Staffing Your SAP BW Project
Ever wondered what is the optimal way to staff your SAP BW Project? Is your current SAP BW team working 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, and still falling behind?
Are you even sure what falling behind means on your BW project? We find that many people are not aware of the specific Roles SAP actually had in mind for staffing a SAP BW Project.
Those Roles include:
- BW Data Extraction Consultant
- BW Data Access Consultant (Frontend, Web)
- BW Data Architect, Administrator
- BW Application Consultant (Business Process Knowledge)
- BW BASIS (Administration Function)
Of course, a BW consultant may perform more than one of these roles. However, we do not usually see the BASIS function combined with the other functions, and we also see SAP BASIS administrators struggle with the SAP BW BASIS function.
Don't make the mistake of not filling these roles or at least making sure your BW Consulting team is covering the role!
You might be wondering just what these different SAP BW Roles Do?
BW Data Extraction Consultant:
Responsible for identifying and obtaining the data required to satisfy the requirements of the BW Project.
- Identifies SAP R/3 Data Sources
- Identifies Data from/to systems such as CRM, APO, SEM and MDM
- Identifies and sources data from legacy data systems (non-SAP systems within the corporation)
- Identifies and sources data from external sources of data, for example, D&B, Nielson, Lysine market data (and understands their true meaning)
As might be guessed, having an ABAP skilled person onboard is handy in this role. However, a SAP Application Consultant can easily work with an ABAP’er to get the data.
BW Data Access Consultant:
Responsible for determining the business requirements, designing and developing data access solutions for the BW project.
- BW’s Business Explorer (can be replaced with BOBJ 4)
- Certified ODBO Clients: Non-SAP data access tools
- Visual Basic Development (rarely used skillset these days)
- Web Development, CSS Style Sheet Definition
SAP BW Data Architect
- BW Infocubes
- Logical Models
- BW Process Models
- BW Enterprise Model
- Responsible for Administration
- Designs and Ensures Compliance with Established Naming Conventions
- Will design the KPI Blueprint which provides a roadmap for the various other members of the team.
BW Application Consultant
Responsible for utilizing BW to satisfy the business requirements identified for the project
If the scope of the BW project is tightly controlled and can use standard BW Business Content, InfoCubes and Queries, the BW Application Consultant may assume the responsibility to perform several roles concurrently.
With experience, will pick up both SAP functional module expertise, i.e., Materials Management or Financials, as well as Industry Specific expertise, i.e., catch weight management within the Wholesale Food Distribution industry.
SAP BW Basis
- BW Installation and BASIS Parameters, Patches, Support Packages
- BW Landscape, Correction and Transportation Settings
- BW Sizing
- BW Performance & Tuning
- BW Authorizations
That is a lot of SAP BW Roles! We find that it is a lot easier to properly staff a SAP BW project when the clients have a deeper knowledge of the complete SAP BW solution and recommend you take a look at our SAP BW Mindmap to quickly learn about the SAP BW Solution.
Of course, if you are in the process of staffing up a SAP BW project, we can help you get it right with the right SAP Resources.
The Final Mistake: One mistake planners sometimes overlook is not picking up the phone and talking directly to people who have been through the process you are currently going through. Luckily, this is easy to fix. Give me a call. Let's talk project for a while.
Thanks
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More reading:
Working with SAP BW Consulting [Consultation]
Learn What is Catch Weight Management
Why You Need Functional SAP Consultants on a SAP BW Project