A properly optimized SAP business process will reduce costs and increase productivity.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
SAP is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. Use this blueprint to strategically re-align business goals, identify business application capabilities, complete a process assessment, evaluate user adoption, and create an optimization plan that will drive a cohesive technology strategy that delivers results.
The Get the Most out of Your SAP Workbook serves as the holding document for the different elements for the Get the Most out of Your SAP blueprint. Use each assigned tab to input the relevant information for the process of optimizing your SAP.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Get the most out of your SAP.
Develop an ongoing SAP optimization team.
Re-align SAP and business goals.
Understand your current system state capabilities and processes.
Validate user satisfaction, application fit, and areas of improvement to optimize your SAP.
Take a 360-degree inventory of your SAP and related systems.
Realign business and technology drivers. Assess user satisfaction.
Review the SAP marketplace.
Complete a thorough examination of capabilities and processes.
Manage your vendors and data.
Pull this all together to prioritize optimization efforts and develop a concrete roadmap.
1.1 Determine your SAP optimization team.
1.2 Align organizational goals.
1.3 Inventory applications and interactions.
1.4 Define business capabilities.
1.5 Explore SAP-related costs.
SAP optimization team
SAP business model
SAP optimization goals
SAP system inventory and data flow
SAP process list
SAP and related costs
Map current-state capabilities.
Complete an SAP process gap analysis to understand where the SAP is underperforming.
Review the SAP application portfolio assessment to understand user satisfaction and data concerns.
Undertake a software review survey to understand your satisfaction with the vendor and product.
2.1 Conduct gap analysis for SAP processes.
2.2 Perform an application portfolio assessment.
2.3 Review vendor satisfaction.
SAP process gap analysis
SAP application portfolio assessment
ERP software reviews survey
Assess SAP.
Learn the processes that you need to focus on.
Uncover underlying user satisfaction issues to address these areas.
Understand where data issues are occurring so that you can mitigate this.
Investigate your relationship with the vendor and product, including that relative to others.
Identify any areas for cost optimization (optional).
3.1 Explore process gaps.
3.2 Analyze user satisfaction.
3.3 Assess data quality.
3.4 Understand product satisfaction and vendor management.
3.5 Look for SAP cost optimization opportunities (optional).
SAP process optimization priorities
SAP vendor optimization opportunities
SAP cost optimization
Build the optimization roadmap.
Understanding where you need to improve is the first step, now understand where to focus your optimization efforts.
4.1 SAP process gap analysis
4.2 SAP application portfolio assessment
4.3 SAP software reviews survey
ERP optimization roadmap
Chad Shortridge Senior Research Director, Enterprise Applications Info-Tech Research Group |
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Lisa Highfield Research Director, Enterprise Applications Info-Tech Research Group |
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. An ERP that is doing its job well is invisible to the business. The challenges come when the tool is no longer invisible. It has become a source of friction in the functioning of the business.
SAP systems are expensive, benefits can be difficult to quantify, and issues with the products can be difficult to understand. Over time, technology evolves, organizational goals change, and the health of these systems is often not monitored. This is complicated in today’s digital landscape with multiple integrations points, siloed data, and competing priorities.
Too often organizations jump into selecting replacement systems without understanding the health of their systems. We can do better than this.
IT leaders need to take a proactive approach to continually monitor and optimize their enterprise applications. Strategically re-align business goals, identify business application capabilities, complete a process assessment, evaluate user adoption, and create an optimization plan that will drive a cohesive technology strategy that delivers results.
Your Challenge |
Common Obstacles |
Info-Tech’s Approach |
Your SAP ERP systems are critical to supporting the organization’s business processes. They are expensive. Direct benefits and ROI can be hard to measure. SAP application portfolios are often behemoths to support. With complex integration points and unique business processes, stabilization is the norm. Application optimization is essential to staying competitive and productive in today’s digital environment. |
Balancing optimization with stabilization is one of the most difficult decisions for ERP application leaders. Competing priorities and often unclear ERP strategies make it difficult to make decisions about what, how, and when to optimize. Enterprise applications involve large numbers of processes, users, and evolving vendor roadmaps. Teams do not have a framework to illustrate, communicate, and justify the optimization effort in the language your stakeholders understand. |
In today’s rapidly changing SAP landscape it is imperative to evaluate your applications for optimization, no matter what your strategy is moving forward. Assess your SAP applications and the environment in which they exist. Take a business-first strategy to prioritize optimization efforts. Validate ERP capabilities, user satisfaction, issues around data, vendor management, and costs to build out an overall roadmap and optimization strategy. Pull this all together to prioritize optimization efforts and develop a concrete roadmap. |
SAP ERP environments are changing, but we cannot stand still on our optimization efforts. Understand your product(s), processes, user satisfaction, integration points, and the availability of data to business decision makers. Examine these areas to develop a personalized SAP optimization roadmap that fits the needs of your organization. Incorporate these methodologies into an ongoing optimization strategy aimed at enabling the business, increasing productivity, and reducing costs.
SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. It allows for the seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. In many organizations, the SAP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.
SAP ERP systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. They allow for the seamless integration of systems and create a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.
In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.
An ERP system:
SAP use cases:
Product-Centric
Suitable for organizations that manufacture, assemble, distribute, or manage material goods.
Service-Centric
Suitable for organizations that provide and manage field services and/or professional services.
Product Description
Employees |
105,000 |
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Headquarters |
Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
Website |
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Founded |
1972 |
Presence |
Global, Publicly Traded |
Only 72% of SAP S/4HANA clients were satisfied with the product’s business value in 2022. This was 9th out of 10 in the enterprise resource planning category.
As of 2022, 65% of SAP customers have not made the move to S/4HANA. These customers will continue to need to optimize the current ERP to meet the demanding needs of the business.
Organizations will need to continue to support and optimize their SAP ERP portfolios. As of 2022, 42% of ASUG members were planning a move to S/4HANA but had not yet started to move.
HANA used to be primarily viewed as a commercial vehicle to realize legacy license model discounts. Now, however, SAP has built a roadmap to migrate all customers over to S/4HANA. While timelines may be delayed, the inevitable move is coming.
30-35% of SAP customers likely have underutilized assets. This can add up to millions in unused software and maintenance.
Drivers of Dissatisfaction |
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Organizational |
People and teams |
Technology |
Data |
Competing priorities |
Knowledgeable staff/turnover |
Integration issues |
Access to data |
Lack of strategy |
Lack of internal skills |
Selecting tools and technology |
Data hygiene |
Budget challenges |
Ability to manage new products |
Keeping pace with technology changes |
Data literacy |
Lack of training |
Update challenges |
One view of the customer |
Finance, IT, Sales, and other users of the ERP system can only optimize ERP with the full support of each other. The cooperation of the departments is crucial when trying to improve ERP technology capabilities and customer interaction.
While technology is the key enabler of building strong customer experiences, there are many other drivers of dissatisfaction. IT must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the business to develop a technology framework for ERP.
Big growth numbers Year-over-year call topic requests |
Other changes Year-over-year call topic requests |
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We are seeing applications leaders’ priorities change year over year, driven by a shift in their approach to problem solving. Leaders are moving from a process-centric approach to a collaborative approach that breaks down boundaries and brings teams together. |
Software development lifecycle topics are tactical point solutions. Organizations have been “shifting left” to tackle the strategic issues such as product vision and Agile mindset to optimize the whole organization. |
Many organizations may be coming up against changes to their SAP ERP application portfolio.
Some challenges organizations may be dealing with include:
“[A] successful application [optimization] strategy starts with the business need in mind and not from a technological point of view. No matter from which angle you look at it, modernizing a legacy application is a considerable undertaking that can’t be taken lightly. Your best approach is to begin the journey with baby steps.”
1. Map Current-State Capabilities |
2. Assess Your Current State |
3. Identify Key Optimization Areas |
4. Build Your Optimization Roadmap |
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Phase Steps |
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Phase Outcomes |
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Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook
Identify and prioritize your SAP optimization goals.
Application Portfolio Assessment
Assess IT-enabled user satisfaction across your SAP portfolio.
SAP Optimization Roadmap
Complete an assessment of processes, user satisfaction, data quality, and vendor management.
Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.
Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.
We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.
Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.
Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenge. |
Call #2:
Call #3:
Call #4: Understand product satisfaction and vendor management. Call #5: Review APA results. |
Call #6: Understand SAP optimization opportunities. Call #7: Determine the right SAP path for your organization. |
Call #8: Build out optimization roadmap and next steps. |
A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
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Define Your SAP Application Vision | Map Current State | Assess SAP | Build Your Optimization Roadmap | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | |
Activities | 1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team 1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model 1.3 Inventory Current System State 1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe 1.5 Understand SAP Costs | 2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities 2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change | 3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities 3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives | 4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap | 5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days. 5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps. |
Deliverables |
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Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team 1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model 1.3 Inventory Current System State 1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe 1.5 Understand SAP Costs | 2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities 2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change | 3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities 3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives | 4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap |
This phase will guide you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Activities
1.1.1 Identify stakeholders critical to success
1.1.2 Map your SAP optimization stakeholders
1.1.3 Determine your SAP optimization team
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
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Organizational Sponsor |
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Project Manager |
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Business Unit Leaders |
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Optimization Team |
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Steering Committee |
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Do not limit project input or participation. Include subject-matter experts and internal stakeholders at stages within the project. Such inputs can be solicited on a one-off basis as needed. This ensures you take a holistic approach to create your ERP optimization strategy.
