SAP Company A single

My expertise with SAP Small business [Could not connect: Access denied for user ? sap business one ] One

Right before I share my experience; with SAP Business A person like a program merchandise; let me share why I selected SAP Organization 1. With around 19 a long time of experience in IT and about nine a long time in Intercontinental Enterprise Development, I believed my occupation was becoming monotonous. I felt a necessity to specialize in possibly a product or possibly a vertical. On the other hand, it wasn't easy to help make a choice. It had been then; an in depth pal & an ex-colleague introduced me to SAP Company Just one. I already had fairly sound exposure to SAP R/3 & the company (SAP, AG); & hence my option was obvious.

Why does anyone select SAP?

The company is an unchallenged leader in ERP segment.

SAP has one of the best-packaged program item ranges.

SAP's line of business is just ERP.

SAP's Commitment to Customer:

Their products are continuously upgraded.

They have a fantastic support mechanism.

I haven't had any exposure, per say, to any other products in the same segment, but I knew I was making the right selection.

As I started exploring & using SAP Enterprise 1 more & more, I realized that there are certain outstanding features, which enable you to achieve great results without using the coding route. The feature I like the most is User Defined Fields (UDF) & especially the combination of UDF and Formatted Search. You can literally map almost any complex process in your logistics and achieve a result through a work around by using these features. I always advice my customers and also my team, to stretch the application to its optimum level ahead of you go the coding way. The beauty is that even the users or functional consultants (without any coding knowledge) can create user defined fields or tables.

Now let me share some real life experiences,

Methodology: The implementation team should make sure that kick-off meeting should highlight and define the involvement and commitment from the customer rather than technical intricacies of the small business processes or the item. Get as much details of customer's business enterprise processes as possible. Get down to the document level and field level. If the customer is a little worried about confidentiality, go ahead and sign an NDA or mention the option of blank forms. Once the solution is ready, demonstrate the solution to the customer and spend time with all the key users till they understand and ask them to enter a few real life transactions while you are onsite. If there are any suggestions, make revisions and install the solution as a Training company. Request the customer's project coordinator to follow the mantra of Practice! Practice!! AND More Practice!!! These typically are conference room pilots, which ensure that there are no last moment surprises.

ERP & Enterprise Process Reengineering Any ERP implementation gives you a good chance to refine / re-define your existing processes; provided you look at it with an open mind. I have seen lot of companies deriving huge benefits just by following "Best Practices" recommended by SAP. The obvious advantage the customer gets is the productivity of the staff and their time is utilized in actual work like follow-up with customers or vendors rather than manipulating figures in half automated programs. You can also get rid of lot of data redundancies. You might not have dealt with some vendors for years or some items may not be in use any more. You can re-look at Item or Customer codifications to produce it more logical or trim-down the Items list with proper classifications. Possibilities are many.

Customized Vs. Ready solution As mentioned earlier, it is very important to set the expectations of the customer right, explain to them the realities and how their existing business processes will get mapped "one-on-one" with the solution. It's better that the users start using the merchandise much in advance of going live. This gives them time to familiarize themselves with the new environment and know the features of the application that are related to their work responsibilities. Emphasize that the customer will derive the benefits around a period and that the solution will evolve as they get ideas about various report opportunities and new features through new releases, updates & add-ons.

Education to customer ERP implementation is beyond a customer & vendor relationship. Customer's role doesn't end after placing an order with the implementation partner. In fact the customer has to be an active facilitator. Customer should make sure that relevant resources are available as and when required and the CEOs or the Department Heads should ensure active involvement of relevant staff members / users. Delays can be avoided when the Implementation partner commits the resources (team) and the customer provides data / information or feedback (or sign offs) on time.

Some of the challenges we faced: I had never imagined a "Remote ERP Implementation" that too for overseas customers. Initial projects were nightmares due to obvious facts such as difference in time zones, limited "Onsite" component (& hence communication with the customer), etc. Even so, precisely defined Implementation Methodologies and SAP's recommendations helped a lot. The biggest challenge and uninteresting (for me at least) part is data uploads. SAP Small business A single has a robust tool called Data Transfer Workbench (DTW). Nevertheless, if it has to be robust, naturally it has to be strictly rule based. End users may not understand the "Technical Templates" and we spent lot of time cleaning up the data literally wasting time and ending up with delays in delivery and go-live. The easiest solution we found was creating our own templates to be submitted to the customer and then copy and paste the data into DTW's templates.