AcceleratedSAP is a comprehensive solution for the implementation of the R/3 System, comprising a proven methodology, tools and a range of services for the rapid implementation and ongoing optimization of R/3 installations.
The AcceleratedSAP Roadmap and accompanying Project Plan provide a standard implementation "how-to guide" that fills in the gaps of diverse methodologies and varying individual implementation skills and experiences.
The effectiveness of AcceleratedSAP has been demonstrated many times over at companies around the world. The Business Engineer plays a central role in AcceleratedSAP projects, being used for completion of configuration tasks.
Fig. XX: Breakdown of ASAP phases in the Implementation Assistant
The AcceleratedSAP Roadmap covers the different aspects and phases of an implementation. In the Roadmap, a detailed project plan is included for the five phases. The Roadmap provides a standard repeatable procedure for implementing the R/3 System, including project management, configuration of business processes, technical, testing and training aspects. The Roadmap serves as a backbone to AcceleratedSAP. It is located within the Implementation Assistant, a PC-based navigation tool that also contains the AcceleratedSAP accelerators.
The ASAP Accelerators represent a collection of descriptions, how-to's, templates and examples on all subjects relating to the implementation of the R/3 System. Some are short information texts on a particular subject, others are longer texts such as white papers. There are also a number of predefined and empty templates or forms which you can use when carrying out your implementation. The SAP Simplification Group's guidebooks are included. There are about 350 accelerators for AcceleratedSAP 4.0, and they can be accessed from an alphabetical list, as well as being linked to the individual roadmap How-to's.
There are four levels to the roadmap – phase, work package, activity, task. As you dig deeper into the levels, you will find more detailed information, from an overview description at the phase level down to a "how-to" procedure, role assignment, triggers, and tips and tricks.
It is essential that you create a project plan when starting your ASAP implementation project. Project plans have three parts:
- The Budget Plan contains the projected costs by month, against the actual costs and calculates the variance.
- The Resource Plan contains the resources assigned to the R/3 implementation. It displays the planned and actual number of workdays per month, as well as the variance between the two. It also contains a cumulative planned hours work sheet.
- The Work Plan contains a detailed set of phases, work packages, activities, and tasks from the AcceleratedSAP Roadmap. This information is organized in a project management planning tool (MS-Project or Excel spreadsheet). A Gantt Chart is contained within this work plan to view schedules, dependencies and resources in MS-Project.
Three sample project plans are included for a six-month duration, a nine-month duration, and an upgrade project plan. If the Project Estimator is used during the sales cycle and Project Preparation Phase, your individual project plan is generated automatically, taking into consideration company-specific risk factors. The project plan makes sure that nothing is forgotten and that all activities can be tracked and managed. This means, for instance, that the planning for data transfer and the development and testing of interfaces is already included in the project plan.
It is now possible to implement more than one ASAP project at a time. During installation, Rel. 4.0 of ASAP asks you to specify a project name that will apply to the files being installed. In a multi-project environment a new Project Selector icon on your desktop allows you to set the active project, remove projects and review file locations.
You can select installed components such as the Implementation Assistant and Q&Adb in the respective projects as required. Each project is completely separate from the others, so in fact projects installed on the same server could be at different update levels.
AcceleratedSAP is a complete implementation solution. This means that in addition to the Roadmap, the AcceleratedSAP solution contains numerous tools and also references SAP education and services to ensure maximum time savings and a high quality implementation.
AcceleratedSAP uses the Business Engineer implementation tools at all relevant steps. In the figure below, for example, the conceptual design is based on the R/3 Reference Model in Phase 2 (Business Blueprint), whereas the Implementation Guide is accessed from ASAP Phase 3 (Realization).
Fig. 2: AcceleratedSAP Implementation Roadmap and R/3 Business Engineer
Service and Support
ASAP leverages SAP's service and support offering, that is, all the services relating to the SAP R/3 environment. EarlyWatch® Services, concept reviews, and GoingLiveTM checks are just part of the service palette which ensure total quality and let you effectively tune your R/3 System. At appropriate steps in the Roadmap, service products are mentioned and decision support is provided to determine whether you need a particular service. For example, if you have a high volume of transactions, certain tuning services can assist you in optimizing system performance.
Crucial to a fast and cost-effective R/3 implementation are well-trained project teams and highly competent consultants. SAP's innovative R/3 Info Database (InfoDB) ensures that customer and partner employees involved in implementing, servicing and using R/3 have all the qualifications they need. The InfoDB refers to a new training concept based on a new curriculum, which also includes multimedia courses.
- Level 1 courses provide an overview of the R/3 environment.
- Level 2 courses introduce you to fundamental business processes.
- Level 3 courses focus on providing detailed information.