1 hour
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Identify which stakeholders to include and what their level of involvement should be during requirements elicitation based on relevant topic expertise.
Sponsor |
End User |
IT |
Business |
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Description |
An internal stakeholder who has final sign-off on the ERP project. |
Front-line users of the ERP technology. |
Back-end support staff who are tasked with project planning, execution, and eventual system maintenance. |
Additional stakeholders that will be impacted by any ERP technology changes. |
Examples |
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Value |
Executive buy-in and support is essential to the success of the project. Often, the sponsor controls funding and resource allocation. |
End users determine the success of the system through user adoption. If the end user does not adopt the system, the system is deemed useless and benefits realization is poor. |
IT is likely to be responsible for more in-depth requirements gathering. IT possesses critical knowledge around system compatibility, integration, and data. |
Involving business stakeholders in the requirements gathering will ensure alignment between HR and organizational objectives. |
Large-scale ERP projects require the involvement of many stakeholders from all corners and levels of the organization, including project sponsors, IT, end users, and business stakeholders. Consider the influence and interest of stakeholders in contributing to the requirements elicitation process and involve them accordingly.
EXAMPLE: Stakeholder involvement during selection
1 hour
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Consider the core team functions when putting together the project team. Form a cross-functional team (i.e. across IT, Marketing, Sales, Service, Operations) to create a well-aligned ERP optimization strategy. Don’t let your project team become too large when trying to include all relevant stakeholders. Carefully limiting the size of the project team will enable effective decision making while still including functional business units such as Marketing, Sales, Service, and Finance as well as IT.
Required Skills/Knowledge | Suggested Project Team Members |
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1 hour
Note: Depending on your initiative and the size of your organization, the size of this team will vary.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Activities
1.2.1 Explore environmental factors and technology drivers
1.2.2 Consider potential barriers and challenges
1.2.3 Discuss enablers of success
1.2.4 Develop your SAP optimization goals
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Corporate Strategy |
Unified ERP Strategy |
IT Strategy |
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Your corporate strategy:
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Your IT strategy:
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ERP projects are more successful when the management team understands the strategic importance and the criticality of alignment. Time needs to be spent upfront aligning business strategies with ERP capabilities. Effective alignment between IT and the business should happen daily. Alignment doesn’t just need to occur just at the executive level but at each level of the organization.
Stakeholder Interviews
Begin by conducting interviews of your executive team. Interview the following leaders:
INTERVIEWS MUST UNCOVER
Business Needs | Business Drivers | Technology Drivers | Environmental Factors | |
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Definition | A business need is a requirement associated with a particular business process. | Business drivers can be thought of as business-level goals. These are tangible benefits the business can measure such as customer retention, operation excellence, and financial performance. | Technology drivers are technological changes that have created the need for a new ERP enablement strategy. Many organizations turn to technology systems to help them obtain a competitive edge. | These external considerations are factors that take place outside of the organization and impact the way business is conducted inside the organization. These are often outside the control of the business. |
Examples |
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Info-Tech Insight
One of the biggest drivers for ERP adoption is the ability to make quicker decisions from timely information. This driver is a result of external considerations. Many industries today are highly competitive, uncertain, and rapidly changing. To succeed under these pressures, there needs to be timely information and visibility into all components of the organization.
30 minutes
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
External Considerations |
Organizational Drivers |
Technology Considerations |
Functional Requirements |
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There are several different factors that may stifle the success of an ERP implementation. Organizations that are creating an ERP foundation must scan their current environment to identify internal barriers and challenges.
Common Internal Barriers
Management Support |
Organizational Culture |
Organizational Structure |
IT Readiness |
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Definition |
The degree of understanding and acceptance toward ERP systems. |
The collective shared values and beliefs. |
The functional relationships between people and departments in an organization. |
The degree to which the organization’s people and processes are prepared for a new ERP system. |
Questions |
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Enablers |
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Source: Epizitone and Olugbara, 2020; CC BY 4.0
Info-Tech Insight
Complement your ability to deliver on your critical success factors with the capabilities of your implementation partner to drive a successful ERP implementation.
