An A-Z guide to planning, managing, and executing an SAP NetWeaver BI project - part 1

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An A-Z guide to planning, managing, and executing an SAP NetWeaver BI project - part 1Dr. Bjarne BergLenoir Rhyne College

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In Part 1…

• Writing your SAP BI 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 BI “user acceptance group”

Hi Berg – is the presentation about BI or BI? It says BI in the title, but most of the sessions say BI!

Berg: Fixed

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In Part 2…

• The blueprinting phase Leveraging the standard content Modeling for your solution Deliverables

• The realization phase Best practices for managing the implementation of ODS and InfoCubes Managing the environments and transports Managing unit, system, integration & stress testing of SAP BI

• The implementation phase 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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What We’ll Cover…

• Writing your SAP BI 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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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

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Example Business Benefits of SAP BI

Users get earlier access to information

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

Business users need a high Availability solution

Information Access

Users spend less time on reconciling data, and moretime analyzing it

BW is “closer” to the source system, and more accurately reflects data

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

Reconciliation Effort

Enables web initiatives to get closer to the source data,both in time and consistency

BW is closely integrated with R/3, and can deliver data that reflects the source system at short time intervals

Web delivery requires rapid data delivery of high consistency with the source system

Web strategy

Substantial cost savings, bynot having to redevelop newextract programs for eachSAP upgrade

BW – R/3 integration points are maintained and tested by SAP

Updating extract programswhen upgrading R/3 is expensive

Cost Avoidance

SAP is responsible for maintenance of the product

Maintaining a custom developed BI solution is complex and expensive

Cost of Ownership

BenefitBI ObservationArea

Information Access

Reconciliation Effort

Web strategy

Cost Avoidance

Cost of Ownership

BenefitSAP BI ObservationArea

Substantial maintenancecost savings

Money Reducing Time and Effort of delivery

Strategy Improved information quality & access

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Area Observation SAP BI Benefit

Faster Deployment Need to increase time to deliver new applications and enhancements existing areas

Typical use of 60-80% of pre-delivered content increases development speed

Reduced development time for new decision support areas

Integrated Products SAP continues to offer new products and modules that the organization might wish to leverage in the future

SAP BW is the “cornerstone” of SAP’s BI product offerings

Enables closer integration with other SAP modules

Query speed Business users need fast access to their data

Through use of summaries, TREX, and the new accellerator, SAP BI’s architecture lends itself to faster query performance

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

Example Business Benefits of SAP BI (cont.)

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Area Observation SAP BI Benefit

SAP Strategy It is the organization’s SAP strategy to leverage investments in the SAP to the fullest extent, and maximize SAP resource utilization

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

Strategic fit and synergy with SAP. SAP Basis, ABAP, etc. resources can be used across SAP projects, including SAP BI

Tool Standardization

The organization must be able to leverage industry standards to enable business users to access data in a variety of ways

Microsoft’s ODBO application interface and Java (SAP BI 3.5/2004s) are supported by a variety of major presentation and web tools

Simplifies user access to data, expands options for using standard presentation and web tools, or developing your own

Industry Trend The organization’s competitors and some of the organization’s business areas are installing SAP BI

Increased industry resource pool and knowledge of SAP BI

Enables the organization to leverage industry solutions and know-how



Example Business Benefits of SAP BI (cont.)

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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. Discovery and Education 2. Formal communication3. Reviews 4. Final approvals

An SAP NetWeaver implementation involves more than just black-and-white technical

decisions; just because something is technically feasible, doesn’t 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 BI 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.

Change management is done to manage scope, timelines and competing business requirements.

Note

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Defining The Scope Of Your SAP BI 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:

If one of these dimensions changes, you have to adjust at least one of the others

Time

Scope

Resources(people, technology

and money)

Warning

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Prioritizing the Scope (Example)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

Blueprinting Realization Cutover and go-live

2005 20062004

Tax-severance & processor

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

Joint Application Design(JAD)

Rapid Application Development(RAD)

Extreme Programming(EP)

System development Life-Cycle based methodologies

(SDLC)

Impact of FailureLow High

Low

High

Time to Delivery

When to Select Different Methodologies

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.

