Five Items to Tackle before You Start Your Next SAP Project
Businesses could save themselves lots of time and aggravation if they did some prep work before they started their SAP project. Doing some prep work will go a long way when it comes time to execute certain tasks within your project. All parties will be better prepared and more familiar with their roles and expectations when you address these items months before they are required versus days before they are required.
All of these items will vary slightly depending on the type of SAP project you are going to implement; however, all should be considered in their proper context.
Recognize and Plan for a Realistic Timeline
One of the biggest issues a project can face is to not plan for enough time to do the tasks to complete the project. Often times it helps to work backwards if you have a known completion time in mind. However, the only risk doing it this way is you may find that you should have already started your project. The biggest message here is don’t fool yourself be realistic because at the end of the day, however long it takes is how long it takes. Just because you put something else on paper does not mean it will happen that way. Respect the process, document the ‘real’ time and then respect your project by planning it that way.
Identify your Communication Methods
In order to keep the business’ support, you want to make sure you always keep them informed on a consistent basis. They need to hear from you often. This helps them feel like they are ‘in-the-know’ and will alleviate any anxiety as your project progresses to implementation. Identify what you are going to communicate, when you are going to communicate it, and who you are going to communicate to before the project begins. Start the communication from day 1. Don’t wait for complaints to start from the business before you start this. Consider bulletin boards in common spaces, newsletters mailed home or periodic state-of-the-business meetings to get your project in front of its future users.
Prep the Project Team
The project team is the group of people who have to know the most about the project. What the phases are, what you do in each phase, who will do it, etc. They need to understand this process. Many of time, these are individuals who are pulled out of the business to participate on the team. This is not their ‘day job’. So they are not familiar with what they are getting ready to go through like your PMs and your consultants may be. Educate them, train them and communicate often to them so they can not only feel comfortable but be good advocates for the project.
Document your business processes
When the consultants first arrive to your facility, one of the first questions they are going to ask you is for you to show them how you do business. Give them a tour, etc. This can feel like a burden to the business and incredibly annoying; where the business decides to not give a very honest effort. In the end, this will hurt the project, causing the team to learn later the business needs versus up front. To help alleviate some of the effort all at once and cramming it into a small time period, work on it gradually. Ideally, it is best to support your business processes with documentation. So when anyone walks into the door; new employees, auditors or a project team, you can quickly support their requests by giving them documentation to review long after your discussions and demonstrations. This helps business requirements be more easily defined instead of word of mouth. Spend your time documenting it once and you won’t have to talk about it twice.
Cleanse your data
Data will make or break a software implementation. It is fundamentally the foundation of your software execution. If you don’t own your data, clean it up and keep it clean, then you will feel the effects of it every day when you turn on your computer. When you know you will be acquiring a new system for the data you are working with, just like documentation, start reviewing it sooner rather than later. You are going to have plenty to do later. The time you spend now making sure old data is deleted, duplicate data is deleted, data is harmonized with other facilities or existing data is up-to-date, this will save you ten-fold your time on the backend.
If you are considering a new software implementation or have one staring you in the face. Consider these topics, take them seriously, try to address them to the best of your ability and watch yourself enjoy the process.
Best of luck to you and your team.
SLS
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SL Smith & Associates became a firm in late 2014. It was a result of the owner, Stephanie Smith breaking out from working for SAP consulting firms and doing it on her own, convinced that the cookie cutter consulting the same way for every one was so frustrating and not getting the job done.
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