Bad advice #3 “ABAP can do everything”

Where is the edge of reasonable enhancement? How to understand that this is something valuable or just “we used to have this button”. Or if it’s something that really makes the business to be “different from other competitors in industry” or a resistance of business users and their managers of leaving comfort zone?

The topic of when it’s expedient to stay close to standard or when we need to find custom solution is one of the most critical in any implementation or transformation projects. If from the very beginning there is no approach of how a project team together with business will decide on the approach of how such decisions can be done, then there is a high risk that a project can lose speed or be put under the risk.

Sometimes a simple business requirement like adding a custom field (because it exists now in legacy system) without clear identified business case and value ends up with hundred men days of implementation of a solution that could be actually replaced by several standard SAP apps/objects and where a user will need to make a couple of more clicks in comparison with today way of working.

It’s the same when you build a house – either you try to say as close as possible to one of the typical projects for which materials are already more or less clear and available on stock or you go completely with your own construction project where specific materials and experience are needed. For sure, it will be possible to finish any of the option. The question will be about time, resources and budget. As always.

It’s obvious that big companies can’t use SAP standard without any custom enhancements because of specificity of their processes that really bring competitive advantage. But at the same time the consequences of going too far with custom developments are sadly well known:

-??????? Higher costs for implementation and for future support

-??????? Longer implementation and sometimes not controlled scope

-??????? Risks on higher count of bugs during testing, hyper care, support

-??????? More efforts for future maintenance and system upgrades (including dependency on the expertise and complex knowledge transfer to other colleagues)

-??????? Loosing focus and real priorities and values

-??????? Demotivation of the project team

How to avoid such a situation? At first, it’s very important that business is ready and be opened to change their processes if needed in direction of optimization, standardization and simplicity. At the same time SAP team should be ready and have experience to challenge the business requirements and provide optimal solutions where possible closer to SAP standard. Both business and IT should be opened for mutual dialog and finding the best optimal solution.

If at the end there is a clear understanding that a specific process/requirement can’t be covered by SAP standard functionality, it would be good to go through the following questions in order to understand if this requirement brings real value to the business and is really a must-have or its’ implementation can be postponed to the later phases:

1.????? Pareto Principle 80/20

a.????? how often this process is used

b.????? how many operations per day/week/month

c.????? how much efforts it requires if no enhancement will be done

d.????? how much value it brings to business (real business case)

2.????? Process/organizational transformation and change management

a.????? Is it possible to change a process?

b.????? Is the process effective as it is now?

c.????? Is there a need of SAP trainings, education that will help business better to understand SAP standard and best practices?

3.????? Change control (WRICEF board or similar)

a.????? Was the requirement included into the initial scope

b.????? How it can influence the budget and go-live date

c.????? What are the options for the requirement and efforts for each of the option (including pros/cons/risks both for project and further support/maintenance of the solution)

Any quote from ChatGPT? Sure ?? “Aligning with SAP standards during project implementation fosters compatibility, scalability, supportability, adherence to best practices, reduced complexity, improved interoperability, and enhanced compliance and security—all of which are crucial for successful and sustainable business operations. By fostering a collaborative partnership between IT teams, SAP experts, and business stakeholders, you can work together to stay close to SAP standards during project implementation, maximizing the benefits of SAP solutions while meeting business requirements effectively.”