R3Now.com – ERP, SAP, and IT Solutions for IT Decision Makers

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 1

After you’ve done all the research, and gone to all the trouble to make your project a success, there are still four key areas that consistently cause trouble at 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 ite...

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 2

2.  SAP Master Data.  Ideally your master data processing should begin early in the process.  Identification of legacy data sources, and even raw legacy data extracts should begin during the Blueprint phase.  Experienced implementation consultants should be able to ensure that the key data requirements or data settings are also captured.  It won’t be perfect, but initial scope should have already been determined and experienced developers should be able to point you to the type of raw...

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 3

3.      ERP or SAP Process issues  Let me start with a caveat to this section.  No matter how good, thorough, experienced, or conscientious a consultant or a core team member is, there will always end up being a few process gaps, and an occasional completely missing process discovered at go-live.  Now that the caveat is out of the way, there are many reasons for the process problems: inexperienced consultants, company employees who miss some of the process exceptions, inadequate trai...