Why Use the SAP ASAP Methodology?

By |January 16th, 2012|

ASAP Methodology Background In the mid 1990’s, SAP had gained significant bad press and publicity around several high-profile project disasters that the company knew were completely avoidable. At that time Oracle, Baan, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft all had salespeople making the case that SAP was too expensive, too complicated, and too time-consuming to implement. In response, SAP released the ASAP Methodology in the mid-late 90’s (around 1996 or 1997). R&D resources and efforts have since re [...]

SAP IT Governance, SAP Program Management, SAP PMO Metrics

By |January 9th, 2012|

On this forum, the most frequent response from the project and program managers was a call for independence. However, when I raised the issue of project or program manager accountability, metrics, performance, and avoidance of project messes, no one addressed the problem. Is it any wonder so many business application projects and programs get into trouble, go over budget, and exceed the allotted time when the individuals responsible for coordinating and evaluating them don't want clear accounta [...]

Series on SAP ERP Project Success Factors

By |December 19th, 2011|

This is a compiled sets of posts related to SAP project success criteria ================== The Top 5 ERP Success Factors by Project Stage from 22 Critical Success Factors https://www.iitrun.com/the-top-5-erp-success-factors-by-project-stage-from-22-critical-success-factors SAP Implementation Partner or Company Selection Criteria https://www.iitrun.com/sap-implementation-partner-or-company-selection-criteria SAP Success Factors for Vendor Selection – Responsibility Matrix 1 https://www.iitrun.co [...]

An SAP ABAP Innovation Revolution Beyond HANA

By |December 12th, 2011|

Some time back, I wrote about Opportunities for SAP Innovation. At the time, I wasn’t really expecting a lot, and I likely did not have much influence. However, I do find it coincidental that many of the suggestions I offered have been adopted. Some of them, such as the switched framework to improve order management processing, are included in ECC 6.0 EhP4. One issue that I have been contemplating for a long time is how to dramatically improve ABAP development and overall application enhancemen [...]

7 Tips for Effective Client Management of SAP Consultants

By |December 5th, 2011|

Over the years, the most successful SAP projects I have participated in had strong client side leaders. They had some knowledge and understanding of how to deliver large, complex, or difficult projects. Not just SAP projects, but large complex undertakings. Their ability to deliver projects came from their ability to manage, direct, and engage with project participants. They took the initiative to directly manage their own projects. Many of these leaders had something else in common. They under [...]

More SAP Project Leadership Tips for Managing Conflict

By |November 28th, 2011|

If you are determined to gain and then maintain SAP project momentum, you will see stress. Part of the requirement for momentum includes asking people to reach for stretch goals that can challenge (and deepen) their capabilities, but also cause tension and even conflict. One author says conflict is "a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position which is incompatible with the wish [...]