“Implementation partners can play an important role in successful ERP implementations. They can work across the organizational departments and layers creating a synergy and a communications mechanism.” – Ayogeboh Epizitone, Durban University of Technology
1-3 hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
Functional Gaps |
Technical Gaps |
Process Gaps |
Barriers to Success |
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Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook
1-3 hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
Business Benefits | IT Benefits | Organizational Benefits | Enablers of Success |
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Benefits can be realized internally and externally to the organization or department and have different drivers of value.
Organizational Goals
Application functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue and deliver value to your customers.
Reduction of overhead. The ways in which an application limits the operational costs of business functions.
Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.
Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.
Business Value Matrix
30 minutes
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Activities
1.3.1 Inventory SAP applications and interactions
1.3.2 Draw your SAP system diagram
1.3.3 Inventory your SAP modules and business capabilities (or business processes)
1.3.4 Define your key SAP optimization modules and business capabilities
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1-3+ hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Be sure to include enterprise applications that are not included in the ERP application portfolio. Popular systems to consider for POIs include billing, directory services, content management, and collaboration tools.
ERP – enterprise resource planning
Email – email system such as Microsoft Exchange
Calendar – calendar system such as Microsoft Outlook
WEM – web experience management
ECM – enterprise content management
When assessing the current application portfolio that supports your ERP, the tendency will be to focus on the applications under the ERP umbrella. These relate mostly to marketing, sales, and customer service. Be sure to include systems that act as input to, or benefit due to outputs from, ERP or similar applications.
1-3+ hours
Include:
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In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map. A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation, rather than how.
Business capabilities:
A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.
The operating model
An operating model is a framework that drives operating decisions. It helps to set the parameters for the scope of ERP and the processes that will be supported. The operating model will serve to group core operational processes. These groupings represent a set of interrelated, consecutive processes aimed at generating a common output. From your developed processes and your SAP license agreements you will be able to pinpoint the scope for investigation including the processes and modules.
Operating Processes |
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1. Develop vision and strategy | 2. Develop and manage products and services | 3. Market and sell products and services | 4. Deliver physical products | 5. Deliver services |
Management and Support Processes |
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6.Manage customer service | ||||
7. Develop and manage human capital |
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8. Manage IT | ||||
9. Manage financial resources |
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10. Acquire, construct, and manage assets |
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11. Manage enterprise risk, compliance, remediation, and resiliency |
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12. Manage external relationships |
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13. Develop and manage business capabilities |
Source: APQC
If you do not have a documented process model, you can use the APQC Framework to help define your inventory of sales business processes. APQC’s Process Classification Framework is a taxonomy of cross-functional business processes intended to allow the objective comparison of organizational performance within and among organizations.
Value Streams |
Design Product |
Produce Product |
Sell Product |
Customer Service |
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Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities in the marketplace. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment in which an organization operates.
There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams.
An effective method for ensuring all value streams have been considered is to understand that there can be different end-value receivers.
Source: APQC
APQC provides a process classification framework. It allows organizations to effectively define their processes and manage them appropriately.
Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
Market and sell products and services |
Understand markets, customers, and capabilities |
Perform customer and market intelligence analysis |
Conduct customer and market research |
Market and sell products and services |
Develop a sales strategy |
Develop a sales forecast |
Gather current and historic order information |
Deliver services |
Manage service delivery resources |
Manage service delivery resource demand |
Develop baseline forecasts |
? | ? | ? | ? |
Focus your initial assessment on the level 1 processes that matter to your organization. This allows you to target your scant resources on the areas of optimization that matter most to the organization and minimize the effort required from your business partners. You may need to iterate the assessment as challenges are identified. This allows you to be adaptive and deal with emerging issues more readily and become a more responsive partner to the business.
Cloud/Hardware Fiori Analytics Integrations Extended Solutions |
R&D Engineering
Sourcing and Procurement
Supply Chain
Asset Management
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Finance
Human Resources
Sales
Service
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1-3+ hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Activities
1.4.1 Define SAP key dates and SAP optimization roadmap timeframe and structure
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1-3+ hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Activities
1.5.1 Document costs associated with SAP
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
1-3 hours
Before you can make changes and optimization decisions, you need to understand the high-level costs associated with your current application architecture. This activity will help you identify the types of technology and people costs associated with your current systems.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
Phase 4 |
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1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team 1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model 1.3 Inventory Current System State 1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe 1.5 Understand SAP Costs |
2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities 2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change |
3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities 3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives |
4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Activities
2.1.1 Rate capability relevance to organizational goals
2.1.2 Complete an SAP application portfolio assessment
2.1.3 (Optional) Assess SAP process maturity
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Assess the health of the application portfolio
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Provide targeted department feedback
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Gain insight into the state of data quality
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3 hours
Option 1: Use Info-Tech’s Application Portfolio Assessment to generate your user satisfaction score. This tool not only measures application satisfaction but also elicits great feedback from users regarding the support they receive from the IT team around SAP.
