QUICK SAP ACTIVATION

This will help to understand SAP Active and there use in SAP S/4HANA
projects. I hope this will help reader to understand SAP Active with much
clarity and helpful in their SAP methodology understanding.

Before starting with SAP Activate, we should know that during older SAP
projects (ASAP and SAP launch) methodology used for SAP implementation.
This SAP Activate methodology is successor of ASAP8 and SAP launch. The
existing SAP projects running on older SAP methodology can be run but no
further updates provided in document (ASAP8 and SAP launch) by SAP.

SAP Activate provides ready to use Guided configuration, key deliverable and
Accelerators (documents, templates) which is supported for SAP S/4 HANA
Cloud and On-Premise solution.

As per SAP website they give quick information “SAP Activate is the
innovation adoption framework that expedites SAP S/4HANA implementations
throughout the customer lifecycle. It offers ready-to-run digitized business and
technology processes, guided configuration, and next-generation methodology.”

This SAP Activate is new adaptation framework, customer can use throughout
their all phases of SAP lifecycle. This will help customer to reduce project cost
and time with short duration as they can use accelerator with well define
process and steps. These methodologies applicable for all phases starting from
new SAP project Implementation till continue innovation after Go Live.

Now we will check as per below screen we can see it has SAP Best Practices
(Ready to run-business process), Guided configuration (Self-service
configuration) and Methodology (Agile technique with predefined phased).
For projects we have two know Methodology as “Waterfall” and “Agile”.
The waterfall also known as traditional approach where Agile known to be rapid
application development. Good news SAP Active follows agile approach for
development.

In SAP Active Methodology we divide project into four phased as Prepare,

Explore, Realize, Deploy. Each phase will have up to 10 key deliverables.
Below is just example of four phases they may be different depends on Cloud
and Op-premise solution.

Each Phase consists of work stream, key deliverables and task. Example once
Phase can consist of few key deliverables and each key deliverable consist of
one or more task. Here work stream is collection of related deliverables and
shows relationship within a project with another stream it’s not depends one
phase start and end.

If we check Roadmap viewer and SAP Jam website, we will get more clarity in
relationship between phases to end of task.
Ever developed and launched a product without a project plan and assigned
budget? Lean and Design Thinking make it possible, here’s how:

Design Thinking Workshop – During the Innovation Day the customer asked
if we can run a Design Thinking Workshop for a disruptive Business Model.
During the Workshop the teams developed a potential Business Model for the
Challenge. Afterwards the customer asked requested SAP to proceed with their
solution, instead of giving it to the ‘normal’ project management for the fear of
lengthy processing time. The Customer wanted to ensure quick implementation
of the project.

We recommended to run a project in a heavy weight team structure by

combining Design Thinking and Lean Innovation.

Project Start and Rules of Engagement – A Business Innovation Consultant

from SAP and one employee from the customer were dedicated FULL TIME to
the project with the option to get support on demand. During the kick off, the
team looked on the most important and urgent tasks. There was no project plan
– planning happened from week to week. The only goal was to proof if this idea
could work, by checking desirability, feasibility and viability.

First Iteration of the Business Model – The Team developed a first High
Level Business Model with a first High Level Financial calculation. No detailed
Business Plan was created – It was important to focus on if the idea is legally
and technically possible and to test market demand. Therefore the team need to
test hypotheses.

Hypotheses Tests – The Team developed different hypotheses and checked

which of them are already proofed and which need still to be proofed. It was
also necessary to figure out how to proof them.

Pilot test of the minimal viable product – Before the product was even
developed, we started to test the demand for it. We decided to test demand via a
simple online page, where customers could signup when they are interested in
buying the product. The conversion was higher than 3% – which was the goal to
reach. Based on that the decision was made to launch the product and to bring it
to the market. The market launch and first products sold.It was highly essential
for the consultants to look for alternate ways in order to carry out the project.
Sometimes non-traditional methods can also lead to effectual results. In this
process, the customer would learn of a new approach to run innovation projects.
Thus, it is needless to say the project implementation has had been an extremely
successful one.
What is the difference

 A small team works in an agile way, with daily meetings and weekly
planning. It’s easier to focus on the most important and urgent tasks in a
small team.
 There is no project plan – the only goal is to proof the idea within 8
weeks.
 No fixed budget – You never know how much budget you will need. The
team asked for money when it was needed. Flexibility with budget and
project plan can lead to effective results.
 On demand support is plausible with small team and would repeat the
process if required for future projects.

