
SAP has Everything you Need


Scott Chiavetta, VP Customer One & CIO, Alliance Laundry Systems
SAP and it’s Surprises
It is pretty well known that SAP needs to be configured to satisfy business requirements—but I was very surprised at the amount of ‘tweaking’ that had to be done in order to make the software work with some of our business processes. While we went with stock SAP functionality wherever possible, we have some processes that represent a competitive advantage for us—and that required more development time and money than I anticipated. One other surprise was the amount of work it took to mirror all of our legacy reports within SAP–even after aggressively purging everything we didn’t need; there was still a huge amount of work within SAP to get the right information in the right format. SAP has everything you need; it just takes a fair amount of effort to put it together. There is a fair amount of upfront time that has to be spent scoping these issues to make sure the project doesn’t end up late and over budget.
Things to Remember with SAP
It isn’t enough just to dedicate the right number of people to the project you have to dedicate the right people. If your best and brightest are not involved in every aspect of the implementation, the finished product won’t be what you are looking for. Get top management involved in the scoping process to limit creep and have buy-in from the start of the project. If line managers need to justify changes or development up front to top management they will be more realistic as to what they need versus what they want.
“SAP needs to be configured and tweaked in order to make the software work with some of the business processes”
Plan for a larger amount of time and money dedicated to system development and report development often the implementer won’t fully understand the scope of change necessary when preparing the initial quote and project plan. Don’t commit to a final ‘Go Live’ date and cost until a deep dive has been done on the development and reporting requirements.
Goof-ups and Effectual Resolution while Implementing SAP
The biggest mistake I have seen is not dedicating enough resources to the project or not allowing the resources that are assigned enough time to focus on the project. We took a project team completely out of the organization for 15 months and backfilled their responsibilities with temporary employees. After the implementation they went back into the organization, but during the project they were 100 percent focused on putting in SAP the right way. Another mistake to avoid is picking the wrong implementation firm. It is well worth the time to do a thorough assessment and get client recommendations that mirror the industry you are in. A firm that has done an implementation in the same industry with a similar scope will have a much better handle on the time and resources, that it will take to implement successfully.
Featured Vendors
projektraum36 / p36.labs: Delivering Native SAP Cloud-based Solutions for the Life Sciences Industry
My Supply Chain Group (MSCG): Enabling the Intelligent Enterprise and Digital Supply Chain through SAP
Configurable Management: Get Control of your SAP Master Data and Automate Manual Business Processes—Rapid Deployment Solutions
Global Software, Inc: Creating the Ultimate Excel-based SAP Reporting Platform with Spreadsheet Server
EDITOR'S PICK
Essential Technology Elements Necessary To Enable...
By Leni Kaufman, VP & CIO, Newport News Shipbuilding
Comparative Data Among Physician Peers
By George Evans, CIO, Singing River Health System
Monitoring Technologies Without Human Intervention
By John Kamin, EVP and CIO, Old National Bancorp
Unlocking the Value of Connected Cars
By Elliot Garbus, VP-IoT Solutions Group & GM-Automotive...
Digital Innovation Giving Rise to New Capabilities
By Gregory Morrison, SVP & CIO, Cox Enterprises
Staying Connected to Organizational Priorities is Vital...
By Alberto Ruocco, CIO, American Electric Power
Comprehensible Distribution of Training and Information...
By Sam Lamonica, CIO & VP Information Systems, Rosendin...
The Current Focus is On Comprehensive Solutions
By Sergey Cherkasov, CIO, PhosAgro
Big Data Analytics and Its Impact on the Supply Chain
By Pascal Becotte, MD-Global Supply Chain Practice for the...
Technology's Impact on Field Services
By Stephen Caulfield, Executive Director, Global Field...
Carmax, the Automobile Business with IT at the Core
By Shamim Mohammad, SVP & CIO, CarMax
The CIO's role in rethinking the scope of EPM for...
By Ronald Seymore, Managing Director, Enterprise Performance...
Driving Insurance Agent Productivity with Mobile and Big...
By Brad Bodell, SVP and CIO, CNO Financial Group, Inc.
Transformative Impact On The IT Landscape
By Jim Whitehurst, CEO, Red Hat
Get Ready for an IT Renaissance: Brought to You by Big...
By Clark Golestani, EVP and CIO, Merck
Four Initiatives Driving ECM Innovation
By Scott Craig, Vice President of Product Marketing, Lexmark...
Technology to Leverage and Enable
By Dave Kipe, SVP, Global Operations, Scholastic Inc.
By Meerah Rajavel, CIO, Forcepoint
AI is the New UI-AI + UX + DesignOps
By Amit Bahree, Executive, Global Technology and Innovation,...
Evolving Role of the CIO - Enabling Business Execution...
By Greg Tacchetti, CIO, State Auto Insurance
Read Also
Hybrid Work Has Forever Changed The Need For It In Ramboll
How T-Mobile brought an Un-carrier approach to tech hiring
Every Changing Labor Force
Great Expectations: Balancing the diverse needs of a city in a...
Community Banks And Digital Banking
"Discovery and Delivery" - An Approach to IT Workload Balance