Option 2: Create a survey manually.
Record Results
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
Download the ERP Application Inventory Tool
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1-3 hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Activities
2.2.1 Rate your vendor and product satisfaction
2.2.2 Review SAP product scores (if applicable)
2.2.3 Evaluate your product satisfaction
2.2.4 Check your business process change tolerance
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
30 minutes
Use Info-Tech’s vendor satisfaction survey to identify optimization areas with your ERP product(s) and vendor(s).
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
SoftwareReviews’ Enterprise Resource Planning Category
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30 minutes
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Source: SoftwareReviews ERP Mid-Market, April 2022 |
Source: SoftwareReviews ERP Enterprise, April 2022 |
1 hours
Input | Output |
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Materials | Participants |
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Download Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook for additional process levels
Determine the areas of risk to conform to best practice and minimize customization. These will be areas needing focus from the vendor supporting change and guiding best practice. For example: Must be able to support our unique process manufacturing capabilities and enhance planning and visibility to detailed costing.
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team 1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model 1.3 Inventory Current System State 1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe 1.5 Understand SAP Costs | 2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities 2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change | 3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities 3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives | 4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
In this context…business value is
the value of the business outcome that the application produces. Additionally, it is how effective the application is at producing that outcome.
Business value is not
the user’s experience or satisfaction with the application.
First, the authorities on business value need to define and weigh their value drivers that describe the priorities of the organization. This will allow the applications team to apply a consistent, objective, and strategically aligned evaluation of applications across the organization.
Capabilities are what the system and business does that creates value for the organization. Optimization initiatives are projects with a definitive start and end date, and they enhance, create, maintain, or remove capabilities with the goal of increasing value.
Enabling a high-performing organization requires excellent management practices and continuous optimization efforts. Your technology portfolio and architecture are important, but we must go deeper. Taking a holistic view of ERP technologies in the environments in which they operate allows for the inclusion of people and process improvements – this is key to maximizing business results. Using a formal ERP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.
Address process gaps:
Support user satisfaction:
Improve data quality:
Proactively manage vendors:
Activities
3.1.1 Prioritize optimization capability areas
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
Benefits can be realized internally and externally to the organization or department and have different drivers of value.
Organizational Goals
Application functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue and deliver value to your customers.
Reduction of overhead. The ways in which an application limits the operational costs of business functions.
Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.
Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.
Business Value Matrix
Review your ERP capability areas and rate them according to relevance to organizational goals. This will allow you to eliminate optimization ideas that may not bring value to the organization.
1-3 hours
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
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Activities
3.2.1 Discover product and vendor satisfaction opportunities
3.2.2 Discover capability and feature optimization opportunities
3.2.3 Discover process optimization opportunities
3.2.4 Discover integration optimization opportunities
3.2.5 Discover data optimization opportunities
3.2.6 Discover SAP cost-saving opportunities
This step will guide you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
A vendor management initiative (VMI) is an organization’s formalized process for evaluating, selecting, managing, and optimizing third-party providers of goods and services.
The amount of resources you assign to managing vendors depends on the number and value of your organization’s relationships. Before optimizing your vendor management program around the best practices presented in Info-Tech’s Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint, assess your current maturity and build the process around a model that reflects the needs of your organization.
Note: Info-Tech uses VMI interchangeably with the terms “vendor management office (VMO),” “vendor management function,” “vendor management process,” and “vendor management program.”
1-2 hours
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1-2 hours
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In ~90% of SAP business process analysis reports, SAP identified significant potential for improving the existing SAP implementation, i.e. the large majority of customers are not yet using their SAP Business Suite to the full extent.
Goals of Process Improvement |
Process Improvement Sample Areas |
Improvement Possibilities |
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1-2 hours
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The Benefits of Integration |
The Challenges of Integration |
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Financial Consolidation |
Data Backup |
Synchronization Across Sites |
Legacy Consolidation |
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For more information: Implement a Multi-site ERP
1-2 hours
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Have an overall data migration plan before beginning your systems consolidation journey to S/4HANA.
