Gauge Your SAP S/4HANA Project Management Readiness. A Short Quiz!

Gauge Your SAP S/4HANA Project Management Readiness. A Short Quiz! Assess Your Project Management Readiness of SAP S/4HANA. Take a Short Quiz! Every technological innovation, such as the introduction of S/4HANA, is a double-edged sword. It’s double-edged because there’s so much excitement about the new technology/innovation can do for companies, people and processes etc… But at the same time, it can create tremendous confusion for those who aren’t sure or aware of what it all takes to adopt or adapt to new technologies or the latest innovations. SAP S/4HANA is no different, as companies who are already using SAP Enterprise Central Components (ECC,) along with a host of other SAP and even on-SAP (third party) systems, aren’t sure or confident enough to know what it takes to prepare them to join the SAP S/4HANA bandwagon! The fact that SAP has announced 2025 as the deadline, when it will end ECC support and all ECC customers need to have adopted S/4HANA, this has added more urgency to begin the necessary S/4HANA groundwork now rather than be left behind and possibly face business disruptions in the future. If you are the CIO or a Project Manager responsible for migration, conversion or implementation of S/4HANA, then take our short quiz to see how well you and your company are prepared for S/4HANA. How the quiz is structured? Each quiz question begins with a short explanation. Where possible or available, the supporting link provides further information to enable you and your company to better prepare for S/4HANA. Each quiz question is graded with a number. When you choose an answer among the four available choices within the quiz question, your answers’ grades add up to a final score (see below). When you’ve finished answering all the questions, be sure to not only check your final score but also check how your score reflects the stage of S/4HANA readiness that you and/or your company is at. Please incorporate the following scores for each answer: Answer 1 – 4.0 Answer 2 – 3.0 Answer 3 – 2.0 Answer 4 – 1.0 So, let’s begin the quiz! 1. S/4HANA Functional and HANA Technical Resources Availability? A significant inhibiting factor for companies to consider S/4HANA is the availability of technical and functional resources that can ensure successful SAP HANA conversion and eventually S/4HANA migration. Even in cases of SAP HANA migrations, the business processes still need to be tested and validated by S/4HANA functional consultants. The same limitation of HANA-ready resource availability may also be an issue if the company decides to opt for a Greenfield implementation (fresh S/4HANA implementation). Check out Eursap’s blog: How to successfully transition your SAP career from ECC to S/4HANA 1. We have the necessary and experienced HANA and S/4HANA resources available. 2. We have the SAP HANA technical resources available but not a full team of S/4HANA functional resources. 3. We need to engage an SAP-specialized recruiting firm for HANA and S/4HANA resources. 4. We don't know whether we have all the HANA and S/4HANA technical and functional resources that we need. 2. How well do you understand your S/4HANA license(s) needs and the associated costs? Depending on the options a company plans to deploy S/4HANA, be it on premise, two-tiered (on premise and cloud), public cloud or private cloud, the license costs will vary. Furthermore, a company already using SAP ECC, and paying for the ECC licenses, will have to work on revised licenses and their annual maintenance costs if the company converts ECC to S/4HANA. If that’s not enough, the indirect usage costs also need to be accounted for in the entire licensing schema. Here’s the SAP Licensing Guide to help you. 1. We completely understand S/4HANA license costs and also associated indirect costs. 2. We'll convert our ECC licenses into S/4HANA but not sure about the associated costs. 3. We'll use the two-tier system - ECC and S/4HANA but we are still struggling with estimated license costings. 4. We still don't understand our S/4HANA licensing needs and the associated costs. 3. How well do you understand your S/4HANA infrastructure requirements, the conversion or the migration plans and the associated costs? It’s important to decide whether to continue with an on-premise infrastructure for S/4HANA or migrate some or all of the applications to a public or private cloud to save costs. Figure 1 shows each of these deployment options available to companies. The light blue boxes denote the services managed by a cloud vendor. The light brown boxes denote the assets and services that companies need to manage on their own. Figure 1: SAP S/4HANA available infrastructure options (Image credit: Jawad Akhtar for SearchSAP.com) 1. We completely understand available infrastructure options 2. We may go with a two-tiered approach as this may save us costs but we lack understanding or clarity of the associated pros and cons of each option. 3. We are still evaluating the options that best serve our business needs. 