CP, that's the, the SAP implementation methodology.

That's what we're going to discuss in this

section of the course. This is the last topic for the course, and I will say very important, for many
reasons, and seeing the implementation during my consulting days, and I can say that, It's
critically important. Companies invest a lot of money into this, they are looking for return on
investment, and the key thing is to is not the technical part of it, but specifically how the
implementation is organized within the company and how it gets done. So there's a lot of soft
skills involved beyond the hard skills that become critically important. And if not, then there are
many, many failures, which I've seen, and companies do not get the benefit out of all of the SAP
implementations. So, many of you, if you end up as consultants or maybe work in an industry or
a company where they are using SAP, you would be asked to get involved in project teams, and
at that time, this topic can be very, very useful, trying to understand how to engage, how to work
with the teams and make sure, we don't have the same type of failures, which the companies
have seen in the past. So, as discussed earlier, the software implementations can be a high
risk. You know, it's a high risk situation, and high cost as well, and it can affect the company
significantly. I mean, for big companies, it can mean, you know, loss of 1000000s of dollars.
Small companies, if they're doing that or meteor companies, if they decide to go with SAP, that
can even lead them to bankruptcy and stuff like that, if they really do a bad job with
implementation, which can affect how they service their customers and how they can reduce
their cost. And we all know that, you know, if you have worked in the industry, that software
implementations are not, you know, they don't go smooth, there are always issues, which has to
be taken care of. But you can connect 80% of it or have risk mitigation plans to avoid some
situations as you move forward. So let's look at some of the factors that are critically important
for the overall success of a software implementation. So this can be beyond SAP. I mean, it can
be any other ERP system, but I will say, uh, we will specifically talk about the SAP
implementation, the structure for that in the next few slides. But overall, I will say, project
manager is a critical limit in the software implementation. You know, I've seen project managers
who have different, come with different administrative skills. Some of the things that are critically
important is that they need to have support from the top management. So it's not a lift service
type process. It has to be a very strong alignment with top management, and the top
management should be willing to put in the effort, support whenever, you know, the requirement
is there, and continuously engage with the team. So the project manager also should be a
person who can be tough and also can be soft at times to manage the team and get the job
done. You know, that leadership role becomes critically important in the implementation process.
That's why the talent, what companies look for, they actually do a critical interview process to
select the right person for high-profile deployments. The top management support is important.
There's a 2nd bulletin there. Uh, and one way to find that out is to, uh, you know, include, you
know, definitely there will be an executive sponsor from the company who would be a part of the
project team. And when you bring that person, whether that person comes in for meetings and
engages and asks questions, making sure things are moving forward, can be very, very helpful
in taking the implementation to a success. Technical issues are often hyped, I would say, or
especially in the beginning of the project. Everybody is so stuck on what SAP or any other
software can do, and they kind of spend a whole lot of time understanding the details, which is
okay, which is what was required. But there's too much emphasis on that. And it's kind of
ironical that sometimes they don't realize the importance of some of the soft skills and the
organizational support that is required to make this a success. And that's where many
companies fail in fact. So the end user issues are important. You know, those are risky issues.
You need to know what needs to be done, uh, to support them, provide them with training, and
so on, so that that's another area where I've seen uh, deployments fail, because of the end user
is now trained to pick up on how to, you know, do these processes differently, then it's now
going to work, and especially new, new people joining the company needs to be trained. So
there are many, many things. It's like ongoing thing and it doesn't stop with one step. So the
software implementation, methodologies, you know, they reduce the risk and the cost of a
software implementation, that's why companies spend a lot of time getting through the details.
So there's a methodology that has been created to, it is structured and which is proven to be
successful over the years. So the SCP implementations are new. It is over several years.
