Are you positioning your business to reap the rewards of growth? Are you planning to use cloud technology as your lever? Both are great decisions but what about the actual process of an SAP Business ByDesign implementation or similar cloud solution? What do I actually need to do, will it interrupt trading, will it take a REALLY long time? If these questions are causing you sleepless nights then read on for a straightforward guide that answers your most frequent SAP Business ByDesign implementation questions.
Assess Your Data Migration Plan
When you’re planning to introduce an erp solution for the first time you need to think about your data. An SAP Business ByDesign implementation need not be like something out of a Hitchcock movie.
It’s a fact that companies who adopt a data strategy early are far more successful with their bydesign project and experience far less operational disruption than those who don’t. So make sure you;
- Spend time defining the scope of data conversion and assessing data cleanliness.
- Split the task into manageable chunks and tick each one off as you reach the milestones.
Our consultants have prepared a more detailed document on migrating data into SAP Business ByDesign – take a look at it here.
TAKEAWAY: Think about data early and listen to the advice of your implementing partner
People Get Ready – for your SAP Business ByDesign Implementation
Your people are absolutely vital to the success of your SAP Business ByDesign implementation. It would be a mistake to place the emphasis on the technology you are introducing and not on the people who are going to use it.
Important questions include;
- How will the changes affect your people?
- Do you have a plan for identifying and tackling change resistance?
- Who is going to be involved in enthusing and motivating those around them?
We have seen some organisations absolutely power through their SAP Business ByDesign implementations on the strength of their teams. By creating team spirit and a sense of camaraderie on your bydesign project, you can cut implementation time dramatically and increase constructive use of the system which saves you time and money.
You can read more on preparing your people for a new erp solution here.
TAKEAWAY: Devise a project plan that promotes two-way communication and drives awareness of project goals.
Define Your Business Processes
A smooth technology upgrade is a beautiful thing but you have to prepare if you want to pull it off.
With an SAP Business ByDesign implementation you are standing on the shoulders of giants by building on the best practice business processes of many companies who have gone before you. Processes for the ByDesign cloud solution are pre-configured and pre-defined to save you time and make you more efficient. But that may require some adjustments on your part.
Business Process Re-engineering
Many companies take this time of change as an opportunity to look at company workflows and ask where business processes can be adjusted so they are as logical and efficient as possible.
What we & modern ERP partners tend to do is to find out what the best features of the solution are for the business and how this would provide benefits and improvements. If the customers like the look and feel of the solution and are looking for the features it contains, then during the implementation we would walk the Key Users through the ‘best practice’ business flows and encourage them to change their old methods to follow the standard method to get the best and most effective usage of the solution and allow them to capitalise on the features they can enjoy.
Companies that take the time to do this usually end up with a faster implementation while minimizing extra costs.
One company that did just that is Lloyd’s Register – you can read about their transformation with InCloud Solutions and SAP Business ByDesign here.
TAKEAWAY: Can you streamline your processes to align with your new ERP solution?
Test your business processes on people, not paper
We hope you are enjoying your tips for a smooth technology upgrade.
You know the importance of bringing your employees with you on your ByDesign project, defining your business processes and aligning them with your technology.
Now we’d like to suggest that you test your business processes on people and not just on paper.
We have said it before but it can’t be repeated often enough, it will be your employees who determine whether or not your SAP Business ByDesign implementation is successful.
Do your employees understand how to use your new cloud solution? With effective training and enthusiastic communication from your project team your employees will have a good start.
Training should be customized to show how the ERP solution works in the context of your organization’s business processes and workflows. Your change management plan should include time & budget for adequate training to ensure success when you go live.
Find out more about how we can help with training here…
A process you can trust
With any SAP Business ByDesign implementation you have years of SAP best practice to back you up – that includes a tried and tested unique SAP implementation methodology.
You can familiarise yourself with that methodology below.
Ultimately it means a faster implementation so you can keep your business up and running without losing revenue.