4. We don't understand our infrastructure needs and the associated costs or we haven’t started our S/4HANA infrastructure requirements planning yet. 4. Is either S/4HANA Migration or HANA Conversion suitable at this time? For existing ECC customers, it’s critical to have a clear roadmap of their S/4HANA journey so that practical and a feasible planned approach is in place. As a first step for ECC customers, the underlying databases need to be migrated on to SAP HANA before an ECC-to-S/4HANA conversion can take place. Furthermore, even ECC needs to be S/4HANA-ready by ensuring the required configuration, or even master data, are updated in ECC to ensure S/4HANA migration success. The current third-party add-ons to the ECC also need to be on the SAP HANA database. Check out Eursap’s blog: SAP ECC 6.00 to S/4HANA 1709/1809 Conversion: Preparation 1. We are ready for S/4HANA migration. 2. We are in process of converting current databases to SAP HANA and will eventually migrate to S/4HANA. 3. We still haven’t started considering or converting current databases to SAP HANA. 4. We don't have a clear and a well-defined roadmap for SAP HANA conversion or SAP S/4HANA migration. 5. Using SAP Activate for S/4HANA Roadmap With ECC, the time-tested Accelerated SAP (ASAP) methodology was used for ECC implementation. Now, for a S/4HANA implementation roadmap, the associated implementation methodology is SAP Activate, and it is the successor of ASAP. Companies embarking on an S/4HANA journey are required to use SAP Activate to reap the true benefits of a faster and organized S/4HANA implementation roadmap. Check out Eursap’s blog: How to use SAP Activate for your SAP S/4HANA Roadmap 1. We are fully equipped to use SAP Activate. 2. Our SAP HANA system is upgraded to Solution Manager 7.2 or higher but we lack the SAP Activate expertise. 3. We are still in the process of addressing the technical perquisites of S/4HANA, such as, SAP HANA database and also SAP Solution Manager 7.2. 4. We don’t have SAP Solution Manager 7.2 installed, so availability of SAP Activate is still a distant possibility. 6. Are we better off with a fresh S/4HANA Implementation (Greenfield) or an S/4HANA conversion (Brownfield)? The decision to start afresh with an S/4HANA implementation (Greenfield) or to convert the existing ECC to S/4HANA (Brownfield) is not an easy one. Greenfield projects provide an opportunity to do away with enhancements, custom codes and deviations from the SAP Best Practices that have happened over the years. It also offers the advantage of addressing all current business issues that a company faces by leveraging S/4HANA functionality that weren’t previously available or were available in a disparate system. On the other hand, a Brownfield project may take less time, effort and resources as only the delta of functionalities between ECC and S/4HANA need to be addressed. A delta is the difference between the functionalities, features and tools that weren’t available in ECC but are now available in S/4HANA. Check out Eursap’s blog: SAP S/4HANA Conversion or SAP S/4HANA New Implementation? 1. We are more inclined towards a Greenfield project. 2. Our preference is to go for Brownfield as this may lead to fewer business disruptions 3. We are evaluating the technical and functional resources (infrastructure, resources) and costs associated with choosing either the Greenfield or the Brownfield options. 4. We haven’t fully assessed the time, efforts, costs and resources required for both options. 7. How well is S/4HANA Program Management in place? Embarking on a digital transformation journey, such as S/4HANA implementations, requires Program Management which also includes massive Change Management initiatives. Change Management is mostly driven by a company’s culture to adapt and adopt changes as and when needed to stay agile and be ahead of the competition. Program Management provides the framework to manage the portfolio of projects that ensure ERP deployment success such as that of S/4HANA. Figure 2 shows how program management is an umbrella framework in which Project Management and even Change Management fits in. Figure 1: Program Management versus Project Management (Image credit: Jawad Akhtar for SearchERP.com) 1. We have effective Program Management in place, including the resources required, to embark on an S/4HANA implementation. 2. We need to do more work on Program Management aspects of S/4HANA. 3. We are still more focused on Change Management as well as S/4HANA Project Management and, therefore, not fully prepared yet. 4. We haven’t fully assessed the initiatives necessary and their roles in program, project and change management yet. 8. Preparing a Business Case for S/4HANA Despite SAP announcing a deadline of 2025 when it will end support of ECC customers and want existing ECC customers to be on S/4HANA, many CIOs or even Project Managers responsible for S/4HANA implementations aren’t able to prepare a business case for undertaking such a massive transformation project that may result in business disruptions. With few case studies of ECC-to-S/4HANA transformations, and even fewer success stories associated to specific industries, preparing a business case that can provide clear and comprehensive reasons, relating to business benefits and greater return on investment (ROI) from S/4HANA transformation project, is a challenge that CIOs and/or Project Management need to overcome. 