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Project Management
Project Management
- A Beginner's Guide to Implementing SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) -
Paving the Way to Seamless Integration
by Manish Agarwal, Senior Technical Architect, Infosys Technologies Limited
Most SAP customers integrate their SAP and legacy systems using point-to-point interfaces, which can be laborious to develop, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot. SAP now offers a better way — SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI), an integration middleware that provides a single integration backbone across all SAP and non-SAP business systems. This article is the first in a two-part series that introduces you to the SAP XI toolset and explains the overarching principles behind SAP XI design, configuration, and deployment. Using an example SAP XI integration scenario, this first installment walks you through the initial setup and configuration tasks. The second installment covers the integration scenario design and configuration, and addresses aspects of SAP XI solution deployment, maintenance, and management.
- A Case Study in SAP R/3 Organization Structure Design: Taking FI/CO's 'One-to-Many' Path to
Speedier Global Rollouts
by Kurt Goldsmith
Can a decision regarding something as innocent-sounding as a Chart of Accounts code significantly impact the rollout speed, quality, and cost of a Phase I design to multiple sites, particularly those in other countries? Absolutely! The R/3 Organization Structure you adopt can have a profound effect on the speed with which you are able to migrate an R/3 system from one site to another, and can affect everyone in your company.
This article details a US-based R/3 rollout to four European countries, with special emphasis on the three problem areas that Phase I designs run into during Phase II rollouts: configuration table maintenance, master data synchronization, and knowledge sharing between Phase I and Phase II end users.
- A Custom Performance Test — Is It for You?
by Susanne Janssen and Dr. Ulrich Marquard
A load test makes sense — in fact, it's an absolute must — for large, complex, or highly customized systems with add-ons. In these situations, a load test, whereby you physically test a heavily loaded system before it is deployed, is the only way to verify that the hardware sizing, configuration, and parameterization of your system will be powerful enough to support your business transactions with adequate response times and throughput.
How do you know if your system requires a custom load test? The first part of this article shows you how to answer this question. And, supposing your system does warrant a custom load test, how do you proceed? What steps must you take to successfully devise and then execute the test? This article answers these questions as well.
- A Developer's Guide to Making Applications More Effective, Easier to Learn, and
Simpler to Use
by Jonathan Pokress, President, Bluenote Consulting Group, Inc.
The ease with which an application can be learned and used, as well as how its quality is perceived, is a critical but often underrated determinant of the application's success (or failure). This article aims to provide you with a foundational knowledge and the resources you need for building better, more usable applications for your users. It clarifies what makes an application "easy to use," details how you can improve your new applications going forward, offers guidelines for identifying and simplifying existing applications, and provides tools, including a downloadable R/3 Usability Toolkit, to help you succeed in your own usability projects.
- A Seven-Phase Methodology for Managing Your Next SAP Application Development
Project
by Jonathan Pokress, President, Bluenote Consulting Group, Inc.
Custom development projects can be undermined by a variety of factors, such as faulty software, unhappy users, lack of documentation, and so on. This article presents a methodology to help you identify, define, and solve the true problem, use the right tools for the job, and build the right solution the first time. It shows you how to use a prototype to negotiate user requirements, and provides a roadmap for managing a project, complete with descriptions of the specific deliverables to provide at each phase and insights into identifying and making key development decisions, solidifying project goals, setting and meeting user expectations, and tackling projects in manageable installments.
- A Small Amount of Six Sigma Doubled My ERP Specs-Setting Skills … and Can Do
the Same for You!
by Kurt Goldsmith, IT Productivity Developer, Enowa Consulting
Setting the right specifications for an ERP implementation, upgrade, enhancement, or optimization project is a very difficult thing to do. Even the best field consultants and project managers can be taken by surprise at the post-cutover outcome. This article shows you how to achieve your hoped-for business results and avoid unintended consequences by introducing you to some helpful Six Sigma concepts and showing you how to use them in your own SAP projects, without the need for Six Sigma expertise, and without the need to actually adopt any Six Sigma measures. All you have to do is apply some Six Sigma concepts to your way of thinking. This article shows you how.
