SAP Activate - Reference Sheet
As a Project Manager, I have used SAP Activate Methodology on multiple S/4HANA Cloud and On-Premise.
Here is my return on experience on the methodology, its phases, outcomes and deliverables.
SAP Activate Methodology
SAP introduced the Activate Methodology in 2015, in an effort to accelerate delivery of its software using agile. The SAP Activate Methodology is just one of 3 components of the Activate framework, which comprises the SAP Best Practices, Guided Configuration, and Methodology:
The main message of SAP Activate is ‘Start with Best Practices’. SAP wants us to leverage pre-built assets, stay as close as possible to the standard in order to accelerate delivery and optimize ROI.
The Methodology is decomposed in phases, each with a specific goal and deliverables.
There are 6 phases: Discover, Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy, and Run. It is however generally accepted that:
The Run phase, being post transition to support, is not really part of the project, and
The Discover phase is still part of the sales cycle.
That means a project using SAP Activate can focus on 4 phases:
Lets see in detail the definition of each phase, and what can be said about them, from a project management point of view.
Discover
The purpose of the Discover phase is to discover the solution capabilities, understand the business value and benefits of the solution to customer’s business, determine the adoption strategy and roadmap in alignment with understanding the solution capabilities and product roadmap.
By the end of this phase, the implementation scope, overall project timelines and target solution model are set and the implementation project is ready to begin.
In the methodology, the Project Manager doesn’t have any impact or involvement during this phase. But if he has already been selected and is available, it can be useful to introduce him to the customer, and have him be part of the process.
It is important to clarify if this Discover Phase is still part of the sales process, which means the budget is part of a specific statement of work. Some SAP customers will consider the amount spent during this phase as part of the overall budget for the project.
Thus it is a good idea to have the Project Manager involved early. Apart from tracking the budget, the PM can already get in touch with the customer to present the implementation methodology, and make adjustments as necessary.
Additionally, the discover phase is a great time for the PM to get really familiar with SAP Activate.
Prepare
The purpose of this phase is to provide the initial planning and preparation for the project. In this phase, the project is started, plans are finalized, project team is assigned, and work is under way to start the project optimally.
Example for Public Cloud
This is where the Project Manager starts, most of the time, and this is indeed the most critical phase for him.
Key activities and deliverables for the PM don’t change from non Activate projects
Explore
The purpose of this phase is to perform a fit/gap analysis to validate the solution functionality included in the project scope and to confirm that the business requirements can be satisfied. Identified gaps and configuration values are added to the backlog for use in the next phase.
In the Explore phase, industry and solution experts from SAP lead a series of structured show-and-tell and solution design workshops.
S/4HANA On-Premise: The goal of these workshops is to review the best practice functionality of the SAP solution, identify delta requirements or gaps and document the conceptual design of the to-be delivered SAP enterprise solution. The team documents all functional and technical requirements, project issues, and gaps.
S/4HANA Cloud: The goals of these workshops is to review the best practice functionalities of the SAP solution, identify delta requirements and determine the configuration of the SAP cloud solution.
Example for Public Cloud
The Explore phase is critical to the success of the project. The project Manager must make sure the implementation team understands the methodology and best practices. Deviations to SAP standards must be challenged, and well documented, as they will introduce complexity, cost, and more time to deploy the solution.
The customer team / key users (who participate to the workshops) will naturally hesitate to accept a solution that is too different from what is currently being used by the company. The project team must have enough experience to be able to
Realize
The purpose of this phase is to incrementally build and test an integrated business and system environment that is based on the process requirements identified in the previous phase and captured in the backlog. During this phase, the project team loads customer data into the system, plans adoption activities, and prepares cutover plans and plans for operationally running the solution.
During Realize phase, the project team uses a series of iterations to incrementally configure, test, confirm, and document the entire end-to-end solution and to create legacy data conversion programs. The project team actively works with business representatives to ensure good fit of the built solution to the requirements from the backlog. Project Team releases results of multiple iterations to the business users to accelerate time to value and provide early access to finalized functionality. Each release is thoroughly tested in end-to-end integration test and user acceptance test.
The project team documents the configuration decisions and solution in the project management / agile tool. They also document all development –including interfaces, integration points, data conversion programs, reports, and any required enhancements. Once these activities are complete for particular release and the team has obtained business approval, they make the release available in the production environment.
Example for Public Cloud
Deploy
The purpose of this phase is to setup the production system, confirm customer organization readiness, and to switch business operations to the new system.
Example for Public Cloud
Run
The purpose of this phase is to further optimize and automate the operability of the solution. Operability is the ability to maintain IT systems in a functioning and operating condition, guaranteeing systems availability and required performance levels to support the execution of the enterprise’s business operations.
What else can help?
The Project Manager should make sure he is familiar with agile, or at least Scrum.
The project team can benefit immensely from using an agile tool during implementation (Jira, Targetprocess, AzureDevops) to manage collaboration. Phases and deliverables can be loaded in the tool, and activities by sprints can be tracked.
An alternative to using an agile tool would be SAP Solution Manager.
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