Discovering SAP Activate

SAP Activate Agile methodology is placing customer value delivery as one of the key metrics of success.

Involving the customer at all stages of the project and adhering to an Agile approach results in improved quality, better alignment with requirements, and greater ease of solution acceptance for users.

Transparency on progress, impediments, and on all the key aspects of the project is one of the forefront values of Agile methodologies that's allowing better risk management and better response to unexpected situations.

The close collaboration with our customers to build solutions that will help their businesses thrive is fostering a trustful and long-term relationship with our customers.

SAP Activate is the SAP Solution Adoption framework for accelerated time-to-value implementation projects, using the SAP Best Practices and SAP standards.

The usage of SAP Standard functionalities helps the jump-start of the implementation with ready-to-run processes and other assets.

By using the predelivered and ready-to-run content along with documentation and supporting tools, the SAP Activate framework generates a significant reduction in project time, reducing the Total Cost of Implementation (TCI).

Later on, when the solution is operational, the adoption of the SAP standards will decrease the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Thanks to the Agile-innate project features, the delivered solution has the full potential to make our customers happy, the right grounds for effective risk management are set, and, in the end, the implementation project can be seen as more cost-efficient.

In conclusion, the Agile approach DOES NOT mean cheaper or faster, although both can be welcome by-products. An example of a by-product is naphtha from petroleum processing.

The SAP Activate methodology is giving guidelines to quick-start the implementation by using the Best Practices and SAP standard functionalities resulted from over 40 years of customer implementation experience.

The Fit-to-Standard approach part of the SAP Activate methodology is used to confirm the solution fit and to identify delta requirements for the customers.

SAP Activate methodology gives full support for initial deployment and continuous business innovation with a harmonized implementation approach for cloud, on-premise, and hybrid deployments.

SAP Activate methodology, the successor of Accelerated SAP (ASAP) and SAP Launch, is modular and scalable, and it can be adapted to the customer needs and Agile maturity level, no matter the size and project complexity. 

After each project phase, SAP Activate Methodology documents formal Quality Gates that are checking that relevant deliverables for the phase are available before moving to the next project phase.

By integrating the Agile practices, the SAP Activate methodology benefits from the Agile quality built-in principles that incorporate solution review, testing, and acceptance from the early stages of the solution implementation project.

SAP Activate methodology started with SAP S/4HANA and is now supporting a broad coverage of SAP solutions. The methodology also enables co-innovation with customers and is accessible for partners.

Besides the prescriptive and step-by-step deployment guidance for project teams part of SAP Activate Methodology, it brings together the SAP Best Practices and the tools needed to implement and deploy SAP solutions.

The SAP Best Practices contain rich business scenarios and business content, helping customers to get predictable and repeatable results.

SAP Best Practices are easily integrated with other cloud solutions, such as SAP SuccessFactors and the Ariba Network.

These ready-to-run business processes – comprehensive, flexible, and optimized for SAP S/4HANA – are cultivated from the collective implementation knowledge of thousands of SAP customers.

SAP Best Practices also cover integration and migration fundamentals, designed to guide you through an optimal migration process, whether you're moving from a legacy SAP system or a non-SAP database.

SAP Activate gives you a reference solution with sample data included in the product, clear guidelines, and step-by-step directions on how to move from your current landscape, SAP or non-SAP, to reach your goal.

SAP Activate gives guidance on tools for configuration, testing, deployment, and solution operations, plus a side-car tool to support the solution documentation and to track the implementation project status.

Traditionally, SAP Solution Manager has been used as an application lifecycle management (ALM) tool, and, with the advent of cloud-based solutions, SAP Cloud ALM has become more common. For SAP S/4HANA Cloud edition, it's recommended to use SAP Cloud ALM.

SAP Cloud ALM supports customers to implement and operate their cloud or hybrid solutions by offering content-driven guided implementation and highly automated operations.

SAP Cloud ALM supports the complete application lifecycle from design, build, test, and deploy. Even monitoring capabilities and applications supporting the operation of SAP solutions are included.