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Time PeriodsExample Strategy Plan Milestones 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25Setup, on-boarding and kick-off sessionTechnical AssessmentTechnical assessment of Infocube designTechnical assessment of infrastructureTechnical assessment of ETL Technical assessment of security and role designTechnical assessment of BeX queries and viewsTechnical assessment of web delivery approachBusiness Assessment Organizational needs assessmentReporting process assessmentConversion assessmentOrganizational impact statementReview of support organizationTechnical support resource needs assessmentDevelopment approach and standardsTraining planning (project, support and end-users)Migration PlanningAnalysis reportsStatic reportsKnowledge transfer planningTechnical workshops planningTraining planDeliverable completionTechnical assessment documentBusiness assessment documentProposed scope and rollout plan for future deliveryWorkplan for proposed next stepsStaffing plan for next stepInfrastructure plan for next stepProposed budget for next stepPresentation of proposal

Post this plan on the walls and in the hallways.

Don’t hide it in the PM's

office!

Keep it under 30 items

Writing A Milestone Plan

• Use milestone plan to illustrate dependencies and high-level tasks

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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 BI Hands-on experience is needed It’s very hard to learn while being productive

• The quality of the team members is much more important than the number of members An experienced SAP BI developer can accomplish in one

day what 3 novice developers can do in a week The tool has a steep learning curve

Note

GOTCHA!

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Developing Your Staffing Plan: Lessons Learned (cont.)

• Project time and cost estimates should be based on team’s 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

(we will take a second look at

this when we do the budgeting!)

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Example: Small SAP BI Project for Single Subject Area

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

4-5 team members and normally 3-6 months duration depending on scope

Basis and functional R/3 support

Project sponsor

Project Manager

Business team Technical team

Business analyst

Presentation developer

SAP BI Architect

ETL developer

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

than one role)

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Example: Mid-sized SAP BI Project, Single Complex Subject Area

• E.g., Cost and Profitability, Internal Billing



Project sponsor/ Steering

Committee

Project Manager

SAP BIArchitect

Business Analyst(s)

Extract, Transforms and Loads

Data Management(InfoCubes &

ODS)Presentation Developer(s)

Sr. Business analyst

Business analyst

Sr. ETL developer

ETL developer

Sr. SAP BI developer

SAP BI developer

Sr. Presentation developer

Presentation developer


than one role)

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Example: Large SAP BI Project for Multiple Subject Areas

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



Portal developer(s)

SAP BI Architect

Business analyst/(sub-team lead)SAP BI developer

Presentation developer(s)ETL developer

Sales Team



Finance Team



Material Mgmt. Team

Project Manager

Project sponsor/Steering Committee


than one role)

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Budgeting Process Steps

1. Size the SAP BI effort based on the scope

2. Prioritize the effort

3. Map the effort to the delivery schedule

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

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

Start the budgeting process by estimating the workload in terms of the development effort. Refine based on the team’s skill experience and skill level

We will now look at an example

how this process works in the

real world

Tip

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1. Size SAP BI Effort Based on the Scope – Real Example

Customization

Tech. Dev. infocube

Extraction and transforms

Report and roles

Security and scheduling

Web develop-

ment

User support/ planning

Project mgmt and admin

System docs & manuals

Tech infra-structure

Bus. Analysis, training, req.

gathering, change mgmt.

Total Hours

FinancialsL General ledger line item (ODS) 216 229 188 101 132 134 100 79 150 403 1,732M COPA 158 286 153 127 153 152 120 94 180 470 1,893L Prod cost planning released cost

estimates (COPC_C09)216 229 188 101 133 135 100 79 150 403 1,734

M Exploded itemization standard product cost (COPC_C10)

238 286 216 126 153 152 120 94 180 470 2,035

L Cost and allocations (COOM_C02)

216 1144 188 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 2,648

M Cost object controlling (0PC_C01)

238 286 216 137 153 152 120 94 180 470 2,046Order

L Billing 216 229 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,732L Sales order 216 229 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,732L Acct. Rec. (0FIAR_C03) 216 229 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,732

Deliver L Shipment cost details

(0LES_C02)216 229 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,732

L Shipment header (0LES_C11) 216 228 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,731L Stages of shipment (0LES_C12) 216 228 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,731L Delivery data of shipment stages

(0LES_C13)216 228 187 101 132 135 100 79 150 403 1,731

L Delivery service (0SD_C05) 180 229 133 101 132 134 100 79 150 403 1,641Planning and Scheduling

L Material Movements (0IC_C03) 216 457 132 101 132 134 100 79 150 403 1,904M APO Planning 277 832 216 127 153 152 120 94 180 470 2,621M SNP Integration 277 832 216 127 153 152 120 94 180 470 2,621

Manufacturing Processes M Production Orders 277 832 216 127 153 152 120 94 180 470 2,621M Cross Applications 277 832 216 127 153 152 120 94 180 470 2,621

Total Hours 4,298 8,074 3,587 2,110 2,656 2,681 2,040 1,606 3,060 8,126 38,238

Remember that your sizing also has to be based on the team’s experience and skill level.

