Discuss business intelligence, integration, compliance and a host of other SAP-related topics – implementation, best practices and resources to negotiate the world of SAP better!
November 30, 2009
November 10, 2009
SAP BPC: Unified tool for Planning & Consolidation (Part II of II)
In my previous blog, I have discussed pros and cons of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation as a unified tool for planning and consolidation vs. multiple planning applications. In this blog, I will further illustrate benefit of using SAP BPC for planning and consolidation. SAP BPC as a single application for planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, and reporting functionalities, eliminates the need of multiple applications that require manual integration.SAP BPC offers following features and functionality from a single enterprise scale application.
Strategic planning
Budgeting
Forecasting
Statutory consolidation
Reporting & analysis
Predictive analytics
Continue reading "SAP BPC: Unified tool for Planning & Consolidation (Part II of II)" »
The new weapon for the CFO’s knights – An Introduction (Part 1 of 3)
In my previous blog posts, I spoke about how volatile economic cycles, the ensuing regulatory requirements and thus evolving business expectations, are leading to a shift in the epicenter of the CFOs office - towards business strategy and growth alongside financial stewardship.
Continue reading "The new weapon for the CFO’s knights – An Introduction (Part 1 of 3)" »
November 06, 2009
The SAP Support and Maintenance Series – Part 3 of 3 - What can customers do?
In the previous blogs I have tried to explain what SAP means by Support and Maintenance, and the commercial importance of this function to SAP. Having set that context, I want to bring up a few issues which I think will determine the future of this business line for companies like SAP.
The first point is whether customers have options to sign Maintenance contracts with companies other than the product vendors?
No, they do not. In spite of what Riminy Street and other similar companies may come up with, I strongly believe there are reasons why customers will not, actually cannot, terminate their AMCs. In the current circumstances, doing otherwise (signing an AMC with another service vendor) would definitely be a massive risk – imagine putting your complete SAP landscape maintenance in the hands of a service provider who does not have access to SAP’s future roadmap, who will not have access to patches and security updates, and if I assume correctly will be violating copyright laws by attempting to change SAP code, etc.
(However this option maybe realistic if customers decide to let go of their current IT landscape and plan a complete revamp one or two years down the line.)
Continue reading "The SAP Support and Maintenance Series – Part 3 of 3 - What can customers do?" »
The SAP Support and Maintenance Series – Part 2 of 3 – What are Software-related Services?
What exactly constitutes Software-related Services? [Sourced from the SAP Annual Report 2008 - On Form 20F - The SAP Portfolio]
SAP categorizes software-related services into four buckets; Custom development, Support services, On-demand software services and Managed services.
Custom development as the name suggests implies building new developments, extensions and enhancements on the SAP platform to address unique customer requirements which otherwise cannot be met by the standard offering.
Support services include support to the customer through the complete lifecycle of the implementation – before, during and after. This involves round-the-clock technical support, as well as proactive and preventive support services. It can vary from SAP Enterprise Support (involves holistic IT landscape support with the aim of optimizing operations, based on defined service level agreements), SAP Product Support (provides day-to-day support needs), SAP Safeguarding (aims to mitigate technical risks during implementation and upgrade) and SAP Max Attention (includes technical account management from SAP).
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Recent Posts
- Fast Close – Business Drivers
- SAP BPC: Unified tool for Planning & Consolidation (Part II of II)
- The new weapon for the CFO’s knights – An Introduction (Part 1 of 3)
- The SAP Support and Maintenance Series – Part 3 of 3 - What can customers do?
- The SAP Support and Maintenance Series – Part 2 of 3 – What are Software-related Services?