Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte… German for Systems, Applications and Products, or SAP. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers, and now headquartered in Waldorf, Germany, SAP is the largest software enterprise in Europe and the fourth largest software enterprise in the world. Almost $15 billion in revenue, nearly 50,000 employees in over 50 countries, 90,000 plus instances of SAP running worldwide, 2,400 certified partners and a network of nearly 1.5 million developers in over 200 countries… SAP is, per their very well-known statement, run by the “best run businesses”. Got your attention?
Why write about SAP? Long story short, having recently been involved in a global implementation of SAP with challenging and diverse implementation phases, a “personal experience” review seems fitting to share with those out there entertaining the thought of embarking on their own SAP career or project. However, before commencing with a “tsunami” of articles on my experience with SAP, below are some of the basics to set a foundation of what the “SAP Experience” is all about…
Awareness and Preparation
Implementing SAP at any level, small or large, can have profound organizational impacts that require a highly effective awareness and preparation strategy from all levels of an organization.
Why, you may ask? First and foremost, because SAP is a highly structured product that requires a unique way of thinking and conducting business so as to fit within its robust processes. Secondly, SAP can potentially uproot and revamp a single department’s processes and resources, despite that department’s highly coveted, proven and “set in stone” business processes. Third, and generally this applies with any technology, the learning curve and usability element can be immense. Not to mention everything else that SAP brings with it; business change, organizational alignment, IT system readiness etc.
Combining these “ingredients” that SAP brings into an organization necessitates planning for awareness. Awareness and alignment across all levels, and preparation towards reaching that goal; communications, workshops, executive buy-in, sponsorship etc. You essentially have to elevate the organization into a level of awareness and preparedness so as to pave the road towards a successful implementation.
“Method to the Madness”
Where does an SAP implementation start and how? One of the most commonly used and known frames of reference, supported and backed by SAP, is the Accelerated SAP Roadmap (or Methodology). ASAP is a comprehensive solution and roadmap for the implementation of SAP, comprising of a proven methodology, tools and a range of services for the rapid implementation and ongoing optimization of SAP installations.
The ASAP Roadmap and accompanying project plan provide a standard implementation “how-to guide” that fills in the gaps of diverse methodologies and varying individual implementation skills and experiences. It is broken down into five main phases (listed below):
Phase 1: Project Preparation
> Decision-makers define project objectives and decision-making processes
> Project charter issued and implementation strategy outlined
> Project team and working environments established
> Establish kick-off and workshop meetings to engage the project and assign responsibilities
Phase 2: Business Blueprint
> Document and define the scope of the implementation in a Business Blueprint
> Application consultants, process teams and technical counterparts, achieve a common understanding of how the enterprise intends to run its business
> Engage the project team in training in SAP fundamentals and processes
Phase 3: Realization
> Configure the SAP system to fulfill the business process requirements
> Baseline configuration: configure about 80% of daily business transactions, master data, organizational structure
> Final configuration: remaining deliverables within each process, including customizations to the system
Phase 4: Final Preparation
> Integration testing, User Acceptance Testing and Quality Assurance
> User training and cut-over activities
> Resolve all crucial open issues
Phase 5: Go Live and Support
> Supporting end users
> Establish procedures and measurements to review the benefits of the implementation
> Address any remaining open critical issues
> Implement SAP services: Online Service System (OSS), Remote Consulting, EarlyWatch Services
Most SAP projects will encounter these common phases, and some will even engage specific and highly focused activities to blend into the organizations way of doing business and thinking (e.g. inter-departmental and divisional workshops to align key stakeholders and business process owners). Combined with other tools such as the Enterprise Services Repository, the ASAP Roadmap can prove to be a very effective baseline for kicking off a SAP implementation.
However, as many SAP projects engage a solution vendor (e.g. CapGemini, IBM etc.), you will likely come across a vendor-specific methodology such as IBM’s Ascendant Methodology. These methodologies are blended to suit the tried and tested best-practices established between SAP and the solution vendor.
Everything Else
Just when you think you had everything sorted out with the SAP methodology and roadmap, there are numerous areas to consider that are critical to every phase of the project. Just a few of them are outlined below, each with a brief description:
Architecture
Everything from the business, functional, technical, solution and data architecture need to be considered and clearly defined. This acts as a visual roadmap for your functional teams, business stakeholders and overall project team to steer along; it sets governance, best practices and confirmed design decisions on paper.
Champion/Expert Users
These are a group of users that have gained incremental experience in using SAP during its initial rollout and have a significant influence in an organizations business processes. They are the frontline to addressing issues with the user community, and the extended support network and business process facilitators for SAP.
Change Management
As mentioned earlier, change management is critical to align and prepare an organization for the changes that SAP brings into an organization. This involves constant communication on each critical phase of the project, awareness to the user community and business stakeholders, workshops to help bring understanding and knowledge of what to expect and how to contribute etc.