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2. Prioritize the Effort

Financials qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3General ledger line item (ODS)COPAProd 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 orderAccounts 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 PlanningSNP IntegrationManufacturing Processes Production OrdersCross Applications

2005 2006 2007

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

There are 480 available work hours per project member per quarter. Knowing this, we can plan the number of team members we need…

Financials qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3General ledger line item (ODS) 866 866 1,732COPA 946.5 947 1,893Prod cost planning released cost estimates (COPC_C09)

867 867 1,734

Exploded itemization standard product cost (COPC_C10)

1017.5 1017.5 2,035

Cost and allocations (COOM_C02) 1324 1324 2,648Cost object controlling (0PC_C01) 1023 1023 2,046Order Billing 866 866 1,732Sales order 866 866 1,732Accounts receivables (0FIAR_C03) 866 866 1,732Deliver Shipment cost details (0LES_C02) 866 866 1,732Shipment header (0LES_C11) 865.5 865.5 1,731Stages of shipment (0LES_C12) 865.5 865.5 1,731Delivery data of shipment stages (0LES_C13)

865.5 865.5 1,731

Delivery service (0SD_C05) 820.5 820.5 1,641Planning and Scheduling Material Movements (0IC_C03) 952 952 1,904APO Planning 1310.5 1311 2,621SNP Integration 1310.5 1311 2,621Manufacturing Processes Production Orders 1311 1,311 2,621Cross Applications 1311 1,311 2,621

Total 1,813 1,813 4,232 4,232 2,598 2,598 4,283 4,283 3,573 6,195 2,622 38,238

2005 2006 2007

Note

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4. Result: Good Input for the Staffing Costs and Planning

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.

Number of team members

-

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3 qtr 4 qtr 1 qtr 2 qtr 3

Use this information to plan for training, on-boarding, and staffing

Tip

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

Now might be a good time to review that decision

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On-Boarding and Training

Ideal Yrs Experience (minimum)

Training days (if new in the

role)

In-house training

daysBW Developer 2+ 15 3-5ETL Developer 3+ 15-20 3-5Presentation Developer 1+ 5-10 3-5Project Manager 5+ 10-15 3-5Business Analysts 5+ 5-10 3-5

Don’t underestimate the value of in-house, hands-on training in addition to formal SAP training classes.Note

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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

%5Fdocs/Best%5FPractices/SAP BI/

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ID TASK

28-M

ay

29-M

ay

30-M

ay

31-M

ay

1-Ju

n

2-Ju

n

1 SAP Best Practices BI Implementation Roadmap - read Notes11 Blueprint Phase & Planning Phase12 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 Scope17 Project Planning Phase18 Set Up Development Environment19 Define transport Strategy20 Activate TMS21 Define Project Organization and Create Teams22 Analyze Roles and Tasks by Standard Content Areas and Technical 23 Update delivered Project Plan & finalize, including resources assignments24 Define customer rollout & training strategy for SAP BW 25 Define types of users of the BW26 Determine Number of users for BW27 Determine Data Access Requirements

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

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

Writing the Workplan

• The Workplan1. Write a detailed workplan that references the methodology2. Make sure the workplan is detailed enough to track project progress3. Progress can be measured by hours used, vs. % of tasks completed

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Monitoring Progress

• 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 high-level 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

Note

WarningSAP BI is a complex environment that has many dependencies. Late tasks can have significant impacts on the overall project.

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Monitoring BI Quality and Formal Approval Process: Example

Create Functional specs

Peer Review

Complete?

Complete?

Create Technical specs

Peer Review

Complete?

Complete?Structured

walkthrough

Approved?

Configuration

Unit Testing

Integration Testing

System Testing

Structured walkthrough

Approved?

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

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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

IssueThis approach is hard to execute when also managing scope, but is essential to make sure that the system meets users’ requirements

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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

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0932633552/ref=dp_primary-product-display_0/002-2293929-8434401?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0932633609/ref=dp_primary-product-display_0/002-2293929-8434401?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=xt1Vb1JAwj&sourceid=M000000269&isbn=0471219711&itm=1

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7 Key Points to Take Home

• Write the business case around the areas of greatest benefit to your users Don’t 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:[email protected]

Documents

An A-Z guide to planning, managing, and executing an SAP NetWeaver BI project - part 1