy or FinancialForce;
– Whether your business already has its software platforms in place or is maybe reviewing the market for your next move;
– And whether you need an on-site consultancy resource or simply require reliable support at the other end of the phone.
LEVEL8 are in the business of providing solutions. We know every business is different and that means every technology solution is as well. We’ll work with you to find and deliver yours.
Our Consultancy Services
Pre-Sales Intervention
We have been approached by potential CODA customers to help identify their requirements and validate them before and after pre-sales demonstrations. We are independent of CODA and have no issues with protecting our clients’ investment. We will and have been able to identify all functionality and provide an assessment of its application to our clients business. This allows for more informed discussions on software compatibility. The Analogy is that, if you have family of 6 you would not buy a hatchback with 5 seats even if the sales man said you could fit them all in. You would want a 7 seater MPV that way you protect your family, investment and add in future proofing.
Controlled Upgrade Processes
We have been at the forefront of “controlled” upgrading since our times at CODA, even at Version 7 we were talking about controlling the upgrade process when some of our clients wanted to do the upgrade over a quiet weekend; “Big Bang” which is usually followed by “Big Bust”.
We don’t encourage our clients to upgrade as soon as a new release it out, waiting 6 months or so can have added benefits.
If the functionality included in new releases is fundamental to the business then we are able to review the likely impact and take a different approach e.g. take the upgrade offline and until appropriate testing has been undertaken before cutover to live.
General Business Consultancy
We aim to be there well after the project is completed and have been live for a number of years. Our Consultants have extensive and long standing relationships with customers, some of which extend over more than a decade or two.
Our consultancy services can include:
Informed requirements gathering
– Tailored RFI Questionnaires
– Vendor Evaluation and selection
– Post Implementation Reviews
– Critical review of new projects and completed implementations
Design & Build
Although we have strong reputation and heritage we are not afraid to roll up our sleeves and build the application from scratch. In Some organisations the system architect is mainly hands off and a new team is brought on to do the build. That does not happen at LEVEL8, we design CODA and we build it.
Project Management
Our specialism is software building and designing, we all have project management capabilities but we rather that we were managed on large projects, this allows for independence of thought and we can be held accountable for our actions. We are happy to project manage if required.
User Acceptance Testing
We have undertaken large UAT programs for our clients spanning months and including feedback cycles, iterations to configuration and sign off, we are also experienced in the short UAT cycle and are happy to help in either case. We are not afraid to tell you if you’re not ready for UAT or Go-Live.
Go-Live & Post-Go-Live Assistance
Our relationship will see you go through go-live, we have managed this on hundreds of projects (as a team). However, we don’t walk away. We will keep engaged and look to assist as and when we can, our relationships become stronger and we invest the same amount of time in our relationship that you do.
Team Building & User Empowerment
We do not like to walk off site having retained all our knowledge, this makes no business sense for either side.
“Our engagement model is driven by empowering users to effectively run and manage the system after we have left site.”
This gives you quick ROI in the form of super users that are qualified and trained to run your solution.
Our most successful projects are where we are not constantly on site after go live. There are quite a number of these which means that our engagement model works.
There is however a down side, you must have capable resources with enough knowledge of the business and availability to work on the project and be part of our team.
Ongoing Assistance & Handholding
A new system can be stressful, and having no consulting resource on-site can make things worse. Usually systems go live after a new month start, this means that the users start to become familiar with it during normal BAU, however, the real issue of nervousness and stress arise on the first month end. We will work with you to retain presence at month end, either on-site or remotely
Staff turnover can be difficult to predict and more difficult to cover, new staff may not have adequate CODA knowledge and little handover. This is often the start of what we term as “diminishing knowledge and diminishing ROI”. The new person only does what they are told and then “limitations” on functionality creep in. Soon there is a drop in usage of previously “configured” functionality and a return to basic methods to do the same, these are often manual or excel based and take the user out of a controlled system environment and into areas where there is more risk. Many of our assignments are based on this scenario. If we have designed and built the system we will probably have left some adequate training on site. If not then we can effectively cover hand holding and on-site and in-situ training. We regularly undertake workshops for clients where there has been a high staff turnover and we able to increase the productivity of users by making them aware of functionality that they regularly avoid for fear of not knowing what is does.
Design Concepts & Consideration
Our team have been delivering CODA-Financial solutions since the 1990’s when we all worked for CODA. We were trained by the best CODA application consultants and some of us are also now considered in that very select group of people. There are a hand full of names that are easily recognised in the market place and LEVEL8 are proud to have a number of those on board.
What this means is that we have (between us) designed hundreds of financials solution using CODA applications. In fact some of us have had a big part in the design of functionality, the look and feel of the application since version 5.
