Introduction
Within the SAP world, it is quite common to come across very specific terminologies that are often not very clear to people who are not part of this world or who are starting in it.
The purpose of this post is to talk about what are the main types of projects and their main phases.
1) Implementation Projects
Description
It is the project where the company is implementing the SAP system for the first time.
In this specific case, that particular company does not yet have the SAP system in any other branch worldwide.
The project is implemented, processes are defined and often, at the end of the project, a “Global Template” is created, being used in another type of project that we will talk about next: Rollouts.
SAP implementation projects are a little more difficult to find today, as most large companies have already carried out the first implementation of the SAP system.
Phases
The main phases of the implementation project are:
- Preparation: Project structure, hiring staff, etc.
- Business Blueprint (BBP): Preparation of documents detailing the AS-IS processes (current processes) and TO-BE processes (how the processes will work after the project go-live), Workshops with consultants and business team, etc.
- Realization: Configuration and initial loads of master data (Ex: Suppliers and Customers). Also, the first round of tests is carried out by the consultants themselves, the so-called “Unit Tests”.
- Integrated Tests and User Acceptance Tests (UAT): In this phase, tests are performed integrating all the company’s processes. Besides, it is in this phase that the most important tests of the project take place, the user acceptance tests (UAT), where the Key Users themselves will carry out the tests and approve the processes and solutions.
- Go Live and Support: The project finally goes live and the business starts using the system. This phase also includes the so-called Hyper care, which consists of a phase in which the consultants who implemented the project provide support in a very close way to users.
Complexity Level
O nível de complexidade do projeto dependerá muito do tipo de negócio da empresa.
Uma empresa que é apenas uma distribuidora de produtos terá uma complexidade muito inferior a uma empresa farmacêutica.
Além disso, por se tratar de uma implementação, o tempo de implementação será maior principalmente pela quantidade de definições e decisões a serem tomadas.
2) Support
Description
A support project is a project where consultants are responsible for providing support to the company’s daily activities.
After the company has implemented SAP, it is common for problems to occur.
These problems can either be due to an error at the time of implementation or a scenario that has not been discussed.
Phases
The most common when we talk about support activity is that system users open a ticket reporting a defect found.
The ticket will follow the following phases:
- Opening of the ticket by the SAP user
- Initial screening of the ticket to identify which queue should handle it (define which module the ticket is about, its complexity, etc.)
- Ticket analysis by an SAP consultant (if the ticket is extremely complex and a solution that takes a long time is necessary, the ticket will become an improvement – we will talk more about it below).
- Treatment of the ticket: The responsible Consultant performs the correction in the system, performs the tests, creates documentation, and asks the user to also perform some tests to approve the solution (usually this is done in the quality environment).
- Approval: After the test performed by the user (the same one who opened the ticket), the user performs the approval and requests that the solution is transported to the production environment.
- Transport: The consultant requests the release of its configuration for the production environment and as soon as the next window (in most companies there are weekly or monthly windows for the transport of improvements) happens, the solution will be ready and available in the production environment.
Complexity Level
The level of complexity can be high and depends a lot on the type of problem reported by the user.
Duration
The support activity is constant. It does not have an end date.
3) Improvements Project
Description
An improvement project can originate from a problem reported through a ticket (which has an extremely high complexity) or it can be an improvement requested by the business team for the company’s technology team.
Often, to implement the improvement, a consultancy is hired by the company to work on it.
Phases
An improvement project has a simpler structure, but has several phases:
- Creation of a document with what must be implemented (each company uses a nomenclature standard for this document, for example, Request for Improvement).
- Estimate: The team responsible for implementing the improvement analyzes the request, makes a quick outline of the solution, and requests the approval of both from the person responsible for managing the improvement by the company.
- Functional Specification: After approval, the consultant team creates the functional specification (a detailed solution document) and requests its approval.
- Implementation: Once approved, the consultant team implements the improvement, performs unit tests, and asks the user to carry out tests in the quality environment so that the solution is officially approved.
- Approval: After the test performed by the user, the user performs the approval and requests that the improvement is transported to a productive environment.
- Transport: The consultant requests the release of its configuration for the production environment and as soon as the next window (in most companies there are weekly or monthly windows for the transport of improvements) happens, the solution will be ready and available in the production environment.
Complexity Level
The level of complexity can be quite high and depends a lot on the type of problem reported by the user.
Sometimes an improvement can be a new legal requirement requested by the government itself, which can make implementation extremely time-consuming.
Duration
The time depends on the complexity of the improvement to be implemented.
4) Rollout Projects
Description
As mentioned in the first type of project “Implementation”, after the SAP system was implemented for the first time at the headquarters of a large company, it is very common for a template to be created (with all the standard processes) and the same to be implemented in the branches company (including in other countries).
The Rollout project aims to implement this template in all branches of that company.
The main focus of the team that will be working to implement this type of project is that the template is changed as little as possible, in this way, the processes of all companies will be similar in all countries where the company has an office.
Phases
The phases of this project are similar to the implementation project:
- Preparation: Project structure, hiring staff, etc.
- Business Blueprint (BBP): Preparation of documents detailing the AS-IS processes (current processes) and TO-BE processes (how the processes will work after the project go-live). The focus of this phase will be to keep the processes as close as possible to the processes already defined in the company’s global template.
- Realization: Configuration and initial loads of master data (Ex: Suppliers and Customers). Also, the first round of tests is carried out by the consultants themselves, the so-called “Unit Tests”.
- Integrated Tests and User Acceptance Tests (UAT): In this phase, tests are performed integrating all the company’s processes. Also, it is in this phase that the most important tests of the project take place, the user acceptance tests (UAT), where the Key Users themselves will carry out the tests and approve the processes and solutions.
- Go Live and Support: The project finally goes live and the business starts using the system. This phase also includes the so-called Hyper care, which consists of a phase in which the consultants who implemented the project provide support in a very close way to users.
Complexity Level
E importante se mencionar que a complexidade para esse tipo de projeto varia muito dependendo da complexidade fiscal de onde o template será implementado.
Quando um template criado nos Estados Unidos ou na Europa por exemplo, é levado para ser implementado em países com uma legislação fiscal muito complexa (Brasil ou Argentina por exemplo), a complexidade do projeto costuma ser até maior do que o projeto de implementação inicial e durar muito tempo.
Mas quando o template irá ser implantado em países onde a complexidade tributária é simples, o rollout pode ser feito rapidamente (Austrália por exemplo).
Duration
The time depends mainly on the tax complexity of the country where the template will be implemented.
4) Upgrade Projects
Description
Upgrade projects are often more “technical” projects.
What do I mean by “more technical”?
These are projects where the main purpose is to carry out a version change of the SAP system.
Example: Migration from the ECC version to the S/4 Hana version.
Phases
The phases of this type of project can vary a lot depending on which version to which version the upgrade is being carried out.
Complexity Level
It is usually lower than implementation projects or rollouts.
The big point of attention is to make sure that ABAP programs will work correctly in the new version of the SAP system.
Duration
This type of project is usually faster than the projects previously discussed. But this is not a general rule.
Conclusion
I hope you liked to understand a little more about the main types of projects within the SAP world. This type of knowledge is very important, especially to carefully analyze the type of project that best suits your profile when receiving a job proposal.
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A big hug,
Bruno César