IT has several concerns around ERP data and wide dissemination of that data across sites. Large organizations can benefit from building a data warehouse or at least adopting some of the principles of data warehousing. The optimal way to deal with the issue of integration is to design a metadata-driven data warehouse that acts as a central repository for all ERP data. They serve as the storage facility for millions of transactions, formatted to allow analysis and comparison.
Key considerations:
Info-Tech Insight
Data warehouse solutions can be expensive. See Info-Tech’s Build a Data Warehouse on a Solid Foundation for guidance on what options are available to meet your budget and data needs.
Data Quality Management |
Effective Data Governance |
Data-Centric Integration Strategy |
Extensible Data Warehousing |
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Restore Trust in Your Data Using a Business-Aligned Data Quality Management Approach |
Organizations are faced with challenges associated with changing data landscapes.
Data migrations should not be taken lightly. It requires an overall data governance to assure data integrity for the move to S/4HANA and beyond.
Have a solid plan before engaging S/4HANA Migration Cockpit.
Develop a Master Data Management Strategy and Roadmap
1-2 hours
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Look for quick wins:
30-35% of SAP customers likely have underutilized assets. This can add up to millions in unused software and maintenance.
20% Only 20 percent of companies manage to capture more than half the projected benefits from ERP systems.
Explore the Secrets of SAP Software Contracts to Optimize Spend and Reduce Compliance Risk |
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With the relatively slow uptake of the S/4HANA platform, the pressure is immense for SAP to maintain revenue growth.
SAP’s definitions and licensing rules are complex and vague, making it extremely difficult to purchase with confidence while remaining compliant.
Without having a holistic negotiation strategy, it is easy to hit a common obstacle and land into SAP’s playbook, requiring further spend.
Price Benchmarking & Negotiation
Secrets of SAP S/4HANA Licensing:
SAP’s 2025 Support End of Life Date Delayed…As Predicted Here First
1-2 hours
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Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 |
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1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team 1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model 1.3 Inventory Current System State 1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe 1.5 Understand SAP Costs | 2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities 2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change | 3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities 3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives | 4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap |
This phase will walk you through the following activities:
This phase involves the following participants:
Get the Most Out of Your SAP
Activities
4.1.1 Pick your path
4.1.2 Pick the right SAP migration path
4.1.3 Build a roadmap
4.1.4 Build a visual roadmap
This step will walk you through the following activities:
This step involves the following participants:
Outcomes of this step
CURRENT STATE |
STRATEGY |
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There is significant evidence of poor user satisfaction, inefficient processes, lack of data usage, poor integrations, and little vendor management. Look for opportunities to improve the system. |
OPTIMIZE CURRENT SYSTEM |
Your existing application is, for the most part, functionally rich but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort building and enhancing additional functionalities or consolidating and integrating interfaces. |
AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM |
Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions. Consolidating applications with duplicate functionality is more cost efficient and makes integration and data sharing simpler. |
CONSOLIDATE CURRENT SYSTEMS |
The current system is reaching end of life and the software vendor offers a fit-for-use upgrade or system to which you can migrate. Prepare your migration strategy to move forward on the product roadmap. |
UPGRADE SYSTEM |
The current SAP system and future SAP roadmap are not fit for use. Vendor satisfaction is at an all-time low. Revisit your ERP strategy as you move into requirements gathering and selection. |
REPLACE SYSTEM |
MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM
Keep the system but look for optimization opportunities.
Your existing application portfolio satisfies both functionality and integration requirements. The processes surrounding it likely need attention, but the system should be considered for retention.
Maintaining your current system entails adjusting current processes and/or adding new ones and involves minimal cost, time, and effort.
INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
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Technology | |
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MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM
Alternative Overview
Initial Investment ($) |
Medium |
Risk |
Medium |
Change Management Required |
Medium |
Operating Costs ($) |
Low |
Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy |
Medium-Low |
Key Considerations
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Advantages |
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Disadvantages |
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For what time frame does this make sense? |
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Short Term |
✓ |
Medium Term |
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Long Term |
AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM
Add to the system.
Your existing application is for the most part functionally rich but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort enhancing your current system.
You will be able to add functions by leveraging existing system features. Augmentation requires limited investment and less time and effort than a full system replacement.
INDICATORS |
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
Technology Pain Points |
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Data Pain Points |
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AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM
Maintain core system.
Invest in SAP modules or extended functionality.
Add functionality with bolt-on targeted “best of breed” solutions.
Invest in tools to make the SAP portfolio and ecosystem work better.