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning for a Successful OS/DB Migration Project
by Bert Vanstechelman, Independent SAP Basis Consultant
Are you an administrator or project manager on the verge of an OS or DB migration? If so, you have a lot of planning ahead of you and a lot of work to do, and you are likely under enormous pressure to complete the migration as fast as possible using a minimum number of resources. The good news is that SAP offers a service that can help - the OS/DB Migration Service. This article guides you, step by step, through the three phases of a migration supported by this service, and helps you to form accurate assessments of the time that will be required for the project, the people who will need to be involved, and the decisions that will have to be made.
- A Three-Step Process for Averting Downtime When Modifying Your R/3 System
by Kurt Bishop
Whether your SAP system is still in its settling-in phase, or is one that has been firmly entrenched for years, ushering in new changes is a nontrivial challenge. Even small, seemingly innocuous changes, like rearranging a screen, introducing new headings on a report, or revising your backup practices can introduce downtime. Large or small, IT teams obviously need to avoid downtime and make sure that a change does not have an adverse effect on users, partners, or customers.
Kurt Bishop prescribes a three-step process for averting downtime: document the risk/reward and cost associated with each R/3 change request; categorize change requests according to their risk/reward profile; and safeguard, schedule, and implement the change in a manner that is consistent with its risk/reward profile. This article provides details on all three steps.
- Agile development for SAP: Get into the Scrum!
by Burke LaShell, Domino Developer
If your company has a development methodology that
imposes too much bureaucracy, or if you don't have
enough methodology and your development projects
lack discipline, Agile might be for you. Agile is
a general term that describes a dozen or so different,
but related methods, all sharing several techniques
designed to reduce the cost of developing software
while improving results for clients. This article
takes you through an example SAP development project
that shows you how to put Agile into practice, specifically,
the Scrum form of Agile. You'll learn how to prepare
for your first development iteration, how to run
the daily meetings that are at the heart of Scrum,
and the critical factors that make for a successful
project.
- Architecting a high availability SAP NetWeaver infrastructure: Strategies for ensuring a
successful, cost-effective
implementation
by Matt Kangas, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver, SAP Labs, LLC
Providing high availability (HA) for an enterprise
service-oriented architecture like SAP NetWeaver
is a challenge — typical setups include multiple
integrated SAP systems that are required around the
clock for continuous, one-step business scenarios.
This article helps you meet this challenge in your
own systems by explaining the SAP NetWeaver architecture,
its configuration, the procedures involved, and the
implications of these elements on systems availability.
It starts with an overview of HA basics, and then
discusses the technical details of an HA setup with
SAP NetWeaver, including topics such as architectural
single points of failure (SPOFs) and ways to isolate
and protect such failure points.
- Audits and Regulatory Reviews — Will Your SAP Project Make the Grade?
by Steven W. Biskie, Assistant Vice President, Internal Controls
The regulatory environment is not going away anytime soon. Recent corporate scandals have combined with public outcry over issues like privacy to create a business environment of heightened scrutiny. Your business, from the topmost layers of management oversight to the inner workings of your business processes, is subject to examination, and the neurocenter of your company information, your SAP system, must be prepared for the audit onslaught. This article shows SAP project teams a way to simplify the decisions and tasks required to address the mounting number of requirements posed by a rapidly increasing number of regulations, and how to navigate the array of potential interpretations of these regulations by management, lawyers, and auditors to ensure your effort passes audit scrutiny.
- Avoid Audit Problems by Building Controls as Part of Your Implementation Life Cycle
by Steve Biskie, Founder, SAPAuditSolutions.com (Feburary 2009)
To have an efficient and effective control design process, certain risk and control activities need to occur during the implementation process. These activities reduce the potential for audit issues and minimize future rework. By following this strategy you significantly increase the likelihood of having a successful implementation and a pain-free audit.