SAP Launch
This unique methodology goes by the name of SAP LAUNCH – it is a tried and tested system which sets out the launch activities and resulting deliverables in advance. This helps us to make sure that your project is brought in on time, while also meeting the specific business requirements you shared with us during the planning stage.
Cloud First
Cloud is now the smart choice for anyone seeking to streamline their business processes and that is why the implementation methodology has been designed specifically to support SAP cloud-based ERP solutions.
4 PHASES
The SAP Launch methodology for an SAP Business ByDesign implementation is split into four phases – PREPARE, REALISE, VERIFY & LAUNCH. Each phase includes work streams, deliverables, workshops, and a quality gate. Let’s take a close look at each of them.
PREPARE
This phase will determine the scope of the implementation and ensures the project is accurately planned to correspond with the following areas;
- Project Management – starts with handover to the services delivery team where the goals, objectives and success metrics are decided; project planning, kick-off and execution will follow.
- Solution Design – review best practices and define the configuration to confirm project scope.
- Integration Preparation – validate the integration and security.
The Project Verification Quality Gate is complete when all stakeholders agree on the scope to be delivered during the SAP Business ByDesign implementation.
REALISE
The Realise phase helps to ensure that the agreed scope is manageable within the system and if needed, adjustments made.
- Project Management – the project execution deliverable continues to control project status and risk management.
- Project Team Enablement –with the project initiation, the project team
is preparing for the project and working with the solution.
- Solution Configuration – system configuration and testing with the sample customer data.
- Solution Walkthrough – demonstration to the customer how the end-to-end processes will look within the system.
VERIFY
The Verify phase ensures everything is ready for switching your processes to SAP Business ByDesign.
- Project management – continues with control of the project statutes and risk management.
- Data migration – deliverables go through all phases starting with data preparation to cleansing and testing within the system.
- Integration setup – initial testing within the test tenant and then uploading to the production tenant.
- Solution Testing – once the testing documentation is prepared, customer fully tests the system with the migrated data.
- Cutover planning – identification and scheduling of all the tasks and resources.
The Project Verification Quality Gate is complete when all stakeholders agree on the scope to be delivered during the SAP Business ByDesign implementation.
LAUNCH
The Launch Phase is the final step to ensure a successful adoption and use of the solution.
- Project management – customer handover to SAP Support and the project closure.
- Solution Adoption – adoption preparation and execution. Customer uses the change management plan to roll out the new solution within the organization.
- Cutover execution – Go-Live with a productive system.
The Go-Live Quality Gate occurs when stakeholders agree that the cutover is complete and the organization is prepared to use and support SAP Business ByDesign.
Quality Counts
QUALITY GATES are there throughout the process to ensure that you are happy and in control. At each stage you verify that the project is on track and all the desired outcomes have been achieved. This is to protect you and your project and to make sure that everyone moves forward with the implementation together.
Why InCloud Solutions?
As a cloud first partner, InCloud Solutions have many years of SAP Business ByDesign implementations behind us. We have a team of experienced project managers, one of whom will be allocated to your bydesign project to guide you through every step. We also offer advice from specialist subject-area consultants. You can trust that we will be with you throughout the process – from the initial kick-off meeting, to the day your cloud solution goes live and beyond.
It’s a Journey
We all know that getting the most from business software can take time, which is why InCloud Solutions is committed to helping you achieve the very best. That means offering support after implementation and continuing after-care via our help desk and regular customer information days.
You will also be offered training and information, learning directly from our consultants who are both regular users of SAP Business ByDesign and experts in your industry. They know all the short cuts – just ask them.
Business information on the go?
SAP Business ByDesign isn’t just for the office. You will need your business information on the go to stay on top of tasks, so don’t forget to get familiar with the mobile app to get real time stats and check KPI’s.
You can check out the impressive functionality for SAP Business ByDesign here.
We hope we’ve been able to answer your questions about your SAP Business ByDesign implementation. Where possible we’ve tried to point you towards further advice and information but if there is anything more you would like to know please don’t hesitate to get in contact.
For friendly, informal advice start with Anne and she can find the right expert to help. Drop her a line here [email protected] or call 01628 876723
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