How to get

started with
Agile for SAP
8 steps to success
basistechnologies.com

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Bridge the digital divide with Agile for SAP
Software is changing the face of business today, and the speed at which your business can innovate will often be
determined by the speed at which software can change. Of course, the same applies to your competitors - whoever
can manage change and deliver value most efficiently will have the commercial edge. Applying Lean and Agile
principles will optimize application development processes and remove waste. And its not just customer facing
Systems of Engagement that need to be changed quickly.

In the digital age all applications need to be delivered faster - including SAP.

In this eBook we look at ways to get you started with Agile so that SAP development can be as responsive as the
business needs it to be.

How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success

Step #1: Understand what Agile is
This might sound obvious but its important to understand
that Agile is not Waterfall.
Waterfall SAP projects are typically pre-planned, with
solutions designed up front. They are then delivered via a
structured series of steps from development through to
testing, regression and release.
Agile breaks projects up into smaller chunks that can
be delivered in shorter iterations called sprints. A key
difference is that problems and solutions are not necessarily
understood or documented up front.
This might seem counter-intuitive in SAP, where things are
often documented to a very detailed level before any work
starts.
The value of Agile
In Agile we have to learn to accept uncertainty and the
fact that solutions evolve. Problems are managed as
part of the process. The fact that were not tied to a spec
allows us to question and adapt as we go, so the risk that
we deliver the wrong thing is dramatically reduced.
How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success
Step #2: Work out who your stakeholders are
Not everyone is going to think Agile is a good idea and
support it. In fact, in the world of SAP there may be many
who will happily find many reasons not to do it.
In order to be successful, you need to consider which
people in your organization will be impacted and make sure
to involve them in the process. Set out and agree on some
clear transition activities with measurable outcomes, then
follow up on them with executive management, business
owners, development and testing teams.
You will find resistance to change at all levels in the
organization. Understanding who you can rely on for support
and who you can expect to disrupt this process is essential.
Motivation and direction are key. A crucial step is to get
people to understand what Agile means for them and what
benefits and changes they can expect to see.
Being realistic about the outcomes is equally important.
People may be expecting a silver bullet that will cure all
the problems with the current processes, and may quickly
become disillusioned if this is not achieved. So you need
to manage expectations and help them understand that
adopting Agile is a journey.
How to get started:
In SAP projects weve seen most success where there are
champions, both in management and project teams, to
help get the message over and smooth out the inevitable
bumps on the journey.
Once youve chosen a framework, for example, Scrum,
its a great idea to run some training courses on the
methodology and process so everyone understands how
its going work. The training should not be onerous - a
couple of days will be enough.
How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success
Step #3: Build a Business Case
Before you embark on an Agile transformation its important
to get the decision makers on board. Start by building Agile
awareness and ground it in data about business benefits
and the current state:
1. Applications need to deliver business value quickly to
promote innovation and increase competitiveness. Agile
does this for SAP, and also brings responsiveness to
change.
2. Looking at historical data and timesheet bookings will
help you to evaluate the time and cost of development
and testing activity.
3. You can expect an Agile approach to reduce
development cycles, improve quality and stability, add
efficiency to the application delivery process and provide
greater collaboration and feedback.
Analyse your current state by asking the these questions:
1. What does it cost to deliver applications now?
2. How much would it cost to delay application delivery?
3. Whats the cost to respond when a competitor takes
market share because they got there first?
4. How much could faster delivery translate to in revenue
terms?
5. What is the current cost of application failure and
downtime?
6. How much do you spend on application development and
testing?
7. How much waste is present, for example, in reworks
where time is spent constantly testing and fixing?
An Agile transition is not without cost but even conservative
estimates on improvements can become a compelling
business case to get started.
How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success
Step #4: Start small
You cant expect to switch over to Agile processes
overnight and assume that everyone will be able to
instantly adapt to new ways of working.
So its a good idea to start small with a pilot project,
learn from it, and then spread Agile throughout the
organization.
There are many variations of start small, depending
on the number of people and teams the organization
wants to transition and the speed at which they wish to
do it.
Start small may look very different in an organisation
with a risk-averse culture, or one which is uncertain
about the transition to Agile, than it does in a business
where such concepts are more commonplace.
Its OK to make mistakes, try different approaches, and
discover what works and what doesnt as you go along.
Although Agile is a common approach, it will be applied
slightly differently in every organization, so learn what
works best for your specific teams.
How to get started in SAP:
A good recipe for adoption of Agile for SAP is to start
out with one team as a nucleus, then branch out
to others when youve got it nailed. When you can
demonstrate success you can scale it to other teams to
get them on board too.
How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success
Step #5: Reorganize teams around projects and products
Traditionally in SAP, people are used to handing over
requirements to development, who then hand over to test
teams, and then cycle around various other teams in an
attempt to deliver what was asked for.
Agile requires that you address how teams are structured
and interact with each other. As you will not have a detailed
specification to work from, you will need to maintain very
open communication channels between team members,
whilst building and fostering trust.
Youll want development and testing to work as one
alongside a business representative who oversees things
as a product owner/manager.
SAP Insight:
Successful adoption of Agile in SAP is often seen in the
form of many smaller, multi-functional teams working
together to deliver specific related requirements.
This can work very well for fixes and smaller
enhancements as it enables faster, more flexible delivery,
but its also a good approach for larger projects. A
programme may need to be delivered as a whole at
some point in the future, but theres still a strong case for
smaller units of delivery that enable the business to see
results sooner (even though there may be a need for an
integrated testing phase at some point in the process).
How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success
Step #6: Create a prioritized backlog