Center of Excellence (CoE)
The CoE is one of the most important components to establish during the final phase of a SAP rollout. This team comprises of SAP-skilled individuals, with strong relations to business process stakeholders, to help support and lead the growth of SAP in the organization. Everything from support issues to system enhancements and data management; the CoE is charged with owning and driving the growth and success of SAP within the organization, while bringing the necessary awareness and knowledge to the user community for operational efficiency and stability.
Communications
Keeping your organization well-informed on the progress of an SAP implementation, and what it means to them in understandable concepts, is key to a successful rollout. Inter-project communication tools and processes is also an important part of a global rollout; particularly with teams spread across multiple timezones.
Governance
Governance implies having a set of rules, processes, guidelines etc. that dictate how certain key phases and deliverables of a project need get done. Governance can be enforced by a steering committee, key resources on the project team, and even the PMO. Without governance, you can very easily expect project deliverables to get misaligned and go off course.
Hypercare and Sustain Phases
Typically after every major project rollout, a sustain/support phase is engaged to make sure the system is stable and operational according to the design. This period can typically last several weeks, as the organization settles into the new system and all the critical issues that prevent the business from operating efficiently are resolved.
Integration Management
Integration management can usually be a new concept for most project teams, and one overlooked and not effectively filled. Integration managers are charged with the responsibility of making sure all the various work streams and functional teams are aligned on their expectations from one another. Case in point, changes done to the sales process within SAP might have effects on the financial accounting processes, hence integration management’s involvement to align these changes.
Master Data
Master Data, Master Data, Master Data. As goes the saying for real estate where location is key to any successful real estate venture, master data for SAP is key to a successful implementation. An organizations master data is all the customers, vendors, products etc. configured and setup within SAP as a “single source of truth”, providing data to dependent systems and/or synchronizing/harmonizing with external systems.
Offshore Team Management
Any project without an offshore team somewhere in the world is likely no project at all, as today’s typical global IT project has a dedicated team offshore developing and testing the system during the realization phase. Offshore management skills are critical to keep under control and well-monitored. Everything from culture-clashes, to making sure your offshore team has everything they need to be successful is crucial.
Portal vs SAP GUI
When it comes time to selecting your method of providing access to SAP for your users, there are several choices. Two of which are the Enterprise Portal (a Web-based interface that replicates the SAP transaction screens online), and the SAP GUI (client-based software). Selecting between each can be a challenging architecture decision, and can affect the success of how your end-users use the system effectively.
Project Management and PMO
Here is where the SAP methodology and project plan come into play; the success of delivering a SAP project on time and on budget depend greatly on the success of the PMOs enforcement of the project plan, charter and overall methodology.
Project Sponsors, Stakeholders and SMEs
Every SAP project of significant size requires a blend of sponsors, stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to help guide the project towards a successful design and implementation. The sponsors to make and enforce key decisions as well as aligning and preparing the organization for SAP. The business stakeholders to support the project team in making decisions on the design. The SMEs to articulate the specific technical/functional requirements for key areas of the implementation.
Release Management
Release management can be a significant challenge during the initial and subsequent phased rollouts of SAP. Control over the changes that go into the system need to enforced, not just for auditing purposes but also to help keep the project team aligned with what the system baseline is between each phased implementation.
SAP Netweaver and SOA
Commonly misunderstood, and highly overlooked. SAP Netweaver is SAP’s integrated technology platform and is the technical foundation, providing components, tools and applications, for all SAP applications since the SAP Business Suite. SAP NetWeaver is marketed as a service-oriented application and integration platform; it enables you to consolidate heterogeneous systems, applications, and data to simplify your technical landscape. The key components of SAP is what makes up the solution overall, and dictates the enterprise architecture, including most technical and solution architecture components.
System Sizing and Infrastructure
Typically done during the early stages of the project, the sizing exercise is meant to help your IT team document the hardware, network and software inventory required to deliver the SAP landscape. This can often lead towards a little technical “black magic” to identify the acceptable size of equipment and setup required to run the SAP system for the size and number of users.
Status Reporting and KPIs
Maintaining a healthy and steady pace on a SAP project requires constant monitoring and measuring, often controlled by the project PMO. Key Performance Indicators to give us a visual on the health of the project, and status reports to expose the progress of each team and their deliverables.
Team Structure
Often an interesting topic for those wanting a “slice of the pie” in the project, and usually the first topic on the table. Although the team structure, and whom reports to whom, can be important to finalize, it should be well controlled and monitored so as to not create an imbalance in roles and responsibilities that would lead towards failure and/or corrosion of trust and effective teamwork.
WRICEFs
Workflows, reports, interfaces, conversions, enhancements and forms; the laundry list of custom developments that would be required to make SAP work for the organization per the design/blueprint put in place. Often argued as an aging practice of classifying the custom development roadmap on a project, it has been proven to help align the planning and organization of all custom requirements in SAP.
So there it is, in about 2,000 words… More to come on my next series of articles; stay tuned!