How To Use SAP Value Engineering Services [eBook]

Table of Contents

What is Value Engineering?

 

Have you ever been a CEO with a SAP Project that just doesn’t seem to be working?  Perhaps one that hasn’t shown an ROI

I was once hired to develop a reporting strategy for a company that was in the 8th  year of a 2 year implementation.  It was very interesting interviewing the CEO, right before he went on CNBC to announce his quarterly earnings, a very key KPI for a CEO

 

CEO's are VERY Interested in ROI

 

In short, he wanted to know when he was going to see some return on their investment in SAP.  The SAP project was mission critical to the business, and covered nearly the full-scope of what you could do with SAP, including SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP APO), SAP HRMS, SAP FICO, SAP CRM, SAP EHS, SAP Industry Solutions, and a large number of custom developments and enhancements created (usually) with ABAP.

Layer In the Value Engineering Methodology

 

Today, I would have a different conversation with him or any of the other CEO’s I have dealt with over the years.  Specifically, I would introduce the concept of SAP's Value Engineering Methodology to him. 

How to Select the Right  SAP Value Engineering Tool

SAP Value Engineering Methodology

SAP has its own version of Value Engineering (I know, I am one), but the actual term “Value Engineer” goes way back, and the U.S. military has a highly evolved Value Engineering approach.  Today, however, I want to discuss some of the offerings from SAP Value Engineering and when and where to employ them.

 

Those offerings include many software tools but are not limited to:

 

Value Engineering Tools

Value Engineering Toolbox

 

 

Each of these services are designed to be employed at different stages of the SAP lifecycle, and in the case of the project I mentioned above, a Collaborative Value Assessment would clearly have been called for.

 

Perform an Honest Value Analysis

 

A value analysis would have revealed that the project was actually on-track, primarily because of a series of acquisitions that occurred during the SAP project implementation, and thus various scope extensions had taken place and had been incorporated in the change control process

However, it was in extreme danger of outright cancellation and even if ultimately successful (it was), it would still suffer from long term, negative perceptions (it did).

 

How would a CVA Have Helped the Project Get Back on Track?

 

How would the CVA actually have helped get the project back on track.  By changing the focus of the SAP implementation to value.   

With a CVA, you work with a team of Senior Solution Specialist and Value Engineers, who together form the value engineering team, and focus the project on value delivery

 

You might ask how a project is currently sold and designed, if not on value delivery?  

 

Minimize Project Risk

 

As it turns out, a project is usually laid out to minimize the risk during implementation with a focus on the lowest life cycle costs, both to the client and to the implementer.  Though there is nothing wrong with that, it means that many years may elapse before the business achieves any kind of positive ROI

 

Longer Project Timelines = Higher Project Risk

 

This may be technically the least risky approach from an implementation standpoint, but very risky from a project success standpoint.

 

How SAP Value Management Could Have Helped

 

In the case of a severely over-run project, the CVA approach would result in a reordering of the functionalities to be rolled-out, keeping in mind the push-pull nature of risk vs. reward

 

What would it take to perform a CVA? 

 

Aside from the templates provided by SAP to document your roadmap and the members of the CVA team from the implementer, you would also expect involvement from primarily CxO level business representatives from the client.  

 

Use a Design Strategy to Optimize Value Achieved 

 

The CVA is all about setting both grand design strategy and direction, and ultimately, allocating or reallocating financial and human resources to get the most value from your SAP system in the least amount of time. 

So Which VE Tool Should I Use?

 

The selection of which VE tool to use, in which phase of any project, requires good judgment, and sound knowledge of the tools. 

 

More importantly, it requires leadership to use the tools. 

 

Not all tools make sense and there is a definite ‘right point’ in time to select and use them on any project.   Their limits are the boundaries of SAP and sometimes you need teams with a broader vision to really fully leverage the systems you have or are contemplating acquiring and implementing.  It's interesting to note that the very first deliverable within any flavor of the SAP Activate methodology is the creation of a sound business case.  

 

How to Select the Right SAP Value Engineering Tool

 

In order to help you both more fully understand each of these and when they should be employed during the lifecycle of your SAP system, we've put together en ebook, "How to Select the Right SAP Value Engineering Tool".  Get yours today by clicking the button.  

 

Download My How to Select   SAP Value Engineering  Service Offerings Guidebook

 

People Who Read This Also Read:

Understanding Value Management and SAP BW

7 Questions Typically Answered by a BI Strategy

How to Build a SAP SEM BPS Retail Industry Value Case

The Shocking Truth About Your Sales Process

How to Create a 5 Year Strategic IT Roadmap

 

Please Leave a Comment or Ask Any Questions You May Have

 

If you have any thoughts or comments on SAP Value Engineering or Success Stories to share about how you uncovered value opportunities with one of these tools, would love to hear about it the comments below.

Topics from this blog:
Strategy Management Value Engineering

Download SAP BW Mindmap

Learn what SAP Business Warehouse is and what it does in under five minutes

Get this Mindmap

Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP

About the Author: Lonnie Ayers is a Hubspot Certified Inbound Marketing consultant, with additional certifications in Hubspot Content Optimization, Hubspot Contextual Marketing, and is a Hubspot Certified Partner. Specialized in demand generation and sales execution, especially in the SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Partner space, he has unique insight into the tough challenges Service Providers face with generating leads and closing sales using the latest digital tools. With 15 years of SAP Program Management experience, and dozens of complex sales engagements under his belt, he helps partners develop and communicate their unique sales proposition. Frequently sought as a public speaker in various events, he is available for both inhouse engagements and remote coaching.
Balanced Scorecard Consultant

He also recently released a book "How to Dominate Any Market - Turbocharging Your Digital Marketing and Sales Results", which is available on Amazon.

View All Articles by Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP

The SAP Blog

Subscribe to our blog and receive SAP BW Updates, demand generation, inbound marketing, sales enablement, technology and revenue generation insights and ideas delivered right to your email.