SAP Challenges for Program Directors and Program Managers
There are no low profile SAP ERP projects and each one has its own set of unique characteristics and challenges. An ERP implementation is a significant investment and high value endeavor for any organization where successful execution is expected, but difficult to guarantee. Project goals and expectations are typically the same: get it done on time and on budget without disrupting day-to-day business operations. In this environment it is critical to know what needs to be done, not just conceptually, but to drive it down into specific tangible work products and deliverables. An SAP ERP implementation has many moving parts and coordinating them and managing them to ensure on time and accurate completion is critical to overall project success.
How DataXstream Helps
DataXstream brings experienced SAP implementation professionals and real world pragmatism to all our engagements. Our consultants have worked in organizations of all sizes and know that a relentless drive for efficient, outcome focused execution is paramount: it makes sense to understand the unique needs of a given project, but ultimately words must become actions and actions must deliver results. These are just a few of the areas where DataXstream helps SAP Program Directors and Managers:
Leadership & Strategic Guidance
We identify and understand the core building blocks, their dependencies and resource requirements for projects. From this we are able to build out detailed project plans, monitor and manage the critical path, and develop project policies and procedures. We are constantly reviewing short, medium and long term project objectives and deliverables to ensure there are no surprises that adversely affect timelines, resource loads and budgets. For example:
- we make sure that the SAP client strategy supports all project activities (prototyping, development, integration testing, user acceptance testing, end user training, future releases, and production support)
- we ensure that a robust yet adaptable production support process is place
- we ensure that a disaster recovery plan is not overlooked
- We evaluate go-live implementation options with you, e.g. big bang, phased by function or geography, to minimize risk and optimize business value
- We help you determine and strike the right balance between in-house, offshore and onshore consulting resources
Tools & Technology
We provide in-depth hands-on experience and recommendations for tools and technologies required for a successful SAP implementation. Our expertise evaluates project needs with a view to a long term sustainable and scalable infrastructure not only from a hardware perspective, but also in terms of system tuning and performance. We were an early adopter of SAP server virtualization and have successfully implemented this approach on multiple SAP releases running in the DataXstream data center.
We provide guidance on the various technologies used in the SAP ecosystem having deployed solutions involving, for example, SAP PI/XI, ABAP, ALE/EDI, BAPIs, IDOCs, GIS Gentran, Microsoft .NET integration, Java, SAP Portals, Mercator. We embrace new technologies and share our experiences to make your project a success.
Technical & Functional Expertise
Our consultants bring both tactical and execution level understanding to engagements that guide key project activities. Almost any project involves interfaces and data conversions and the two are often closely related. We understand that functional needs drive interfaces and conversions so an understanding of how the functional and technical needs fit together is critical for a successful and ongoing implementation.
We provide experience, tools and templates to drive out the business needs, convert them to detailed functional and technical requirements, and ensure they are part of an integrated business process.
DataXstream is the Right Choice
DataXstream consultants worked hand-in-hand with a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company to architect, design and deliver an integration infrastructure based on SAP’s Exchange Infrastructure Technology (XI/PI). The project implemented a new production landscape that seamlessly co-existed with the current legacy infrastructure. Specific challenges required the inclusion of features to manage extremely large files and complex content conversion. In terms of overall deployment and long term strategy the design seamlessly integrated into existing support procedures and provided a clear path to retire the legacy infrastructure.
