SAP ROI — Enterprise Architecture & Business Solutions

SAP CoE Maturity

Last week’s post on SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity proposed the direct maturity of the SAP IT organization.  The key principle is that there are three stages or strata of Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization creating clear distinctions between SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery. 

This week is an overview of the development and maturity details to use SAP as a Change Enabler through SAP Enabled Business Transformation for IT Leadership.  Please keep in mind this organizational development overview is just one component of the Series on SAP Competency Center or SAP Center of Excellence.  The need to continue your Steering Committee Governance for an SAP Center of Excellence cannot be ignored.  Properly formed and instituted your SAP steering committee is a key enabler for business to IT convergence. 

To achieve SAP IT Convergence Beyond Business to IT Alignment requires a senior leader change champion to make this a deliberate and accountable effort.  This is not intended to be a theoretical discussion but instead it is an action plan.  The entire initiative is as a project and needs a project plan, deliverables, key milestones, assigned resources, etc.   All of the structure and processes will need to be defined within your IT organization to move this forward.

SAP Center of Excellence Maturity Development Level 1 – Internal Focus on IT Operations (Service Provider)

Internal focus is an “all hands on deck” effort.  If internal focus, or basic IT service delivery is suffering then everyone within the IT organization must work to ensure your systems are meeting business needs.  You will not gain enough trust of the business community to become a partner or peer until the basic infrastructure works. Some of the key development in this phase includes:

• A skills matrix
• IT staff training and development plans
• Clear SLA requirements
• Consistent and regular feedback and coaching

Typical activities for service delivery include:

• Help desk functions
• Data maintenance
• Security and authorizations
• Technical infrastructure (servers, system performance, database maintenance, network, etc)
• System access (desktop, remote, mobile, etc).
• Hardware procurement
• Knowledge (information) base development (Wikis, SharePoint, collaboration tools, etc.)
• Knowledge transfer to the user community (formal and informal training)
• Super user development

Skills development focuses on SAP or technical domain competence

• Application module specialties (SD, MM, PP, SRM, CRM, FI, APO, BObj, etc)
• Programming languages (ABAP, Java, PHP, etc.)
• Infrastructure (Cisco, routers, VOIP, IPv6, DHCP, LDAP, etc.)
• SAP Solution Manager use
• Effective presentation skills

SAP Center of Excellence Maturity Development Level 2 – SAP IT Integration With the Broader Business Enterprise (Business Partner)

At this stage, depending on the size of your SAP or IT organization, there are 2 levels of leadership here: 1) delivery management, and 2) process management while developing methodologies, tools, templates, and controls.  A key part of the process management is the development of KPI indexes.  Typical activities for business (enterprise) integration include:

• Requirements gathering
• Blueprinting
• System & solution architecture
• Business case development (cost and value)
• Knowledge transfer
• Subject matter expert training
• Super user training
• KPI and PPI* development with analytics
• Project management
• Team and project leadership
• Basic supervisory tasks
• Mentoring, coaching, and staff development
• Budget adherence
• Sourcing and supplier management
• SAP Solution Manager setup and maintenance for project delivery as well as BPM

Skills development focuses on project delivery and management.

• Facilitation, meeting, and time management skills
• Project management (training and certification)
• Managing conflict
• Supervisory & leadership
• Negotiation skills
• Organizational Change Management
• Total Quality Management
• Business Process modeling

SAP Center of Excellence Maturity Development Level 3 – Strategic Development Around the Marketplace and Competitors (Business Peer)

Split development track for leaders – 1) product or service engineering support (i.e. the “innovation” track) or 2) sales and marketing (i.e. customer focus).  Typical activities for value added strategic technology convergence include:

• BPI* development and analytics
• Marketplace analytics with solution proposals
• Customer analytics with solution proposals
• Value analysis – ROI assessment and benefit compliance
• Cost analysis – TCO assessment and cost savings
• Business case review for strategic fit
• Technology roadmap for system & solution architecture
• System architecture integration with business process management
• Program management
• Program & project budget development
• Project audits / QA’s
• Mentoring, coaching, and development of level 2 participants
• Vendor management

Skills development focuses on business drivers, marketplace competitive pressures, sales, and senior leadership.

