The Manhattan Implementation Methodology, Published
A Manhattan Active® program is usually described as a set of services, with the boundaries between the software vendor, the systems integrator, and your own team left unwritten. Seam-First Delivery is the opposite: five phases, and a published line-by-line split of what Manhattan Associates owns, what Everest Technologies owns, and what you own inside each one.
- Manhattan AssociatesProduct and cloud
- Everest TechnologiesDelivery
- Your teamDecisions, data, acceptance
Every task has one named owner, in writing, before build starts.
What Seam-First Delivery Is
Seam-First Delivery is the Everest Technologies Manhattan implementation methodology: five delivery phases, and a written split of what Manhattan Associates, Everest Technologies, and your internal team each own inside every one of them.
Why Warehouse Management System Programs Come Apart at the Seams
Warehouse management system (WMS) programs more often fail in the unowned space between the software vendor, the systems integrator, and the operator than inside the software itself, because each party assumed one of the others was carrying the work.
- A defect sits between the software vendor’s support queue and the systems integrator’s backlog, because each party reads it as the other’s to reproduce and document.
- An interface is scoped by the enterprise resource planning (ERP) team and by the WMS team to two different readings of the same contract, and the two readings meet in system integration testing.
- A master data file has no named owner, so accuracy is assumed by three parties and verified by none until a conversion run publishes an exception list nobody planned to work through.
The Five Phases, and What Ends Each One
Seam-First Delivery runs in five phases: Phase Zero, solution design, build and data conversion, test and cutover rehearsal, and go-live and hypercare. Every phase ends on a named artifact that a third party could inspect, rather than on a status color.
Phase Zero
Ends with a scoped process and fit assessment, an integration inventory, a data profile with known defects listed, and a delivery plan sized against your sites and order models.
Solution design
Ends with a signed target operating model, a configuration design that states where standard Manhattan Active® capability is used and where an extension is genuinely required, and a written integration contract per interface.
Build and data conversion
Ends with configured environments, built and unit-tested interfaces, and a first full conversion run reconciled against source with the exception list published.
Test and cutover rehearsal
Ends with functional, integration, performance, and user acceptance results signed off, plus at least one full cutover rehearsal executed against production-like data with rollback triggers proven.
Go-live and hypercare
Ends with a stability review, an open-item register with owners, and a documented handover into an ongoing support arrangement or into your own team.
The Responsibility Split, Phase by Phase
On an Everest Technologies delivery of Manhattan Active®, Manhattan Associates owns the product and the cloud service, Everest Technologies owns delivery of your solution onto the Manhattan Active® platform, and your team owns business decisions, master data, and acceptance. The exact boundary moves at every phase.
| Phase | Manhattan Associates | Everest Technologies | Your team | Tie-breaker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase Zero | Product roadmap confirmation and licensing scope. | Process and fit assessment, integration inventory, data profiling, risk register, and the delivery plan. | Access to sites and people, the constraints list, and the final call on what is in scope. | Scope: you. |
| Solution design | Product capability statements and supported extension patterns. | Target operating model, configuration design, interface contracts, and the recommendation of standard capability over custom code. | Process decisions and design sign-off. | Configuration versus extension: the design authority, chaired by Everest, with your sponsor holding a veto. |
| Build and data conversion | Platform availability, product fixes, and environment provisioning on Manhattan Active®. | Configuration, extension build, interface build on the WMS side, conversion mapping, reconciliation rules, and defect triage. | Source data extraction, data correction in the source systems, and any interface endpoint your ERP or third-party vendor builds. | Data defects: Everest reports them, you decide whether to correct or accept. |
| Test and cutover rehearsal | Product defect resolution and platform performance. | Test strategy, scripts, environment plan, performance test design, defect management across all parties, and the cutover runbook with rollback triggers. | User acceptance execution and sign-off, real peak-day volume profiles, and business rehearsal participation. | Go or no-go: your sponsor, on evidence Everest is accountable for presenting honestly. |
| Go-live and hypercare | The production service and product-level incidents. | Hypercare coordination, issue triage and resolution, configuration tuning, and the handover pack. | Floor execution, shift coverage, super-user support, and the decision to exit hypercare. | Exit: you, against exit criteria written into the hypercare plan. |
The Seams Nobody Owns by Default, and Who We Take
Seven seams in a Manhattan Active® program have no natural owner, and Seam-First Delivery assigns each one to a named party in writing before build starts.
