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IT Project Manager planning to learn SAP

Former Member

‎10-17-2013 5:41 AM

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Hi,

I am looking out for some help and guidance.

I am an IT project manager with 11 yrs experience and also hold PMP certification.

I have predominantly worked in Retail domain( around 7 yrs) in Supply Chain area ( SCM) particularly in the warehouse/transporation side .However, I believe that I am not able to capitalise on my SCM domain experience or for that matter my Retail domain experience as whoever I talk to look for some experience in Oracle/SAP Retail to really help me land a better job.

I would want to be a Manager specialised in Retail and seek your suggestion if I should go for SAP traning in SCM area ( functional) as this would help me undestand how things work in SAP world and I would also be ale to justify my experience in Retail domain.

I would still want to be seen as a PM/Program manager in the long term.

Request your valuable feedback to help me decide the next course of acion.

4 REPLIES 4

Former Member

‎10-17-2013 8:21 AM

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Hi Trishul,

From your post I understand that you have domain experience in supply chain management (logistics) but you don't have experience working in SAP, there are many people who come from different backgrounds with domain experience but no experience using SAP so they all are considered to be new (freshers) in SAP.

Take sometime and do some research and find out how many people were absorbed/accepted by companies who had domain experience without hands on SAP but were still accepted for SAP projects, some analytic data is required for you to decide the next step.

Cheers,

Nagarajan Viswanathan

Former Member
In response to Former Member

‎10-17-2013 10:10 AM

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Hello Viswanathan,

Thanks for your reply.

I do understand what you are trying to convey but it is very difficult to gather data suggesting who all joined SAP project without being hands on. I have tried to contact people in my company working in SAP and they suggested that baiscs of SAP is still required ( either functional or technical) before being considered for SAP projects.

My intention to learn SAP is to showcase my domain experience in Retail area as I am unable to extract any benefit of working in this area continuously for a long time and having learnt from my experiences here. At present, I am just a plain vanilla PM who has worked in Retail and am not able to make myslef sellable.

I would ideally want to learn SAP ( functional ) in this domain but am not sure if I would be on a right track starting at this stage . Also, I enjoy managing projects and would see myself in a similar role.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Former Member
In response to Former Member

‎10-17-2013 11:45 AM

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Hi Trishul,

I know it is difficult to find people who can answer your query about how they were seen by recruiters/employers for an SAP job as a PM in managing SAP projects/implementations. After a certain years it becomes difficult to grow in the PM capability as growth comes only if the company expands and hires more PM to join projects and make the senior PMs as PM Delivery Manager etc.

If you want to get into the SAP (ERP) field then having knowledge on various modules would be advantageous for you because you want to work as a PM so lot of information/knowledge is required to make good decisions and plan things. What I would do if I was in your position was to learn the SCM module of SAP and see how do you do all of Supply Chain Management work using SAP, and keep learning as much as possible about the real time business activities and also to come up with ways to do things more efficiently and smoothly. So taking up the SCM functional would be a good idea and also check out CRM if you like it and want to explore it in the future.

Cheers,

Nagarajan

Former Member

‎10-17-2013 8:53 AM

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Hi

I would Suggest for SAP Retail

SAP for Retail is an industry-specific application software from the software vendor SAP AG and is focused on the global retailing industry. SAP for Retail is a set of software solutions that supports demand management, merchandise management and planning, supply chain, store operations, and base financials and Human Resource Capital functions.

http://scn.sap.com/community/retail/content

Regards,

Nk