A Comprehensive Guide To Plan, Manage, and Execute a Successful SAP BW Implementation Project Part 1

Bjarne Berg Lenoir-Rhyne College

2006 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

In Part 1

Writing your SAP BW business case Defining the scope of your implementation Writing a milestone plan Developing your staffing plan Budgeting On-boarding and training Writing your workplan Monitoring the progress of your project Monitoring quality / instituting a formal approval process Why you need an SAP BW user acceptance group

In Part 2

The blueprinting phase

Leveraging the standard content Modeling for your solution Deliverables Best practices for managing the implementation of ODS and InfoCubes Managing the environments and transports Managing unit, system, integration & stress testing of SAP BW Executing the cut-over to production Conducting end-user and power user training Establishing the end-user support organization Post-implementation review and next steps
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The realization phase

The implementation phase

What Well Cover

Writing your SAP BW business case Identifying your requirements, scope, and plan-of-attack Staffing your project: lessons and examples Budgeting: how much? and for how long? Final preparations: on-boarding, writing the workplan, etc. Wrap-up

Writing the Business Case

The business case must be aligned with some concrete business benefits The best way to write a business case is to align it with one of these areas:

Money Strategy Reducing time and effort of delivery Improved information quality and access for end users

Example Business Benefits of SAP BW

Area
Cost of Ownership

Observation
Maintaining a custom developed BI solution is complex and expensive. Updating extract programs when upgrading R/3 is expensive. Web delivery requires rapid data delivery of high consistency with the source system.

SAP BW BW
SAP is responsible for maintenance of the product. BW R/3 integration points are maintained and tested by SAP

Benefit
Substantial maintenance cost savings
Substantial cost savings, by not having to redevelop new extract programs for each SAP upgrade

Cost Avoidance

Web strategy

BW is closely integrated Enables web initiatives to get with R/3, and can deliver closer to the source data, data that reflects the both in time and consistency. source system at short time intervals. BW is closer to the Users spend less time on source system, and more reconciling data, and more accurately reflects data time analyzing it.

Reconciliation Effort

A substantial portion of the data warehouse effort is spent on reconciling information

Information Access

Business users need a high Availability solution

Load times in BW are less than traditional, custom- developed data warehouses

Users get earlier access to information

Example Business Benefits of SAP BW (cont.)

Area
Faster Deployment

Observation
Need to increase time to deliver new applications and enhancements existing areas

SAP BW

Benefit

Typical use of 60-80% Reduced development of pre-delivered time for new decision content increases support areas development speed SAP BW is the cornerstone of SAPs New Dimension product offerings Through use of summaries, TREX, and the new accellerator, SAP BWs architecture lends itself to faster query performance Enables closer integration with other SAP modules

Integrated Products SAP continues to offer new products and modules that the organization might wish to leverage in the future Query speed Business users need fast access to their data

Users get the data they need quickly to perform their job functions

Example Business Benefits of SAP BW (cont.)

Area
SAP Strategy

Observation
It is the organizations SAP strategy to leverage investments in the SAP to the fullest extent, and maximize SAP resource utilization. The organization must be able to leverage industry standards to enable business users to access data in a variety of ways The organizations competitors and some of the organizations business areas are installing SAP BW

SAP BW
SAP BW is a SAP product, and is based on standard SAP NetWeaver technologies (Basis, ABAP, etc.)

Benefit
Strategic fit and synergy with SAP. SAP Basis, ABAP, etc. resources can be used across SAP projects, including SAP BW. Simplifies user access to data, expands options for using standard presentation and web tools, or developing your own. Enables the organization to leverage industry solutions and know-how.

Tool Standardization

Microsofts ODBO application interface and Java (SAP BW 3.5) are supported by a variety of major presentation and web tools. Increased industry resource pool and knowledge of SAP BW

Industry Trend

What Well Cover

Writing your SAP BW business case Identifying your requirements, scope, and plan-of-attack Staffing your project: lessons and examples Budgeting: how much? and for how long? Final preparations: on-boarding, writing the workplan, etc. Wrap-up

Identifying Your Business Requirements

One of the first steps is to gather the right requirements. This is done in a variety of ways, depending on which methodology you employ. It is a complex process involving:
1.
2. 3. 4.

