SAP Consultants for Better SAP Projects

By |August 1st, 2011|

No matter what size company or organization you have, the type of consulting experience you choose will have a huge impact on the results of your SAP solution. For high-speed projects, consultants who have several small or mid-sized SAP project experiences tend to be more well rounded. They are skilled at delivering the more difficult SAP solutions with standard functionality and at a faster pace than their counterparts. Why Are SAP Consultants with Many Small and Midsized Projects Uniquely Qua [...]

SAP Project Manager – SAP Program Manager, Lessons from the Trenches

By |July 25th, 2011|

This is a continuation of the previous post that addressed early requirements for good SAP project management (see Effective Results from SAP Project Managers – SAP Program Managers). SAP Project Management Responsibility Above all else, a manager’s primary responsibility is to ensure the success of those they are responsible for managing. Overall success of any initiative is directly tied to the success of those responsible for delivery of that initiative. This is especially true in fast-paced [...]

Effective Results from SAP Project Managers – SAP Program Managers

By |July 18th, 2011|

In all the years I have been involved with SAP, I have often puzzled about what creates a quality project rather than some of the horrors they call SAP projects. I have seen a few go really well, a few not so much, but most were mediocre. I have often asked myself “Why? What makes the difference between a good project and one that is nothing short of a mess?" One key item that stands out is project management. Even with the most talented and dedicated resources, bad project management can ruin [...]

Steering Committee Governance for an SAP Center of Excellence

By |July 11th, 2011|

This post is based on information from my ASUG presentation in Atlanta: Beyond Technology Alignment – Building a Center of Excellence (http://bit.ly/jJefxP). ------------------------- At the intersection of business and IT, you have convergence. At the place of convergence is where the Center of Excellence exists. ------------------------- One of the key SAP project success factors is to use a steering committee made up of key business stakeholders. They can meet once a week or once a month, bu [...]

3 Keys to Reduce SAP TCO & Move to SAP ROI

By |June 26th, 2011|

I only have a couple more posts in my series on overcoming vendor sales tactics, so I wanted to provide a brief distraction and look at a few key areas for SAP organizations to move to excellence. This post focuses on some of the considerations for SAP Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and SAP Return on Investment (ROI). One key to achieving SAP ROI is through convergence or integration of the SAP staff into the business. I have started down this path as part of a follow-up to the recent ASUG Atlan [...]

Create SAP Convergence Instead of Business to IT Alignment

By |April 4th, 2011|

This is part of an ongoing exploration of creating an SAP or Technology "Center of Excellence" within your enterprise. For the background and key insights on this approach, see the Series on SAP Competency Center or SAP Center of Excellence . ------------------------------ The real future of technology is for IT to integrate with business, or in other words, to converge business and technology. The idea of aligning with business is too weak to define what IT and SAP must do within the enterpris [...]