First triage on every defect
Everest takes first triage on every defect, including the ones that look like product behavior. Everest reproduces the behavior in a clean configuration, documents expected against actual, and raises the case with Manhattan Associates support. Your team never carries a ticket across the vendor boundary.
Both sides of every interface
Everest owns the contract on both sides of every interface, including interfaces another vendor builds, and proves them with contract tests under production-like volumes before system integration testing opens.
Data quality, stated plainly
You own the data and the source systems. Everest owns profiling the data at Phase Zero, writing the reconciliation rules, publishing an exception report on every conversion run, and stating plainly which defects will surface on the floor if they are not corrected.
The environment plan
Everest owns the environment plan, what runs where, and what data each test cycle needs. Environment provisioning on the platform sits with Manhattan Associates. You own approval for using production-derived data in non-production.
Performance against a real profile
Everest owns performance test design and execution. You own supplying the real profile: your actual order mix, unit volumes, cartons per day, wave patterns, and concurrency at peak-day volume, not an average.
Change after design sign-off
The design authority owns every change to signed design, records the operational and cost consequence, and routes anything material to the steering forum. Nothing changes by conversation.
Floor readiness
Everest owns the training material and super-user enablement for floor readiness. You own releasing people from the floor to take it, and shift coverage while they do.
Manhattan Active® Program Governance: Who Decides What
Governance on an Everest Technologies delivery of Manhattan Active® runs on three standing forums, a delivery working session, a design authority, and a steering forum, with one escalation path that ends at Manhattan Associates.
Delivery working session
The Everest delivery lead, your program manager, and workstream leads. Decides sequencing, assignment, and blocker resolution inside agreed scope.
Design authority
The Everest solution architect chairs, and your process owners and architecture representative attend. Decides standard configuration against custom extension, approves interface contracts, and rules on change to signed design. Your sponsor holds a veto.
Steering forum
Your sponsor chairs and the Everest engagement lead attends. Manhattan Associates is invited where product or commercial scope is in question. Decides scope, budget, and go or no-go.
One register
Risks, assumptions, issues, decisions, and defects sit in a single shared register, visible to all parties, with one accountable name per line.
Escalation path
Workstream lead, to Everest delivery lead, to your program sponsor, to Manhattan Associates through the support and account channels available under your agreement. Escalation is a normal instrument, not a failure signal.
Defect handling
Everest triages to L2 and L3, holds the case with Manhattan Associates through to resolution, and reports status to you rather than asking you to chase it.
What You Own, Stated Plainly
Three responsibilities are difficult to transfer to a systems integrator on a warehouse management system program: process decisions, master data ownership, and user acceptance sign-off.
Talk to a Delivery Lead- Process decisions, because how you pick, pack, wave, allocate, and staff is a business choice with a cost, and only your operation can make it
- Master data accuracy and ownership of the systems that feed it, since a warehouse management system reflects the data it is given
- User acceptance sign-off, because the people who run the floor are the only people who can say the configured system matches the operation
- Named availability of process owners and super-users through design, testing, and rehearsal, planned into shift coverage rather than absorbed
- The decision on scope at Phase Zero and the decision to exit hypercare, both of which sit with your sponsor against criteria written down and agreed at the preceding phase gate
The Record This Method Is Drawn From
Seam-First Delivery is drawn from 300+ WMS go-lives since 1997 and 150+ Manhattan Active® go-lives, 65 of them across 2024 to 2025.