- Avoiding the 10 Worst Practices of SAP Development Projects
by Amy Stapleton, CEO, ClearReason, www.clearreason.com
It is a common misconception that unsuccessful SAP projects, regardless of purpose or scale, fail due to a lack of time, money, and/or people. Research shows that this is rarely the case. Projects typically fail for other reasons, like faulty business practices.
While there are obviously an infinite number of things that can go wrong, this article zeroes in on the 10 worst — the ones that are the most common, potentially detrimental, and above all avoidable. And although some of these observations may seem obvious at first glance, as an intertwined whole, they will provide a strong safety net for your next project.
- Best Practices for Driving SAP Initiatives via an Offsite Delivery Model
by Yosh Eisbart, Senior SAP Project Manager/Offsite Delivery Manager (April 2009)
Learn about the array of SAP offsite delivery methods and discover the importance of the role of an integration manager if you decide to implement one of them.
- Bulletproof Your SAP Implementations and Legacy-to-SAP Conversions
by Tom Sullivan, Senior IT Specialist (August 2009)
Find out the pitfalls that occur most often when converting from a non-SAP legacy system to an SAP system. Then discover best practices to help you avoid these pitfalls and see how you can apply them to your project.
- Capture accurate solution requirements the first time with exploratory modeling (xM): How to
nearly eliminate post-go-
live application design failures
by Heinz Roggenkemper, Executive Vice President of Development, SAP Labs
Ralf Ehret, Development Architect, SAP AG
Andreas Tönne, Lead Consultant, Cincom Systems
The lack of a common language between business users and developers during application development projects often results in developers spending a lot of time designing a solution that does not meet user needs. This article explores an approach to application development called exploratory modeling (xM) that reduces the risk of application design failure by using non-technical, business-level tools and concepts to create an application model, and then enabling fine-tuning of the model through shortened, interactive analysis and design cycles. The article starts by examining the root causes of design failures, and then defines the xM approach and discusses how it was successfully used in two projects.
- Case Study: What Every Cutover Manager Should Know to Ensure a Smooth SAP Implementation
by Srinivasa (Srini) Munagavalasa PMP, Deployment Manager, C.A. Inc. (September 2009)
Cutover is one of the final steps for a successful implementation of any SAP project — and one of the most complex and critical components. A clear understanding of the processes, communication plan, staffing plan, resource requirements, execution steps, and expectations can help drive a successful cutover. Learn what is entailed in this process, what you need to do to make it successful, what to avoid, and what you need to keep an eye on.
- Choosing the right platform for your SAP implementation: Six case study TCO assessments that
help you make the right
choice
by George W. Anderson, Senior Technical Consultant and Project Manager, HP Services
Implementing or migrating between different platforms for SAP is neither
cheap nor easy. The technology-specific cost is significant, not to mention
the business and technical costs of analyzing SAP programs and interfaces to
ensure a smooth migration, retooling and retraining staff, bringing in new
servers and disk subsystems, and implementing high availability/disaster recovery
solutions. And each company’s situation is unique — staffing models
greatly differ, as do process and technology practices. This article presents
six case studies based on real-world TCO analyses that you can use to identify
a low-cost platform alternative within the constraints of your company’s
particular business model.
- Configure and Implement the Proper Internal Controls Up Front for an Easier Audit
by Steve Biskie, Founder, SAPAuditSolutions.com (December 2008)
Having to go back and change your SAP system or your related business processes to deal with audit concerns takes time away from your daily operations and results in unnecessary distractions. By configuring your SAP system appropriately and designing your related business processes to effectively address your business risks, you can save significant effort. This article provides an overview of how to set up your SAP system properly the first time. Learn how understanding common business risks and typical audit concerns and carefully managing the SAP implementation process to account for these risks and concerns can eliminate nearly 90% of all audit findings.
