Globalization causes constant changes in technology and science, as a consequence, a large part of companies and organizations are turning to entrust their information systems to preconfigured standard packages such as ERP. Within the ERP´s, the R / 3 product of SAP stands out.
SAP proposes its own implementation methodology called Acceletared SAP (ASAP). This consists of 5 implementation phases and the main objective is to minimize project times, maximize resources and allow to generate a procedure model for a successful implementation.
Without a doubt we live in a world where globalization causes constant changes in technology and science, therefore organizations as well as businesses must have a formal process for their administration, with which they can base and objective the innovation.
In response to these multiple changes, many companies and organizations are turning to entrust their information systems to preconfigured standard packages such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). These solutions are based on multi-modules of application software that help manage important parts of the business, such as Sales, Production, Materials Management, Maintenance, and recently we can see how they include the latest technologies within their standard; Internet, Workflow, Document Management etc.
Among the ERP's, the R / 3 product from SAP stands out, which, due to both its technology and its market share, is destined to become the Business Standard. One of the great challenges of R / 3 is precisely to achieve a successful implementation within organizations, this is of vital importance since it depends on avoiding situations that generate dissatisfaction in the client company, which can jeopardize a large project both in time and in human and monetary resources; for this reason, it is necessary to prepare an initial SAP R / 3 Conceptual Design project.
To ensure the success of the technological change in the organization, SAP proposes its own implementation methodology called Acceletared SAP (ASAP), this because a SAP implementation is subject to multiple factors, both technological and functional and organizational (team management, product knowledge, reengineering, dimensioning of machines, structures, cost / benefit analysis,…).
Let's review what Accelerated SAP is and see what advantages it offers us for a successful implementation.
Acceletared ASAP
The ASAP methodology consists of 5 implementation phases (fig. 1) and the main objective is to minimize project times, maximize resources and allow the generation of a procedure model.
Let's look briefly at what each of the proposed phases sewn.
PHASE 1. Project preparation
In this phase, a high-level work plan is prepared, ensuring that there is a common vision to achieve the project objectives, the scope of the project must be clearly defined, and the critical factors for achieving success must also be structured. the work teams roles and responsibilities and visualize the different deliverables of the project phases.
Finally in this phase it is important to define the schedule of activities, progress and application of corrective measures in which the consultants must actively participate.
PHASE 2. Bussinnes Blue Print
Understanding the business objectives and documenting the processes required to support these goals is the main reason for this phase. The documentation and analysis of information becomes the most delicate part of the project, the way of documenting has to be carried out at least on four levels, which are the following:
- Level 0: Validate project scope Level 1: Organizational structure Level 2: Definition of functional requirements Level 3: System configuration detail
This is intended to document the existing organizational structure, power relations and information distribution in the company. In addition, the current situation of the company (As is) must be determined, so that we clearly have its needs, since the future design of the process model must be based on an understanding of current operations. This leads to the next aspect that is important at this stage, determining the future situation (To be); With this, the preparation of the Business and Technical Models begins and is done based on the identified requirements, without taking into account the possible coverage of the SAP solution.
Once the Business and Technical Models have been developed, a report will be prepared in which the coverage of the functional and technical requirements by the SAP solution and the appearance of possible functional and technical gaps will be analyzed. Gaps can give rise either to the development of certain initiatives or to the redefinition of the Business and Technical Model. In this sense, this phase will be cyclical.
This is the first moment where training does its first task, which is to train the technical user at a superficial level that allows them to understand the processes that are going to shape and the potential of the system.
PHASE 3. Realization / design
The time has come to make what has been working a reality, since in this phase what is important is the parameterization of the system, the development of interfaces and ABAP programs, all based on the business models and technical models that have been designed.
The adjustment to the parameters allow to define the processes in SAP through IMG, this parameterization is carried out by the functional consultants who take as a base the designs already elaborated in the previous stage which must be validated by the user. All the settings made must be stored in transport orders and tested in order to be subsequently transported to the QA environment (test / quality environment).
In addition to the parameterization, it is at this stage where the gaps that the ERP standard does not cover in the business model must be developed, best practices indicate that the developments must be the minimum necessary for the implementation to be safe for a later up grade. The interfaces must be developed as well as the initial load programs, taking into account that it will be necessary to have programmers who have knowledge in both the programming languages of the previous system and SAP.
The second training moment is carried out in this phase, where the parameterization of the system is taught to the technical user.
PHASE 4. Final preparation
It is time to transport everything created to the QA environment which will help us to document the most important tests with the user.
The unit tests are carried out by each one of the processes, this allows obtaining the acceptance of the user or, failing that, the correction of errors that arise. Comprehensive tests are those that are carried out to verify the integration between the modules, these tests are complex to perform since a high degree of interaction is necessary, lastly the stress tests are necessary, these are crucial and of vitally important as they indicate whether the system performance is ready for productive operation.
All these tests are documented and accepted by the user, since they make it possible to make the necessary adjustments and the pertinent recommendations, as well as to send the transport orders to production.
As this phase is prior to the start of production, it is necessary to document the conceptual designs, the parameterization manuals, the user manuals, the procedure manuals and these must be accepted by the user, in addition the technical user must be trained in all SAP modules implemented, and the operational user (end user) must be trained to handle each process of the operation.
It is time to use the developments of massive loads of master data to the productive environment, the information to be loaded must be reviewed and accepted by the user and previously purified, this step is crucial for the output and must be planned in advance since the Loading master data is usually slow.
Before going into production, a tailored course is held for end users and is a valuable opportunity to motivate future users.
PHASE 5. Commissioning and support
The time has come to make the project a reality and start evaluating the benefits to the business as well as monitoring the satisfaction of the user community.
This phase has two immediate objectives, which will be to support the operation, and the optimization of the system that results in its stabilization. The project team at all levels should be prepared to start accompanying the user in becoming an expert in managing the operation of the system and new administrative procedures.
This is where you have to have a Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) ready to know what to do in the event of a disaster.
With the optimization of the system already in production and obtaining the expected results in planning, the successful implementation of SAP R / 3 is completed.
With this panorama to the ASAP model, it is clear that the appropriate tools are those that make the differences in business, since with the tools provided by this model we can accelerate the implementation process from a systemic vision.
Given the challenge that technology offers us today, this model represents an opportunity for all those organizations that face the challenge of achieving successful implementations with record times and high effectiveness.
Bibliography
- AcceleratedSAP, ASAP,, 11/1/2008. EC-Council, ERP,, 11/03/2008 SAP AG 2000, AcceleratedSAP, Release 4.6B, SAP AG, Germany. Marta Sanz San, 2004, Methodology for analyzing the impact of Implementation of SAP / R3 in a business organization: conceptual design SAP / R3, Annals of mechanics and electricity, 22-27 pag.DALEY Bill, Computers are your future. 2006. Complete edition, Prentice Hall.
