CUSTOMatrix™ Insights Newsletter

SAP - Corporate Commitment Required

Leon D. Rizio, Associate, CIO Services, CUSTOMatrix, Inc.

Your IT Director or CIO has convinced you and the whole executive committee that your move into SAP (or any ERP package) will be worth the time, MONEY and effort because of the tremendous new information and control you will receive daily.  And so you buy into it.  Then the project starts and all proceeds well until the project is 90% complete (or so it seems to be 90%) and then – as Murphy once said – it HANGS there forever?

Well, that happened to the CFO of a VERY successful start-up company in San Diego and he had believed –– that SAP was THE system that would capture all the management information needed to control the company as it eclipsed $ 200 Million in Annual Revenues heading to $ 1 Billion! The CFO approved the project, convinced management and waited for the successful implementation with all the benefits. 

WELL….He waited (and paid the bills) as the project started to consume more and more of his time and external consultants – up to sixteen consultants from around the world.  These consultants were not cheap and had BIG egos!  They were difficult to understand; they spoke techno-speak AND had poor English. Finally, they argued with one another so they became impossible to manage.  The Company had hired a “Big 5” (at that time) and the Consultancy was also overwhelmed with the project.

This faltering implementation was steered back on course by bringing in a consultant who completed the project and demonstrated to management that SAP is more than it was billed to be – PROVIDED it is:

• Planned for properly,
• The executives are appropriately educated on the challenges and potential benefits AND
• The project is implemented as a priority! 

Here is a four point plan that has served as “Best practices” in other successful engagements

• Obtain REAL Effective Executive Support – We cannot expect all managers and executives to jump into SAP – or any large ERP or IT project with gusto. Establish an Executive Committee and adopt six “Critical Success Factors” that required their support and commitment.
• Make the SAP project a priority for six months.  (It could be shortened, but start with six months to make sure.)
• Be willing to make difficult decisions (explained in financial and operational terms) quickly. 
• Meet regularly (every two weeks at first, then monthly, etc) to understand where we were and what issues we were experiencing, what support we needed from them.  They do not need to become SAP experts, BUT they must be engaged and involved to the extent that they can MANAGE and SUPPORT their people through implementation.
• Executive should learn about their personal benefits (to keep them interested and committed) and actions they need to take to gain those benefits.
• ENSURE the RIGHT Resources are fully engaged – There is not need for all executives to become fully involved, but all members of the Company will be affected by the Project.  You need to commit the KEY people to the project and they must know that this project will be completed successfully because of the benefits that will accrue to them personally and to the company collectively. When I reviewed the project, I found half-hearted (And over-worked and overwhelmed) project team members who had lost confidence in the project.  The right support from their executives and managers provided them with the support they needed to conduct their job responsibilities AND project workload.  Everyone must know some “things” about the project, but only some are vital in the implementation phase.
• Develop an Accurate and Complete Action Plan – This plan will include all the items needed for successful completion and should include time for executives to be briefed and taught what they need to do to insure success on the project.  Make no mistake about this – the implementation will make the executive team a TEAM at least for the successful SAP project!  This has numerous other benefits as each group executive will learn and work as a team with other executives IF the executives are communicated with effectively and “managed” properly by the Project Team Leader.
• Go With an Experienced Guide – Hire an experienced consultant to help you plan and set in place the executive governance and business processes necessary to successfully complete the project.   An experienced and senior Project Consultant can help you set up the Plan, the Executive Committee and the education needed.

SAP projects can make for an effective team spirit that continues long after the project goes live. The benefits will far outweigh the costs and efforts to get there. With SAP, the company can (and should) re-engineer business processes for effective product or service delivery.  Finally, SAP and the other ERP packages now have software that works well; defined processes that have been tested and perfected; and people who are available to hire full time and only those consultants needed to implement.

Authored by Lee Rizio, IT consultant and frequent speaker/lecturer on SAP and IT topics with over 30 years experience.  Lee has had broad experience as a consultant and a senior IT executive with SAP, IBM Global Services, San Diego Data Processing Corporation, Pyxis, Grant Thornton and Jenny Craig.

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