SAP Management of Change is part of the wider SAP Environment, Health and Safety Portfolio.
The solution helps to companies make operational changes with confidence. Users can mitigate risk by monitoring changes made to equipment, materials, chemicals, operating conditions, procedures, and organizational structure.
They can document assessments, approvals, and task completion throughout the process. As a result, the business can make changes that facilitate growth - without disrupting operations or harming employees, assets, or the environment.
SAP Management of Change runs on the browser. No additional programs are required to access it. On the SAP Fiori Launchpad, you can find your most important apps.
Why to manage the change?
Management of Change - Types
Management of Change - Other Considerations
A rule-based workflow guides the users through the management of change process. Based on the categorization and impact of the change, there is a flexible number and sequence of process steps. Since change processes vary highly from customer to customer, the application is very flexible and can be customized to fit the most diverse change processes.
The process starts with the Initiation phase. Every person with the required authorization can create a Change Request and can describe the required change, add attachments and determine impacted objects.
The initial change request can be reported through a dedicated tile, Create Change Request. In the following screen, the user can select which change request type needs to be reported.
Based on the system configuration, the types of changes can be split into several processes (if they deviate from each other).
In the Change Request form, description, detailed description, notes and impact can be provided. The impact of the change request can be manually selected, but in most of cases it can be derived from the initial assessment or review of the overall change. Based on the impact you may need to notify the customers about the planned change (configurable).
Furthermore, to describe the change, in the section Determine impacted Objects, information about the object can be entered such as type, object, plant, and country. Generally, this is referred as technical basis for the change, which includes the timeline of the change, impacted objects, and high-level assessment.
The Other Areas Affected is configured as a questionnaire. For the purpose of the process walkthrough, the list of result is capped. The questionnaire is represented on the screen as checkboxes and to each item a comment can be entered.
The Initial Assessment is configured as a questionnaire. For the purpose of the process walkthrough, the list of result is capped. The questionnaire is represented on the screen as checkboxes and to each item a comment can be entered.
A change may not only impact a single object but multiple. The Related Objects are integrated with SAP Plant Maintenance, SAP Material Master, and / or SAP Document Management System. Here, objects from SAP Plant Maintenance (for example, Functional Location) can be selected.
In the section Attachments and Links, documents and links related to the changes request can be uploaded and used as a future reference.
After submitting the change request, the review is started automatically. All the activities displayed above are predetermined by the system based on the configuration and the initial assessment of the change.
During the next process step, the Gatekeeper reviews the Change Proposal and decides as to its completeness. If the Change Proposal is complete, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) or SME group evaluates the Change Request in detail during the assessment step.
Activity owners can access their activities using the Manage Change Requests / Manage Change Activities app.
A list of all Change Requests is available and can be filtered by Plant, Status, Duration, People Involved, and so on. The columns in the Result List can be adapted to the particular needs of all users.
The responsible person(s) for the activities, Review and Risk Assessment, get an email notification or can open their Tasks from the SAP Fiori Launchpad. They are authorized to change the information given in the Change Request.
After the Gatekeeper accepts the change, the SMEs are notified about their pending tasks to review and assess the Change Request.
Assessment - Perform Risk Assessment
When a task is completed, its status gets updated in the Activity section and any consecutive tasks are started. The activity, Review and Verify Change Request, is completed. The next activity will start automatically.
Each activity can also have a questionnaire assigned that needs to be answered in order to complete the activity.
Based on the results of assessment step, the Operations Manager approve or decline a Change Request. With the approval of a Change Request, the creation of additional activities and the assignment of further people might be necessary.
Approval - Assess Change and Authorize
The area manager checks the entire change request and decides if a change is necessary or not.
The following three tasks can be performed in this process step:
1. Approve the Change and request further actions
- Verify the change
- Add or create new activities (for certain people)
2. Assign People
- Additional stakeholders who are important for the change process
- Assign action owners to activities by using the rule-based engine
3. Approval Sequence
- Several approvals (sequential or parallel) can be required
- Can be based on the rule-based engine
The Area Manager can either Approve or Reject the Change Request and document the required findings, recommendations, and action.
After the Area Manager approves the Change, the Plan Evaluation and the Additional Approvals are started. The implementation starts with the evaluation if a notification to customers is required.
Implementation
When the approval is granted, the implementation (execution) of the change is started.
The Implementation of the Change Request starts and will be driven by the responsible persons.
The implementation starts with the evaluation, if a notification to customers is required. This can also be automatically executed using a checklist with Yes/No/Not Applicable questions.
After the successful verification of implementation activities, the Change Request will be closed.
After completing all the implementation activities, the validation of the change is started automatically. The validation of the effectiveness of the change includes several steps. Typical tasks during this phase are as follows:
- Verification of Change
- Verify effectiveness of the change
- Review process performance
- Conclusion
- Several people can be responsible for the close-out
- Communicate the change
- Audit Trial
- Examine procedure on change level
- Check performance on activity level
- Every change is logged with a timestamp
After completing all the tasks, the change request is closed automatically.
Finally, the Change Request can be closed. This can be automatically performed by the system when all Tasks are completed and no additional step is required.
The figure, Close-out - Validate Effectiveness of Change, above displays the closed Change Request. The completed Change Request can not be edited, but a Reopen is possible (the correct authorization is required).
Using the Manage Change Requests app, a list of all Change Requests can be displayed and can be filtered by Plant, Status, Duration, People Involved, and so on. The columns in the Result List can be adapted.
The Detailed Analytics of Management of Change allows you to do the following:
- To easily find abnormal trends that require follow-up activities and further analysis
- To analyze the performance of plants and objects for which you are responsible
- To analyze the frequency of changes that occurred during a certain period of time
The analytical path consists of two main areas:
- Selection area with selection parameters: The selection area has the following data - for example, plant / object, time scale, date from and date to parameters.
- Result area: In the result area, the graphical representation of the results are displayed as bar chart, pie chart, or line chart.
A standard Adobe Print Form is available for Change Request and Activity. The creation of the customer-specific Adobe Print Form is also possible. Using the Manage Change Requests / Activities app, the business user can conduct a search by applying several different type of filters.
A set of predefined analytics provides you with reports and dashboards. The predefined content is delivered with the Management of Change Analytics role.
As a summary, SAP Management of Change provides feature for the end-to-end lifecycle of a change request. With the change request initiation, it's possible capture the technical basis of the change, to add reference objects and fill out configurable questionnaires.
The solution contains functional components in three separate areas. To support the change initiation process, the solution provides functional components to record the changes that have occured through the Fiori launchpad.
During the Change Request processing the coordinator or other involved people are enabled to use the standard functionality to execute or add activities, maintain involved persons, attach documents, links and references. The Change Request process is supported by rule-based engine that allows a dynamic and flexible process with conditioned activities.
Through the functional components the Change Request process supports the responsible persons creating outputs of the Change Request. In the Analytics work area, you can find a set of predefined analytics, such as reports and dashboards.