- Defining SAP Service Level Agreements: An IT Manager's Survival Guide
by Richard DeAngelis, Senior Consultant, Computer Design and Integration, LLC
Given the complexity and investment inherent in large SAP environments, it is quite likely that you and your IT colleagues are being asked to measure and ensure a certain level of service for users of your SAP systems. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) can be of enormous benefit, because it directly addresses a core frustration of most IT managers: the fact that end users and managed resources grow exponentially while IT budgets increase at a much slower rate. Every IT organization should have an SLA that clearly delineates what services it supports, and how quickly service outages will be restored.
This article explains how to craft an effective SLA, what content should be included in the SLA and supporting Operational Level Agreement (OLA), and how to measure SLA compliance.
- Encourage Effective Decision Making with the Analytic Hierarchy Process
by Michal Szymaczek, Business Development Manager, BCC, Poland (December 2008)
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is an effective, multi-criteria decision-making method that helps you to assign logical, concrete values to your choices so you can make more informed judgments. Learn how to use AHP to intelligently structure and analyze complex problems and more easily synthesize your data with your criteria.
- Ensure the success of your SAP implementation projects through meaningful
communication — a guide to creating a communications plan
by Evan J. Albright, Senior Editor, Wellesley Information Services
Every project requires a certain amount of communication — perhaps a weekly report to the project team, quarterly presentations to the executive team, or meetings whenever a milestone is at risk. In the rush to start and finish a project, however, an organized approach to communication is often overlooked, which can result in increased calls to the help desk or support center, lower user acceptance, and in some cases, outright resistance to new technologies. This article presents a methodology for creating a communications plan to minimize such risks. It walks you through an example scenario, and provides tips and tricks along the way for improving communication during an SAP implementation project.
- Five factors to consider before embarking on custom application development
by Patrick Dixon, Manager, Deloitte Consulting
Managing a globally distributed, heterogeneous system landscape is one of the biggest challenges project teams face. Fortunately, SAP Solution Manager provides a set of sophisticated tools that enable centralized administration of the systems throughout your landscape. For these tools to run smoothly, however, you need to properly configure the infrastructure upon which they rely. This article introduces you to how the infrastructure works and how it is configured using an SAP Solution Manager component called Solution Manager System Landscape (transaction SMSY), which houses the settings and system connections that enable SAP Solution Manager to access and manage satellite systems.
- Get Double Productivity from the Classroom: Master the Art of 'Speed-Learning' Popular Courses
Such As BW, APO, CRM, and
More!
by Kurt Goldsmith, Senior Consultant, ICM America LLC
Whether taking a training class or reading a book on most SAP software application products, what at first glance might seem to be new and complex is oftentimes based on something familiar. Newer SAP products such as BW data warehouse, APO, and CRM are no exception. This article uses the mySAP BW module to illustrate a "speed-learning" technique that can apply to any SAP software. The technique is based strictly on the human need during learning to mentally connect "new" terminology and concepts to "old" terminology and concepts. The goal is not to eliminate the need for formal training, but rather to double the learning productivity that we experience from our formal training. This article demonstrates one way to do that.
- Get Started with Cloud Computing and SAP Today
by Scott Wall, SAP R&D Manager, Solutions Network, Deloitte Consulting, LLP (June 2010)
Thinking about cloud computing? Not sure how to get started? Discover the different types of cloud computing models with a focus on Infrastructure as a Service. Included are immediate SAP use cases for applying cloud technology, SAP-specific challenges and support considerations, and guidelines for building your own hybrid cloud.
- Implement Proven Testing Practices and Techniques for Large-Scale Global SAP Rollouts
by Jose Fajardo, President, SAPTESTING.NET (August 2009)
Learn how to avoid mistakes that plague many SAP implementations associated with flawed testing approaches. Take away valuable information that you can use as a baseline for either enhancing the status quo at your respective projects or for avoiding potential mistakes before testing is initiated.
