SAP Projects

1. Team Structure

The minimum team structure is one full time client resource plus one (SAP solutions) functional resource plus one (SAP solutions) technical resource. This general rule of 1-1-1 can be applied to bigger projects, though the client resource can be minimised or expanded as they see fit.

2. SAP Environment

The minimum SAP configuration for an implementation project is three SAP clients usually on three different environments.

1. Build and unit testing
2. Integration and user and testing
3. Live environment

Ideally there would be separate build and unit testing clients on the same environment (1) and separate integration testing and user acceptance testing clients on the same environment (2).

3. Blueprint

The design is the most important part of any project and requires experienced client resources and experienced SAP resources. This part of a SAP project is client specified and needs to be properly documented, reviewed and signed off before moving to the next stage. Functional and technical specifications can be written at this stage or at the implementation stage.

• Cost:
• Client charged per day worked on a “cost plus” basis

4. Implementation

Implementations can be broken into 6 steps, with the level of client involvement increasing with each step.

BUILD:	All functionality built and unit tested.
TESTING:	System testing, integration testing and user acceptance testing.
TRAINING:	best approach is to train super-users i.e. “train the trainers”.
DATA CONVERSION:	best approach is several dry runs on a separate SAP client.
GO LIVE:	best approach is over a weekend near to a period end.
SUPPORT:	best approcah is six weeks after go-live, incorporating a period end.

• Cost:
• Fixed Price contract. The work required is estimated as part of the blueprint process and a fixed price is submitted to the client. This allows the client to tender the project to other consultancies if required.

Vs Big Consulting Firm & Vs External Team

We are confident our consultancy will deliver the best results based on cost benefit criteria. We would like to demonstrate the differences in approach between our business model and other popular project structures.

1. Team Size

• SAP Financial Solutions:
• A small team of experts that have worked together before.

• Consulting Firm:
• A large team of people of varied experience usually made up of a lot of juniors with little experience. Some experts are obtained directly from the open market, who have varied capabilities. The increased headcount provide false comfort and the possible lower cost per head is a false economy, as mistakes made due to lack of experience will affect both cost and timelines.

• External Team:
• The largest team allowed due to the uncertainty of hiring a selection of people from the market that have not worked together. Expect a high turnover due to a proportion of the people hired not being up to scratch.

2. Cost

• SAP Financial Solutions:
• Charge out a small team of experts at market rates on a cost plus basis. These will be the best people on the market, who have worked together before and can be added to at any time if the client desires. The client does not have to incur any recruitment fees and the cost plus percentage is only slightly higher than a standard agency fee.

• Consulting Firm:
• Charge out a large team of people at top rates. Most of the people on a project can assumed to be juniors allowing a high margin to go to the partners. Additional contractors hired as contractors on the open market and charged to the client at the consultancies higher rates.
• A larger team costs the client extra in external costs such as housing and equipment.

• External Team:
• Charge out a team of experts at market rates, plus recruitment costs, plus agency fees. This method will cost a client materially more in internal costs.