SAP implementation (Systems, Applications & Products implementation) refers to the name of the German company

SAP SE Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a sepa ...

, and is the whole of processes that defines a

method Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...

to implement the

SAP ERP SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning software developed by the German company SAP SE. SAP ERP incorporates the key business functions of an organization. The latest version of SAP ERP (V.6.0) was made available in 2006. The most recent SA ...

enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of Business management tools, business management ...

software in an

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

. The SAP

implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a realiza ...

method described in this entry is a generic method and not a specific implementation method as such. It is based on

best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...

s and

case studies A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...

from various literature sources and presents a collection of processes and products that make up a complete implementation method to allow any organization to plan and execute the implementation of SAP software.

Introduction

The implement of

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

, such as

SAP R/3 SAP R/3 is the former name of the enterprise resource planning software produced by the German corporation SAP AG (now SAP SE). It is an enterprise-wide information system designed to coordinate all the resources, information, and activities needed ...

is almost always a massive operation that brings a lot of changes in the organization. The whole process can take up to several years. Virtually every person in the organization is involved, whether they are part of the SAP technical support organization (TSO) or the actual

end-users In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ultimately use a product. The end user stands in contrast to users who support or maintain the product, such as sysops, system administrat ...

of the SAP software. The resulting changes that the implementation of SAP generates are intended to reach high level goals, such as improved

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

and increased return on

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

(as people will work with the same information). It is therefore important that the implementation process is planned and executed using a solid method. There are various SAP implementation methods. An example of how one company,

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch and stylized as BOSCH, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 9 ...

, implemented SAP R/3 over 10 years is available. This study shows that designing IT architecture is critical in SAP implementation practices. IEEE scholar journal reports an industrial case in which the senior management successfully dealt with a troubled SAP R/3 implementation in an international fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company during 2001 and 2002. (Lui 2008)

Overview

Activity table

The following table provides a summary of all of the activities that form the SAP implementation process. These activities will be described with more detail and elaborated with examples in the rest of this entry.

Implementation processes

Project preparation

Mission Key is also what defines slack. Design and initially staff the SAP TSO The first major step of the project preparation phase is to design and initially staff an SAP technical support organization (TSO), which is the

that is charged with addressing and designing a Craft solution vision. The second project preparation job is to define a so-called solution vision, i.e. a vision of the future-state of the SAP solution, where it is important to address both business and financial requirements (budgets). The main focus within the vision should be on the

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

’s

core business The core business of an organization is an idealized construct intended to express that organization's "main" or "essential" activity. Core business process means that a business's success depends not only on how well each department performs its ...

and how the SAP solution will better enable that core business to be successful. Next to that, the shortcomings of the current systems should be described and short but clear requirements should be provided regarding availability (

uptime Uptime is a measure of system reliability, expressed as the percentage of time a machine, typically a computer, has been working and available. Uptime is the opposite of downtime. It is often used as a measure of computer operating system reliabi ...

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

, manageability and scalability of the SAP system.

Sizing and blueprinting

The next phase is often referred to as the sizing and blueprinting phase and forms the main chunk of the

process. The phase is illustrated below. This phase starts with performing a total

cost of ownership Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or service. It is a management accounting concept that can be used in full cost accounting or even ecolog ...

analysis (TCO analysis) to determine how to get the best business solution at the lowest costs. This means to compare SAP solution stack options and alternatives and then determine what costs each part of the stack will bring and when these costs will be incurred. Parts of the stack are for example the hardware,

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

and

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

, which form the acquisition costs. Next to that, there should be taken a look at recurring costs like maintenance costs and

downtime The term downtime is used to refer to periods when a system is unavailable. The unavailability is the proportion of a time-span that a system is unavailable or offline. This is usually a result of the system failing to function because of an un ...

costs. Instead of performing a complete TCO analysis for various solution stack alternatives that would like to compare, it can be wise just to do a so-called delta analysis, where only the differences between solutions (stacks) are identified and analyzed. The image at the right depicts the essence of a delta analysis. Identify high availability and disaster recovery requirements The next step is identifying the

high availability High availability (HA) is a characteristic of a system which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period. Modernization has resulted in an increased reliance on these systems. Fo ...

requirements and the more serious

disaster recovery Disaster recovery is the process of maintaining or reestablishing vital infrastructure and systems following a natural or human-induced disaster, such as a storm or battle.It employs policies, tools, and procedures. Disaster recovery focuses on t ...

requirements. This is to plan what to do with later

of the SAP system, caused by e.g. hardware failures, application failures or power outages. It is important to calculate the cost of downtime, so that an organization has a good idea of its actual availability requirements. Engage SAP solution stack vendors A true sizing process is to engage the SAP

solution stack In computing, a solution stack or software stack is a set of software subsystems or components needed to create a complete Computing platform, platform such that no additional software is needed to support applications. Applications are said to " ...

vendors, which is the next step. This means selecting the best SAP hardware and

technology partners for all layers and components of the solution stack, based on a side-by-side sizing comparison. The most important factors that are of influence here are the estimated numbers of (concurrent) users and batch sizes. A wise thing to do is to involve SAP SE itself to let them create a sizing proposal stating the advised solution stack, before moving to SAP's technology partners/SAP vendors, like

Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...