Agile focuses on business outcomes and working solutions, The backlog is not set in stone and can always be re-planned
where a backlog of requirements is created in the form of - Agile provides the flexibility to adjust priorities and support
user stories for specific personas. scope changes, making them much easier to manage.

The backlog should prioritize the stories that generate the

SAP Insight:
highest business benefit. As a result, a closer look at critical
dependencies between requirements is needed. In SAP projects its a huge benefit to be able to respond
to changes in priority and scope as you go along. A design
In SAP, due to the high level of integration between modules
and blueprint thats fixed may no longer align with business
and processes, the management of dependencies is
priorities when the project is delivered many months later.
particularly important: it provides the ability to separate
what can be delivered independently from what needs to In each iteration testing must be a key part of the process
go together. Its also important to make the user stories - its the mechanism that allows you to deliver something
manageable such that they represent smaller, discrete tangible at the end.
portions of work. The product owner needs to learn how to
accomplish this.

How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success

Step #7: Organize some sprint meetings
Agile promotes constant feedback so that everyone
understands the current status and where gentle redirection
may be necessary:
1. Team members need to attend sprint-planning sessions
to be informed on what is needed and estimate the
effort required. Time box them to an hour or two to keep
people focused.
2. Short daily stand-ups need to be run so that everyone
can report on progress and highlight issues and blockers.
Keep stand-ups short (10-15 mins) and dont attempt to
solve problems during them.
3. After a sprint is finished youll need to have a
retrospective session to review what was done (or not)
and look at areas for improvement. Its really important
to use this to improve and develop the process.
4. Playback sessions can be used to present whats been
built to the organization. This is an important feedback
loop and an opportunity to demonstrate achievements.
Tip:
Accept that not everyone will be comfortable being
in the spotlight or enthusiastic about changing - youll
need to understand the personalities involved and
ensure that everyone is supported.
Ultimately, transparency in actions and active communication
are the best ways to ensure that the business progresses
towards a desired outcome, even though it might not have
been clearly defined at the start of the process.
How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success
Step #8: Use the right tools

The shape that your Agile methodology takes will drive your Using advanced change control tools for SAP in order
decision-making about the tools you should invest in. The to manage and automate transports and ensure that
right products will assist the team members as they work in dependencies are handled correctly is a must if Agile
an iterative process, providing live updates about progress processes are to be effective.
made and automatically tracking associated documents.
Basis Technologies dedicated Agile tools can help you
The change in direction may be gradual, but as teams align all your efforts with the bigger goal, and actively make
mature dedicated tools like Jira and Rally can be used change happen rather than have it happen to you.
to manage the Agile process and provide the required
workflows and reporting.
The key to enabling Agile development in SAP is the
increased use of automation. This removes manual
intervention and increases development velocity by freeing Collaborate across functions Move quality control to the
people to focus on more productive work. and automate the manual pro- early stages of development.
cesses that make application For safer code and faster
release so painfully slow. testing.

Move towards smaller, more The SnapOps accelerators

frequent releases - centrally help IT operations provide dev
manage changes across mul- and test with the tools they
tiple SAP dev systems . need, minus the tedious wait.

How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success

The bottom line
Any transformation is a journey that will take time and an
open mind to come to terms with. Whether you adopt some
or all of the steps in suggested in this document, and how
fast you go, will depend on individual circumstances, but the
results and benefits that can be realized are clear. Agile is
all about making continuous marginal gains that add up to
substantial improvements over time.
Some people will look for a hand-holding approach whilst
others will need more persuasion, and of course some
require both!
If youre looking to get started but are meeting people who
put barriers up and say it cant be done, why not take a look
this eBook for some more ideas on how to challenge them?

Embedding the process and cultural changes needed to

make this successful can take at least a year, and maybe
more, but the high levels of engagement, transparency,
flexibility and responsiveness are hard to argue against.

Change may be needed in many areas - technical, cultural

and organisational - but stakeholder management is key.

How to get started with Agile for SAP - 8 steps to success

 In the digital economy, agility is fundamental. At Basis Technologies
we focus on automation tools that enable continuous delivery - helping
our customers to keep pace with theirs.
By harnessing the agility of our DevOps suite, thousands of IT
professionals worldwide are able to deliver high-quality SAP releases at
pace capitalizing on their current infrastructure and remaining relevant
to future business strategy. The results produce faster time-to-market,
longer production uptime, and lower operational costs.

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