We have been training, designing and delivering quality solutions since the 1990’s and we are not about to change.
We know how to design CODA-Financials.
We bring that to every project.
Critical review - New Projects and Implementations
Informed requirements gathering
This a fundamental part of a good project, if the requirements are gathered without knowledge of the processes then this will become apparent when the project is underway and time is ticking. We have covered most financial processes and are not afraid to step out of comfort zones to understand others.
Tailored RFI Questionnaires
We can help in creating tailored RFI questionnaires for prospective vendors and create evaluation criteria to subjectively measure vendor capability. We work with you to understand what is important and highlight these through the RFI, we look to understand the responses from vendors so that we can see out of the box versus bespoke functionality.
Vendor Evaluation and selection
In sales situations it is difficult to see which product is being demonstrated, sometimes the showcase of pre-sales can leave you believing that you are seeing a single product whereas in reality you have been shown a solution covering many products all linked together in a single demonstration. The licence costs will actually bring this home, by which time you may have already committed to the vendor. We can help identify the components, licences and consulting implications. We can also provide and independent view on the likelihood of seamless integration and effect on project costs and timelines.
Post-Implementation Consultancy Review
We have covered a number of post implementation reviews, some shortly after go-live and others where the business has changed or out grown the existing configuration. We have been able to advise on a course of action to align the business and CODA-Financials either through solution re-engineering or bespoke software development or both. We cover:
High level solution reviews – where the business has grown and needs more analytical capabilities
In depth solution reviews – where the functionality was not been enabled in the original project and there is a need to understand the impact of enabling it now.
Critical Solution Reviews – will the current system help you move forward
Our Independence mean that if the software vendors “proposed” solution is weaker than open market competition then we will advise accordingly
Critical review of new projects and completed implementations
Project oversight – we can help review project timelines, resources and budgets with an independent insight into the realities of financial solutions and systems.
Seemingly quick implementations – we have advised some clients on the reality of seemingly quick implementations when the client expected considerably longer, e.g. 20 days when in reality it is significantly longer.
Excessive time to implement, where the implementation team have been given an excessive time line, sometime this is due to the non-availability of resources or not knowing the application in depth.
Guidance on design and build – we have a strong background in offering guidance on projects that require less SME days because of in-house experts and are willing to help on key points as they arise in the project.
Our method of engagement varies with each client, some have used the team at LEVEL8 in the pre-sales cycle when CODA is being evaluated so that the sales pitch can be broken down into “real” deliverables. We have also advised clients on the suitability of designs of their CODA system. Chart of Accounts evaluation and re-engineering projects are common and we can often find a smarter way of designing the system. We also bring our experience of bespoke development for key process bottlenecks and can apply this to potential situations in any new project. This helps smooth out the buy-in process for any new system.
We aim to work with you and the vendor. We establish strong, trusted relationships with all of our clients and then use our extensive network of CODA employees past and present to ensure that we help you deliver the system that fits your organisation.
We work hand in hand with Unit4 on the technical side, in-fact we use their technical resources so that there are no on-going issues. Our partnership approach is that if Unit4 are involved then they will help resolve any technical issues. As for business processes review and design in CODA, we have a strong working relationship with Unit4 and will ensure that they have an overview of any design so that they can support the application going forward. This approach has been developed because of other consultancies creating poorly designed applications which cause problems for the client and Unit4. In some cases these have led to early re-implementation by Unit4 themselves.
Rest assured that the Unit4 way of design is a result of many years of hard work by amongst others the team at LEVEL8. We have written many of the guides and design documents that have been used as reference points to develop the process and an efficient design.

… and what’s our end goal?
Quite simply we want happy clients. We aim to turn every client in to a reference site, making you an advocate for LEVEL8 and our services.
We believe the success of any consulting company is the legacy they leave behind after go-live and we have a strong track record of ensuring clients are ‘reference-able’ following implementations.
This may not be achievable in the few months after go-live – let’s face it, this is a bedding down period – but we will be there before, during and after your project go-live, making sure that your business gets maximum benefit from your solution and knows that in LEVEL8 you’ve found a technology partner you can trust..
Unit4 Financials
Unit4 Financials is a best-of-breed financial management system that finds its roots in the popular CODA system. We've been experts in the platform ever since the CODA days and we can help you access the power of Unit4 Financials.
Proactis Rethink
Proactis and their solutions encourage clients to ReThink Commerce. The Proactis ReThink family of solutions are designed to leverage leading edge technologies in order to tackle real-world challenges with intuitive systems.
FinancialForce
FinancialForce delivers a cutting-edge financial management solution from the market-leading Salesforce Cloud platform. It's straightforward to implement, hugely intuitive and hassle-free to maintain.