|
5 months ago ::
Jan 03, 2012 - 3:13PM
#1
|
|
|
Welcome to today's Q&A with Michael Doane
author of the new edition of The SAP Green Book from SAP PRESS You’ve survived your rollout – but now what?What are the measures of success for your SAP implementations? Are you following best practices for managing end user training, outsourcing, Centers of Excellence, super users and other post-implementation opportunities and challenges? Join the discussion in this exclusive, one-hour online Q&A with ERP expert, author, and consultant Michael Doane on managing your SAP systems post-implementation. Post your questions for Michael Doane today, January 19 at 12:30pm -1:30pm EST here in the Project Management forum. To post your question for Michael Doane, first log in to Insider Learning Network, and select the “Post Reply” button below. (If you are not yet an Insider Learning Network member, join today!) Michael will post his responses in the Forum today from 12:30pm -1:30pm EST. If you have not registered for today's Q&A, you can still register now for an exclusive sneak preview of the new edition of The SAP Green Book, coming next month from SAP PRESS. Download a working draft of Chapter 4, "We Do It Themselves: Outsourcing SAP Applications Support" - look for the link in your confirmation email. Sponsored by 
Moderated by
Forum Moderator
on Jan 19, 2012 - 11:52AM
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:09PM
#2
|
|
|
Thanks for doing this Q&A and looking forward to your upcoming SAP Green Book. Two questions: 1. In your experience what do the best companies do to retain their talent & knowledge once they have successfully set up a Center of Excellence. 2. Over the years I have supplemented many SAP customers with part time remote consulting after post implementation. Curious to get your thoughts as it seems many customers are not proactive, let issues pile up and than scramble to fix (ie US Payroll & Year End) Thanks in advance.
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:24PM
#3
|
|
|
Michael - you talk about the importance of SAP customers moving from a Center of Expertise (technical SolMan ALM orientation) to Center of Excellence (business-driven) approach to fostering SAP competencies. Why is this distinction important and what results are you seeing in the field on the Center of Excellence front?
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:29PM
#4
|
|
|
Welcome to today's forum with Michael Doane, author of The SAP Green Book. Thank you for joining us today. Michael is taking your questions on post-implementation challenges and benchmarking your system. Michael is an Executive Consultant with CGI, and the author of The SAP Green Book – soon to be released in a new edition from SAP PRESS -- and The SAP Blue Book , a Concise Business Guide to the World of SAP, and a well known expert on post-implementation best practices and centers of excellence. To post your question for Michael, simply use the “Submit Post” button. And please refresh your browser periodically to see the latest posts. Michael, there are already a couple questions waiting so let’s kick this off with those!
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:32PM
#5
|
|
|
Hey Jarret, 1. Motivation and morale are promoted by giving people a career path that involves a) stretching their skills and b) rounding their skills (IT and business) 2. Read the chapter "We Do It Themselves" as most clients think they should do everything in-house. In fact, these people are managing FTE';s not outcomes.
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:34PM
#6
|
|
|
Michael - you talk about the importance of SAP customers moving from a Center of Expertise (technical SolMan ALM orientation) to Center of Excellence (business-driven) approach to fostering SAP competencies. Why is this distinction important and what results are you seeing in the field on the Center of Excellence front?
Center of Expertise is about applications excellence but is not business centric. A Center of Excellence is about continuous business improvement and includes a business domain that the Center of Expertise does not have.
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:35PM
#7
|
|
|
Hi Michael -- how do project teams better communicate the value of their current SAP systems -- and in measures that business stakeholders care about?
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:41PM
#8
|
|
|
Hey Jarret,
1. Motivation and morale are promoted by giving people a career path that involves a) stretching their skills and b) rounding their skills (IT and business)
2. Read the chapter "We Do It Themselves" as most clients think they should do everything in-house. In fact, these people are managing FTE';s not outcomes.
For a sneak preview of Chapter 4 of The SAP Green Book, you can register here and download a working draft of Chapter 4, "We Do It Themselves: Outsourcing SAP Applications Support" - look for the link in your confirmation email. This will give you a glimpse at what’s to come in the new edition of the book coming from SAP PRESS next month.
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:42PM
#9
|
|
|
Ideally, the client will have undergone a useful Value Engineering exercise as a way of establishing a business justification at the KPI level. Thus, at the end of implementation, they can measure their tangible gains in an ROI format. Moving forward, they continue with value engineering on a business process by business process basis using KPIs as navigation and measurement for improvement. Bullet-point "values" such as "things are better", "we are more streamlined" or "we are faster" are not useful at all. Nor are IT KPIs like response time or pass through time.
|
|
|
|
4 months ago ::
Jan 19, 2012 - 12:43PM
#10
|
|
|
Michael, I like that you talk about "strategic" vs. "non-strategic" work. We have seen great value in outsourcing "task" work such as reviewing code for Unicode conversion. We did not have to provide functional specs. However, I do not see this same win for regular evolutions or projects. What is the tipping point between strategic and non-strategic in your mind? Thanks.
|
|
|