- Integrate Your SAP Data into SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
by Jens Koerner, SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Performance Management Customer Advisory Council (September 2009)
The purpose and the semantics of transaction level data in SAP ERP can differ significantly from what business users expect to see in SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation when they perform their forecasting and consolidation activities. Taking these differences into account when integrating data into SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation is often more complex than it seems at first glance. The key to successful data integration is to understand the semantic and technical aspects of it, as illustrated by several examples.
- Introducing SLO - A Service, Methodology, and Set of Prewritten Programs for
Changing 'Unchangeable' R/3 Data
by Ali Sarraf, Managing Director, ICM America LLC
Business leaders make all kinds of decisions that have an impact on IT systems - like merging two independent R/3 systems, which inevitably results in data overlaps and conflicts and thus the need for data changes. While SAP R/3 provides standard options for making some data changes, there are no standard options for others. This article shows you how to change such "unchangeable" data with the help of SAP's SLO (System Landscape Optimization) Services Group.
- Is Your R/3 System Recovery Plan a Disaster? A Three-Step Approach for Designing Recovery and
Availability Plans
by Kurt Bishop, Remote Consulting Team, SAP America
Everyone needs disaster recovery and high availability built into their systems. It's just a matter of how much. Realistically, when devising recovery and high availability plans, it's impossible to ensure that every system will be available at every moment of every day. So how can technical support services differentiate between those systems and functions that would cripple the business if interrupted, and those that are simply a convenience for the end users? How do you explain to users or management that something is just not that important? If the systems are that important, where do you get the resources to support them?
This article answers these questions. It discusses the key elements involved in recovery and availability planning and system design, and also how to work with management to finance your comprehensive disaster recovery and high availability resources.
- Leveraging the R/3 Warehouse Management Structure with the MM-MOB and WM-LSR Interfaces
by Michael Ottenstein
Integrating the R/3 Warehouse Management (WM) module with mobile data entry devices and external warehouse management systems is made possible by two interfaces — Mobile Data Entry (MM-MOB), which enables mobile entry and transfer of data to and from SAP, and Warehouse Control Unit (WM-LSR), which enables the sending and receiving of information between the warehouse control units in the SAP environment and automated storage and retrieval systems, fork-lift control systems, picking systems, and carousels. These two interfaces open up a vast array of application scenarios. This article teaches developers the things you need to understand in order to implement an MM-MOB- or WM-LSR-based application scenario.
- Migrate Your SAP BW 3.x Data Flow to Upgrade to SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0’s New Features and Functionalities
by Umesh Manoor, Senior SAP BI Consultant, Fujitsu Consulting, and Kedar Patil, Senior Consultant, Infosys Technologies Limited (December 2008)
When you upgrade from SAP BW 3.x to SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0, the data flow doesn’t automatically migrate with the system. Find out how to migrate your DataSources, transformations, and Web templates to the new format.
- Paving the Way for a Smooth and Successful Integration of Your EDI and SAP Systems
by Angela Winters
SAP professionals are finding that the integration of SAP and EDI systems is fundamental to many of the e-commerce applications they are being asked to support. All too often, however, SAP teams do not have a working knowledge of their organization's in-house EDI subsystem, and vice versa.
This article aims to bridge that gap by providing SAP professionals with an understanding of the basic tenets of EDI technology, what capabilities an in-house EDI subsystem needs to provide, and the role they should be prepared to take in order to ensure a smooth and successful integration between these two systems.
- Performance Testing Your SAP System - Best Practices for Preparing Your Test
Environment
by Tim K. Nguyen, Managing Principal, Orchid Consulting Group
If you are an SAP project leader or IT manager, then you know that testing is a vital aspect of your job. With crucial business decisions depending on your tests, and ultimately the profitability of your enterprise at stake, knowing how to conduct accurate and meaningful SAP tests is critical. This article, the first of a two-part series, shares best practices for test preparation. It helps you make sense of the myriad testing and performance tools currently available, and provides guidance on how to form a testing team and set up the test itself, from defining test scenarios to setting up and configuring the test bed. It also discusses the options available for involving outside resources, and when it makes sense to do so.
