SAP Standard Benchmarking for SAP PCM
The first thing to say about SAP Standard Benchmarking is that we do not talk about SAP Standard Benchmarking. The second thing to say is that we don't talk ever about SAP Standard Benchmarking. The third thing to say is SAP Standard Benchmarking is something SAP take very seriously, they do they have a Benchmark Council who penalize errant vendors and publish the incidents online and everything.
Benefits of Benchmarking
SAP Standard Application Benchmarks help customers and partners find the appropriate hardware configuration for their IT solutions. Working in concert, SAP and our hardware partners developed SAP Standard Application Benchmarks to test the hardware and database performance of SAP applications and components.
Released for technology partners, benchmarks provide basic sizing recommendations to customers by placing a substantial load upon a system during the testing of new hardware, system software components, and relational database management systems (RDBMS). All performance data relevant to system, user, and business applications are monitored during a benchmark run and can be used to compare platforms.
source: SAP Benchmarking portal
Interestingly enough Benchmarking is both for customer systems configuration sizing and optimization as well as confirming the quality assurance given by SAP or on their behalf by a vendor. It is part of their extended customer care.
The benchmarking theory as a systematic process can be categorized as such:
source: TheBalance.com - Benchmarking your Business
Almost always the benchmarking discussed by customers with vendors is arises from concern over performance. The strategic and process related benchmarking are not on the radar of most realisation phase, post-go live or indeed support phases.
There is good reason for this as the methodology and practice of benchmarking is the improvement of performance from a baseline. The theory of constraint comes to our rescue as the assumption of benchmarking is the presence and absence of a bottle neck.
source: https://www.foodengineeringmag.com
Strategic Benchmarking for SAP PCM - This would involve the quality assurance thresholds for master data, business rules, and transactional data during the design phase and the adherence to this during testing.
Process Benchmarking for SAP PCM - This is the specification of the linkage between the Process Model and the Solution Architecture Model. What process are expected and when and the adherence to any expected quantitative measure.
Performance Benchmarking - Is setting Best Practice and Standards for set tasks and scripts from with SAP PCM. The tasks and scripts would already have known response times and would be expected to be loaded to the customer's system with no "special tunings" like freewheeling the PCM Model on a standalone or "enhanced rules or drivers". We are expected to provide the model as is with a realistic environment.
Benchmarking is not a normal part of the software development process of delivering SAP PCM but should be. In some of my projects I have had SAP Review scheduled in the plan and it has involved thorough testing and benchmarking at SAP's own standards.
Ultimately if the solution is sound and you followed the sizing advice from SAP or expert vendors what is there to fear?
Answers on my twitter timeline.