SAP BW|BOBJ|Project Management Blog

How You Can Estimate a SAP BW Project in Under 5 minutes

Written by Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP | Mon, Jun, 20, 2016 @ 08:33 PM

SAP Data Warehouse Project Cost Estimation Made Easy

Sad Fact:  About 75% of all BI projects have failed or are projected to fail. Don't let yours be one of them! Our mission is to help you be one of the ones that succeed!

 

Limitations Of The Existing SAP Estimator Tool

 

After implementing SAP Business Intelligence projects since 1999, one thing remains constant, the difficulty of estimating how long it will take to implement SAP Business Intelligence and thus, what it will cost.

 

Many companies, including ours, have relied for years on a fairly complex sap estimation tool spreadsheet that relies on you knowing how many ‘objects’ you need to build.

 

There is just one problem with this approach - in order to know this, you have to already know a lot about your BW project!

 

 

How could you know this if you are estimating how long it will take you to do it? Kind of a cart before the horse situation.

 

 

 

SAP BW Project Estimation Doesn't Have to Be Complicated

SAP Cost Estimate Tool

A Proven Data Warehouse Cost Estimation Approach

 

After literally years of back of forth with my team of SAP BW experts who insisted it is simple to estimate a SAP BW project - it is always 2 people, six months; we finally took the time to come up with a SAP BW estimation technique that takes only a few pieces of information, yet yields surprisingly accurate results, right on screen.

Then we took a look at all of our past projects to see how close our estimate came to the actual results. From that, we developed an algorithm that not only simplifies the process, it caters to both simple and complex projects. 

 

You can see how the tool works here.

 

 

 

 

 

You don’t have to have a SAP BW system installed to use this. In fact, you really only need to look around your business and collect the reports people are currently using and count the columns, which also happens to be analogous to KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and input them into our calculator.

 

That can’t possibly yield the right answer, can it?

 

Can It Really Provide a Data Warehouse Project Cost Estimation?

 

Well, this calculator is relying on the concept of expert opinion, and we have had it checked and cross-checked by a variety of senior SAP BW and SAP HANA architects.

Since we are Business Intelligence experts, and always like to see the chart, because we know that if you can't chart it, you probably haven't really done all you can to understand the answer you are seeing.

 

We also know that you perceive and understand images, in this case, charts, about 60,000 times faster than words, and so, we have also provided an interactive chart you can easily adjust in real time. 

 

What’s the best Use Case for this SAP BW Project Estimation tool:

 

  • No existing SAP BW system installed
  • Use this tool to quickly set a scope and budget for your project.

  • Not completely sure what reports your business users use or require? As you collect them, you can progressively adjust the numbers in the estimator and it will provide an immediately updated resource estimation.

  • We also provide additional tools which you can you use to develop a cost estimate for your project.
 
  • SAP BW System Installed

 

  • User satisfaction rated as neutral

  • Use this tool to estimate how long it will take to roll out new reports.

  • Use the results from your past projects as inputs into this tool and see if your implementation meets the benchmark this tool provides in its raw estimate.

  • Use this estimate to set realistic delivery expectations with your end-users

 

  • SAP BW Installed but Users Unhappy
 
  • This is one of the most common scenarios and as the CIO, you need a tool that you can use in front of your CEO to provide some ballpark estimates on additional work.

  • You can also use the follow-on tool we provide to provide an on-the-fly financial estimate for your project.

SAP BW Project Resource Estimation in Under 5 Minutes

Why Yes, You Can.

As the title of the blog suggest, this is a new tool designed to allow you to produce a SAP BW Project Resource Estimation in under 5 minutes. In truth, you can do it in under a minute if you know the number of the reports required and have counted the columns of each one. With nearly 2/3rds of all SAP customers either already using or contemplating developing their datawarehouse, this tool helps you answer the challenge of developing that project estimate including resource requirements and project durations. You can access it by clicking the button.