Proven, practical guide for managing successful SAP projects

This whitepaper takes a hands-on practitioner view and guides company decision makers on how to plan, implement and manage successful ERP projects. The article walks through a client SAP project example that enables a better customer experience journey.

ERP projects are complex, involve many tasks and require subject matter expertise across numerous disciplines. Projects require many roles, people and skill sets. Those need to be properly managed and aligned with client objectives, timelines and other initiatives (which may have conflicting interests).

Specific project situation: Client seeks to implement a customer experience (CX) platform that provides a 360-degree customer view, enables true personalization at every touchpoint, provides complete integration with back office systems, and governs customer data. Client selected SAP Customer experience suite including Sales, Marketing, Data and Commerce Cloud.

The projects involves three phases:

Phase 0: Project preparation. User centric design approach. Scope finalization. Solution and process design across all Cloud modules. Integration Architecture finalized.

Phase 1: Build, test, deploy, and support Sales and Data Cloud; integrate with client system. Data migration. Change management and relevant training for respective modules.

Phase 2: Build, test, deploy and support Marketing and Service Cloud. Data migration, change management and Training.

Phase Delivery Approach

There are three main phases Plan (Stages: Project Preparation, Discovery & Design), Build (Stages: Sprints, Testing & Training), and Release (Phase Go Live & Hypercare) with 5 stages shown in the brackets.

Plan - Project Preparation (Stage 1)

Activities: Project & sprint planning. Governance and Cadence. Align on detailed methodology. Agree on project deliverables. Plan organizational change management. Budget estimation. Mobilize resources. Project kick off. Deliverables: Project related Charter, Management Plan, Schedule & Sprint Plan, Risk & Issue Register, Communication plan, Standards & Acceptance conditions, Status reports. Change Management. Provisioned Quality System.

Plan - Discovery & Design (Stage 2)

Activities: Gather business requirements. Identify priorities. Review interfaces. Develop user stories and high-level solution design. Validate integration architecture & data migration requirements. Training Development and deployment approach. Platform set up. Deliverables: Change impact assessment. User Stories and Personas. User journey maps. High-level process design. Detailed functional designs. Solution & Integration architecture. Security & controls architecture. Requirements traceability matrix. Development scope and backlog. Data Conversion/ Migration/ Cleansing/ Governance plans. To-be master data design. Test Strategy. Service Blue print.

Build - Sprints (Stage 3)

Activities: Planning, Design, Development, Testing, Feedback, Retrospective. Feedback cycle with client after each sprint cycle. Unit and functional testing incorporated. Deliverables: Unit, Integration, User acceptance, Regression and performance test plans, scenarios and test cases. Training related Development plan, Curriculum and courseware. Train the Trainer Program.

Build – Testing & Training (Stage 4)

Activities: Test preparation. Performance testing execution. System integration testing and user acceptance testing execution with key users. Training preparation and delivery. Train the trainer. Deliverables: Cutover Plan. Unit, Integration, User acceptance, Regression and performance test results. Mock data conversion results. Service delivery transition plan. Training evaluation report. Provisioned Production System.

Release – Go Live & Hypercare (Stage 5)

Activities: Perform mock cutover and cutover activities. Production system Go Live. Defect and incident management. Track benefits realization. Post implementation review. Business handover and knowledge transfer. Deliverables: Go/ no-go criteria. Knowledge Transfer Plan. Service Delivery Transition Exit Criteria. Post-implementation and evaluation report. Project closure report.

Project Example with SAP S/4 Hana

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Track and manage responsibility for respective project activities and deliverables

The section above highlighted numerous key activities and deliverables that are necessary for the successful completion of the project. Individual people play different roles & responsibilities to accomplish each task. Typically, various people and functions need to work together to accomplishing an activity or deliverable. Each contributes different value. A RACI matrix records who is "responsible, accountable, consulted and/ or needs to be informed" respective to a specific activity.

The importance of Design & Discovery (A more detailed look at Stage 2)

In recent years, companies finally recognize the importance to not only focus on their customers, but also consider their employees. Design thinking and other creative workshop approaches help better understand the needs of the people who will be working with the intended systems, tools and solutions. The better the alignment, process flow, ease of use for the end user the better the performance and success of the implementation. It requires much less change management activities and helps achieve a higher return on investment. Such Design & discovery efforts happen at the beginning of the project in Phase 0 when gathering the requirements for the ERP project. It requires additional skillsets to apply design thinking.

Design & Discovery stage - detailed outline example

Week 1: Determine problem areas and where to focus. Activities: Workshop to create vision & Challenge statements. Outline related user/ guest ecosystem and related technology, process and data. Recruit employee/ guest representatives. Outcomes: High level map of in scope current sales, marketing and service process steps from a business perspective.

Week 2: Discover current and ideal future employee/ customer experience. Activities: Employee/ customer observations & interviews, co-design session. Current & future experience mapping. Pain point/ opportunity prioritization. Outcomes: Employee/ customer profiles (needs, behaviors, triggers, opportunities, e.g. loyalty). Validated current business and customer journeys.

Week 3: Define a hypothesis for SAP intervention to improve experience. Activities: Develop low fidelity hypothesis of SAP interface concepts & journey. Develop hypothesis technology architecture. Identify non-technology related changes. Outcomes: Hypothesis for intervention journey via SAP implementation. Initial SAP development list (as-is vs. customized). Detailed business process maps and initial view of change impacts.

