StepMerit Learning

StepMerit · Archer IRM services

Build connected GRC.
Move forward with Archer.

Archer IRM implementation, consulting, application support and specialist staffing. Deliver on-premises or SaaS projects remotely, strengthen existing applications and bring specialist resources into your team.

Discuss your Archer projectExplore SaaS migration

Your programme. A connected platform.

Risk & compliance
Controls & evidence
Audit & findings
Issues & actions

Archer IRM

Applications · Workflows · Data · Reporting

Implement. Support remotely. Add specialists. Move to SaaS.

From planning to ongoing operations

The expertise your Archer programme needs.

Choose a focused assignment or connect these services into an end-to-end delivery engagement. We define the scope, responsibilities and acceptance criteria before work begins.

Archer IRM implementation

Deliver a new Archer implementation or extend your on-premises or SaaS applications with connected workflows and reporting.

  • Deployment readiness, environment planning and solution design
  • Process workshops, use-case backlog and data architecture
  • Applications, questionnaires, calculated fields and record relationships
  • Advanced workflow, data-driven events and permission models
  • Data feeds, supported API integrations and reporting
  • Functional testing, UAT, administrator training and handover
Discuss this service

Archer IRM consulting

Get a practical roadmap for a new programme or an existing Archer environment.

  • Current-state assessment and configuration health review
  • Risk taxonomy, control library and ownership design
  • Workflow simplification and reporting requirements
  • Integration architecture and migration readiness
  • Prioritised improvement plan with agreed acceptance criteria
Discuss this service

Archer IRM application support

Keep business processes running and improve the applications your teams use every day.

  • Incident triage, defect investigation and vendor escalation
  • Workflow, notification, data-feed and access troubleshooting
  • Controlled enhancements, regression tests and release support
  • Job monitoring, data-quality checks and operational runbooks
  • Agreed service hours, priorities, response targets and reporting
Discuss this service

Archer IRM specialist staffing

Add the right skills to your project or ongoing service, with a clear scope and delivery model.

  • Archer developers and application administrators
  • GRC business analysts and solution architects
  • Integration specialists, test analysts and delivery leads
  • Remote, offshore or onsite assignments by agreement
  • Skills screening, role definition, onboarding and knowledge transfer
Discuss this service

Archer IRM SaaS migration

Prepare your on-premises implementation for a controlled move to Archer SaaS.

  • Dependency inventory and SaaS compatibility assessment
  • Identity, integration, network and data readiness
  • Non-production validation and migration rehearsals
  • Cutover coordination, business sign-off and contingency planning
  • Hypercare, support transition and administration enablement
Discuss this service

Archer IRM remote delivery

Extend your team with structured remote implementation, development and application support.

  • Client-approved secure access and least-privilege permissions
  • Defined work packages, delivery ownership and review cadence
  • Agreed time-zone overlap and incident escalation contacts
  • Configuration reviews, controlled releases and handover evidence
  • Remote, offshore and hybrid delivery arrangements by agreement
Discuss this service

Implementation scope

Connect the processes that manage your risk.

Enterprise & operational risk

Risk registers, assessments, ownership, treatment actions and reporting.

IT & security risk

Asset context, risk assessments, security findings and remediation tracking.

Compliance & controls

Obligations, policies, control libraries, evidence and compliance assessments.

Third-party risk

Supplier onboarding, questionnaires, assessments and ongoing oversight.

Audit & issues management

Audit planning, findings, action plans, escalation and closure evidence.

Business resilience

Impact assessments, continuity plans and exercise follow-up.

Module availability and configuration scope depend on your Archer licences and agreed requirements.

Regular Archer implementation

From platform readiness to working business applications.

Implement Archer on-premises, build new use cases on an existing instance or configure applications on SaaS. A regular implementation is available as its own engagement, with no SaaS conversion required.

01

Platform & environment readiness

For on-premises delivery, review the supported Archer version, application and database infrastructure, environment separation, certificates, mail and connectivity with your IT team. Agree installation or upgrade ownership and prerequisites. For SaaS, coordinate target-instance readiness with Archer.

02

Process & application design

Map business processes, use cases and ownership. Define applications, questionnaires, relationships, calculations, data-driven events, advanced workflow, role-based permissions and configuration standards.

03

Data & integrations

Clean and map source data, plan imports and reconciliation, and configure supported data feeds or API integrations. Define schedules, credential ownership, error handling and dependency monitoring.

