In the context of this course, a customer is defined as an individual or organization that has purchased SAP software, or a project team member supporting its implementation. A partner is an individual working for an organization within the SAP partner ecosystem to build, sell, service, or run SAP solutions.
Specifically, employees of partner organizations who implement SAP software are categorized as service partners. While SAP provides direct implementation services, the company relies on its extensive partner ecosystem to meet global demand and provide specialized industry expertise for unique customer requirements.
Key Stakeholders Involved During SAP Activate Phases
During the Discover phase of the SAP Activate Methodology, the customer's executive sponsors develop the business case for purchasing SAP S/4HANA Cloud. In collaboration with a sales representative from SAP or a partner, they complete the Digital Discovery Assessment (DDA) to define the business process scope as part of the purchase decision.
These sponsors typically hold leadership positions, such as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Chief Information Officer (CIO). Throughout the project, they work closely with their counterparts from the implementation partner or SAP. Effective leadership communication from these sponsors is a critical component of the organizational change management (OCM) strategy developed later in the project.
The customer System Administrator should be identified and communicated to SAP as early as possible. This ensures the correct individual is assigned the IT Contact permission role. This role provides administrator access to support applications and the authority to provision and provide authorization to the systems purchased by the customer.
If an administrator is not designated when the SAP S/4HANA Cloud contract is signed, the contract signer is assigned the IT Contact role by default. This assignment can be updated at any time, but it saves time to have the correct person named when the contract is signed.
Project Mobilization in the Prepare Phase
The Prepare phase focuses on setting up the technical environment and assembling the project team.
- System Provisioning: The priority is to provision all required systems via SAP for Me and ensure the implementation team has appropriate access levels.
- Core Team Roles:
- Project Manager: Sets up the project in SAP Cloud ALM, and oversees project timelines, resources, and delivery.
- Lead Configuration Expert: Activates business process content for the SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems using SAP Central Business Configuration and handles related topics like the organizational structure definition and set-up.
- LoB Configuration Experts: At least one subject matter expert (SME) is required for each LoB in scope for implementation.
- Staffing Scalability: The final headcount of partner experts per LoB depends on the volume of business processes; for example, if thirty business processes have been selected in Finance, while only ten processes have been selected in Professional Services, Finance will require more consultants than the smaller Professional Services LoB.
Note
The primary objective is to implement the core scope first, followed by a phased rollout of additional lines of business or geographic locations. Every organization requires the core administrative ERP foundation, which consists of the Finance, Sales, and Sourcing and Procurement Lines of Business (LoBs).
The project team will expand as the implementation moves forward and additional experts are required.
Additionally, a dedicated Organizational Change Management (OCM) team must be established. If OCM services were not purchased from a partner, the customer must manage these activities internally.
Regardless of the provider, clear responsibility must be assigned for communication, training, and user adoption throughout the project lifecycle and after Go-Live. Successful adoption of the new SAP S/4HANA Cloud business processes is essential; poor user engagement significantly diminishes the overall success and value of the implementation.
Fit-to-Standard Workshops in the Explore Phase
In the Explore phase, the Fit-to-Standard analysis workshops are the most critical activity. These workshops are conducted for each line of business (LoB) and involve an extended project team. During this stage, business role experts from the customer organization join the project team to collaborate with partner/SAP LoB configuration experts.
Note
It's essential that the customer LoB experts participating in Fit-to-Standard workshops are those responsible for the day-to-day activities being discussed. Because these individuals are closest to the actual business processes, they can provide the most detailed and accurate feedback to ensure the system configuration meets real-world requirements.
For example, the business process Accounting and Financial Close (J58) should be demonstrated to a customer expert who holds the role of General Ledger Accountant, or a related role, because this role is responsible for the majority of the tasks in the business process.
During the workshops, partner/SAP LoB configuration experts demonstrate the business processes identified in the Digital Discovery Assessment for each LoB. These demonstrations take place within the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Starter System and cover each process from start to finish. This hands-on approach serves four primary objectives:
- System Training: It teaches customer experts how to navigate end-to-end business processes in SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
- Process Validation: It allows customer experts to review each process in detail and provide feedback on any necessary adjustments required to meet their specific business needs.
- Requirement Gathering: It enables workshop leaders to collect specific configuration values and additional requirements that are essential for setting up the customer's permanent systems.
- Testing Preparation: It establishes relationships with customer experts, preparing them to lead user acceptance testing (UAT) during the Realize phase.
Because UAT is a mandatory requirement, it must be successfully completed before the implementation project can move into the Deploy phase. This collaborative workshop structure ensures that the final configuration aligns with both SAP Best Practices and the customer's operational requirements.
System Configuration in the Realize Phase
After the Fit-to-Standard workshops are completed, the customer's permanent systems are provisioned and the partner/SAP LoB configuration experts can begin entering configuration values, building customizations, setting up integrations, and migrating data.
At this point, the customer’s extended project team typically grows to include specialized roles. These additional members support the partner implementation team in three key areas: integration, customization, and data migration.
Integration Support
In the public cloud, many integrations are built directly into existing business processes. These are known as SAP Best Practices integrations because they are pre-configured and can be easily activated within SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
Partner/SAP LoB configuration experts are responsible for managing these integrations using the provided set-up guides. Because these integrations are designed to work out-of-the-box with standard business processes, they provide a streamlined and reliable way to connect system components without the need for extensive custom development.
However, when building custom integrations, developers on the customer side are essential. Their involvement ensures they understand the architecture and location of these integrations, because they're typically hosted on the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP).
It's also important for the customer's IT team and integration developers to understand they can use the operations apps in SAP Cloud ALM to monitor the health of their system landscapes, including integrations.
Customizations and Extensions
While partner/SAP LoB configuration experts handle in-app extensions directly within SAP S/4HANA Cloud using SAP Fiori apps (for custom fields or logic), side-by-side extensions to handle more complex customization requirements reside on SAP BTP. There are two primary approaches for these extensions:
- Low-code/no-code: Developed using SAP Build, which is often included in the GROW with SAP package.
- Classic code-based: Developed using other specialized services on SAP BTP.
While partner resources can be contracted for these tasks, it is often more cost-effective for the customer’s own development team to build and manage side-by-side extensions.
Data Migration
The implementation team requires dedicated contacts within the customer organization who have the authority and technical access to extract legacy data. These individuals work closely with the project team to ensure a clean and accurate migration of data to SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
User Onboarding and Training in the Deploy Phase
Finally, the change management team focuses on the end users. A successful transition to the new system in the Deploy phase depends on thorough onboarding and training, ensuring all users are comfortable with the new solution before the Go-Live date.