Managing All Project Activities

As an HR IT Project Manager, Paula knows from her previous jobs that the use of multiple disconnected tools is one of many reasons why implementation projects fail. She remembers a recent meeting with Alexander, when Alexander pointed out that there is no need to re-invent the wheel and that he recommends using SAP Cloud ALM Project Management. In that meeting, he has also explained the different phases of a project (such as Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy, Run). In addition, he has pointed out that these phases should not be mixed with the four steps from process perspective (Design, Build, Test, Deploy).

As there are many different tasks that must be coordinated during the implementation project, Paula is concerned about how to successfully manage all the project activities. Therefore, she meets Alexander again.

Alexander explains that the main tasks during the Build step are the setup of the system landscape and the work on the delta requirements that have been captured during the fit-to-standard workshop.

He points out that SAP ships project templates, which are predefined sets of tasks that help customers such as Dreams without Limits accelerate their implementation. When Paula creates a project from a project template, the project acts as a container that helps in reporting and managing information. Paula can then define phases and milestones and, to use Agile methodology, she can create sprints that are aligned with the Realize phase of the project. In addition, the integrated analytics allow Paula to get always up-to-date information concerning the project.

Next, Paula wants to know how she and her team should realize the requirements that they have collected during the fit-to-standard workshop.

Alexander points out that requirements can be broken down into user stories and tasks.

• A user story is a user need that needs to be fulfilled to provide a business value. It may or may not have an associated requirement. Alexander recommends that, when the customer want to use Agile methodology, they create a sprint schedule and assign user stories to sprints. User stories should then be created in such a way that they can be finished in one sprint.
• A task is an activity that is to be executed by a project member.

Alexander recommends that Paula reads the blog Creating User Stories and Sub-Tasks in SAP Cloud ALM to learn more about user stories.

At the end of this meeting, Alexander hands over to his colleague Carl Consultant to support Dreams without Limits during their implementation project. During this project, Carl needs to work closely with Peter Process, the Business Process Expert from Dreams without Limits.

The next day, Paula meets Carl to discuss the concept of tasks. She asks Carl what exactly a task is in the context of SAP Cloud ALM.

The answer from Carl is quite simple:

Carl continues that SAP Cloud ALM preloads the task list with minimal setup tasks. These tasks appear when the project is created. They carry instructions on how to perform the required steps and they may include navigation links to the appropriate application screens.

He explains that there are also manually created project tasks, as well as predefined template tasks from SAP Activate with predefined descriptions and, potentially, predefined accelerators. Tasks can be distributed to predelivered project roles, which makes it easy to filter for them based on team, person, or role assignment.

Next, Paula wants Carl to list some use cases of task management in SAP Cloud ALM.

Carl replies that, for example, tasks can be used to track approved requirements to completion. In addition, task management can be used to assign tasks to teams, roles or persons, to add comments, and to review the status and the history of the tasks.

But Paula wants to know more about how to work with tasks.

Carl explains that SAP Cloud ALM offers the Tasks tile, which opens the task list. The purpose of the task list is to quickly see multiple tasks. The Filter functionality at the top allows Paula and her team to narrow down the selection. The results can be viewed either as a list or in a Gantt chart. Both the filter options and the result list can be adapted according to the customer’s needs.

He continues that, although the task list is by default grouped by deliverable, Paula can group the task list by multiple dimensions, such as source, status, or priority.

In addition, the task list allows Paula to set values for key attributes. Examples are a change of the status of a task, or the assignment of a deliverable – which is a grouping of tasks that together create an outcome. When a task has a predecessor, this is shown by an icon. The status of the predecessor task can be seen by selecting the icon.

Carl continues that Paula can navigate from the task list to task details and that she has easy access to analytical reports.

Paula interjects that the task list may become long and confusing. She asks how she can get a better overview of the upcoming tasks, for example, to prepare for meetings. Carl answers that the Tasks app offers a Cards view that provides a visual overview of all tasks (sorted by status) which provides a structuring help and a drag and drop status change.

Finally, Paula wants to see an example of Task Management. Carl decides to show how to add a comment to the task for conducting the fit to standard workshop:

As HR Analyst, Anna wants to support Paula to get transparency of the implementation project at Dreams without Limits. Therefore, she is interested in the integrated analytics that SAP Cloud ALM Project Management offers as well. Together with Paula, she asks Carl for a meeting to discuss this topic. As Joana Junior is to assist Carl during the project, and Joana will work with Anna, Carl decides to invite Joana for this meeting as well.

Carl points out that SAP Cloud ALM for implementation provides integrated analytics functionality to cover the different needs of users working with applications. This allows the following:

• Paula, as project manager, can track the overall project progress and get an overview of the current project status.
• All project members can distribute their work based on roles and to identify the next steps.
• Tess, as test manager, can manage the test preparation and execution.

Joana continues that a good and meaningful dashboard is essential to make it easier for all project members to understand KPIs and their impact on implementation project.

• The Overview Page offers an aggregated and organized view of all aspects of the project in one location. From here, Paula and Anna can analyze the real-time project execution data and, with that data, ensure a successful project execution. They can also drill down to critical KPIs and identify bottlenecks and blockers.

  

• The Analytics app ensures traceability from processes, requirements, tasks, tests, down to the deployment to production. For example, Anna and Paula can use Requirements Traceability to ensure that all requirements are properly implemented, tested and ready for deployment. Or they can use Process Traceability to get insights into readiness from a process perspective.