Global SAP Instance Consolidations

By |January 24th, 2011|

Over the last several years, a number of companies have undertaken a global instance consolidation. And it's no wonder why-- a global SAP consolidation presents opportunities for significantly reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). However, this type of system consolidation also brings numerous change management issues to address. As you embark on your consolidation, you will find that some major issues are easier to resolve, because the hard decisions around processes and scope were resolved [...]

How “As-Is” Process Mapping Can Damage Your SAP Project

By |January 3rd, 2011|

Not only can the "As-Is" process mapping damage your project, but it also adds significant amounts of unnecessary cost. Throughout my experience in SAP projects, I have participated in the "As-Is” and “To-Be” processing mapping exercises many times. Along the way, I learned a few key lessons. First, the old “As-Is” process mapping approach was (and is) critical for software engineering projects. As-Is process mapping efforts have very limited application to an SAP implementation-- or for that m [...]

SAP ERP Project Failures Lessons Learned and Mini Case Studies 3

By |December 27th, 2010|

  In this final installment on these lessons learned and mini case studies, we will look at a few older SAP project failures. Even in these older SAP project failures, many of the same problems continue to repeat themselves. I would like to point out once again that in the major SAP project failures the software application itself was not at the root of the failure. The project failures I focused on are the ones where there is plenty of published literature to evaluate. Obviously that do [...]

SAP ERP Project Failures Lessons Learned and Mini Case Studies 2

By |December 20th, 2010|

The following SAP ERP project failures cover the importance of testing, change management, training, senior management involvement, scope management, and quality of the consultants provided by ERP implementation vendors. With the exception of the inept, incompetent, or otherwise unqualified “con”sultants provided by some system integrators, you should note that these failure overviews illustrate many of the points made by Steve Phillips in the post on Software Consulting Firms and Clients Myths [...]

SAP ERP Project Failure Lessons Learned and Mini Case Studies 1

By |December 13th, 2010|

  The following SAP project failures are the first three of what we will review over the next few weeks. The SAP project failures we will review are high-profile examples with significant lessons to be learned. In nearly every case where the SAP implementation actually occurred, within one to two years after the troubled go-live, the SAP software itself was reasonably well-received and the business generally satisfied.   ================= One interesting feature of the SAP project fai [...]

SAP System Vendor Project Success Criteria & Factors 5

By |November 29th, 2010|

This is the final post in the series on SAP project shared success criteria. Doing this entire topic justice has been more of a challenge than I had originally anticipated. At some point, I will put it all together in a PDF e-book. This series leaves you with a lot to digest but over the years these items generally make up the foundations for a very successful project that is able to transform your business. This series has been challenging but interesting and I am glad it is complete. In a few [...]