SAP

SAP Best Practices is an offering by SAP as part of SAP Business All-in-One Solution. It leverages SAP's vast implementation expertise across various industry verticals and geographies. It provides:  

·         Pre-configured solution for SAP modules across various industry verticals 

·         Comprehensive documentation

·         Implementation approach

·         Ready-to-deploy integrated business solutions

Let us try to understand what SAP Best Practices are?

SAP Best Practices consists of three layers:

·         Baseline Package

·         Country Localization

·         Industry content

Baseline Package: It comprises of an approach which supports the business needs of an organization. It is a pre-configured package integrating all the SAP modules for the Core end to end business scenarios like 'Purchase to Pay', 'Order to Cash', 'Plan to Produce' etc.

Country Localization: It consists of country specific scenarios and regulatory, compliance, taxes and other country specific requirements; country localization sits on the Baseline package and is seamlessly integrated

Industry Content: It consists of best of Business Scenarios specific to an industry vertical to support its business functions and is seamlessly integrated with baseline package and country localization.

Typically an ASAP based methodology is assumed for best practice implementation. During implementation, we need to select the appropriate building blocks from the baseline package, relevant to a country for an industry vertical. For example, we can have:

·         Org Structure, SD, MM, FI building blocks from the Baseline Package layer

·         US building block from the Country Localization layer

·         Building block for wholesale industry from the Industry content layer

Thus a business solution meeting the specific requirements of the company can be configured using the three Best Practices layers.

Now let us explore why we need SAP Best Practices:

Implementing SAP Best Practices for a Business Transformation Program results in:

·         Significant benefits by way of  time and cost savings  

·         Convenient and easy access to valuable repository of  Industry Best Practices and Processes

·         Reduction of as much as 32% in implementation time*

·         Reduction in consulting and in-house resources of up to 50%*

·         Lower Total Cost of Ownership (11% decrease on average over a 3-year period) * 

·         Lower maintenance costs (up to 22%)* 

·         Reduced project risks (average of 71%)*

SAP Best Practices contents Include:

1.     Documentation:

2.     Scenario overviews

3.     Business process documentation

4.     Quick Guide for prerequisites and  guided activation of settings

5.     Configuration Guide

6.     Training material

Pre-configuration:

1.     Pre-configuration settings 

2.     Sample master data 

3.     Configuration documentation

4.     Automation tools

5.     Print forms

6.      Use roles to leverage new SAP Net-Weaver Business client

*Source: www.help.sap.com

Now that we have understood what SAP Best Practices are let us see the steps that need to be taken to implement the same:

1.     Download: Select the appropriate deployment scenario from the SAP Best Practices documentation and download the relevant package

2.     Installation: Install SAP Best Practices form the DVD along with the required country packs

3.     Activation: Activate and test the pre-configured scenarios of SAP Best Practices

4.     Enhance: Enhance the SAP Best Practices pre-configured scenarios with additional requirements

5.     Adapt the Refine: Refine the system to meet the business requirements

There could be several approached for implementing the SAP Best Practices. Based on the project requirement, any of the following four approaches for SAP Best Practices implementation can be selected

Approach A:  Deploy a rapid prototype to preview and understand SAP applications and processes

Approach B:  Use Best Practice as a reference system to accelerate blueprinting and solution scope definition

Approach C:  Use Best Practice as a starting point for implementation project; 30 - 70% of business needs are met, and the rest can be flexibly added during the project

Approach D:  Use Best Practice for accelerated rollout of SAP to subsidiaries in different regions or industries from the parent company

In the next blog we will discuss each of these four approaches in detail.