SAP Mid-Month Go-Live: Got the T-shirt

Conventional wisdom says you don’t go-live with SAP financials in the middle of the month (strictly speaking I should say the middle of the accounting period, but I’ll say month as a generic term for the posting period).  I recently went through a mid-month SAP financials and logistics go-live and so far it has been a success.

Initially the project team had the expected you-can’t-do-that reaction when the idea of a mid-month go-live was suggested.  We took three main steps to determine whether or not we were crazy or had a viable go-live option:

  1. We asked SAP.  As one of the main participants on the project we got them to do an internal review with some platinum consultants with the objective of telling us why we could not go-live mid-month.
  2. We asked our project team, both client and consulting resources.  Again, the goal was to tell us why we couldn’t do it.
  3. We Googled like maniacs to find something to support and justify the conventional wisdom.  We failed to find anything substantial that would deter us.

Armed with the conviction that there was no reason we couldn’t go-live mid-month we set about defining the details of how we would pull it off.

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SAP Project Management Consulting Clichés

There’s an old saying (aren’t they all old?) that instructs you to avoid clichés like the plague.  SAP has generated its own set of overworked buzzword terminology and has an eco-viral-collective that churns out more and more each day.  I can hardly keep up with the acronyms.
Over the years I’ve accumulated three favorites of my own that I’d like to share.  The aim here is not to kill off the clichés, instead it is to suggest ways to head them off before you use one and have clients rolling their eyes at you–Or at least have a quick follow up so that the cliché actually has some value.

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21 Things to Remember for Your Next SAP Upgrade

Is it time for your company to consider an SAP Upgrade?

The choice to upgrade your company’s SAP platform is a very important business decision.  Many criteria need to be considered when determining if an SAP upgrade is the right move and, if so, what type of upgrade needs to take place (ECC 6.0, Enhancement Packs, etc.).  A successful SAP upgrade requires the determination of your upgrade requirements, proper planning, and an assessment of technical and functional risk.  Below is a sample of our SAP Upgrade Checklist white paper:

Determine Your Upgrade Requirements

  1. What are the business reasons for upgrading? Support from the business for an upgrade project is most important.  If there are no business reasons for upgrading, then you should probably not do it.  Included here are the business risks incurred by not upgrading.
  2. What are the technical reasons for upgrading? Included here are the technical risks incurred by not upgrading.  (Posture increasing maintenance fees for old versions or complete support withdrawal as a business risk – not a technical risk.)

For the complete list, download the full white paper:

SAP Upgrade Checklist

Related Links:

  1. SAP Upgrade Project Plan
  2. SAP Upgrade Project Management Considerations
  3. Contact Us