The provided functionalities are all built-in, preconfigured, and ready-to-use.

Other characteristics of SAP Cloud ALM:

• New capabilities are added constantly and delivered biweekly to the customer tenants.

• It's included in the cloud subscription containing Enterprise Support, cloud edition and in SAP Enterprise Support.

• It's cloud native and open.

• It manages the application lifecycle for the Intelligent Suite.

• It manages cloud but also hybrid (combination of on-premise and cloud) solutions.

• Can be provisioned and consumed immediately.

• Is an application running on SAP Business Technology Platform and is optimized for SAP HANA.

During the Discover phase, the business scope, the value, and the benefits are identified as well as the adoption strategy and road map.

With the use of benchmark data, the typical TCO costs can be calculated and used for the business case that will support the implementation project.

It's recommended that the Customer create a Center of Expertise (COE) for Organizational Readiness to ensure the organizational change management for the solution adoption.

The objective of the COE will be to identify the capabilities needed from IT and business and to extract the highest possible business outcomes from the use of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The speed of transition to the new model depends largely on the maturity of this Customer COE. The journey for the Customer COE organizational readiness begins with the Discover phase to ensure a successful and business valuable implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The COE provides the catalyst for innovation and digitalization after go-live.

The Prepare phase marks the start of the SAP S/4HANA implementation project. Project plans are finalized, project teams onboarded and enabled, and the customer is given access to their Starter System with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Best Practices, Central Business Configuration (CBC) and Cloud Application Lifecycle system (SAP Cloud ALM). Concepts for solution adoption are developed by the team set up for organizational change management.

The Explore phase focuses on driving adoption of SAP S/4HANA Cloud through a Fit-to-Standard approach that has an objective to create the backlog for the Realize phase.

During the Realize phase, the teams run in Agile Sprints to configure the solution and create custom extensions in SAP S/4HANA Cloud or SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). The solution's tests are run in an integrated environment, data is loaded, and business users' enablement is performed.

The Deploy phase covers the set up production system, confirms business readiness, and switches business operations to the new system. For a Customer COE, SAP recommends preparing key users for training the user community and for supporting business operation after go-live.

During the Run phase, Customers drive effective adoption of the new solution across the business, meet evolving business needs, adopt periodic innovations, monitor, and optimize processes and their integration, and manage custom extensions. 

SAP Cloud ALM applies for public and private cloud architectures. For on-prem implementation, SAP Solution Manager is recommended.

In the Discover phase, customers become familiar with the benefits of SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA and the benefits they can bring to the business.

An overall company strategy on their digital transformation, which includes SAP S/4HANA as the digital core, should be created.

Customers can use a trial system in the cloud to become familiar with the value of SAP S/4HANA in general (for example, the new and simplified functionalities in SAP S/4HANA, the new User Interface based on FIORI, Agile customer innovations using SAP Business Technology Platform, and so on).

A decision on the implementation scenario and a comprehensive implementation strategy for SAP S/4HANA should be made in the Discover phase. In the case of system conversion, the conversion readiness of the existing SAP ERP system should be checked as well. The outcome of these activities can be used within the company to build a business case for an SAP S/4HANA implementation project.

Once the business case has been approved, the project is initiated in the Prepare Phase that covers the initial planning and preparation for the project. In this phase the project is started, plans are finalized, the project team is assigned, and work is under way to start the project optimally.

During Explore, a Fit-to-Standard gap analysis is executed to validate the solution functionality included in the project scope and to confirm that the business requirements can be satisfied. Identified gaps and configuration values are added to the backlog for use in the next phase.

The Realize phase uses a series of iterations to incrementally build and test an integrated business and system environment that is based on the business scenarios and process requirements identified in the previous phase.

During Realize, data is loaded, adoption activities occur, and operations are planned.

The objectives of the Deploy phase are the setup of the production system, the confirmation of the customer organization readiness, and the switch of business operations to the new system.

In the Run phase, the aim is to establish a safe and efficient operation of the newly created solution. This includes the operations platform, core IT support processes, the setup and fine-tuning of new and additional operations tools, and the enablement of the operational support team. Moreover, a continuous operations improvement should be established to improve IT operations based on newly gained experience.