Advantages

 Reduced Cost 2 Market – Due to the fast and lean way the cost can be
reduced by the focus on Hypotheses tests.
 Higher Fit 2 Market – at an early stage the market demand will be tested.
If there is no demand, the project should be stopped immediately. This
saves costs.
 Low Innovation risk – Fast testing, learning and failing.
Design Thinking and Music
Design Thinking is widely used to solve wicked problems and design user
centred solutions.

In this context Design Thinking is almost like music. When you start learning to
play the guitar, you’ll instantly see that most rock bands use a special type of
chord, called the “power-chord”. This chord consists of only three tones which
basically is the minimum of tones you need for a chord, yet it sounds very
powerful. The power-chord needs three tones to sound good, Design Thinking
needs the three tones “Desirability, Viability and Feasibility” to develop
something outstanding. However, one chord alone doesn’t make a great song
but indeed it often only needs to or three of these to write the next hit. In Design
Thinking the iterations that are applied throughout the process ensure outcome
and validation-oriented results. This combination of tones and number of chords
makes the overall solution to a problem sound great and meaningful to suppliers
and consumers.

What’s the Challenge in DT Engagements?

After years and an many, many Design Thinking inspired engagements, we

frequently felt that the “Desirability” aspect is a prominent part of (especially
shorter) DT engagements whereas “Feasibility” and “Viability” apparently need
a dedicated strum on your guitar or otherwise they won’t be heard.

As a matter of fact we’ve assembled a multidisciplinary team consisting of DT

coaches, Business Developers, Consultants, Project Managers, Implementers
and Researchers to identify how the three tones of Design Thinking can be best
played in a slick project setup.

And besides Design Thinking there are a lot of other approaches to learn from.
As a result, this idea is about defining a Design Thinking inspired Innovation
Project Methodology that encompasses elements from start-up approaches, lean,
scrum and of course DT and more classical project management techniques.
Here is the Series about how to run DT inspired Projects

With this series where different contributors describe certain elements of the
concept. We try to cover the full range from theory and background, to
explaining the concept and elements as well as to share project insights about
how we’ve applied the methodology in real life. 

But how to play that DT Song?

When talking about music, and now talking about DT we also need to talk about
waves. Every sound or noise we hear can be represented by a wave. This
concept led us to the thinking that maybe a wave might help us to find a good
representation of the concept on how to ensure Desirability, Feasibility and
Viability is considered during an engagement. Here on the left comes version 1.

The figure reminded us of a roller coaster, in fact DT sometimes feels like one
when it takes you out of your comfort zone, however in this case we also built a
more structured picture to show the concept. Hence, the following figure shows
the different building blocks needed to get the sound of your DT engagement
right.
The concept consists basically of six building blocks. At the bottom you can see
the (rough) assignment of the building blocks to the different tones of DT
(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility). We’ve added “Delivery” to emphasize an
outcome driven and value generating approach. Of course, the three tones aren’t
disjunct and the boarders are fluid, but the concept shows this relationship that
is needed to not forget something. All phases underlie iterations and include
short implementation sprints.
Problem Statement
It starts with the definition of the problem statement together with the customer
and vendor. There are several techniques to define this which will be explained
in a future blog.
Design Thinking Workshop
The initial DT workshop has several objectives. Of course, it is about
understanding the problem space and ideating and designing the solution space.
But there is more to it, which we call positive side effects. These include a very
special form of a kick-off, to learn DT if needed, build group momentum and
buy-in for the potential project. Design Thinking can be applied in many
different flavours, some of these are mentioned in the slide above.
Minimal viable Product
Often, the teams design a visionary but also complex future state on how a
solution to a challenge could look like. It is needed to decompose this vision
and prototype into a minimal viable product and user stories, which are a
consistent and usable starting point for users and suppliers. It lays the
foundation of the first implementation sprint that surely starts an exciting
journey.
Backlog Requirements
Leveraging SCRUM techniques, the minimal viable product and user stories get
further decomposed into requirements. The requirements can be prioritized and
serve as an input for the subsequent implementation sprint.
Implementation Sprint
Short implementation sprints allow the team to build something meaningful
without the need of complex blueprints. Working prototypes help to validate the
solution further with potential users. This input is used to initiate another
iteration of the approach.
Project Scoping and Planning
Once decided that an idea should turn into a project, there are DT inspired
techniques that help to design the project plan comprising activities,
deliverables, time dependencies, resource requirements, stakeholder
management. This building block is part of the iterative cycle, therefore the
design of the minimal viable product and the prioritization and selection of
requirements for the implementation sprint impact the project planning.