Week 4: Distil findings from testing with real users. Activities: Test and refine hypothesis journey & concepts with users. Capture employee/ customer outcome statement principles. Outcomes: Epics and map user stories; estimate time to deliver user stories.

Week 5: Decide what to prioritize for Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and how to deliver. Activities: Agree matrix (cost, values, time, feasibility, desirability, etc.). Conduct workshop to prioritize Epics and user stories. Develop service blueprint aligned to implementation roadmap. Outcomes: Prioritize Epics aligned to sprint plan. Validated, estimated and written out user stories. Service blueprint with detailed MVP and high level end state experience.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Automation enhance ERP Systems very well

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?Methodology, Enablers and Accelerators

There are numerous methodologies, tools and accelerators that enable a SAP project. They include: Capability building & training, Train the trainer Program. Management related to Change, Stakeholders, Communication, Data Migration. Agile & Sprint methodology, Enterprise value management. Follow the author for a future article to cover these topics in detail.

Read this article on successful customer engagement through context and digital insights

Key Roles on the program

Governance & Design (client in this project): Overall vision& strategy for platform. Governance of program of work and platform. Relationship with SAP. Requirements & design of platform as a whole. Embedding platform into overall organization. Change management. Delivery & platform roadmap.

Project Governance / Leadership group (Executive Sponsor, Steering Committee, Program Leadership): Regular Steering committee meetings to discuss direction of project, overall project delivery outcomes, project impediments. Seek confirmation and decisions as required. Includes: Make all overall management judgements and decision overseeing the services.

Project Management (Engagement partner, Quality assurance Partner, project manager): Provide project oversight, schedule management, reporting and supporting. Includes: Scope prioritization. Program reporting & governance. Project planning (release/ capacity planning, forecasting/ financials, sprint planning, program reporting). Coordinate with overall client program office for overall program delivery.?Coordinate with client to decommission of existing solutions to be replaced. Work with client on commercial and vendor management. Work with client on testing and change management of overall plans.

Architecture (Solution Lead, Technical Architect, Solution Specialist): Advice across technical/ architectural governance over the solution and design principles. Includes: SAP environment management. Define/ communicate design principles to adopt. Code review and quality assurance. Manage best practices. SAP release & upgrades. Approval of development. Interface with overall environment. Define Security principles for SAP. Coordinate with security architects. Coordinate with architects for overall end-to-end enterprise & solution architecture.

Product Owner: Provide deep understanding of client business and strategy, processes, customer needs and policies. Apply working principles of Agile (Scrum) delivery network. Groom product backlog. Complete business reviews. Participate in Team retrospectives. Engage business through discussion & feedback sessions (via showcases, test drives) and feedback to the team.

Product Team (Solution Lead, Technical Architect, Solution Specialists, Experience Designers): Support decisions across product strategy, business engagement, requirements & design, user and customer experience, change management, project management for product such as packaging & release. Includes: Engage with business to develop solution briefs, integration specifications (user journey/ processes/ stories with acceptance criteria). Engage with scrum teams to complete artefact. Validate for completeness & accuracy, end-to-end solution, business alignment. Confirm build effort aligns with planning. Work with human centered / customer experience design. Engage with change managers and testers.

Scrum Team(s) (Scrum master, solution lead, development lead; Offshore manager/ functional/ technical/ tester): Build (configure/ develop) SAP solutions & integrations that are packaged by the product team and approved by client. Responsible for development & system testing and build packages provided by product team. Work as blended onshore/ offshore team.

Data Migration (Scrum Master, Offshore Functional/ Developer): Support data migration from existing platforms to SAP. Includes: Provide data mapping templates for data preparation. Create required load programs for automated data uploads. Load data into SAP from populated data mapping templates from the business for automated data objects.

Change Management & Communication: Set the direction for delivery & implementation of change, communications and engagement activities throughout the program. Develop communications collateral and facilitate engagement activities.

Conclusion

ERP projects are complex. This article provided an outline for successful SAP projects.

If you are interested in this or similar topics you may can connect with the author's expert network on LinkedIn at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/alexwsteinberg/ ??????or reach Alex directly at?[email protected]?or?WeChat at???alexwsteinberg2??

About the author: Alex Steinberg 方泽昂?has provided Strategy, Operations and Technology consulting for top brands for 20+ years. He has directed, managed and supported projects in highly complex, multi-cultural environments across industries on 5 continents. German national, born in Switzerland, Alex has conducted business in seven world languages (G, E, S, F, I, C, P, R).

Alex is recognized for his insights on key industry, business and technology topics. He has developed cutting edge methodology that has been implemented with over one thousand companies. Numerous of his programs & projects have won industry awards, Client and CEO recognition.

Digital/business transformation & Intelligent Automation

Alex has directed and/ or supported digital transformation, intelligent automation & augmentation projects for top client brands for individual business functions, across front/ middle/ back office and entire organizations end-to-end.?He has been a key contributor to develop/ build a world-leading RPA & intelligent automation practice. He leverages the full spectrum of advanced technologies, systems and tools. Alex combines deep, hands-on project experience with industry best practices. He is in close exchange with other experts across the industries to incorporate other best practices, project learnings and innovative approaches.?

Special credits: This document leverages content & methodology of Deloitte and SAP that are world-leading organizations in consulting and ERP system solutions.

Legal disclaimer: This document represents Alex's personal opinion and does not reflect that of his current/ previous employers or clients. Markets and technology change quickly and information gets out-of-date. The reader is advised to always seek individual analysis & consultation.