In addition, this is the right time to plan for further innovations, which could be implemented according to the overall implementation strategy that has been created in the Discover phase of the project (or separately, as part of a business transformation work stream). The implementation strategy can now be reviewed and enriched based on system usage experience, which has been gained in the first weeks after go-live.

There are three major acceleration techniques for SAP solution implementations of SAP Activate that will help SAP's customers:

• The use of SAP Best Practices brings speed and efficiency to the project start. The customer starts with a preconfigured system with preinstalled organizational structure, master data ready to demo, and documented with process models.

• Fit-to-standard approach speeds up the Explore phase, compared to the traditional Business Blueprint, specifically if it's a close fit and the customer is willing to adopt standard processes from SAP. A Product Backlog is created to store the prioritized list of requirements. The high prioritized requirements are going into a high-level design phase that is time boxed and provides refined requirements to be implemented in the first couple of Sprints in the Realize phase. Fit-to-standard and Design workshops are done in an iterative approach that already benefits from the Agile practices of inspecting and adapting.

• The Agile build relies on short iteration cycles called Sprints to build the solution per the customer expectations (expressed as User Stories in the Product Backlog).

During the Agile build, the customer drives the priorities and acceptance to achieve by using Agile concepts:

• Product ownership – to maximize the value delivery.

• Sprint Review – to validate the solution.

• Definition of Done – to cover the expectations related to documentation, testing, user enablement, and so on.

In opposition with the traditional projects where we had full functionality rollouts and long implementation projects, the SAP Activate Methodology recommends starting with a small scope and a much shorter implementation project for the first Release.

This approach allows Customers to test their assessments in terms of business value delivery and solution fitness. It also implies lower solution adoption efforts for the customer organization and fewer initial costs.

Subsequent, incremental Releases will add functionalities and will benefit from the feedback that the business is giving on the capabilities of the first Release.

There are three key elements that support the digital transformation with SAP Activate:

• SAP Activate Community (https://community.sap.com/topics/activate)

• SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer (https://go.support.sap.com/roadmapviewer/#)

• The SAP Signavio Process Navigator (https://me.sap.com/processnavigator/HomePage)

The SAP Activate Community site has ready to consume content, references, expert topics, blogs covering various topics within SAP Activate, and a Q&A forum. It gives a high-level learning overview at a glance.

The SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer allows customers and partners to view SAP solution roadmaps online. It's a tool that gives access to a full work breakdown structure of a particular project type and provides a wealth of projects accelerators to leverage. The content is available in an online SAP Fiori based environment.

The SAP Signavio Process Navigator replaces the Best Practices Explorer tool and provides package content specific to the scope of your solution.

It includes all business process scope in documentation format for all business processes inside the application. It's integrating the country/region-specific content to manage multiple geographies, divisions, subsidiaries, and ledgers.

The following information can be found in SAP Signavio Process Navigator:

• Scope item fact sheets: A description of the business process including business benefits and key process steps covered.

• Process flow: A representation of the standard business process to show how the software works by default.

• Process flow (BPMN2): A downloadable version of the business process flow that can be edited in process modeling applications if the standard process flow is customized. It's important to document any process that no longer follows the standard process.

• Test scripts: A procedure for testing the standard Best Practice processes in the system.

• Setup instructions: A guide with instructions to set up the prerequisite requirements (usually integration) before the test script can be completed.

SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer is a tool that gives access to a full work breakdown structure of a particular project type. The content is available in an online SAP Fiori based environment.

It's hosted or managed within SAP HANA Cloud. It shows the SAP Activate roadmaps for SAP S/4HANA and the SAP Activate roadmaps for other solutions. We call them general work breakdown structures (WBSs), which are applied to different on-premise solutions or cloud solutions.

The hierarchy that we see in this environment is the standard core WBS hierarchy of:

• Phase

• Deliverable

• Tasks

• Accelerators

An additional view by workstream is also available.