, HP and IBM. A simplified solution stack is depicted at the right, showing the many layers for which software and hardware has to be acquired. Note the overlap with the

OSI model The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) is a conceptual model that 'provides a common basis for the coordination of SOstandards development for the purpose of systems interconnection'. In the OSI reference model, the communications ...

. Staff TSO The TSO (Technical Support Organisation) is the most important resource for an organization that is implementing SAP, so staffing the TSO is a vital job which can consume a lot of time. In a previous phase, the

should already have staffed the most vital positions. At this point the organization should staff the bulk of the TSO, i.e. fill the positions that directly support the near-term objectives of the

, which are to develop and begin the installation/implementation of the SAP

data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...

. Examples are: data center experts, network

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

experts,

specialists and

database administration Database administration is the function of managing and maintaining database management systems (DBMS) software. Mainstream DBMS software such as Oracle, IBM Db2 and Microsoft SQL Server need ongoing management. As such, corporations that use D ...

experts. There are many ways to find the right people within or outside the

for all of the TSO positions and it depends on the organization how much time it wants to spend on staffing. Training One of the most vital stages of the implementation process is

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...

. Few people within an organization are SAP experts or even have worked with SAP software. It is therefore important to train the end users but especially the SAP TSO: the people who design and implement the solution. The usual activity is to train a group of key users who in turn train the staff (source: practicalsap.com). The organisation's key users must be involved in the implementation project and testing of the system. Many people within the TSO need all kinds of training. Some examples of these positions: * SAP Network Specialists * SAP

Database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

Administrators * SAP

Security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

specialists *

Documentation Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance and use. As a form of knowledge manageme ...

specialists * Et cetera All of these people need to acquire the required SAP knowledge and skills or even SAP

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

s through training. Moreover, people need to learn to do business in a totally new way. To define how much SAP training every person needs, a company can make use of a skillset

matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

. With this matrix, a manager can identify who possesses what knowledge, to manage and plan training, by defining the height of expertise with a number between e.g. 1 and 4 for each skill for each employee. Setup SAP data center The next step is to set up the SAP

. This means either building a new data center facility or transforming the current data center into a foundation capable of supporting the SAP

, i.e. all of the technology layers and components (SAP software products) in a productive SAP installation. The most important factor when designing the data center is

availability In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at a ...

. The high availability and disaster recovery requirements which should have been defined earlier, give a good idea of the required data center requirements to host the SAP software. Data center requirements can be a: * Physical requirement like power requirements * Rack requirement * Network infrastructure requirement or * Requirement to the network server. Perform installations The following step is to install the required SAP software parts which are called components and technological foundations like a web application server or

enterprise portals An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal (EIP), is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries in a manner similar to the more general web portals. Enterprise portals p ...

, to a state ready for business process configuration. The most vital sub steps are to prepare your OS, prepare the database server and then start installing SAP software. Here it is important to use installation guides, which are published for each SAP component or technology solution by SAP SE. Examples of SAP components are: * R/3 Enterprise — Transaction Processing * mySAP BI — Business Information Warehouse * mySAP CRM —

Customer Relationship Management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information. CRM systems compile data from a ra ...

* mySAP KW — Knowledge Warehouse * mySAP PLM —

Product Lifecycle Management In industry, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PL ...

* mySAP SCM —

Supply Chain Management In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) is the management of the flow of goods and services including all processes that transform raw materials into final products between businesses and locations. This can include the movement and stor ...

* mySAP SEM — Strategic Enterprise Management * mySAP SRM — Supplier Relationship Management * mySAP HCM — Human Capital Management Round out support for SAP Before moving into the functional development phase, the organization should identify and staff the remaining TSO roles, e.g. roles that relate to

helpdesk A help desk is a department or person that provides assistance and information usually for electronic or computer problems. In the mid-1990s, research by Iain Middleton of Robert Gordon University studied the value of an organization's help desks ...

work and other such support providing work.

Realization

The next phase is the functional development phase, where it is all about

change management Change management (sometimes abbreviated as CM) is a collective term for all approaches to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change. It includes methods that redirect or redefine the use of ...

and

testing An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...