Alternative Overview
Initial Investment ($) | High |
Risk | High |
Change Management | High |
Operating Costs ($) | High |
Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy | High |
Key Considerations
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Advantages |
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Disadvantages |
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For what time frame does this make sense? | |
Short Term | |
Medium Term | ✓ |
Long Term |
CONSOLIDATE AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS
Get rid of one system, combine two, or connect many.
Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions.
Consolidating your systems eliminates the need to manage multiple pieces of software that provide duplicate functionality. Reducing the number of ERP applications makes integration and data sharing simpler.
INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
Technology Pain Points | |
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Data Pain Points | |
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AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM
Get rid of old disparate on-premise solutions.
Consolidate into an up-to-date ERP solution.
Standardize across the organization.
Alternative Overview
Initial Investment ($) | High |
Risk | Med |
Change Management | Med |
Operating Costs ($) | Med |
Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy | High |
Key Considerations
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Advantages |
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Disadvantages |
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For what time frame does this make sense? | |
Short Term | |
Medium Term | ✓ |
Long Term |
REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM
Move to a new SAP solution
You’re transitioning from an end-of-life legacy system. Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost- and time-efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes altogether. You are satisfied with SAP overall and want to continue to leverage your SAP relationships and investments.
INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
Technology Pain Points | |
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Data Pain Points | |
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Process Pains | |
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UPGRADE SYSTEM
Upgrade your current SAP systems with SAP product replacements.
Invest in SAP with the appropriate migration path for your organization.
Alternative Overview
Initial Investment ($) | High |
Risk | Med |
Change Management | Med |
Operating Costs ($) | Med |
Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy | High |
Key Considerations
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Advantages |
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Disadvantages |
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For what time frame does this make sense? | |
Short Term | |
Medium Term | |
Long Term | ✓ |
REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM
Start from scratch.
You’re transitioning from an end-of-life legacy system. Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost and time efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes all together.
INDICATORS | POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS |
Technology Pain Points | |
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Data Pain Points | |
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Process Pains | |
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AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM
Get rid of old disparate on-premises solutions.
Consolidate into an up-to-date ERP solution.
Standardize across the organization.
Alternative Overview
Initial Investment ($) | High |
Risk | Med |
Change Management | Med |
Operating Costs ($) | Med |
Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy | High |
Key Considerations
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Advantages |
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Disadvantages |
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For what time frame does this make sense? | |
Short Term | |
Medium Term | ✓ |
Long Term |
1.5 hours
For each given path selected, identify:
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A workload-first approach will allow you to take full advantage of the cloud’s strengths
See Info-Tech’s Define Your Cloud Vision for more information.
Info-Tech Insight
Not all workloads fit well in the cloud. Many environments will mix service models (e.g. SaaS for some workloads, some in IaaS, some on-premises) and this can be perfectly effective. It must be consistent and intentional, however.
Updates |
4 times a year |
License Model |
Subscription |
Server Platform |
SAP |
Platform Management |
SAP only |
Pre-Set Templates (industries) |
Not allowed |
Single vs. Multi-Tenant |
Multi-client |
Maintenance ALM Tool |
SAP ALM |
New Implementation
This is a public cloud solution for new clients adopting SAP that are mostly looking for full functionality within best practice.
Consider a full greenfield approach. Even for mid-size existing customers looking for a best-practice overhaul.
Functionality is kept to the core. Any specialties or unique needs would be outside the core.
Regional localization is still being expanded and must be evaluated early if you are a global company.
Updates | Every 1-2 years or up to client’s schedule |
License Model | Subscription |
Server Platform | AZURE, AWS, Google |
Platform Management | SAP only |
Pre-Set Templates (industries) | Coded separately |
Single vs. Multi-Tenant | Single tenant |
Maintenance ALM Tool | SAP ALM or SAP Solution Manager |
New Implementation With Client Specifics
No longer available to new customers from January 25, 2022, though available for renewals.
Replacement is called SAP Extended Services for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.
This offering is a grey area, and the extended offerings are being defined.
New S/4HANA Cloud extensibility is being offered to early adopters, allowing for customization within a separate system landscape (DTP) and aiming for an SAP Central Business Configuration solution for the cloud. A way of fine-tuning to meet customer-specific needs.
Updates | Every 1-5 years or up to client’s schedule |
License Model | Subscription |
Server Platform | AZURE, AWS, Google |
Platform Management | SAP only |
Pre-Set Templates (industries) | Allowed |
Single vs. Multi-Tenant | Single tenant |
Maintenance ALM Tool | SAP ALM or SAP Solution Manager |
New Implementation With Client Specifics
This is a private cloud solution for existing or new customers needing more uniqueness, though still looking to adopt best practice.