• Advertising principles
• Business statistics
• Market research
• Sales management
• International marketing
• Sales models
• Organizational development
• Coaching and leadership
• Delegation
• Strategic planning

Conclusion on SAP Center of Excellence Maturity Development

This analysis provides a framework for development a world class, fully integrated SAP IT organization.  However even with this framework it only scratches the surface of a much broader and more important topic–, Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization.

One of the most critical components of a change management program is not listed above in any of the bullet points – developing communication channels.  Maybe this is naïve of me but I would expect that actively and aggressively developing clear and open lines of communication between IT at all levels with the business would be assumed.  Developing an overall communication program and plans is a basic part of any change management initiative.

There is a significant amount of additional guidance for developing your SAP Center of Excellence in the Series on SAP Competency Center or SAP Center of Excellence.  A systematic approach, including key milestones to measure progress against are important elements to success.  To that end I hope this framework contributes to the dialog and direction of future SAP IT organization maturity.

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* An upcoming post in the future will look in detail at this concept of “KPI, PPI, and BPI” as Key Performance Indicators, Process Performance Indicators, and then finally Business Performance Indicators.

Related Posts:

• Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization
• Toward an SAP Center of Excellence or SAP Competency Center – PART 2
• Using SAP to Improve Revenue and Profitability
• SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity
• How To Navigate the SAP Business Transformation Journey

Deliver Business Value with SAP CoE

One key pillar of moving Beyond Technology Alignment requires Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization (OCM inside IT).  A key component of that OCM within IT relies heavily on Creating a Knowledge Centered Learning Organization.  And within that learning organization, especially with enterprise applications like SAP, you need to build organizational maturity.  There is a three-tier approach to building that organizational maturity as part of the Series on SAP Competency Center or SAP Center of Excellence.

The SAP IT Organization Challenge

Being an “IT Organization” is where the challenge for change begins.  IT has been so focused on delivering technical solutions that business integration was missed along the way.  Adding to this is the “youth” of IT as a business discipline.  Think about it, people have been doing business for thousands of years.  Technology, bits, bytes, interconnected systems, data transmissions, and information age “knowledge” workers are a new phenomenon within the last 2 – 3 decades.  Compared to the age of business they haven’t even hit puberty!

So, the real issue here is how to quickly mature the SAP or IT organization from simple service provider, to business partner, and then to business peer.  This requires far more than the traditional domain and technology management in so many IT organizations today.  The problem comes down to SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery. 

The Answer: Develop Organizational Maturity, both Aligned and then Integrated With the Business

For SAP Enabled Business Transformation for IT Leadership we started with CIO Magazine’s CIO Maturity Model and applied it to the IT delivery organization.  The delivery organization maturity model consists of three key levels of organizational maturity or competence; they are internal, enterprise, and external focus.  These are reflected in the concentric circles below.  When considering SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery it is important to understand how to develop that maturity.  The service delivery domain is technical in nature and the value delivery domain is focused on enabling business.  The value domain is related to customers, marketplace, and improved products or services.

SAP IT Convergence Maturity Model

SAP IT Organization Maturity: Growing Pains

Within each of these three concentric circles a particular delivery competence is required.  This delivery competence roughly equates to the skills and experience needed to address each of the key business support areas.  There will also be “growing pains” within each of these maturity stages as you:

1. Plan
2. Execute
3. Adjust and stabilize
4. Transition part of the organization to the next maturity level

This is a hierarchical maturity model.  While the diagram I use shows the concentric circles they should be thought of as circles of influence, skill development, and promotion.  Not everyone will move from the Internal Support area to the Enterprise Integration domain.  Likewise not everyone will move from Enterprise Integration to Marketplace Development either.  These should be considered as key career milestones for the SAP or IT employee.

