IT Project Management Archives - Page 13 of 15 - Innovate. Integrate. Transform. Run.

SAP Development Practices That Carry Huge Costs
SAP Development Practices That Carry Huge Costs

SAP Development Practices That Carry Huge Costs

By Bill Wood|August 15th, 2009|

Anyone who has implemented SAP for any period of time has seen the classic three-tier system environment. You have a Development landscape, QA landscape, and then a Production landscape. In a classic scenario, you do your prototyping, system setup and design, and first-pass validation in the development landscape for the appropriate client. When it comes to development environments, a consistent pattern has emerged where the Basis team will ignore the potential for large profits to save a few p [...]

Protecting the SAP Project’s Budget and Timeline
Protecting the SAP Project’s Budget and Timeline

Protecting the SAP Project’s Budget and Timeline

By Bill Wood|July 11th, 2009|

For years I have heard stories about blown SAP budgets and blown SAP project timelines. Personally, I have experienced a few project overruns [FN1], and a few where we came in under budget. However, I can’t say any of the projects were ever early. While I believe that coming in under budget is often possible, reducing the time frame is much more difficult because of the planning and coordination processes. You need to adjust all of the parallel work streams and get the coordination and [...]

Why SAP Projects Fail to Deliver ROI and How to Change It
Why SAP Projects Fail to Deliver ROI and How to Change It

Why SAP Projects Fail to Deliver ROI and How to Change It

By Bill Wood|July 8th, 2009|

One reason businesses deal with failure of results in SAP implementations is lingering memories of the Y2K effect. At that time, businesses everywhere simply wanted to install ERP systems to take care of the looming potential crisis over the millennial changeover. After Y2K, the brief downturn in demand for ERP systems, along with the tech bubble burst in the stock market, created additional pressure. Unfortunately, they also overlooked SAP's full potential throughout the chaos. Because of this [...]

A Cautionary Tale About SAP Knowledge Transfer
A Cautionary Tale About SAP Knowledge Transfer

A Cautionary Tale About SAP Knowledge Transfer

By Bill Wood|February 3rd, 2009|

I spent the first few years of my SAP career on SAP training and documentation. During this time, I covered most of the major SAP modules [FN1], which was an invaluable experience for me. That time in front of a classroom doing SAP courses helped me gain an understanding of the user perspective, the client perspective, and how to facilitate effective requirements gathering sessions.Many SAP trainers do not have the luxury of specializing in a single module. Usually, you learn the transactional [...]

Planning For a Smooth SAP Go-Live Part 1
Planning For a Smooth SAP Go-Live Part 1

Planning For a Smooth SAP Go-Live Part 1

By Bill Wood|October 27th, 2008|

After you have done all the research and gone through all the trouble to make your project a success, four key areas can still cause trouble during your SAP go-live: 1. SAP Security and Authorizations. 2. Master Data. 3. Business process changes, process gaps (missed processes and exceptions). 4. SAP ABAP Custom Development. While each of these areas consistently cause trouble at go-live, resolving the first item (Security and Authorizations) and the third item (Process issues) should [...]

Planning For a Smooth SAP Go-Live: Part 2
Planning For a Smooth SAP Go-Live: Part 2

Planning For a Smooth SAP Go-Live: Part 2

By Bill Wood|October 25th, 2008|

2. SAP Master Data Ideally, your master data processing should begin early in the process. During the blueprint phase, you should identify legacy data sources, raw legacy data extracts, and key data requirements or data settings. Even though it won’t be perfect, you should determine an initial scope, and experienced developers should be able to point you to the type of raw data records they will need to begin working with. When you begin your SAP project, you should immediately ask for SAP mast [...]