SAP System Vendor Project Success Criteria & Factors 5. This is the final post in the series on SAP project shared success criteria.
Doing this entire topic justice has been more of a challenge than I had originally anticipated and at some point I will put it all together in a PDF e-book. This series leaves you with a lot to digest but over the years these items generally make up the foundations for a very successful project that is able to transform your business. This series has been challenging but interesting and I am glad it is complete. In a few more weeks I will be coming back around to try to wrap up my series on SAP reimplementation for little more cost than a technical upgrade.
That one turned out to be more challenging than I had originally expected. Legend. SAP System Integrator Shared Success Criteria Evaluation 4. I had intended to wrap this series up with this post but because I haven’t done much review of the SAP System Change Control Process this post will address that topic in detail.
SAP System Vendor Project Success Criteria & Factors 3. The other day I made a post to SAP’s Community Network on making sure customers get the best SAP business software integrator for their money.
One of the comments to that post suggested I was advocating for customers using ONLY SAP as their system integrator. My response made it pretty clear that my goal is to encourage SAP customers to get educated so they actually achieve value and ROI from their SAP business software projects. My response sums up why I started this site and what the posts here are all about. Don’t waste money on consultants who cannot help you implement business software in ways that improve your business! And to that end we will look at the implementation of SAP or other large business software applications.
Legend. SAP System Vendor Project Success Criteria & Factors 2. This is a continuing post in an extensive series on achieving SAP project success.
For the complete series on posts please see the Additional Resources list at the end of this post. Last week’s post looked at some of the key factors around the type of consultants you need for success, your project approach, and the structure around the project. SAP System Integrator Shared Project Success 1. SAP Success Factors for Vender Selection Responsibility Matrix. Based on a combination of the academic literature [FN1] and my personal experience I have put together the following SAP and ERP Critical Success Factor Responsibility Matrix.
The large “A” indicates a primary responsibility, a small “z” indicates a secondary responsibility, and a blank field indicates no direct responsibility. SAP Project Success Factors with Responsibility Matrix. SAP ROI Success Factors Recently I was reviewing another of many papers I often read on various business and IT topics.
A paper from a graduate student recently caught my attention and while it lacked some of the insight from personal experience, it made up for it in the substance of the material. After a short look at the peer-reviewed academic literature, Anil Bhagwani, did a brief case-study on 10 failed SAP implementations and 10 successful SAP implementations. From these he continued to distill SAP critical success factors. For more vendor selection background, before or after reading this post, please refer to another study that was reviewed on the topic of vendor seleciton–, SAP Implementation Partner or Company Selection Criteria.
The study author’s perspective and summary of the key success criteria from the Executive Summary, pg. 5, is reproduced here (altered and reformatted for easy reading): Why do so many SAP projects come in over budget and over time? Popular Searches: SAP Implementation Vendor Selection Criteria. Can the SAP implementation partner or company deliver business process engineering together WITH the new system?
Or, as with so many of them, do they just install systems and call that an implementation? Lately I’ve been focused on developing a solid and repeatable ERP software and vendor selection process. While reviewing the academic literature and reflecting on my time working with SAP (since 1994) I found an interesting study from Romania. The study addressed software vendor selection criteria and methods related to the limited information they had within the country.
The opening abstract certainly lines up with my personal experience about whether or not you will ever see ROI from your software investment: Successful implementation of an ERP system is the result of knowledgeable and dedicated people working together. These key ERP implementation success criteria help you realize significant return on investment (ROI) from an ERP system. The Top 5 ERP Success Factors by Project Stage from 22 Critical Success Factors. Top ERP Success Factors Recently I was reviewing academic material on ERP / SAP Project success factors.
One particular study stood out because it laid out 22 specific success factors by project stage. [FN1] Even though this study dates from 2001, the Critical Success Factors (or CSFs) still ring true today, and the conclusions are consistent with what I have seen on SAP projects since I started in 1994. While the sample size was somewhat limited (86 completed questionnaires) the data and information provided was useful for understanding some of the key or critical success factors. The stages reviewed were: Based on the academic literature when the study was done, there were 22 key ERP Project Success factors that were defined (in order of the study’s response importance):