Discovery and Education Formal communication Reviews Final approvals

An SAP NetWeaver implementation involves more than just black-and-white technical decisions; just because something is technically feasible, doesnt mean it is wise or desirable from a business perspective.

What user wanted

How customer described it

How analyst specified it

How designer implemented it

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Defining The Scope Of Your SAP BW Implementation

First, determine what the business drivers are, and make sure you meet these objectives. Define the scope in terms of what is included, as well as what is not included. Make sure you obtain approval of the scope before you progress any further. All your work from now on will be driven based on what is agreed to at this stage. As part of the written scope agreement, make sure you implement a formal change request process. This typically includes a benefit-cost estimate for each change request and a formal approval process.

Note

Change management is done to manage scope, timelines and competing business requirements.
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Defining The Scope Of Your SAP BW Implementation (cont.)

For the first go-live, keep the scope as small as possible

e.g., Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, G/L, or COPA

You have only 3 dimensions to work with:

Scope

Resources
(people, technology and money)

Time

Warning

If one of these dimensions changes, you have to adjust at least one of the others
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Prioritizing the Scope (Example)

2004 2005 2006 July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb MarApr May Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Procurement details & summary receipts Contracts Settlements Inventory Sales Master Agreements Contractor General Ledger A/R & Credit Mgmt SNOP Cost Procurement Inventory Planning Source Analysis (enhancements) Sales opportunity Tax-severance & processor Blueprinting Realization Cutover and go-live

Plan multiple implementations, and write a long-term outline. Control change with a formal change request process.

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Selecting A Methodology

Many times, there are several potentially right choices

i.e., when time-to-delivery is moderate, or when the impact of failure is moderate

When to Select Different Methodologies

High

Joint Application Design (JAD)

System development Life-Cycle based methodologies (SDLC)

The diagram is intended to illustrate the differences among the appropriateness of each methodology. The decision is clearer in the extreme. In practice, however, there are gray zones where more than one answer may be correct.

Time to Delivery

Extreme Programming (EP)

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Low Low

High

Impact of Failure

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Writing A Milestone Plan

Use milestone plan to illustrate dependencies and high-level tasks

Time Periods

Example Strategy Plan Milestones

Setup, on-boarding and kick-off session Technical Assessment Technical assessment of Infocube design Technical assessment of infrastructure Technical assessment of ETL Technical assessment of security and role design Technical assessment of BeX queries and views Technical assessment of web delivery approach Business Assessment Organizational needs assessment Reporting process assessment Conversion assessment Organizational impact statement Review of support organization Technical support resource needs assessment Development approach and standards Training planning (project, support and end-users) Migration Planning Analysis reports Static reports Knowledge transfer planning Technical workshops planning Training plan Deliverable completion Technical assessment document Business assessment document Proposed scope and rollout plan for future delivery Workplan for proposed next steps Staffing plan for next step Infrastructure plan for next step Proposed budget for next step Presentation of proposal

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Post this plan on the walls and in the hallways. Dont hide it in the PM's office!

Keep it under 30 items

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What Well Cover

Writing your SAP BW business case Identifying your requirements, scope, and plan-of-attack Staffing your project: lessons and examples Budgeting: how much? and for how long? Final preparations: on-boarding, writing the workplan, etc. Wrap-up

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Developing Your Staffing Plan: Lessons Learned

Developer training should start early for all project team members
SAP R/3 skills are not easily transferable to SAP BW

Note

Hands-on experience is needed Its very hard to learn while being productive

GOTCHA!

The quality of the team members is much more important than the number of members

An experienced SAP BW developer can accomplish in one day what 3 novice developers can do in a week The tool has a steep learning curve

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Developing Your Staffing Plan: Lessons Learned (cont.)

(we will take a second look at this when we do the budgeting!)

Project time and cost estimates should be based on teams experience level Plan on formal knowledge-transfer from external resources from day one

Link inexperienced members with experienced ones

Have identified go-to resources available in all areas

Make a list!