- Performance Testing Your SAP System — Strategies for Ensuring a Successful Test
Execution
by Tim K. Nguyen, Managing Principal, Orchid Consulting Group
“Learn by doing” is a time-honored maxim, but when it comes to performance-testing your SAP system, there are some things you’d rather not learn by doing wrong. A performance test project involves many highly skilled people from both inside and outside your organization. Once test execution begins, you can’t afford to have these people standing around idle or not using their time efficiently. While a certain amount of downtime is unavoidable for both people and systems, it can be minimized. Successfully executing efficient performance tests requires discipline, leadership, quick thinking, and even a bit of luck. Most of all, it requires thorough planning and the right testing strategies.
- Performing change management tasks during each phase of an SAP project to achieve the greatest ROI and ensure
successful implementations
by Gerhard Friedrich, Consultant, RWD Technologies
Change management isn’t just about communication and training — at
its core, it is the strategy and tactics involved in convincing end users that
an SAP implementation is an extension of their ability to do their jobs more
easily and effectively. This is the second of two articles on how to perform
successful change management. The first article defines the change management
concept and the seven change management precepts that can help ensure the success
of SAP implementation projects. This second article describes how to apply
change management tasks to the phases of a project that follows the AcceleratedSAP
(ASAP) implementation methodology.
- Put Better Programs into Production in Less Time with Code Reviews: What They
Are, How to Conduct Them, and Why
by David F. Jenkins, Independent Consultant
There is no substitute for a close examination of others’ code before it is released into production. A “code review” is the process of having someone other than the author evaluate a program at various points in the development cycle, prior to placing it into productive use. This article provides a brief introduction to the concept of code reviews — what they are, how they’re conducted, and what benefits you can expect from their use — along with some tips for conducting your own code reviews, including an extensive sample checklist you can use as a template to help you deliver error-free programs on time and within cost constraints.
- Quick Tip: SAP’s Path to the Cloud
by Michael A. Moore, SAP Technical Architect (May 2010)
SAP is positioning its applications and providing management tools to take advantage of cloud computing implementation models. Find out what is currently available for cloud computing, what is to come, and which SAP Notes can help you with your cloud project.
- Readying to Resize Your R/3 Platform
by Kurt Bishop, Remote Consulting Team, SAP America
Whether you're sizing a brand-new system or resizing an existing system, there is only one governing principle — sizing requirements are defined by the extent of the SAP functionality to be implemented. Upgraded functionality, for example, may consume resources, whether you use it or not. When resizing an existing R/3 system, you must account for all upgraded and additional new functions and applications. You must also make sure your existing system is properly tuned, so you don't needlessly buy additional hardware.
How do you analyze your system to determine whether or not it is properly tuned? And how do you account for the workloads presented by current and future requirements from "conventional" R/3 as well as new Web-based functionality such as mySAP.com, Workplace, and B2B? These are some of the questions this article will address.
- Real-Time, Outbound Interfaces to Non-R/3 Systems Made Simple with Change Pointers, Message
Control, and Workflow
by Amy Stapleton
Developers often struggle with custom ABAP/4 code or database logging to devise ways to track changes to data and then to trigger output of that changed data across outbound interfaces to non-R/3 systems. The onus of creating a way to track changes as they occur rests squarely on the shoulders of these developers, but it doesn't have to. There are easier, more automated ways to facilitate real or near real-time outbound interfaces: change pointers, message control, and workflow.
The benefits of tapping into these pre-existing SAP R/3 mechanisms can be significant. You can track changes to data and automatically trigger your outbound interface without writing any custom ABAP/4 code in Customer Exits and without turning on database logging. This article will show you that it's not difficult to do.
