ASAP Implementation

SAP Project Implementation is one of the components of Project Management and required a great degree of project related Knowledge such as Project Management, Change Management, Risk Analysis and Review Programs.

SAP have developed there own methodology which can be applied to non-SAP projects

Accelerated SAP (ASAP) is a roadmap and tool set setting:

	The tasks required to perform a successful project Who needs to do them How to do them (with the help of many accelerators)

The Implementation Roadmap has five phases:

1. Project Preparation – project formally initiated and planning well under way.
2. Business Blueprint – project team gathers requirements and conducts conceptual design of the solution.
3. Realization – system solution is built and integration tested, end users trained
4. Final Preparation – final check before cut over to new system solution
5. Go Live & Support – solution confirmation, on-going support in place and project closing

Details : 

AcceleratedSAP

Purpose

AcceleratedSAP (ASAP) is a comprehensive solution for efficiently implementing and continuously optimizing SAP software. It has a detailed, business-oriented structure and allows you to design implementation projects flexibly.

Implementation Considerations

AcceleratedSAP is a PC-based solution and is shipped independently of the R/3 System, allowing you to prepare for your implementation project before you have installed SAP software.

You may use AcceleratedSAP to:

• Implement the R/3 System

• Implement New Dimension products (APO, BW, B2B, CRM)

• Continuously optimize your SAP software

• Upgrade within a release and to implement a new release

ASAP Roadmap (IMP)
The ASAP Roadmap provides the methodology for implementing and continuously optimizing your SAP software. It divides the implementation process into five phases and offers detailed Project Plans to assist you (in Microsoft Project format). The documentation stored at each level of the Roadmap tree structure contains recommendations on implementing your SAP software and links to helpful tools and accelerators.

Purpose
When you install the Implementation Assistant you can choose from several Roadmap types and flavors. You can select one of the following flavors:
• R/3 – Implementation and Continuous Improvement
• APO – Advanced Planner & Optimizer
• BW – Business Information Warehouse
• B2B – Business to Business
• CRM – Customer Relationship Management

Features

Implementation of SAP software covers the following phases:
1.  Project Preparation
In this phase you plan your project and lay the foundations for successful implementation. It is at this stage that you make the strategic decisions crucial to your project:
− Define your project goals and objectives
− Clarify the scope of your implementation
− Define your project schedule, budget plan, and implementation sequence
− Establish the project organization and relevant committees and assign resources

2.  Business Blueprint
In this phase you create a blueprint, which documents your enterprise’s requirements and establishes how your business processes and organizational structure are to be represented in SAP software. You also refine the original project goals and objectives and revise the overall project schedule in this phase.
You will identify and document business requirements and goals to establish the ground for future stages of the project.  You will meet with the clients and  document their ‘as is’ system verses their ‘to be’ requirements.   Once every aspect is discussed  and documented, a “sign-off” is done at the end of this phase to ensure that an agreement has  been reached for the complete scope of the project.   Here, it is important to note that whatever  that is documented explicitly within the “Business Blueprint Document” is the “only” scope.  It is  also pertinent to understand that “no implied” scope will be considered for your client’s system implementation-configuration in the next phase.  Hence, in project preparation itself, prime &  subsidiary processes that affect your system must be discussed and now documented within this blueprint.

3.  Realization
In this phase, you configure the requirements contained in the Business Blueprint. Baseline configuration (major scope) is followed by final configuration (remaining scope), which can consist of up to four cycles. Other key focal areas of this phase are conducting integration tests and drawing up end user documentation.
A “Baseline Configuration” will be done first; then, testing of its functionality will be done with all necessary  changes made to the baseline configuration as a result of the testing.   This phase will be closed  with a “Final Configuration” which will indicate that all business processes outlined in detail  within the Business Blueprint documentation have been captured and configured into the new SAP System.

4.  Final Preparation
In this phase you complete your preparations, including testing, end user training, system management, and cutover activities. You also need to resolve all open issues in this phase. At this stage you need to ensure that all the prerequisites for your system to go live have been fulfilled.
All open crucial issues must be resolved as part of this phase.   A go-live check is done to ascertain that the new system has been thoroughly & successfully  configured.  These activities form an integral part of this phase:
o End-To-Testing (of the configured new system) inclusive of UAT (User  Acceptance Tests)
o Training of the Training-Staff or End Users – as pre-designated by the client.
o System Management Activities (create users, user profiles, allocate roles to  profiles)
o Cut-Over (Data Migration Activities – as of a certain documented point in time).
o Help-Desk should be established with client’s employees or contractors  covering the calls/e-mails coming forth from the end-users either regarding  ongoing activities or problematic issues.   Problems that are not resolvable by  the internal-help-desk may next be forwarded to SAP via the SAPNet/OSS  System.

5.  Go Live & Support
In this phase you move from a pre-production environment to the live system. The most important elements include setting up production support, monitoring system transactions, and optimizing overall system performance.
After your system has gone live, you can use a separate Roadmap with six work packages, in order to optimize your R/3 System continuously.
These phases are the main milestones for implementing SAP software. Each phase has:
• Work packages, which consist of activities, for which project teams are responsible.
• Activities, which consist of tasks, which are processed by one or more team members.
• Tasks, which are carried out by a project team member. You can also access the How-to sections and accelerators at this level.