Companies have figured out there should be a structured way of implementing SAP. And they
have defined some major phases. So we will walk through the specific phases that are
important. So the 1st one in that is the project preparation. So we'll go through the details in the
next few slides. You have to have a business blueprint. And then you have to do the realization,
the final preparation, and finally it go live. So before you go live, you have to complete those 4
different specific phases, which will prep you up to go live. You know, if you take or skip one of
those steps. It can be determinable to your implementation process. So the project preparation
phase is an important phase where you are actually defining the goals and objectives of the
project. Now, The objective of the project is not a technical objective. What we're talking about is
the business objective, you know, reducing leap time or reducing inventory or, you know, there
are specific objectives the company is laid out for the project to be successful. So that's what
we're talking about. And then having an organization, who uh, the project organization, we
talked about the project manager skills, but bringing the team in place. And again, the team
members should be selected from people who have the credibility with management as well as
the department they're coming from, because this would be a cross-functional team, and you
need to have people who has credibility in their own organizations. So those are important
selections you have to make so that they can make the change happen as you go through this
process as well. Once that's done, you create the project plan and you can use Microsoft
Project or similar type of software solutions to track the project. You look at procedures, you
determine the project's standard procedures, you need to have documentation on what is going
on with the solutions, which is very important, because if you make changes, you know, are you
tracking it? Can you go back and figure out what happened to the old process and there should
be documentation to support it? The project team, once it's formed, you had to train them as to
the different faces and how you're going to take that forward, uh, in terms of how it works, and
that's an important limit. And then you have Project team we talked about. And we had to set it
up as a different documentations, like 3 SAP 3 system landscape, which will be like a client, you
know, it can be a testing scenario, you know, it can be a development scenario, you had to
create those specific components and set it up so that you can go and track them in those
different faces, creating a communication plan. This is an important aspect as well. Many people
think that the communication plan is just a standard way to communicate and maybe there's
emails and but what I have seen in the industry is that there is a specific way or to communicate
with the top management, right? So that's an important one where, um, you use the right way of
succinct way of communicating to them, not giving them a whole lot of details, but telling them
the specifics that are critically important. But then as you go to the departments and the people
downstream and the lower levels, you had to communicate to them as well about the project,
that might require a lot more details and you have to bring them on board by providing the right
incentives and so on. So there is very, very clear communication plans that has to be used so
that the project doesn't get, you know, stopped or stifled as we go through the process. And also
take benchmark measurements so that you can see how things are progressing so that you can
actually make improvements as you go forward. The business blueprint phase is another critical
phase, which is the next step. And many companies, you know, have seen some of them
actually skip through this and it can be a disaster. And it's important to look at each department,
how they're going to be affected by the scope of the software. And understand it, you know, if
you can understand the current process and how the department is affected by the new
software solution, on the feature, which you're implementing as well. So, for example, the SAV
issue system should be capable of automatically determining a source of supply for a
requirement, you know, that so and then the resulting analysis will document the functional
requirements for that new software implementation. So you should know how that is going to be
impacting every single department that is going to be impacted. So there should be some kind
of a business blueprint activity which has to happen to reduce the risk of any issues that can
happen later on. So the realization phase, where you have taken the requirements, the
functional requirements which you define in the business blueprint. And then you are looking at
the following activities. Now you are configuring the SAP system. You know, configuration is a,
as we have learned earlier in the SAP sections, is an easier way to set up the company and you
don't have to change the software here. You're not writing a code, but it's actually allowing you
to set up different industries, different things so that you can actually configure it for that
company. And then you have to set up the workflow processes, you know, which are specific to
the company, you know, to set up the test environment. As we said earlier, you have to have the
pilots and you might have to do some development tests and things like that. There'll be some
security and administration settings for users so that some people can access certain modules,
certain screens, and provide that kind of input into the process as well. And then write some test
scripts and get ready for the final preparation phase, which should be the next one coming up.
In the final preparation phase, what you're doing, this is kind of the last step before we go live.
So very important. So you're going to actually load the master data and, you know, there's
significant automation these days and it has been going on over the last several years as well.