For insight on How To Navigate the SAP Business Transformation Journey you will need to re-think the SAP IT organization’s role in the enterprise.  Are you satisfied with being just a service provider?  Do you want to do more?  To make the transition you will have to evaluate the constraints and then do what is necessary to remove them. 

Dealing with SAP IT Organizational Constraints

Whether those constraints are time, resources (budget, technical infrastructure, etc), or people it is important to do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) of each area as you engage.

One other key thing to note here is if you have relatively small SAP or IT support organization then the Level 1 and Level 2 maturity areas can be merged and use less extensive development efforts.  There are practical budget, time, and resource limits that many have to work with.

The Three Part SAP Organization Change

The first two levels of the maturity model involve SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery. The second and third levels are about SAP IT Convergence Beyond Business to IT Alignment.

The three maturity areas are:

1. Technical service delivery
2. Cost and process value delivery
3. Customer and marketplace integration

As senior IT leaders everywhere struggle with growing budget pressures it has never been more important to focus more aggressively on business value.  This will require Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization with a strong focus on Creating a Knowledge Centered Learning Organization.  By developing both the infrastructure to support a learning organization, as well as the mentoring, coaching, and development you will be well on your way to transforming your IT efforts and move toward becoming a business partner.

Next week’s post (which has already been written) will evaluate the specific maturity and development details for each stage in creating a genuine IT Converged SAP Center of Excellence!

Related Posts:

• Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization
• How To Navigate the SAP Business Transformation Journey
• 3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity
• Achieving Business Value from SAP Investment
• Series on SAP Competency Center or SAP Center of Excellence

SAP Value Delivery

In my review of academic literature around SAP or ERP implementations I find some thought provoking items.  Recently I reviewed a study which helped me to form a more complete picture of important issues in IT delivery.  Even though I’ve been writing about it for years I gained a new clarity around evaluating some of the existing delivery models [FN1].  What it comes down to is are you looking for service delivery or business results for your SAP project?

SAP Service Delivery or Business Value Delivery – You Determine Your Future

Because my career started in business and later was exposed to SAP as part of the client core team, and then finally moved on to consulting, I have always recognized the importance of business value.  At the same time much of the System Integrator marketplace has been promoting the same old service delivery model they are familiar with.  To that end something has to change.  SAP, ERP, or Enterprise Application customers are looking for something more.  As a recent article I read noted, CIOs do NOT command the respect of the other key disciplines within the enterprise.  In fact, many of their “C” suite peers question whether or not the technology organization serves much of a useful purpose at all.  That my friends is a frightening and shocking perspective to me.  Stop and think about that a minute, many organizations question whether IT organizations serve a useful purpose in the enterprise.  Is it any wonder outsourcing and offshoring have become so popular?

What Does This Mean for SAP Projects?

At the end of your SAP project are you satisfied that a project was delivered?  Hopefully on time and on budget, but delivered nonetheless?  If you are satisfied that your SAP project was delivered on time and on budget then you are focused almost exclusively on service delivery. 

Many senior level IT leaders and delivery folks just want something to get in as quickly as possible.  This is exclusively a service delivery oriented project.  The only thing you are concerned about are the skills needed to address the particular technology / application / solution need right now.  This will NOT however provide you any type of ROI (Return on Investment) or ROE (Return on Equity) because ROI and ROE (along with other measures) are pure business metrics.  These are not IT metrics and do not measure things like uptime, response time, # of service tickets closed, etc.  The idea of ROI, ROE, or Asset Turns are USEFUL reflections of business activity and investor / owner value.  Although they may be seen as “relics” by IT folks they are still useful to understand if any value was delivered for the investment that is made.

Do you want services delivered or business benefits delivered?