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Example: Small SAP BW Project for Single Subject Area

E.g., Billing, Inventory, or Accounts Payable

Note: These are roles, not positions (sometimes one team member can fill more than one role)

Project sponsor

Project Manager

Business team

Technical team

Business analyst

SAP BW Architect

Presentation developer

ETL developer

Basis and functional R/3 support

4-5 team members and normally 3-6 months duration depending on scope
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Example: Mid-sized SAP BW Project, Single Complex Subject Area

E.g., Cost and Profitability, Internal Billing

Project sponsor/ Steering Committee Project Manager SAP BW Architect

Note: These are roles, not positions (sometimes one team member can fill more than one role)

Business Analyst(s)

Extract, Transforms and Loads

Data Management (InfoCubes & ODS)

Presentation Developer(s) Sr. Presentation developer Presentation developer

Sr. Business analyst Business analyst

Sr. ETL developer ETL developer

Sr. SAP BW developer SAP BW developer

Basis and functional R/3 support 8-10 team members and normally 2-4 months duration depending on scope 20

Example: Large SAP BW Project for Multiple Subject Areas

E.g., Sales, Finance, and Material Management

Project sponsor/ Steering Committee

Project Manager SAP BW Architect Portal developer(s) Sales Team Finance Team

Note: These are roles, not positions (sometimes one team member can fill more than one role)

Material Mgmt. Team

Business analyst/(sub-team lead) SAP BW developer Presentation developer(s) ETL developer

Business analyst/(sub-team lead) SAP BW developer Presentation developer(s) ETL developer

Business analyst/(sub-team lead) SAP BW developer Presentation developer(s) ETL developer

Basis and functional R/3 support

15-25 team members and normally 6-18 months duration depending on scope

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What Well Cover

Writing your SAP BW business case Identifying your requirements, scope, and plan-of-attack Staffing your project: lessons and examples Budgeting: how much? and for how long? Final preparations: on-boarding, writing the workplan, etc. Wrap-up

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Budgeting Process Steps

1.

Size the SAP BW effort based on the scope

Prioritize the effort Map the effort to the delivery schedule Plan for number of resources needed based on the scope, delivery schedule and the effort.

2. 3. 4.

Create the Milestone Plan and Scope Statement first, before attacking the budgeting process!!

Tip

Start the budgeting process by estimating the workload in terms of the development effort. Refine based on the teams skill experience and skill level
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1. Size SAP BW Effort Based on the Scope Real Example

Customi zation Tech. Dev. infocube Extraction and Report transforms and roles Security and scheduling Web development User support/ planning Project mgmt System docs Tech infraand admin & manuals structure Bus. Analysis, training, req. gathering, change mgmt. Total Hours

L M L M L M L L L L L L L L L M M M M

Financials General ledger line item (ODS) COPA Prod cost planning released cost estimates (COPC_C09) Exploded itemization standard product cost (COPC_C10) Cost and allocations (COOM_C02) Cost object controlling (0PC_C01) Order Billing Sales order Acct. Rec. (0FIAR_C03) Deliver Shipment cost details (0LES_C02) Shipment header (0LES_C11) Stages of shipment (0LES_C12) Delivery data of shipment stages (0LES_C13) Delivery service (0SD_C05) Planning and Scheduling Material Movements (0IC_C03) APO Planning SNP Integration Manufacturing Processes Production Orders Cross Applications Total Hours

216 158 216 238 216 238 216 216 216 216 216 216 216 180 216 277 277 277 277 4,298

229 286 229 286 1144 286 229 229 229 229 228 228 228 229 457 832 832 832 832 8,074

188 153 188 216 188 216 187 187 187 187 187 187 187 133 132 216 216 216 216 3,587

101 127 101 126 101 137 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 127 127 127 127 2,110

132 153 133 153 132 153 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 132 153 153 153 153 2,656

134 152 135 152 135 152 135 135 135 135 135 135 135 134 134 152 152 152 152 2,681

100 120 100 120 100 120 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 120 120 120 120 2,040

79 94 79 94 79 94 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 94 94 94 94 1,606

150 180 150 180 150 180 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 180 180 180 180 3,060