04

Testing & adoption

Test end-to-end scenarios, reports, notifications and access rules. Run business UAT, resolve defects, document configuration and train administrators and users before controlled go-live.

Implementation handover

Receive the agreed solution design, configuration inventory, integration mappings, test evidence, administrator guidance and support runbook. Delivery milestones and infrastructure responsibilities are defined in the statement of work.

Discuss a regular implementation →

On-premises to SaaS conversion

A controlled transition. Business continuity by design.

SaaS conversion changes the operating model. We help assess what must move, what must reconnect and what business owners must validate before users switch to the target environment.

Current Archer environment

Applications, workflows, records, history, attachments, reports and access rules.

Controlled migration

An agreed migration package and secure transfer, coordinated with Archer.

Validated Archer SaaS

Business users, SSO and enterprise integrations connect to the validated target.

StepMerit: readiness, configuration, integrations, UAT, cutover coordination and application support.

Conceptual delivery architecture. The target environment, migration method, supported integrations and change window are agreed with your team and Archer.

Readiness checks that matter

  • Inventory applications, data feeds, APIs, custom scripts and server-side dependencies.
  • Review supported versions, authentication, integration endpoints and connection requirements with Archer.
  • Agree data handling, attachment reconciliation and business-critical report validation.
  • Plan change communications, the cutover window and go/no-go decision owners.
  • Assess configuration carry-over and any redesign needs before committing to the migration approach.

Clear delivery responsibilities

Your organisation
Business ownership, access approvals, source data, UAT and final acceptance.
StepMerit
Agreed readiness, configuration, integration testing, reconciliation, cutover coordination and application support.
Archer SaaS operations
Vendor-controlled migration and target platform operations, including infrastructure maintenance and backups, under your SaaS agreement.

Implementation & migration phases

Progress through evidence, not assumptions.

Each phase ends with an agreed decision gate. For a new implementation, the plan centres on solution build and adoption; a SaaS engagement adds migration preparation, rehearsals and vendor-coordinated cutover.

  1. 01

    Discover & assess

    Map business goals, current applications, users, data volumes and technical dependencies. Identify version, licence and SaaS readiness constraints.

    Deliverables: Assessment report, dependency inventory and prioritised scope.

    Decision gate: Business and technical owners agree scope and success measures.

  2. 02

    Design & prepare

    Define the target data model, workflows, access, identity and integration approach. Agree environment, data-handling and delivery responsibilities.

    Deliverables: Solution design, migration plan, test strategy and responsibilities matrix.

    Decision gate: Design approved; target access and prerequisites ready.

  3. 03

    Configure & integrate

    Configure the agreed applications and processes. Prepare data, update supported integrations and resolve readiness findings in non-production.

    Deliverables: Configured solution, integration mappings and configuration documentation.

    Decision gate: Technical tests pass; no unresolved critical dependencies.

  4. 04

    Validate & rehearse

    Test representative workflows, record counts, attachments, permissions, notifications and reports. Rehearse the migration and run business UAT.

    Deliverables: Reconciliation evidence, UAT results and rehearsed cutover runbook.

    Decision gate: Business sign-off and go/no-go criteria satisfied.

  5. 05

    Cut over & launch

    Coordinate the agreed change window, final data freeze and vendor migration activities. Validate the SaaS instance before enabling users and retiring old access.

    Deliverables: Cutover log, production smoke-test evidence and go-live approval.

    Decision gate: Reconciliation complete and business owners approve user access.

  6. 06

    Stabilise & improve

    Triage issues through hypercare, monitor agreed business processes and transfer ownership. Build an improvement backlog and release-validation routine.

    Deliverables: Support runbook, knowledge transfer and prioritised enhancement backlog.

    Decision gate: Support team accepts ownership and hypercare exit criteria are met.

SaaS implementation case study

Illustrative scenario · not a client testimonial

Moving a financial-services GRC programme to SaaS.

A fictional organisation uses on-premises Archer for IT risk, compliance and issue remediation. It wants a SaaS operating model while retaining the business processes its teams depend on.

The challenge

The current environment has bespoke approval workflows, attachment-heavy evidence records, identity integration and scheduled feeds from enterprise systems. Unmapped dependencies could interrupt assessments or remediation after the move.

Proposed scope

  • IT risk, compliance and issues applications.
  • Record history, evidence files and business reports.
  • Identity, notification and supported feed validation.
  • Migration rehearsals, cutover and application hypercare.

