Technology implementation matters – just not for the reasons you may think. A well-managed project may result in expected outcomes, but its impact on the long-term health of your business is what delivers the greatest promise. SAP has the tools you need to build such a lasting future.
Based on SAP’s experience serving more than 437,000 customers in over 180 countries, it is always a good idea to change while you can, not when you have to. More importantly, access to the right services, assets, and tools makes the process easier.
Safeguarding Deployment for Long-Term Innovation
Regardless if a business wants SAP or an SAP partner to lead its SAP S/4HANA project, frameworks are offered for both. When choosing a global strategic service partner as a prime lead, SAP Integrated Delivery Framework aligns the delivery roles, methodologies, and services of SAP with those of global SAP partners to create a holistic delivery plan and approach. The framework clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the customer, implementation partner, and SAP at each stage of the project, thus simplifying customer engagement, removing delivery inefficiencies, and accelerating time to value.
If a company chooses SAP as its only implementation partner, SAP Advanced Deployment provides repeatable, standardized delivery services that help reduce project costs and inefficiencies, as well as pre-packaged technical and functional accelerators that can further accelerate rollout. Based on the proven SAP Activate methodology and tailored to an enterprise’s specific transition scenario, the service streamlines the implementation or migration to a high-performing, sustainable digital core. Quality assurance audits are performed throughout the process to help ensure accuracy and fidelity to functional scope design. SAP Solution Manager 7.2 or the new SAP Cloud ALM solution build the platform for the entire project lifecycle and beyond.
Whether employing the assistance of SAP or its partners, SAP will help make sure that an implementation project becomes a success. Enabling customers to develop a culture of continuous innovation while leveraging services and deployment tools within SAP Advanced Deployment and SAP Integrated Delivery Framework during the initial project is the objective of the journey that starts with SAP S/4HANA. Some of those assets, tools, and services are explained here.
Deployment Tools
SAP continuously optimizes existing tools and develops new ones, with a strategy that follows insights gained over the past four years since the product launch.
Many customers are choosing between the two mainstream options: standard conversions and new implementations. Therefore, SAP seeks to provide the best possible tools for both. Customers can find detailed information about the tools for system conversion and new implementation in the manifesto, “Mapping Your Journey to SAP S/4HANA: A Practical Guide for Senior IT Leadership.”
SAP’s top goal is to provide tools that make SAP S/4HANA projects simple business for both customers and partners. As with any IT project, reliable planning, lower risk, and short project times with fewer test cycles are key. SAP is also listening to customers that ask for more guidance and fewer options.
SAP’s top priorities for conversion projects are:
- Automation for custom code adaptation
- Materializing the “clean digital core” paradigm
- Downtime optimization with standard tools, especially for midsize and large systems
- Assistance for data cleansing in SAP ERP through modern technologies such as microservices in SAP Cloud Platform
On the other hand, there are three essential parts of every new implementation:
- Preconfigured best practices with SAP Model Company as the project’s baseline
- Data migration from legacy systems
- Easy integration through leveraging SAP Cloud Platform
SAP works closely with partners for a seamless integration between the SAP standard tools and their special complimentary offerings.
SAP Model Company Services
SAP Model Company services provide the enterprise content baseline for SAP software implementations – whether on-premise, cloud-based, single tenant, or multitenant, or a hybrid of these environments. Customers can gain a ready-to-use, preconfigured reference solutions that provide preconfigured processes and data for their industry and line of business.
Available for a growing number of industries and lines of business, the implementation services simplify and accelerate the preparation, exploration, realization, and deployment phases of migration to SAP S/4HANA. They are interoperable and assembled to order, so customers can accelerate the transition to an intelligent enterprise.
SAP Value Assurance Services
SAP Value Assurance offers a choice of three service packages to provide the right level of service coverage and engagement for an on-premise, cloud, or hybrid implementation. From planning and safeguarding to business-ready and business optimization, each package offers a predefined structure that is tailorable to specific needs and desired outcomes.
Unlocking Long-Term Business Value with SAP S/4HANA
The SAP S/4HANA Movement program is committed to accelerating customers’ transitions to SAP S/4HANA with significant efficiency and minimized risk. However, SAP is does not step away once the technology is implemented and running smoothly; instead, we stand by customers, providing the service and support they need to build a business that is ready for anything that comes their way today, tomorrow, and years into the future.
Bjoern Braemer is head of SAP S/4HANA Movement at SAP.