403 470 403 470 403 470 403 403 403 403 403 403 403 403 403 470 470 470 470 8,126

1,732 1,893 1,734 2,035 2,648 2,046 1,732 1,732 1,732 1,732 1,731 1,731 1,731 1,641 1,904 2,621 2,621 2,621 2,621 38,238

Remember that your sizing also has to be based on the teams experience and skill level.
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2. Prioritize the Effort

Financials General ledger line item (ODS) COPA Prod cost planning released cost estimates (COPC_C09) Exploded itemization standard product cost (COPC_C10) Cost and allocations (COOM_C02) Cost object controlling (0PC_C01) Order Billing Sales order Accounts receivables (0FIAR_C03) Deliver Shipment cost details (0LES_C02) Shipment header (0LES_C11) Stages of shipment (0LES_C12) Delivery data of shipment stages (0LES_C13) Delivery service (0SD_C05) Planning and Scheduling Material Movements (0IC_C03) APO Planning SNP Integration Manufacturing Processes Production Orders Cross Applications
qtr 1 2005 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 2006 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 2007 qtr 2 qtr 3

The next step is to prioritize and outline the effort on a strategic timeline

Make sure your sponsor and the business community agree with your delivery schedule
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3. Use Project Estimates & the Timeline to Create Project Load Plan
2005 qtr 1 Financials General ledger line item (ODS) 866 COPA 946.5 Prod cost planning released cost estimates (COPC_C09) Exploded itemization standard product cost (COPC_C10) Cost and allocations (COOM_C02) Cost object controlling (0PC_C01) Order Billing Sales order Accounts receivables (0FIAR_C03) Deliver Shipment cost details (0LES_C02) Shipment header (0LES_C11) Stages of shipment (0LES_C12) Delivery data of shipment stages (0LES_C13) Delivery service (0SD_C05) Planning and Scheduling Material Movements (0IC_C03) APO Planning SNP Integration Manufacturing Processes Production Orders Cross Applications Total 1,813 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 2006 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 2007 qtr 2 qtr 3

866 947 867 1017.5 1324 1023 867 1017.5 1324 1023 866 866 866 866 866 866 866 865.5 865.5 865.5 820.5 866 865.5 865.5 865.5 820.5 952 1310.5 1310.5 952 1311 1311 1311 1311 1,311 1,311

1,732 1,893 1,734 2,035 2,648 2,046 1,732 1,732 1,732 1,732 1,731 1,731 1,731 1,641 1,904 2,621 2,621 2,621 2,621

1,813

4,232

4,232

2,598

2,598

4,283

4,283

3,573

6,195

2,622

38,238

Note

There are 480 available work hours per project member per quarter. Knowing this, we can plan the number of team members we need
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4. Result: Good Input for the Staffing Costs and Planning

Use this information to plan for training, on-boarding, and staffing
Number of team members 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3

This spike in resource needs is due to an overlap in the delivery schedule

Now might be a good time to review that decision

Tip

Many companies plan a 60%- 40% mix of internal and external resources for a first go-live. Also, most use $50-$90 per hr for internal budgeting and $90-$170 per hr for external resources.

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What Well Cover

Writing your SAP BW business case Identifying your requirements, scope, and plan-of-attack Staffing your project: lessons and examples Budgeting: how much? and for how long? Final preparations: on-boarding, writing the workplan, etc. Wrap-up

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On-Boarding and Training

BW Developer ETL Developer Presentation Developer Project Manager Business Analysts

Ideal Yrs Experience (minimum) 2+ 3+ 1+ 5+ 5+

Training days In-house (if new in the training role) days 15 3-5 15-20 5-10 10-15 5-10 3-5 3-5 3-5 3-5

Note

Dont underestimate the value of in-house, hands-on training in addition to formal SAP training classes.
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Writing the Workplan SAP Best Practices for BI

A sample workplan can be downloaded from the SAP Best Practices for BI web site

A test drive is available on the Web site: https://media.sdn.sap.com/html/submitted%5Fdo cs/Best%5FPractices/SAP BW/ 30

