Summary

The start-to-finish guide to designing, managing, implementing, and upgrading enterprise SAP solutions- A 100% practical roadmap that integrates business, project management, and technical perspectives: the 'whole organization' approach that's needed to succeed.- Up-to-the-minute insights for implementing the new SAP ECC atop the SAP NetWeaver platform.- Authored by a team of SAP business analysts, project managers, and technical consultants with extensive enterprise experience. Authored by exceptionally experienced SAP implementers, this book provides comprehensive, real-world roadmaps for succeeding with any SAP implementation or upgrade. It's the only book to present a holistic, 'whole organization' approach that fully reflects the challenges, issues, and tasks faced by every participant -- including executives, managers, technical professionals, programmers, project managers, and end-users. Utilizing a real-world case study, the authors walk through planning, designing, customizing, and implementing SAP solutions with SAP's ERP Central Component (SAP R/3's successor). They demonstrate the concurrent work streams of each participant, identify critical path milestones, and cover all essential subprojects and tasks. Each chapter contains sections on project management and oversight; executive tasks; business process configuration tasks; technology and programming tasks; and issues related to the end-user community. By reading this book from cover to cover, readers can gain a truly comprehensive view of implementing SAP. Alternatively, they can pick and choose chapters related to their most immediate concerns. Either way, SAP Implementation Unleashed will help readers overcome the complexity typically associated with SAP deployments, so they can gain more business value sooner.

Author Biography

George W. Anderson is the Chief Strategist for EDS, an HP Company, providing enterprise applications, thought leadership, and strategic direction on behalf of the Office of the CTO. An avid writer, technologist, student, and speaker, George lives near Houston, Texas, with his wife and three children. George is a certified SAP Technical Consultant, PMI PMP, HP Master ASE, and more, and holds one of several technical editor positions for SAP Professional Journal. An SAP consultant for 12 years and IT professional for more than two decades, George has had the privilege of working on numerous implementations, upgrades, computing platform migrations, infrastructure refresh and performance optimization projects, and other enterprise consulting engagements. You can reach him at george.anderson@hp.com.

Charles D. Nilson, Jr., is a Senior Program Manager for EDS, an HP Company. Charles lives near Chicago, Illinois, with his family and has held various SAP project management, program management, and consulting roles. Across a 14-year SAP career, Charles has had the pleasure of working on numerous projects and programs, managing multicultural teams and supporting scores of successful SAP implementations across four continents. With industry knowledge spanning electronics, consumer products, pharmaceutical, and discrete manufacturing companies, Charles is a PMI PMP and is SAP Partner Academy certified in MM and PP. He also holds a Certificate in Integrated Supply Chain Management from MIT and a bachelor’s of science in business administration from Elmhurst College in Illinois. An avid sportsman (favorites include kayaking, golfing, hunting, and camping), you can contact Charles at charles.nilson@hp.com.

Tim Rhodesis a Senior Technical Consultant for EDS, an HP Company. He resides in Houston, Texas, with his wife and three children and enjoys reading and conquering steep learning curves. Tim is an eight-year Basis and SAP infrastructure veteran focused on implementing, migrating, and upgrading SAP components and has been working in the information technology field for more than 17 years. An SAP-certified Technical Consultant, Oracle Certified Professional, Microsoft MCSE, and HP Master ASE, Tim recently received his MBA and is a coauthor of the popular Teach Yourself SAP in 24 Hours, Third Edition. You can reach him at tim.rhodes@hp.com.

Andreas Jenzer is a Principal Consultant with 11 years of SAP experience spanning the entire SAP systems lifecycle. A proud recent father of twins, Andreas consults to executivelevel technology leaders on behalf of HP. He currently focuses on Business Technology Optimization solutions for SAP environments. Andreas is a graduate engineer in information technology and holds a master’s degree in service management. Andreas and his family reside in Boulder, Colorado; he may be reached at andreas.jenzer@hp.com.

Sachin Kakade is a Senior Solution Architect and Functional Consultant for HP specializing in enterprise applications such as SAP. He has 17 years of total experience with the manufacturing industry and with SAP implementations, specializing in Supply Chain Management, Business Intelligence, and ERP solutions. Sachin is a certified SAP PP and SAP APO Demand and Supply Planning consultant, and he has provided application configuration, business process reengineering, and architectural solutions for more than a dozen customers. He holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pune and a diploma in Business Management. Sachin is an outdoor enthusiast and engages in a variety of activities, such as painting acrylic landscapes, playing soccer, and hiking with his family. He can be contacted at sachin.kakade@hp.com.

