Mantra for Process Excellence

Rajesh Kumar Mudiakal SAP Project Manager

CMC Limited

Agile Methodology in SAP

Implementations

Theme: Mantra for Project Excellence

Submitted by: Rajesh Kumar Mudiakal

PMI National Conference 2014

Contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5

Waterfall Approach with ASAP Methodology............................................................................................... 6

Drawbacks of Waterfall Methodology .......................................................................................................... 6

Agile Project Management ........................................................................................................................... 7

Hybrid ASAP methodology ............................................................................................................................ 8

Advantages of Agile Approach .................................................................................................................... 10

Challenges and Risks of Agile Approach ..................................................................................................... 10

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 11

References .................................................................................................................................................. 11

Abstract SAP implementations traditionally follow waterfall approach, which adopts ASAP methodology. Though

the time to deploy has been reduced over the years, there is a lot of scope for improvement. ASAP

methodology divides the SAP implementation into five phases Project Preparation, business Blue Print,

Realization, Final Preparation and Go Live. In this approach, major part of process design happens at

Business Blue Print stage where the client will have less visibility of SAP system. This result in stretching

the Blue print phase and even after this, the business processes are not properly mapped resulting

negative impacts ranging from client Dissatisfaction to the failure of the implementation. This also results

in the project stretching beyond the timelines. This paper outlines new extension of ASAP methodology

called Hybrid ASAP methodology which combines ASAP methodology and Agile methods like Scrum.

Hybrid ASAP follows an iterative approach of project delivery with multiple sprints and tight control based

on the principles of scrum. By adopting this methodology it is not only possible to reduce customer

dissatisfaction to some extent but also can significantly reduce the time and the cost of implementation.

The paper will discuss the Hybrid ASAP methodology in SAP implementations in detail.

Introduction

The following table gives comparison of athletics world records for various distances and the

average time taken for 100 meters in each of them.

Distance

World

Record

Time

for

100m

% saving if

running in

100m sprint

speed for full

distance

100 9.58s 9.58s 0%

200 19.19s 9.60s 0.20%

400 43.18s 10.80s 12.70%

800 01:40.9 12.61s 31.60%

1500 03:26:00 13.73s 42.00%

3000 07:20.7 14.66s 53.00%

5000 12:37.4 15.15s 58.00%

10000 26:17.5 15.77s 64.00%

Figure 1 (Ref: Wikipedia)

From this table, it is evident that if a person runs at a speed of 100 meters sprint throughout the

race, he can complete the race faster. The percentages of time saving increases with the

distance. This is the essence of Agile Project Management Methodology. The project is divided

into multiple sprints with clear cut deliverables known as product backlogs and multiple releases

are planned to ensure speedy deployment. Going back to the racing example, as the distance

increases, percentage saving of time also increases. So the longer the project, higher would be

the time and cost saving. The length of typical SAP implementations range from 5 months to 2

years. So SAP implementation has stronger case for going Agile as the project duration is

longer. Following sections would detail the how agile principles can be used in SAP

implementations, its benefits and challenges.

Waterfall Approach with ASAP Methodology SAP implementations typically follow ASAP methodology (Accelerated SAP) which consists of five

phases as described below. Each phase has quality gate and also project progress is measured in terms

of phases.

Phase 1 Project Preparation:

The first Phase includes initial planning of the project, project team formation and deployment,

system landscape deployment etc.

Phase 2 Business Blueprint

During Business blueprint phase, a detailed process study is performed to understand the

business processes and mapping of them in SAP and possible gaps. The detailed project scope

is documented during Business Blue Print stage. Configurations and customizations are

performed strictly as per the Business Blue print document.

Phase 3 Realization

This is the phase where the configuration, customizations, unit testing, integration testing and

user acceptance testing happens.

Phase 4 Final Preparation

Final preparation consists of key tasks like End user training, data migration, cut over activities

and pre go live check.

Phase 5 Go-Live and support

This phase is a transition from pre-production environment to a production environment.

Drawbacks of Waterfall Methodology

Longer time duration for final deployment:

Since the product is released for final testing and further deployment only after completion of the entire

scope as per blueprint, there is possibility of considerable delays in the product deployment. Even a

complexity or delay in one module or specific requirement could result in stretching the entire project time

lines.

Possibility of Mistakes in process mapping:

As the business blueprinting is done in the initial stages where the customer has little visibility of the end

product, there is possibility of mistakes in process mapping due to lack of clarity. Since the

implementation process follows a rigid approach, there won’t be a going back once a phase is passed

and there is greater chance of these mistakes going in to production system.

Potential Conflicts between Implementation Partners and the customers

SAP implementations are normally affected by conflicts between Implementation partners and customers

throughout the project life cycle. These conflicts usually result in delays in milestone completions.

Conflicts during blue print phases are mainly due to lack of understanding of the scope, customer

expectations, standard features in SAP, the customizations etc. Conflicts and customer dissatisfaction at

later stages can be due to wrong mapping of the processes and also possible flaws in the processes,

which get detected during testing phase, scope creep etc.