Writing the Workplan

28-May 29-May 30-May 31-May 1-Jun

ID

TASK

1 SAP Best Practices BI Implementation Roadmap - read Notes 11 Blueprint Phase & Planning Phase 12 Apply for Going Live Check 13 Finalize Project Scope [selected scenarios] 14 Check Content delivered by Best Practices 15 Determine those issues affecting BW Implementation and assign risk to project 16 Present Final Scope to Customer and Get Signoff of Scope 17 Project Planning Phase 18 Set Up Development Environment 19 Define transport Strategy 20 Activate TMS 21 Define Project Organization and Create Teams 22 Analyze Roles and Tasks by Standard Content Areas and Technical 23 Update delivered Project Plan & finalize, including resources assignments 24 Define customer rollout & training strategy for SAP BW 25 Define types of users of the BW 26 Determine Number of users for BW 27 Determine Data Access Requirements

The Workplan
1. 2. 3.

400 to 1000 line-item workplans are not unusual for mid-size and large SAP BW implementations

Write a detailed workplan that references the methodology. Make sure the workplan is detailed enough to track project progress. Progress can be measured by hours used, vs. % of tasks completed.

More Details on workplan writing available here: Writing Solid and Realistic Work Plans for a SAP BW Implementation Project, SAP Project Mgmt Conference - Oct. 2005, Las Vegas: http://csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/swp/Berg/articles/PM05_Berg_Writingasolid.ppt

2-Jun

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Monitoring Progress

Note

Manage the workplan from a percent complete standpoint on a weekly basis Create weekly status reports with core progress metrics and send to all team members (keep it highlevel and tangible) Require monthly status reports from all team members in a fixed format Keep a close eye on the deadlines for the deliverables and make to follow-up personally on late tasks Track percent complete tasks in the workplan against the number of hours, or days worked, to see if you are on-track.
SAP BW is a complex environment that has many dependencies. Late tasks can have significant impacts on the overall project.
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Warning

Monitoring BW Quality and Formal Approval Process: Example

Integration Testing
No

Create Technical specs

Create Functional specs

No

System Testing
Complete? Yes

Complete?
Yes

Unit Testing

Yes

Configuration Peer Review

Yes No Approved?

Peer Review

No

Approved?

Complete? No

Yes

Structured walkthrough
No Complete? Yes

Structured walkthrough 33

The User Acceptance Group and Its Role

Create a user acceptance team consisting of 5-7 members from the various business departments or organizations
Keep the number odd to assist with votes when decisions need to be made. With fewer than 5 members, it can be hard to get enough members present at each meeting Make this team the focus of your requirements gathering in the early phase, then let this team perform user acceptance testing during the Realization phase Meet with the team at least once a month during realization to refine requirements as you are building, and have something to show them

This approach is hard to execute when also managing scope, but is I essential to make sure that the system meets users requirements s s u e
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What Well Cover

Writing your SAP BW business case Identifying your requirements, scope, and plan-of-attack Staffing your project: lessons and examples Budgeting: how much? and for how long? Final preparations: on-boarding, writing the workplan, etc. Wrap-up

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Resources

Dr. Bjarne Berg Home page (35 articles and presentations):

http://csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/swp/Berg/BB_index_main.htm

Five Core Metrics: The Intelligence Behind Successful Software Management

By Lawrence H. Putnam & Ware Myers

Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects

By Tom Demarco & Timothy Lister

Mastering the SAP Business Information Warehouse

By Kevin McDonald, Andreas Wilmsmeier, David C. Dixon

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7 Key Points to Take Home

Write the business case around the areas of greatest benefit to your users

Dont use a shotgun approach, keep it focused

Define your scope in-terms of what is included, and state what is not included

Establish a formal change control process that is well communicated

Plan your project based on the hours required for the effort, and the project teams experience and skill levels

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7 Key Points to Take Home (cont.)

Establish milestone dates, and map the work hours required to these dates

Establish an on-boarding plan for project resources

Establish a formal process for quality control and approval of deliverables

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END OF PART 1. Next: How Do We Deliver What We Promised?

How to contact me: bberg@myitgroup.com

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