- Reduce project risk by integrating Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
tools and techniques with ASAP
by Michal Szymaczek, Business Development Manager, BCC
Using an implementation methodology that divides a project into phases with clearly defined deliverables is a critical first step toward warding off problems that put a project at risk of failure, and AcceleratedSAP (ASAP) is the most popular and proven implementation methodology in the SAP world. However, like most implementation methodologies, ASAP does not provide specific tools for carrying out the methodology and avoiding project risks. This article introduces you to a set of tools and techniques from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) that you can use together with ASAP to minimize the risk and maximize the success of your SAP projects.
- SAP Business Connector 4.8 and SAP NetWeaver PI Compared: When to Use Each
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, SAP AG (October 2009)
Understand what integration platforms are and how you use them with SAP systems. Find out the similarities and differences between SAP’s two main integration platforms: SAP Business Connector and SAP NetWeaver Process Integration.
- SAP journey mapping — how to develop a winning mySAP ERP upgrade strategy
by Adolf Allesch
Eventually, every SAP customer is going to upgrade to mySAP ERP, or face accumulating maintenance costs over time. However, upgrading to mySAP ERP promises to be unlike any other SAP upgrade you have undergone. The scope of mySAP ERP is far more expansive than traditional SAP R/3 and SAP R/3 Enterprise, and so is the range of factors that need to be considered. This article provides an overview of the upgrade process from a strategic viewpoint to help you prepare a journey map for your upgrade, so that you are well-prepared for what lies ahead when the time comes. You will learn about what SAP has to offer, what is involved in the transition that will take place when you upgrade, and some hidden costs to look out for.
- SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Upgrades: A Project Manager’s Point of View
by Steve Leone, PMP, Senior SAP Delivery Consultant, COMSYS (May 2009)
Project managers need to make scope decisions, determine resource needs, and define schedules regarding SAP NetWeaver 7.0 upgrades. Learn how to achieve those goals using the information presented here that is based on SAP-recommended Best Practices and the experience of the author.
- SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1: Plan for and Achieve Better Performance When Integrating Legacy Applications
by Susanne Rothaug, Solution Manager SOA Middleware, and Udo Paltzer, Product Manager SOA Middleware, SAP AG (August 2009)
Explore the fundamental performance improvements that have been made in SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1. Learn how to make these changes part of your project when planning the performance of your integration scenario for a legacy application.
- Secrets to Successful Data Conversions
by Srinivasa (Srini) Munagavalasa, PMP (July 2010)
Converting data from a legacy system to an SAP system can be a daunting task. Follow experienced advice for planning and executing your data conversion strategy, from developing project scope to testing and monitoring the data conversion. Included with these tips are two downloads: a sample Microsoft Visio data dependency planning chart and a conversion project plan checklist.
- Selecting the Optimal System Landscape for Your SAP R/3 Upgrade Project
by Arthur Miller
An R/3 upgrade requires that changes be made to the new system, and it requires support for ongoing changes to the production system as well, so the underlying system landscape must make it easy to manage change. Most upgrade projects use a variation on one of two landscape strategies: rehearsal of the upgrade process on a separate, standalone R/3 sandbox system, with the intent of rolling out the upgrade to the production landscape at a later time, or upgrade of the production landscape's development system right away, followed after a time by the upgrade of the QAS system, with the maintenance of additional, temporary development and QAS systems to support the production system at the old release. Understanding the principles, benefits, and limitations of each of these strategies will help you decide which approach best suits your upgrade project.
- Size Does Matter - Strategies for Successful SAP R/3 Capacity Planning
by Kurt Bishop
Capacity planning is not a trivial task. Choose your hardware vendor and equipment carefully, and upgrades will pose few problems. Choose the wrong vendor-model combination, and you will be forced to make extensive changes to your hardware and operating system that will entail extensive planning and testing, and could ultimately require all new equipment.