Still considered a new implementation with data migration requirements that need close attention.
This offering is trying to move clients to the S/4HANA Cloud with close competition with the Any Premise product offering. Providing client specific scalability while allowing for standardization in the cloud and growth in the digital strategy. All customizations and ABAP functionality must be revisited or revamped to fit standardization.
Updates | Client decides |
License Model | Perpetual or subscription |
Server Platform | AZURE, AWS, Google, partner's or own server room |
Platform Management | Client and/or partner |
Pre-Set Templates (industries) | Allowed |
Single vs. Multi-Tenant | Single tenant |
Maintenance ALM Tool | SAP Solution Manager |
Status Quo Migration to S/4HANA
This is for clients looking for a quick transition to S/4HANA with minimal risks and without immediate changes to their operations.
Though knowing the direction with SAP is toward its cloud solution, this may be a long costly path to getting the that end state.
The Any Premise version carries over existing critical ABAP functionalities, and the SAP GUI can remain as the user interface.
1 hour
Consider: relevance to achieving goals, number of users, importance to role, satisfaction with features, usability, data quality
Value Opportunities: increase revenue, decrease costs, enhanced services, reach customers
Additional Factors:
Prioritize
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1 hour
Migration paths: Determine your migration path and next steps using the Activity 4.1.1 “SAP System Options.”
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Note: Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.
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1 hour
Optimization initiatives: Determine which if any to proceed with.
Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
Note: Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.
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Initiative |
Owner |
Start Date |
Completion Date |
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Create final workshop deliverable |
Info-Tech |
16 September 2021 |
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Review final deliverable |
Workshop sponsor |
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Present to executive team |
October 2021 |
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Build business case |
CFO, CIO, Directors |
3 weeks to build 3-4 weeks process time |
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Build an RFI for initial costings |
1-2 weeks |
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Stage 1 approval for requirements gathering |
Executive committee |
Milestone |
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Determine and acquire BA support for next step |
1 week |
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Requirements gathering – level 2 processes |
Project team |
1 week |
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Build RFP (based on informal approval) |
CFO, CIO, Directors |
4th calendar quarter 2022 |
Possible completion: January 2023 2-4 weeks |
1 hour
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Info-Tech Insight
It is becoming a common practice for implementation partners to engage in a two- to three-month Discovery Phase or Phase 0 to prepare an implementation roadmap. It is important to understand how this effort is tied to the overall service agreement.
ERP technology is critical to facilitating an organization’s flow of information across business units. It allows for seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be an ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.
Get the Most Out of Your SAP allows organizations to proactively implement continuous assessment and optimization of their enterprise resource planning system, including:
This formal SAP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.
If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.
Contact your account representative for more information.
1-888-670-8889
Ben Dickie Research Practice Lead Info-Tech Research Group Ben Dickie is a Research Practice Lead at Info-Tech Research Group. His areas of expertise include customer experience management, CRM platforms, and digital marketing. He has also led projects pertaining to enterprise collaboration and unified communications. | |
Scott Bickley Practice Lead and Principal Research Director Info-Tech Research Group Scott Bickley is a Practice Lead and Principal Research Director at Info-Tech Research Group focused on vendor management and contract review. He also has experience in the areas of IT asset management (ITAM), software asset management (SAM), and technology procurement along with a deep background in operations, engineering, and quality systems management. | |
Andy Neil Practice Lead, Applications Info-Tech Research Group Andy is a Senior Research Director, Data Management and BI, at Info-Tech Research Group. He has over 15 years of experience in managing technical teams, information architecture, data modeling, and enterprise data strategy. He is an expert in enterprise data architecture, data integration, data standards, data strategy, big data, and the development of industry standard data models. |
Armel, Kate. "New Article: Data-Driven Estimation, Management Lead to High Quality." QSM: Quantitative Software Management, 14 May 2013. Accessed 4 Feb. 2021.
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Epizitone, Ayogeboh. Info-Tech Interview, 10 May 2021.
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“Process Frameworks." APQC, n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
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Riley, L., C.Hanna, and M. Tucciarone. “Rightsizing SAP in these unprecedented times.” Upperedge, 19 May 2020.
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“SAP S/4HANA Product Scorecard Report.” SoftwareReviews, n.d. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.
Saxena, Deepak, and Joe Mcdonagh. "Evaluating ERP Implementations: The Case for a Lifecycle-based Interpretive Approach." The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, vol. 22, no. 1, 2019, pp. 29-37. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.
Smith, Anthony. "How To Create A Customer-Obsessed Company Like Netflix." Forbes, 12 Dec. 2017. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.