When you load the master data from legacy systems, you might be using some of our old
systems, and you have to load this into the relational database within SAP, and then you can do
the unit function testing and integration testing as well. Those are important activities that
happen in this space. The end user training also is very, very important. It's interesting that in
many companies, what they do is they spend 1000000s of dollars in going after the software
solution like SAP. They will bring in hardware requirements. The olden days, people used to get
data centers and other things established. But now we have cloud computing and processes,
you know, which are cheaper, but still, they'll spend all the money for all of these different
hardware and software solutions, and then spend very little money on the budget for end-use of
training. This is a bigger This is a big problem, uh, which uh, which companies have realized
over the years when they implemented that. If we don't have it, this user training done properly,
then the acceptance of the solution will not happen fast enough and that affects their return or
investment very quickly. Finally, after all of this done, then you are talking to the leads within the
departments to get sign off so that everybody is in agreement with the final prop, what you've
done so far, how the system has been configured, how the processes worked, you know, the
blueprints and the functional requirements, how it has been converted. All of that should get
signed off so that you can actually go live as the next step. So, as you can see, quite a bit of
preparation goes into all these spaces before the task of Golai, which can then make the
implementation process highly successful. So this is the last slide and also the last step in the
process for SAP implementation where we are actually going live. And this will launch the new
application and provide the necessary support for a period of time required to achieve
institutionalization because actually you're bringing in a software solution. If you look at it, the
business processes are now going to flow through the new system, which you are put in place.
And it's a huge shift. The way the business works. In case, in some cases, yes, the business
process has been changed as well to, you know, with the improved variations of it and solutions
have been adapted to with... Business process, whatever we're created. So many, many
changes take place and the users have been trained as well. So it's a very important step where
you're looking at, whether the inducer, if they have to go through retraining, we have to go
through the airport, so that if there are troubles, you can instantaneously jump in and fix
problems. And software debug, maybe there are software issues, you know, in that, and then
like, you know, software errors and things like that, which needs to be collected. That's the case,
there should be a software debug support and configuration resetting. After you set up the
configuration for the department, you might find that once the launch happens, you should have
a call center for support so that if there are troubles, you can instantaneously jump after your
solution. If you look at it, the business processes are now going to flow through the new system,
which you are put in place. And it's a huge shift, the way the business works. In case, in some
cases, yes, the business process have been changed as well to, you know, with the improved
variations of it and solutions have been adapted to with the business process, whatever you
created. So many, many changes take place and the users have been trained as well. So it's a
very important step where you're looking at whether the inducer, if they have to go through
retraining, you have to go through that. Once the launch happens, you should have a call center
for support. So that if there are troubles, you can instantaneously jump in and fix problems. And
software debug, maybe there are software issues, you know, in that. And then, like, uh, you
know, software, others, and things like that, which needs to be collected. That's the case, there
should be a software, debug support, and configuration resetting. After you set up the
configuration for the department, you might find that some of them say, hey, this is not working
well, we need to reset it because we need to make some change. We thought it will work this
way, but it's not what we expected, so it has to be changed. Many consultants who work with the
CP deployment, have realized that it's not that you can just do this and walk away because
there is, you have to be stay connected with the customers as they go through the month and
close and specific phases, at least for a few more months. Sometimes, you know, 6 months or
so just to make sure the major phases are covered and everything is going well. And things are
not because once the consultants who are there deploying the SAP system, once they get out
of the company, then it's handed over to the people who are working on it, within the company,
and at that time, they will need help at times. And so that support should continue for some time
so that there are no major fallouts are lost that will happen downstream. So those are the key
things that are important. And if those things are taken care of and companies do that properly,
the return on investment, as we talked about, for all the investments they made for the software
solution, and also the people were taken off their current roles to work with the project team to
get this deployed. That's also an expense quite a bit, and all the heavy hitting everybody did to
make this happen, pays off in the long run. So that's why where the SAP implementation
process becomes how the methodology becomes so critically important. That concludes this
section. Thank you.