Database Reference
In-Depth Information
seek the business drivers that the SAP implementation aims to assist once it goes in production.
These could be knowledgeable responses to customer queries, quick turnaround times, minimi-
zation of errors in registering requirements for products and services, making the best pricing
available to a valued customer, up-to-the-minute tabs on delivery schedules, error-free dispatches
of goods and invoices, proper follow-up on payables, and so forth. Consequently, there is a need
to define how the performances will be measured and to define a threshold of performances. It
is important to realize that SAP implementation is not an end in itself but toward the achieve-
ment of the business objectives of the company, which is not unlike any other similar major effort
undertaken within the company:
1. Project Mission
This helps in orienting company-wide effort toward the success of the implementation as
well as ensures focus on the most significant aspects of the project.
2. Project Benchmarks
This lays down the thresholds of performance that SAP implementation project must deliver
in the envisaged time frame. This includes benchmarks for the implementation project itself
including milestones for achieving the various phases, but it also includes business bench-
marks on the postimplemented business processes in terms of predefined measures in tune
with the goals and the objectives of the project.
3. Change Charter
SAP lays a lot of emphasis on the change-related aspects of SAP and the issues of change
management arising out of it. SAP implementation entails many changes in the general
operations of the company.
ASAP does not engender BPR in the conventional sense; the actual business processes do
not undergo major changes in design per se. But SAP by its very nature (refer Chapters 1 and
4) triggers major changes in the operational procedures of the company because of
a. Single-point entry of business transactions
b. Comprehensive and automatic audit trails
c. Single Integrated database
d. Real-time operations
e. Immediate update and postings of transaction
f. Immediate access to up-to-the-minute information, queries, reports, etc., to all autho-
rized users
Therefore, ASAP that targets to achieve SAP implementation in extremely reduced time frames
has to necessarily address the issue of change management.
13.2.1.1.2 Define Implementation Strategy
This basically addresses the issues of the approach of implementing various functional modules at
various sites:
1. Implementation Strategy
The options are of implementing either as a big bang or in waves. In the former, all rel-
evant modules are implemented at the same time. In this topic, we are recommending this
approach. The other approach is to implement various modules in succeeding waves of
implementations one after the other.
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