1. We already have a strong and convincing business case to embark on our S/4HANA transformation journey. 2. We are struggling to evaluate and assess the cost implications of undertaking an S/4HANA transformation project. 3. We are unsure about the depth and breadth of S/4HANA capabilities in terms of business value it will bring and/or the cost savings it will lead to. 4. We are unclear on almost all factors associated with an S/4HANA transformation project, such as costs, time, effort, resources, business disruption and even an extended roadmap. 9. How well do you understand integration and interfacing complexities? It is quite common companies have made modifications and enhancements to their ECC systems, integrated and/or interfaced SAP and even non-SAP (third party) systems to their ECC landscape, to meet ever-changing business needs. So, it’s very important to have clear visibility and understanding of all such changes, modifications and interfaces made and how well they seamlessly integrate with SAP S/4HANA. 1. We fully understand all the modifications, enhancements and even customizations (ABAP programming) that need to be undertaken. 2. We are struggling with evaluating all the modifications made in the past and how many of them need to be either re-implemented or whether they are compatible with S/4HANA. 3. We are unsure about the depth and breadth of our own systems’ landscape, the modifications made and the impacts of migrating or implementing them to S/4HANA. 4. We don’t fully understand all the modifications, enhancements or even customizations undertaken and the roadmap we need follow to be S/4HANA-enabled. 10. How well do you understand your data migration cost, time, resources and efforts? While there’s no denying the importance of having complete, correct and comprehensive data in any ERP system such as ECC or S/4HANA, the overarching question to ask is “how much data do we have in ECC and even other systems and what business benefits do we expect to achieve by making them available in S/4HANA?” Data migration to S/4HANA itself is a gigantic task and needs to be treated as a separate and standalone project – all the while having a clear understanding of the business benefits the company will reap from so much effort, time, resources and costs involved. 1. The structure, quality and size of data in our existing ECC system supports the current and future business model, reporting and analytics requirements for informed decision making. 2. The structure, size and quality of data in our existing ECC and non-ECC systems do not meet our business or reporting requirements. 3. Our data is spread over multiple ECC, non-ECC and third-party systems. 4. We lack comprehensive understanding if our data provides us with the necessary reporting requirements or otherwise. Congratulations! You’ve just completed this quiz! Let’s review your score: Score: 34 – 40 You are at an “Almost Ready” stage and ready to embark on a digital transformation journey with S/4HANA being the main ERP system! Still, proceed with caution and carefully address areas that need some more attention, focus or action. Score: 28 – 33 You are at the “Need More Work” stage and still have significant gaps that need to be addressed before beginning your S/4HANA journey. Do more homework, contact SAP directly to guide and advise you, engage with SAP partners to assist and support you. Last but not the least, engage with SAP-specialized and boutique recruitment firms that bring experienced resources to make your S/4HANA transformation journey easier and faster. Score: 24 – 27 You are at the “Just Scratched the Surface” stage and still have quite a long way to go before your company is ready to jump on to the S/4HANA bandwagon! Take this opportunity to consider a Greenfield S/4HANA project, get rid of obsolete and disparate systems, embark on a brand-new digital transformation journey and initiate major Program, Project and Change Management initiatives. Engage with an SAP-Specialized Recruitment Company to help bring in experienced HANA and S/4HANA resources to your project. Score: Below 20 You are at a “Silent Observer” or a “Wait-and-See” stage that hasn’t really put the time, energy, focus, resources and attention it takes to understand your own ECC and non-ECC systems and even the company’s work culture. Start with taking stock of your in-house capabilities, shortcomings, resources (financial and non-financial) and conduct business and risk assessments thoroughly so you are ready in time for the S/4HANA journey!   Author: Jawad Akhtar – Author of four SAP PRESS books and a prolific SearchSAP Contributor