Organizational Change Management
The positive motivation of employees is a key factor in ensuring a successful implementation project. However, most organizations know, or will at least assume that the R/3 implementation will trigger wider changes in the organization. Left unmanaged, these expected impacts could be viewed negatively. Therefore, any change management program must minimize the implementation risks, acccelerate the implementation process, and align SAP with the customer's organization.
ASAP's Change Management is done via a risk assessment tool, by which assessments carried out will help a customer's team deal with issues of credibility, organizational impact, and individual impact of R/3 implementation. Implementing change management procedures involves accelerating the implementation by means such as a matrix that defines the degree to which jobs and responsibilities will be changed after R/3 implementation. The other aspect is to work with executive sponsors to redesign the organization's structure or reporting relationships, for example. The ASAP change management methodology enables you to review and revise the types and sequencing of change tasks, change activities, change packages and change accelerators.
- A change task is a specific job or function to be completed by the change team.
- Two or more change tasks roll up into a change activity.
- A change package is a collection of change activities.
- Change accelerators are the tools and/or materials that speed up the team's implementation of a processs, activity or task.
Knowledge Corner
The Knowledge Corner contains alphabetized information on all aspects of AcceleratedSAP as well as a lot of tips and tricks for configuration. The information provided here is very helpful during requirements gathering and configuration. The goals of the Knowledge Corner are:
- To provide application consultants with detailed information and alternatives to configure and understand specific functionality within the R/3 System.
- To provide detailed information about peripheral activities, such as support services and access to hotline activity.
- To provide tips and tricks on R/3 implementation activities such as data conversion, authorization management, and forms development.
Some of the newer elements found in the Knowledge Corner are:
- A link to the R/3 Interface Adviser, which provides a central pool of information to help you design and implement permanent interfaces between SAP R/3 components and non-SAP systems.
- The R/3 Structure Modeler, which lets you graphically visualize the R/3 System organizational structures of your enterprise using the Structure Modeler Visio® template. Please note, you must be a licensed Visio® user to use this Accelerator.
- The Report Navigator, which provides a directory of more than 2,000 operational reports available in standard R/3. The Operational Reports in R/3 help you pull and analyze critical transactional information regarding your business. You can use the R/3 Report Navigator to select the report that is optimal for the information you want to retrieve about your business transactions.
SAP's Accelerated Quality Review provides an independent and objective management review of your R/3 implementation project and identifies any risks to the project goals. This service is standard in all TeamSAP projects. Among others, the benefits are early recognition of potential risk areas, improved adherence to project schedules, lower cost, and faster implementation times.
Fig. 7: Checking and quality tools around ASAP
The Quality Review program offered by SAP is not a review of the project for conformance to the ASAP tools and templates, but rather assists the executive management and project manager at customer sites in providing a second opinion of the implementation progress towards achieving the project goals. The scope of the review is to investigate the application, technical and project management areas of the implementation. The review looks for good implementation practices while following a prescribed methodology.
TeamSAP refers to the coordinated network of people, processes and products from SAP and partners that delivers continuous, fast, integrated and assured solutions. AcceleratedSAP is the main process component of TeamSAP.
- The people: SAP employees and certified implementation partners providing leadership, project coordination and know-how to implement, maintain and support R/3 based on your requirements.
- The processes: AcceleratedSAP with the embedded Business Engineer functionality, as well as integrated support, services and training on all levels.
- The products: The R/3 System with its strategic product architecture and open interfaces, providing both scalability and flexibility in an ever-changing business environment. Also, hardware and software products from hundreds of complementary software partners and hardware providers certified by SAP.
Fig. 3: Elements of TeamSAP
TeamSAP supports the concept of business change as a continuum. The goal is to offer SAP customers a full complement of TeamSAP resources to enable rapid technology upgrades or change-outs for access to new functionality. With respect to ASAP, this means that TeamSAP partners are available to carry out implementations, as well as ASAP-certified partners to carry out "Powered by ASAP projects". TeamSAP projects refer to projects carried out by TeamSAP partners, the use of ASAP or Powered-By implementation methodology, Project Quality Review, the assignment of an SAP Coach, and SAP's support on the project's steering committee. All of these are factors contributing to a successful implementation.
The following key benefits will enable you to carry out a more effective R/3 implementation and make effective use of your available resources:
- AcceleratedSAP helps to manage a "Big Bang" implementation strategy with the focus on essential business processes.
- There is a high degree of planning accuracy (time, costs, resources) through the Project Estimator and the Business Blueprint.
- AcceleratedSAP lays the foundation for continuous change and efficient reconfiguration when business or legal requirements change.
- You have a uniform approach to R/3 implementations among partners and consultants worldwide.
- There is an assured quality and know-how transfer during implementation.
- You can reuse the results of your configuration for subsequent implementation projects.
- You have reduced implementation costs and quicker ROI.
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