. This phase is depicted below. Address change management The next challenge for an organization is all about

/ change control, which means to develop a planned approach to the changes the organization faces. The objective here is to maximize the collective efforts of all people involved in the change and to minimize the risk of failure of implementing the changes related to the SAP implementation. The

of SAP software will most surely come with many changes and an organization can expect many natural reactions, i.e. denial, to these changes. To fight this, it is most important to create a solid

project team In a project, a project team or team is defined as "an interdependent collection of individuals who work together towards a common goal and who share responsibility for specific outcomes of their organizations". An additional requirement to the or ...

dedicated to

and to communicate the solution vision and goals of this team. This team should be prepared to handle the many change issues that come from various sources like: *

End-user In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ultimately use a product. The end user stands in contrast to users who support or maintain the product, such as sysops, system administrat ...

requests * End-User regular activities * Operations *

Data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...

team * DBA group *

Systems management Systems management refers to enterprise-wide administration of distributed systems including (and commonly in practice) computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunications. The ap ...

SAP systems and operations management Next thing is to create a foundation for the SAP systems management and SAP computer operations, by creating a SAP operations manual and by evaluating SAP management applications. The manual is a collection of current state system documentation, day-to-day and other regularly scheduled operations tasks, various installation and operations checklists and how-to process documents. Functional, integration and regression testing Testing is important before going live with any system. Before going live with a SAP system, it is vital to do many different kinds of testing, since there is often a large, complex infrastructure of hardware and software involved. Both requirements as well as quality parameters are to be tested. Important types of testing are: * Functional testing: to test using functional use cases, i.e. a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine if a certain business process works *

Integration testing Integration testing (sometimes called integration and testing, abbreviated I&T) is the phase in software testing in which individual software modules are combined and tested as a group. Integration testing is conducted to evaluate the complianc ...

Regression testing Regression testing (rarely, ''non-regression testing'') is re-running functional and non-functional tests to ensure that previously developed and tested software still performs as expected after a change. If not, that would be called a '' regre ...

All tests should be preceded by creating solid

test plan A test plan is a document detailing the objectives, resources, and processes for a specific test for a software or hardware product. The plan typically contains a detailed understanding of the eventual workflow. Test plans A test plan documents the ...

s. Agreements will be met. This can be done with SAP's standard application benchmarks, to benchmark the organization's configurations against configurations that have been tested by SAP's hardware technology partners. Again, a

should be created at first.

Final preparation

Prepare for cutover The final phase before going live with SAP is often referred to as the cutover phase, which is the process of transitioning from one system to a new one. The

needs to plan, prepare and execute the cutover, by creating a cutover plan that describes all cutover tasks that have to be performed before the actual go-live. Examples of cutover tasks are: * Review and update all systems-related operations procedures like

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...

policies and system monitoring * Assign ownership of SAP's functional processes to individuals * Let

do a GoingLive check, to get their blessing to go live with the system * Lock down the system, i.e. do not make any more changes to the SAP system

Go live & Support

All of the previously described phases all lead towards this final moment: the go-live. Go-live means to turn on the SAP system for the end-users and to obtain feedback on the solution and to monitor the solution. It is also the moment where product software adoption comes into play. More information on this topic: * Product Software Adoption: Big Bang Adoption * Product Software Adoption: Parallel Adoption * Product Software Adoption: Phased Adoption

References

* Lui, Kim Man (2008). "Rescuing Troubled Software Projects by Team Transformation: A Case Study With an ERP Project". IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 55 (1): 171 - 184. . * Anderson, G.W. (2003). SAP Planning: Best Practices in Implementation. Sams Publishing * Francalanci, C. (2001). Predicting the implementation effort of ERP projects: empirical evidence on SAP/R3. Journal of information technology, Vol. 16, Issue 1, pp. 33–48. * Hirt, S. G., Swanson, E. B. (1999). Adopting SAP at Siemens Power Corporation. Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 14, Issue 3, pp243–251. * Krumbholz, M., Maiden, N. (2001). The implementation of enterprise resource planning packages in different organisational and national cultures. Information systems, Vol. 26, Issue 3, pp. 185–204. * Sankar, C.S., and Rau, K-H., (2006). Implementation Strategies for SAP R/3 in a Multinational Organization, Cybertech Publishing, Hershey, PA, 2006. * Xue, Y., Liang, H., Boulton, W.R., Snyder, C.A. (2005) ERP implementation failures in China: Case studies with implications for ERP vendors. International journal of production economics, Vol. 97, Issue 3, pp. 279–295. * Yusuf, Y., Gunasekaran, A., Abthorpe, M.S. (2004). Enterprise information systems project implementation: A case study of ERP in Rolls-Royce. International journal of production economics, Vol. 87, Issue: 3, pp. 251–266. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sap Implementation

Implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a realiza ...

Software development process