Use SAP Implementation Best Practices for Greenfield SAP Implementations

Leverage SAP Best Practice Content

SAP ERP Implementation Best Practices Exist For Every SAP Industry Solution

Brand new too SAP?  Congratulations, you are about to embark on a major project.  Nothing else you are likely to do will impact as many parts of your company as implementing SAP.  SAP ASAP and now SAP Activate, are the implementation methodologies recommended by SAP and used by SAP implementors in one form or another on all SAP implementations.

• We have experience on more than 40 SAP Implementations.
• We use SAP ASAP as our core implementation methodology.
• We use SAP Activate where appropriate.
• SAP Solution Manager is our core implementation tool.
• We wrap it all in Critical Chain Project Management.

What are the SAP Implementation Methodology Best Practices

SAP Best Practices are preconfigured, integrated, out-of-the-box business processes. SAP has optimized the Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA.  They have existed for decades and are constantly updated.  SAP Best Practices are based on the experience and knowledge gained from a large number of customer projects.

The SAP Implementation Methodologies, come in a variety of flavors, that cover:

• Greenfield SAP Implementation whether SAP ECC or SAP HANA.
• SAP Roll-Out Best Practices.
• SAP Brownfield Implementation.
• SAP Carve-Out.
• SAP  BW/4HANA greenfield implementation.

SAP Implementation Tools Built Using the Best Practice Approach

The SAP Implementation Best Practice Tool Suite includes:

• SAP Solution Manager.
• SAP Application Lifecycle Manager (ALM).
  

SAP Solution Manager is Your Central Command Center

Every Greenfield SAP implementation also comes with SAP Solution Manager. 

SAP Solution Manager contains:

• SAP Accelerators
  • Templates
    • Business Case
    • Project Plan (mpp)
    • Business Process Procedures (BPPs)
    • Business Process Master Library
    • Legacy System Migration Workbench Templates
    • Blueprint Document (and an ability to generate it from Solution Manager)
    • Realization Configuration Documents
    • Test Scripts
    • Process Models
    • End-User Training Templates
  • How-To Guides
  • Documentation Standards
  • Library of Reusable Test Case Scenarios
• SAP IDES (International Demonstration and Education System)
  • A Pre-Configured SAP System that can serve a template for your SAP implementation
  • Training System
• SAP CHaRM (The SAP Change and Transport Management System)
• System Monitoring Platform 
• SAP Learning Management System

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of everything you get in the box, however, it covers to the most important elements from a Project Manager's perspective.

SAP Activate - State-of-the-Art Best Practice Methodology

 SAP Activate is the now mature implementation methodology for all new SAP implementations.  It simplifies and accelerates new implementation, system conversion or landscape transformation of SAP Solutions.  It simplifies and accelerates new implementation, system conversion or landscape transformation of SAP Solutions. SAP Activate includes a Roadmap Viewer, and in addition to SAP Best Practices, SAP Activate includes a comprehensive methodology road map.

Which Business Processes are SAP Best Practices Available?

Best Practices are available for nearly all business process of a company.  This includes Industry-Specific and Line-of-Business points of view.

Best Practices exist for:

• Business processes (for a wide range of requirements and industries).
• Analyses (e.g., ready-made reports).
• User experience (e.g. SAP Fiori overview pages).
• Project Team Training and End User Training Best Practices.
• Migration (from SAP or non-SAP systems to SAP S/4HANA). 
• Integration (e.g. with SAP Ariba or SAP C/4HANA).
• Transformation.
• Configuration of SAP S/4HANA.

SAP Signavio

A relative new capability added to the overall SAP Best Practices library is the SAP Signavio Process Explorer. It replaces the SAP Best Practices Explorer.  The SAP Signavio Process Explorer allows you to explore SAP Best Practices, get product recommendations and select processes for new greenfield implementations and for SAP customers to examine in existing SAP implementations to discover where SAP Best Practices could be implemented for great value.  It also offers business-capability and solution maps, process models, metrics, industry best practices.

Cloud Ready

SAP Activate is a methodology that is suitable for the implementation of cloud, hybrid and on-premise systems.  By using the SAP Best Practices Explorer, you can select scope items from among the available business processes.  It helps you find available Fiori Apps, and ultimately, define your future state operating model.  You can also use SAP Signavio Process Navigator from within your system to select the appropriate SAP Best Practices.

What are a Scope Items?

The individual, activatable units of the best practices are called scope items.  Scope items are therefore instances of SAP Best Practices.  Selecting these requires both expert level senior level SAP Consultants and an experienced SAP project manager.  In addition, in order to avoid issues with software availability and contract problems, you will need a SAP Project Manager or Industry Principal conversant with the SAP Product Availability Matrix or PAM.  It tells you how the various pieces fit together and helps ensure you have the right software release levels and software components in place to build out your SAP Solution.  It is also a key element in ensuring your development team does not go code something that is already built and maintained by SAP.  This is key to reducing project risk and ensuring you get the maximum value from your SAP investment, long term.

Solution Process Tutorials

Many solution processes available within the SAP portfolio have task tutorials, which are simulations that guide a user through the steps of the test script in a virtual SAP S/4HANA Cloud environment.  These solution process tutorials can also be used during the initial SAP Activate Discover Phase to show users how a process may work in their future best practice processes.  This is very helpful when you have a SME (Subject Matter Expert) who has no SAP solution process knowledge, and may not be able to envision what the future state solution will look like.  Show don't tell is key here to success and takes a certain level of SAP solution expertise to pull off successfully.  The availability of cloud solutions allows customers to quickly build out their target business process configurations and see how they will work.  Previously, due to the lack of availability of on-premise servers, this was often not possible until well into an SAP implementation.

Solution Scenarios Demonstrations

While SAP ERP is divided into modules, such as SAP FICO, SAP MM or SAP HR (there are 16 core modules in total), business processes frequently cross modules.  For example, the Lead to Cash or Plan to Fulfill crosses many 'boundaries' and it is helpful during many phases of the SAP implementation to provide end-to-end solution scenario demonstrations so all process stakeholders can see how the future solution will work.  

Rapid Time to Value

By bringing together decades of experience, deep SAP Best Practices and Industry expertise and skilled use of the tools, we help clients rapidly achieve value from their SAP implementations.  Our SAP Implementation Best Practices Methodology is designed to help our clients successfully navigate every stage of their SAP Greenfield Implementation.