- 150+Manhattan Active® go-lives, 65 of them across 2024 to 2025
- 300+WMS go-lives since 1997
- PlatinumManhattan Associates partner, listed on the consulting-partner directory
- 2xManhattan Partner of the Year: Commerce Services 2022, Collaboration Excellence 2023
One documented program delivered 33 Manhattan custom modules, which is why the design authority defaults to standard capability before any extension is approved. Everest Technologies sells no software of its own, so a platform or extension recommendation carries no licence interest.
How the Method Travels to Infios
Seam-First Delivery, the Everest Technologies Manhattan implementation methodology, applies on Infios, formerly Korber Supply Chain Software, exactly as it applies on Manhattan Active®, because the seams between a software vendor, a systems integrator, and an operator are structural to warehouse management system programs rather than specific to one vendor.
How to Use This Split, Even If You Never Call Us
Any buyer can test a prospective systems integrator by asking for three things in writing before contract signature: a phase-by-phase responsibility split with one accountable owner per line, a named party who takes first triage on a suspected product defect, and a named forum with authority over change after design sign-off.
- Ask for the responsibility split in writing, per phase, with one accountable owner per line and named tie-breakers
- Ask who reproduces, documents, and carries a suspected product defect to the software vendor, and where that obligation is recorded
- Ask which forum holds authority over change after design sign-off, who chairs it, and who holds veto
- Ask what each phase exit produces as an artifact, and who has to accept it
- Ask what the systems integrator expects from your team by name and role, so the commitment is visible before you sign
Frequently Asked Questions
Everest Technologies calls its methodology Seam-First Delivery. It runs a Manhattan Active® program in five phases: Phase Zero, solution design, build and data conversion, test and cutover rehearsal, and go-live and hypercare. Each phase assigns every task to one named owner across Manhattan Associates, Everest Technologies, and your internal team.
The product and cloud service side, including product defect resolution, sits with Manhattan Associates. Everest Technologies owns delivery: solution design, configuration, integration, data conversion, testing, cutover, and hypercare. Your team owns process decisions, master data accuracy, user acceptance sign-off, and floor readiness. Seam-First Delivery writes that split down per phase, before build starts.
Manhattan Associates builds and supports the software, and certified partners deliver implementations of it. Everest Technologies is a Manhattan Associates Platinum Partner, listed on Manhattan’s own consulting-partner directory, and a 2-time Manhattan Partner of the Year, for Commerce Services in 2022 and Collaboration Excellence in 2023, and has delivered 150+ Manhattan Active® go-lives.
Everest Technologies owns first triage on every defect, including the ones that look like product issues. Everest reproduces the behavior in a clean configuration, documents the expected and actual result, and raises the case with Manhattan Associates support. Your team never carries a ticket across the seam between integrator and vendor.
A Manhattan Active® implementation is sized by scope rather than by a standard answer: the number of sites, the order and fulfillment models in play, the integration surface, how much legacy custom logic exists, and how clean your master data is. Sizing those five variables is exactly what Phase Zero produces, before anyone commits to a plan.
Three things stay with you in every Everest Technologies program: process decisions, because they are business decisions; master data accuracy and ownership of the source systems that feed it; and user acceptance sign-off, because the people who run the floor are the only people who can say the system matches the operation.
Governance on an Everest Technologies delivery of Manhattan Active® runs on three standing forums and one escalation path: a delivery working session on execution and blockers, a design authority that rules on configuration versus custom extension, and a steering forum that owns scope and budget. Escalation moves from the Everest delivery lead to your program sponsor to Manhattan Associates.
Yes. Seam-First Delivery is platform-independent, because the seams between a software vendor, a systems integrator, and an operator exist on every warehouse management system program. Everest Technologies applies the same five phases and the same responsibility split on Infios, formerly Korber Supply Chain Software, where Everest Technologies holds certified partner status and 50+ certified Infios associates.
Want This Split Written Against Your Program?
Tell us the sites, the order models, and the integrations in scope, and we will write the responsibility split against your program before anyone commits to a plan.
Talk to a Delivery Lead