How the engagement would run

  1. 1

    Baseline the source

    Catalogue applications, workflows, record and attachment counts, role-based access and integration ownership. Capture representative reports as reconciliation references.

  2. 2

    Prepare the target

    Resolve readiness findings with the client and Archer, prepare authentication and integration changes, and agree the migration package and secure transfer process.

  3. 3

    Rehearse and test

    Validate a non-production migration. Reconcile data and attachments, execute a risk assessment and issue lifecycle, test access boundaries and rerun scheduled integrations.

  4. 4

    Approve the cutover

    Business owners sign off UAT. The team reviews outage communications, the final data freeze, checkpoints and a vendor-agreed contingency plan before proceeding.

  5. 5

    Launch and stabilise

    After vendor migration, run smoke tests and reconciliation, enable users following approval, monitor the agreed processes and transition to documented application support.

Acceptance measures for this scenario

Data integrity

Record counts and sampled history reconcile; attachment differences are investigated.

Process continuity

Assessment, approval, escalation and issue closure tests meet agreed criteria.

Access & integration

Role tests, identity flows and representative feed runs pass.

Operational ownership

Runbooks, escalation contacts and support acceptance are complete.

These are proposed acceptance criteria, not measured results. Actual scope, timeline, service levels and benefits are established during assessment.

Remote work, support & staffing

Work with Archer specialists wherever your team operates.

Choose a scoped project, an application support service or specialist resources within your own team. Define the working model, access controls, communication and delivery ownership before onboarding.

Remote project delivery

Implementation, configuration and integration work delivered through client-approved access, a prioritised backlog, scheduled demonstrations and documented acceptance.

  • Agreed time-zone overlap and meeting cadence
  • Versioned configuration documentation and peer review
  • Client change approval before production deployment

Application support

An ongoing service for business application incidents and improvements, with clear ownership between your team, StepMerit and Archer platform support.

  • Priority definitions, response targets and service hours agreed in scope
  • Triage, root-cause investigation and vendor escalation
  • Controlled enhancements, regression checks and service reporting

Specialist staffing

Developers, administrators, business analysts, architects and testers assigned to your delivery team for a defined role and engagement period.

  • Skills and availability review against your requirements
  • Remote, offshore, onsite or hybrid arrangements by agreement
  • Onboarding plan, delivery reporting and knowledge transfer

Remote onboarding & secure working

Agree confidentiality, approved connection methods, least-privilege access, client device and data-handling policies, work locations and escalation contacts. Access is approved by the client and reviewed when assignments change or end.

Daily delivery & knowledge transfer

Track work through an agreed backlog and regular status updates. Review changes, retain test evidence, agree release approvals and document the handover so your team can sustain the solution.

Before you begin

Archer IRM questions, answered.

Can you help with both new implementations and existing Archer environments?

Yes. An engagement can cover a new use case, an existing configuration review, process improvements, integrations, migration readiness or application support. Scope depends on your licensed modules, platform version and business requirements.

Does SaaS conversion mean rebuilding every application?

Not necessarily. Archer documents migration of existing data and configuration. We assess customisations and dependencies, agree the migration approach with Archer, and validate business processes in non-production before cutover.

Who operates Archer SaaS infrastructure?

Archer operates its SaaS platform infrastructure under your subscription. Your organisation retains business ownership, access governance and configuration responsibilities. StepMerit can support the agreed application, integration and validation workstreams.

How long will implementation or SaaS migration take?

Duration depends on the use-case scope, source version, data volume, integrations, readiness findings and availability of business owners. We agree milestones after assessment and coordinate any production outage with your team and Archer.

Can we engage support or staffing without a full implementation?

Yes. Request a focused support engagement or a defined specialist role. Service hours, response targets, assignment duration and onsite or remote arrangements are agreed in the statement of work.

Product references

Consult current Archer documentation and your subscription terms for product-specific migration and operating requirements.

Let’s define your next step

Tell us about your Archer environment.

Choose the service you need and describe your current setup. Our consulting team will follow up to discuss scope, dependencies and a practical delivery approach.

Helpful details to include

  • Current Archer version and deployment model.
  • Use cases, integrations and migration goals.
  • Required skills, support needs or target dates.
Explore all consulting services

Consulting enquiry

Share your business goal, selected service and project requirements.

Prefer a course discussion? Schedule a meeting