The quest to search for best practice in SAP S/4HANA implementations, harder to find than the holy grail or the meaning of life…

When visiting customers, they will normally ask how do we achieve/stick to the best practice and when they have identified it, how will they make everyone adopt it and how will you maintain a clean core when doing it. (This is a big ask)

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I then waffle about things, and they stop asking, but I suspect they are dissatisfied, (or maybe not) sometimes I suspect other partners will say - we have a best practice template that is perfect in every way (trust us) and SAP will say that they are the best practice.

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The question is how do you define best practice and how do you know when you see it?

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I remember in the Indiana Jones movie when the bad guys went to pick the Holy Grail from a selection of cups and chose the wrong one and then met a grisly end.?Meanwhile Indie picked the correct one and saved the life of his father with the magic liquid inside (I suspect he took an educated guess; he did not know). If you have not seen the film, then all this is meaningless.

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So, these are the truths I know on the topic:

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You need to stick to a clean core - whatever you do, so if SAP does not meet best practice (whatever that is) do it outside of the core with PAAS or SAAS or find a work around.

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SAP did not invent their processes. They were developed with industry leaders over many years, so there is a good chance they are the best practice.

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SAP is not the best practice for everything, so use it for what it is good at and don’t use it for unusual things if other products do it better (i.e., cutting up organic matter).

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Many people will say they have a best practice model, at Capgemini we have Path solutions and Our Reference models. The former has the best way of implementing SAP in a given industry, and the latter has end to end process models and KPIs etc. that go beyond SAP. A lot of vendors will claim them, but I suspect many are just a copy of the last one they did with the client’s name removed. Industry best practice models are available.

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You can adopt best practice and keep your special sauce. If you believe that the way you do goods receipts is differentiating from other competitors and is a USP, then don’t stop doing it, develop an answer using approved ways, i.e., an in-app extension a microservice or do it outside in a SAAS solution.

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If you are sure that you have a best practice process that is not represented in SAP then I am 100% sure that SAP or your partner will know if it is or not and whether it is in the roadmap for future development, so check with them and trust what they say.

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If it is needed for legal/compliance reasons really, drive to see if (I find users hide behind this all the time) other local businesses don’t need it, then neither do you.

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I observe client best practice often reflects what you did in your old systems, and you just want to carry it over, and in some cases, it protects the job/role of someone, and they won’t let it go.

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If you ask immediately for requirements from the get-go, you will end up with the best practice you have now, not the best practice you need for the future so don’t do this! Start by looking at what SAP offers.

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I would also add - trust yourself! You probably know intuitively what good is, and that many decisions on “what is best practice” involve a compromise (Indie trusted his judgement and saved his father’s life) ?

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I am not sure I have answered the question, (I did say I waffle on it) but probably that is the truth anyone who says their answer is best practice in all cases if probably uninformed (like the Baddie who died). Maybe the reason I waffle is that everyone’s best practice if different but there are lot of sound principles that can be put in place to make sure you get the best you can