Agile Project Management Agile Principle was originated from lean Manufacturing and Kanban system of famous Toyota

System. Agile project management follows an iterative approach with many time-boxed deliverables for

project execution. Each iterative cycle is called a sprint. Sprints have duration between 2 to 4 weeks. The

team should consist of a Product owner (e.g. Project Manager) and a development team (typically less

than 9 people). Each sprint will result in releasable product or product improvement. There will be multiple

releases starting after initial baseline build. With each release, the product gets improved. Product owner

is the person responsible for the project, usually project manager. A Sprint consists of sprint planning,

product backlog, daily monitoring of activities through daily scrum meetings, development work and sprint

review. Product backlogs list all the features, functions, enhancements etc. to be done in the project.

Daily scrum meetings last around 15 min, where the team members discuss about the activities and

issues during daily scrum meetings. Product backlogs are displayed in visually in a board, tracked

through project management system or through excel sheets.

Hybrid ASAP methodology Adopting a pure agile approach has some limitations when it comes to SAP implementations.

Unlike other software projects, the scope is not fully developed at the start of the project

especially for new implementations and we cannot eliminate blueprinting totally. Also the normal

agile team size is about 9 people and SAP projects typically have a bigger team size. One

approach to overcome the team size constraint would be to divide the team in to smaller groups

and organize parallel sprints with each group. SAP devised a Hybrid approach combining both

the waterfall and the agile methodologies in an effort to tap the best out of the both Agile and Water fall

frameworks. Hybrid ASAP methodology starts with identifying the process owner who could be the

Project manager and initial product backlog. SAP accelerators like SAP Best Practices and Rapid

Deployment Systems (RDS) are used to create an initial build. This baseline build is fine-tuned through

multiple iterations. Then a lean Business Blue Print is prepared with a complete list of project backlog,

release plan and Business prioritization (Must have, could have, should have and nice to have).

Throughout this process, there will be constant interaction with the customer. Multiple Sprints are planned

as per the release planning.

Figure 2 (Ref: ASAP 8 Agile webinar, www.sap.com)

Project backlog is updated dynamically during the sprint as well as at the end. Each sprint is completed

through “Done” event, which culminates the deliverables as planned for that sprint. Project Backlog is

validated during the sprint through multiple demos and discussions with client. Within each sprint there

can be multiple delta releases which will be documented and tested. In this approach, there is a constant

interaction with the users and the gaps between the actual requirements and what is configured in the

system are minimized.

Figure 3 (Ref: ASAP 8 Agile webinar, www.sap.com)

For each release, there will be separate Quality Gates (Q-Gate). Releases are deployed after the final

Tests like User acceptance Testing, Integration testing, stress testing etc.

The figure below gives the summary of a typical release cycle.

Figure 4 (Ref: ASAP 8 Agile webinar, www.sap.com)

Advantages of Agile Approach Advantages include simplicity, greater visibility, and frequent inspection by business users, reduction of

waste and close engagement with business users and lower risk of failure. Also Since scrum involves

daily scrum meetings and monitoring, better control is achieved. Also adoption of agile methodology helps

in early identification on potential risks. It works in a pull system, where configurations built incrementally

as per the requirement of the customer, which eliminates the possible design flaws because of lack of

visibility of final product in a water fall approach.

Challenges and Risks of Agile Approach

Project Pricing Contracts

One of the key risks for implementation partners who go with Agile is approach is an open blueprint

(Project backlog) which gets refined in a continuous manner. This gives the customer an opportunity to

demand unlimited requirements even in fixed price contracts.

This risk can be mitigated in multiple ways. This risk can be tackled by adopting either of the following

pricing strategies.

1. Time and Money contract

2. A hybrid of Time and Money and Fixed Price Contract (i.e. Fixed Price for the initial release and

then Time and Money for rest of the releases)

3. Separate fixed price contracts for each release.

Formation of Scrum Teams

A SAP can have large number of cross functional teams, dividing them in to various scrum

teams is very much critical to the success of the project. Teams can be divided as per their

module or sub modules, or based on business scenarios, different locations or legal entities etc.

It is also vital to have coordination between all these teams as changes in one sprint might have

some effect on the deliverables of other sprint. So there should be a sprint coordinator who

controls all the cross sprint interactions. A product owner, project manager or scrum master can

take up this role.

Release planning

Correct Release planning is essential for the success of the project. Care should be taken to

ensure that each release is complete and would not result in partially configured processes. It is

always better to start with baseline configuration with standard features using accelerators like

SAP Best Practices and Rapid Deployment systems and then build releases on top of it. This

ensures that there will not be any fundamental flows in the system. The releases can be specific

modules like CRM, portal or some features like workflows, process controls or plant roll outs etc.

There should thorough analysis before deciding on the releases and sprint backlogs.

Conclusion

Agile practices gives the base for effectively managing the scope and also with the phased approach,

companies can Go Live early to realize the benefits of the SAP system at the earliest and the processes

are continuously refined throughout the project life cycle. But like any new idea, it will take some time

before the companies embrace this methodology fully. For that they need to be adventurous and come

out of their comfort zone.

References

http://www.rt-it-group.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77:agile-erp-

implementation&catid=42:implementation&Itemid=98

http://www.sap.com/netherlands/services/consulting/pdf/Whitepaper_Agile_ENG.pdf

SAP TechEd Sessions on SAP Solution Manager 7.1

K.Schwaber, Agile Project Management with Scrum, Microsoft Press, 2004

A.A.Fetouh, Dr.A.E.Abbassy, Dr.R.Moawad, “Applying Agile Approach in ERP Implementation”, IJCSNS

International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, VOL.11 No.8, August 2011