Truth is, if you just want services delivered then no matter WHAT the sales pitch is ALL of the system integrators are the same.  For that matter, why even bother with a system integrator or SAP consultants at all?  Why not just go to your nearest college and recruit a bunch of really smart graduates for a temporary project and pay them about half what the system integrators charge for a temporary contract?  Seriously, why even bother with experienced consultants at all?  If SAP service delivery is your focus and not business results it is just a game of who can best make it through the sales process.  Whether it is IBM and their premium rates or Rajakrishna’s Consultant Shack and their all you can eat offshore rates.  If they can’t speak the local language it really doesn’t matter.  On the other hand if you are looking for business results that is entirely different.

If your only focus is on time and on budget then you are only looking for service delivery.  You are not looking for results, or business change, or IT transformation, or business strategy.

Let me make clear I am NOT suggesting on time and on budget projects are not important.  What I am suggesting is that if your only focus is on time and on budget then you are only looking for service delivery.  You are not looking for results, or business change, or IT transformation, or business strategy.  You are merely looking for resources to deliver services to get you to some date at some budget amount.  Any offshore or consulting shack fake will get you to a dollar amount (maybe not what you expect, but they will deliver “services”).

Where is the SAP Value Proposition Focus on Business Results?

While SAP Implementation is an Investment NOT an Event many organizations fail to consider their enterprise application deployments as strategic assets designed to produce business results.  The good news is that is changing.  So the next question is Where do you Start with SAP Return on Investment or SAP ROI?  This goes right back to the basics, you must focus on the WHY of Achieving Business Value from SAP Investment.  Is the effort about technology replacement or is there some business reason behind the initiative?

A recent IBM study under the heading of “The CIO as change catalyst” noted:

As the executive working at the nexus of business and technology, CIOs are uniquely qualified to help their companies leverage available tools to meet current economic challenges and to exploit the opportunities that will arise during this crisis—and opportunity will arise for those businesses bold enough to disrupt competition and restructure their industries. CIOs can help transform their companies by better capitalizing on the value of information assets.  They can help manage and mitigate business risk through better, more timely information. They can improve service management. They can lower enterprise-wide operational costs—including IT’s—through automation. [FN2]

SAP and IT organization heads are gaining insight and experience but at the same time they are being squeezed to cut costs and find value.

Focusing on value entails cutting discretionary spending, deploying resources for the highest return, bolstering core competencies and redefining relationships. Cash flow is central to survival and strategic flexibility, which means businesses and business units need to do more with less. Corporations must conserve capital and cut spending where it produces minimal return. Funds must then be redeployed to activities, products and markets that generate growth, improve margins and truly differentiate one business from another. [FN3]

Make Sure You Are Headed Down the Right SAP Path

To make the transition your SAP project must begin with Creating a Knowledge Centered Learning Organization for Business Transformation for IT Leadership.  Whether you are already live with SAP, in the middle of a project, or just starting out, I would strongly encourage you to get serious about Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization. 

What most customers do not know is that SAP has offered the “Value Delivery” methodology as part of the ASAP Methodology for many years

If you want to know Why Use the SAP ASAP Methodology? for your SAP project consider the fact that SAP has offered the “Value Delivery” methodology as part of the ASAP Methodology for many years.  Over the years it has taken many forms, all the way back to the early versions of the ASAP Methodology with the old “KPI” lists.  Today it is integrated into the ASAP Methodology structure. 

Isn’t it time to pursue the value delivery method regardless of whether your system integrator is capable of this or not?

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[FN1]  Kieninger, A. and Satzger, G., Risk-Reward Sharing in IT Service Contracts – A Service System View, 2011 Proceedings of the 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[FN2]  From fear to value: CIO strategies for propelling business through the economic crisis, pg. 5.  Retrieved 4/24/2012 ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/common/ssi/sa/wh/n/ciw03057usen/CIW03057USEN.PDF

[FN3] Ibid. pg. 6.

Related Posts:

• Tactics, Strategy, ROI, TCO and Realizing Business Benefit from SAP
• Using SAP to Improve Revenue and Profitability
• How To Navigate the SAP Business Transformation Journey
• Achieving Business Value from SAP Investment
• Phase 6 RUN SAP ASAP Methodology