10 SAP BW Project Estimation Best Practices To Roll-Out Today
Estimating a
SAP BW Project is very different from estimating a SAP R/3 project. Though SAP ASAP and its associated Business ADD-Ins cover the basics of both types of projects, in our experience, the initial project estimation is where the deal is won and most importantly and isn't covered; this is where client expectations are set.
What makes it even more challenging to estimate a SAP BW Project is that there are now usually several other solutions that also need to be included in the estimation process. These may include, SAP Webi, HANA, Dashboard Builder, xCelsius, BOE for administration, and Crystal Reports.
We provide a sophisticated SAP BW Project estimator that you can download here on the blog and in several places on our site. The estimator is meant to be used by a highly skilled SAP BW Consultant, as it requires thorough knowledge of SAP Business Content and SAP Business Processes.
Download Our SAP BW Project Estimator by clicking the Image Above
When estimating a SAP BW Project, we follow these 10 Best Practices:
- Gather all available existing information, i.e., existing reports, dashboards.
- Determine the current implementation status of the SAP or Oracle or other ERP and legacy systems.
- Establish whether a solid BW Naming Convention is established and used.
- If not, include a separate estimate to bring the naming conventions up to date.
- Map, to the extent possible, the SAP BW Business Content to the requirements uncovered in Step 1 and from any other requirement sources
- Analyze the security integration requirements in those cases where SAP BW is being added after system is stable.
- Examine the organization chart for available of internal resources.
- Establish what type of implementation this will be: Initial deployment, build of requirements strictly per clients direction, or, business advisory type, where clients are looking for advice on what could be done beyond what they have thought of.
- Budget time for business case development and refinement throughout the project.
- Compare to past SAP BW project durations as cross-check on the probability of success.
Clearly, there are other items and issues to keep in mind when estimating a SAP BW project. The popular refrain is that this must have been done before. Unfortunately, your project has never been done before although one similar to it has been. It requires highly skilled and experienced estimators to arrive at a valid estimation. Project execution is the second ingredient required to execute to the estimation, and selecting the SAP BW Project Manager and SAP BW team is a skill unto itself.
Got any SAP BW Estimation Questions? Just leave a comment.
Thanks
Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP
President, SAP BW Consulting, Inc.
Lonnie.Ayers@SAPBWConsulting.com