So how do you, as a customer, set yourself up for a successful collaboration with your hardware vendor - one that ensures the final system design meets your current requirements and adequately scales over time? This article describes the capacity planning process, some basic tools and techniques employed by the vendors, and how you can ensure all of these items work in your favor as you attempt to size your SAP R/3 System.
- Strategies for the Successful Management of an SAP System Implementation - On Time and On Budget
by Mary Uhlich
In January 1993, Allegiance Healthcare set out to develop a new order management strategy that would dramatically change the way the company conducted its business. This project would implement SAP as an enterprise-wide business system and build a new technology infrastructure to support the reengineering of critical business processes, replacing more than 200 outdated systems (consisting of 10,000 programs and 12 million lines of code). The project touched almost every employee in the company.
This article describes the four-phase methodology used by Allegiance Healthcare to successfully install their SAP R/3 system on time and on budget.
- The 15 Most Overlooked Items in Planning for High Availability and Disaster
Recovery
by Kurt Bishop, Independent Consultant
In recovering from a disaster, you are rebuilding more than a system: you are rebuilding your business and everything it stands for. No detail is too large or too small to deserve your company's full attention when developing recovery and availability strategies. Based on the author's own experiences in the trenches, this article helps you avoid costly mistakes by sharing the 15 most overlooked items - including the cost of downtime, security issues, loss of personnel and systems, and the importance of testing - and discussing how to incorporate them into your own recovery planning.
- To Migrate or Not to Migrate — Proper Preparation Is the Key to Making the
Right Decision and Ensuring a Successful Migration
by George W. Anderson, HP Consulting & Integration Services
The process of deciding whether a migration is in order is as challenging and complex as conducting the migration itself, if not more so. While the technical migration process has a clear goal, navigating the business factors and needs involved, and marrying them to IT factors and needs, are not as clear cut. This article helps IT and business teams make the right decision on whether and how to migrate by identifying the critical areas that will make or break the success of a proposed migration. It also helps prepare you for a successful migration by pointing out commonly missed migration steps and showing you how to mitigate some of the risks involved in going live on a new platform.
- Unveil the power of loosely coupled composite applications by replacing services for additional functionality
by Volker Stiehl, Product Manager, SAP AG
One of the key benefits of composite applications is its flexibility, the capability to replace services to accommodate different functional needs. Whether you are upgrading to the newest SAP release, adding new business logic, or integrating new back-end systems — a common requirement in mergers and acquisitions — composite applications
enable you to “plug ‘n’ play” different functional implementations by using a common interface. The replacement technique shows you how to replace services without affecting their consumers. Learn how it can help you face the challenges of changing business or IT requirements. Once you have used it, you’ll never let it go.
- Use stakeholder maps to secure support for your SAP projects and ensure successful
implementations
by Doug D. Whittle, President, Whittle Consulting Group
There are two givens you can always count on when
you implement an SAP system. First, you will be dealing
with a multitude of stakeholders, each with different
expectations, needs, and behaviors. Second, the more
stakeholders you encounter, the more you’ll
find yourself mired in internal politics that can
manifest themselves in a variety of ways, from outright
resistance, to loss of executive support at critical
decision points, to individuals leaving the project
team, to pockets of users failing to attend the training
before go-live. This article guides you through the
process of building and using “stakeholder
maps” to help you manage the relationships
that will ultimately make or break the success of
your project.
- What is change management and why is it important? An overview of change management and the seven precepts that can
help every SAP project
by Gerhard Friedrich, Consultant, RWD Technologies
Change management is the process of matching the expectations of those affected
by an implementation project to the results they are receiving — it helps
people decide whether a given project is good for them. This is the first of
two articles that help you successfully manage the change that comes with all
projects. This first article provides an overview of change management and the
seven precepts that you must address when considering a specific SAP project.
It provides advice to help you avoid the change management pitfalls that have
derailed many projects. The second article maps typical change management tasks
to the phases of an example SAP implementation project.
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