Jeff Davis is an Independent Enterprise IT Architect and SAP Basis Consultant who lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife and son. With 15 years in information technology and more than 10 years specializing in SAP, Jeff has worked as a Senior Basis/NetWeaver Architect on large SAP implementations throughout the United States, including international and public sector projects. While SAP consulting is his career, Jeff will tell you that his real passions are knowing Christ more and enjoying time with his family. You can reach Jeff at jeff.davis2@hp.com.

Dr. Parag Doshi, Heather Hillary, Veeru Mehta, and Bryan King contributed significantly to SAP Implementation Unleashedas well, sharing their unique expertise and experience in SAP-related fields as diverse as SOA, project leadership, functional configuration, sizing/architecture, enterprise applications implementation preparation, achieving operational excellence, and more. As seasoned consultants, practice principals, and project managers, their real-world implementation lessons learned added a valuable “in the trenches” dimension to SAP Implementation Unleashed.

Part I Setting the Stage

1 What it Means to Implement SAP

2 SAP Projects: Characteristics and Themes

3 Business Vision

4 ERP Solution Vision

5 Financial Impact: ERP Costing and ROI

6 Knowledge Repository

Part II Getting Started

7 PM Checkpoint 1

8 Building the SAP PMO

9 SAP Project Management

10 No Implementation is an Island: Partners Required

11 Building the SAP Project Team

12 Staffing a World-Class Project Team

13 Staffing the SAP Business Teams

14 Staffing the SAP IT Technical Support Organization

15 HA Considerations and Solutions

16 DR Considerations and Solutions

17 Availability and Recoverability: Organizational Factors

18 Introduction to SAP Platform Sizing

19 Conducting the SAP Platform Sizing Process

20 Training SAP Users

21 Developing the SAP Data Center

Part III SAP REALIZATION/FUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

22 PM Checkpoint 2

23 Preparing for SAP Component Installations

24 Installing SAP NetWeaver Components

25 Installing SAP Business Suite Components

26 Functional Development

27 Functional Configuration Change Control

28 Functional, Integration, and Regression Testing

29 Advanced Concepts: Functional Testing

Part IV PLANNING FOR GO-LIVE

30 PM Checkpoint 3: Project Team Retention

31 SAP Infrastructure Operational Considerations

32 SAP Infrastructure and Platform Testing

33 SAP Load and Stress Testing

34 Technical Change Control

35 SAP Systems and Operations Management

36 Preparing for SAP Go-Live

Appendix A Case Study Considerations and Conclusions

Appendix B SAP Acronyms and Terminology

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Excerpts

Introduction IntroductionImplementing SAP has always been about transformation, or letting go of old ways of doing things in favor of something newer and better. Transformation goes beyond the incremental changes an organization might adopt as it seeks to change. Instead, transformational change is synonymous with revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, change. It's about turning the corner, getting over the hump, or making the leap to a better place. Is it painful? Nearly always. Is it worth it? With a number of exceptions, the answer is nearly always yes. Implementing SAP is one of the few broad transformations that can take not only a business unit but an entire company to the next level, to a place where better information is delivered more quickly, better decisions are made, and ultimately an increased return on information (an old SAP adage that continues to be validated by thousands of SAP's customers) is realized. The trick is doing it right. Doing It RightThe pain associated with an SAP implementation comes from several different places. End users will be changing both their tools and the way they work. Managers and other decision makers will be changing processes with which they've grown comfortable over the years. Better information will drive these new processes faster, too, bringing with them a different set of issues. And behind all of this, IT organizations will find themselves deploying and managing the most critical suite of companywide business applications they've ever seen. All this change is akin to growth; awkward crawling and hesitant walking at first, followed by a bit of stumbling and a certain amount of falling and getting back up again. Like learning to walk, implementing SAP comes with its share of bruises. Persistent organizations will get through this and see themselves grow more resilient, more self-aware, and ultimately less like the old organization. There's almost no way around all of this; transformational change has great upside down the road but is painful nonetheless.What if you had a guide, though? Someone who had already navigated these waters and walked these paths? Wouldn't such a thing be worthwhile? Wouldn't a book authored by 10 SAP project managers, functional consultants, and technologists with more than a century of combined experience go a long way toward giving you the peace of mind you need on this journey?That's where we come in. Our goal is to outline the business, technical, and project management roadmaps necessary to successfully plan for and complete an SAP implementation, and then fill in all the important gaps. We want you to be able to draw upon a deep pool of experience and lessons learned, comfortable in the knowledge that you not only are in good hands, but are also obviously not the first to attempt an SAP implementation. Through this book, you will crawl, walk, and run in record time. You'll make fewer missteps and ultimately cross the finish line closer to budget and your timelines than you ever could have solo. There will still be the underlying discomfort of change, but in retrospect you'll find that your journey has been a whole lot less painful than it might have been. And you'll find that you not only did more with less, but did better (than your competitors!) with less, as explained next. Doing It Better <