What is SAP’s understanding of Organizational Change Management

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
  • Explain why organizational change management is more than the application of tools
  • Relate organizational change management and the SAP Activate methodology to each other
  • Discuss the agile nature of organizational change management in cloud projects

Organizational Change Management as an Attitude

Organizational change management is often associated with the application of tools. And indeed, tools and templates help to reduce complexity and to give a structure to the people side of your cloud project.

However, tools only allow an approximation to the "real life". And even the best tools do not guarantee that organizational change management will be a success. Delivering organizational change management with sustainable impact requires the ability to really connect with people, to think beyond causal relations and have the entire system in mind – and to be empathetic.

Therefore, we are convinced that organizational change management is more than a check-box approach; it is an attitude.

Watch the video below for more details.

Organizational Change Management and the SAP Activate Methodology

SAP’s organizational change management approach is fully aligned with SAP’s implementation methodology SAP Activate. The SAP Activate Methodology for cloud implementations is structured into six phases.

Discover Phase

The graphic shows the SAP Activate implementation methodology with the six phases. The first phase discover is highlighted.

The purpose of this phase for the project team is to investigate the solution capabilities and to understand the business value of the solution for the customer.

The focus for organizational change management in the Discover phase is to

  • Get an overview of the upcoming cloud project
  • Define the organizational change management scope
  • Decide on change management resources
  • Integrate change management into the project organization

Prepare Phase

The graphic shows the SAP Activate implementation methodology with the six phases. The second phase prepare is highlighted.

The purpose of this phase for the project team is to conduct the initial planning and set-up activities for the project. During the prepare phase, plans are finalized, the project team members are assigned, and everything is done to ensure a good project start.

The focus for organizational change management in the Prepare phase is to

  • Define and schedule change management activities
  • Identify and analyze the impacted stakeholders
  • Get an initial overview of the high-level change impacts
  • Set the foundation for the change communication
  • Develop the approach for user enablement

Explore Phase

The graphic shows the SAP Activate implementation methodology with the six phases. The third phase explore is highlighted.

The purpose of this phase for the project team is to conduct a detailed examination of the customers’ business processes. A key activity is to perform the fit-to-standard analysis. During this analysis, the project team investigates the degree of alignment between SAP's best-practice standard solutions and the current business needs. Based on the gained insights, the team develops a detailed plan for the next SAP activate phase.

The focus for organizational change management in the Explore phase is to

  • Provide information about the cloud project
  • Build up commitment and mobilize the business to support the upcoming changes
  • Identify and mitigate people-related risks
  • Set up and execute change monitoring activities
  • Identify the training needs

Realize Phase

The graphic shows the SAP Activate implementation methodology with the six phases. The fourth phase realize is highlighted.

The purpose of this phase for the project team is to start configuring and testing the future solution, based on the business scenarios and process requirements identified in the Explore phase. Besides, the Realize phase involves the preparation of data, planning of operations, and adoption activities.

The focus for organizational change management in the Realize phase is to

  • Identify detailed change impacts for the different user groups
  • Derive specific communication and support activities to reduce risks and uncertainties
  • Prepare the business for the organizational transition
  • Develop the training content

Deploy Phase

The graphic shows the SAP Activate implementation methodology with the six phases. The fifth phase deploy is highlighted.

The purpose of this phase for the project team is to go live successfully with the new cloud solution. The project team conducts preparation activities, like setting up the system, migrating data from the legacy system to the new solution. After go-live, the project team supports the users working with the new system, helping them solve technical issues and answering any system related questions that arise. At the end of this intensive period, the project team hands the system over to the customers’ IT department.

The focus for organizational change management in the Deploy phase is to

  • Assess the readiness of the business for the go-live
  • Keep the business informed about the upcoming go-live
  • Deliver user training

Run Phase

The graphic shows the SAP Activate implementation methodology with the six phases. The sixth phase run is highlighted.

The purpose of this phase for the customer’s IT department is to ensure that the solution is running at peak performance and to take advantage of the regular innovations that SAP releases for the SAP cloud solution. This includes ongoing system operations, continuous business process and system improvements, new scope activation, and onboarding of new users.

The focus for organizational change management in the Run phase is to

  • Provide ongoing user support
  • Inform the users about new releases and innovations
  • Track actual user adoption
  • Derive activities to increase user adoption

Change Management Content in the SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer

For a holistic overview of the change management methodology, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the organizational change management content provided in the SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer.

Hint

The SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer is a freely available platform, providing comprehensive information and assets to support a broad range of SAP product-related implementation roadmaps. For every roadmap, you find input on the activities required in every Activate phase, for example regarding project management, technical architecture and infrastructure, or data management. Also, some basic change management activities are embedded in the functional roadmaps.

Furthermore, the entire organizational change management approach is accessible in the Roadmap Viewer as a cross topic. The content includes an overview of the framework and its dimensions, as well as descriptions of the different change management deliverables, sorted by activate phase. For each deliverable, you find information on the respective implementation steps, structured in tasks and associated procedures. Every procedure is supplemented with a so-called accelerator (e.g. a tool, template, or link with helpful information), providing additional guidance for the practical change management execution.

Generally, the content is free of charge. However, access to the accelerators requires an upfront registration.

Organizational Change Management for Cloud Projects and Agility

When you decide to implement a cloud solution, you decide to move towards a best-practice standard. You don’t start from scratch with identifying the needs and wishes of the users and then begin to develop a new solution that meets the requirements you have collected upfront. Thus, the degree of freedom in cloud projects is smaller compared to the development of a completely new software solution.

Nevertheless, with SAP Activate, SAP follows an agile approach for cloud implementations. This means that the project usually is structured into sprints. For example, the identification of gaps between specific business requirement and the cloud software or the integration of identified requirements into the cloud solution is conducted in an iterative approach.

Therefore, organizational change management should also be delivered in an agile way to fit to the project management methodology.

Watch the video below to discover options to support your cloud project with an agile organizational change management.

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