Update Jan 5th at 1:40pm ET: embedded videos directly to the post.
Few weeks ago, I have recorded two SAP Activate minute videos about project governance. Today I’m going to share them with you along with short explanation why these two governance bodies are critical for your SAP S/4HANA Cloud deployment.
Let’s start with the traditional definition of project roles, responsibilities and governance that is covered in the task in the SAP Activate Methodology for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition here.
As the task states, the purpose of the Project Governance is to “establish project governance that is a management framework setup for the project to ensure the decisions are made in a structured manner. The project governance establishes a policy for the project team, project stakeholders, executives and system integrator that clearly specifies roles, responsibilities, accountability, and organizational setup. The project governance provides a decision-making framework that is robust and logical to ensure the decisions are made timely and on an appropriate level.”
In short, the goal is to establish a clear set of roles and responsibilities on all levels of the project organization so every project team member and all stakeholders know who does what, who owns which aspect of the project, how are decisions made, etc. SAP Activate recommends to setup multi-level governance structure from Executive Sponsorship down to Project Team level. You can find more details on this type of governance and available accelerators in the video below (direct link).
This second type of governance is setup to help your project team make the right design decisions that align with the concept of fit-to-standard and clean core. Without regular scrutiny and review of design decisions your project is in real danger of introducing unnecessary code, modifications and other non-compliant extensions that will make adoption of SAP innovation and upgrades challenging and time consuming.
SAP Activate establishes so called Solution Standardization Board for the purpose of governing the solution design decisions in line with the Five Golden Rules for implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud shown in the image below.
The Solution Standardization Board serves that purpose not only during the initial implementation project, but also during the productive use of the solution after the first implementation. Typically, the Solution Standardization Board meets weekly or every other week to review the design and consider which non-compliant designs can be accepted and which ones need to be re-worked or are rejected.
Solution Standardization Board can deliver significant savings in the deployment of SAP S/4HANA Cloud if run properly as Andre Malan discusses in his blog post The value of a Solution Standardization Board (SSB) as part of implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud, exten.... These savings can be significant not only during the initial implementation, but also during the ongoing operations and management of the deployed solution. During the application of software upgrades and patches there is lower effort to adjust and test the functionality if your solution stays close to standard. You can find more details about the recommended approach to extending your SAP S/4HANA Cloud solution in Extend SAP S/4HANA in the cloud and on premise with ABAP based extensions on sap.com.
You can find more details about the Solution Standardization Board and available accelerators in the video below (direct link).
I hope this blog post was that you leverage in setup of your SAP S/4HANA Cloud project and solution governance. Please share your tips and learnings in the comments.
Stay tuned for more updates and blogs.
Follow the SAP Activate page on the SAP Community. Remember to turn on your notification to receive updates or information about items requiring your attention. To enable notifications, follow the steps on the SAP Community Resources page.
SAP Activate Minute
Tune into the SAP Activate Minute videos in our Playlist here. Subscribe to get notified when we drop new videos. We have big plans to add interesting new topics.
Few weeks ago, I have recorded two SAP Activate minute videos about project governance. Today I’m going to share them with you along with short explanation why these two governance bodies are critical for your SAP S/4HANA Cloud deployment.
Project Governance
Let’s start with the traditional definition of project roles, responsibilities and governance that is covered in the task in the SAP Activate Methodology for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition here.
As the task states, the purpose of the Project Governance is to “establish project governance that is a management framework setup for the project to ensure the decisions are made in a structured manner. The project governance establishes a policy for the project team, project stakeholders, executives and system integrator that clearly specifies roles, responsibilities, accountability, and organizational setup. The project governance provides a decision-making framework that is robust and logical to ensure the decisions are made timely and on an appropriate level.”
In short, the goal is to establish a clear set of roles and responsibilities on all levels of the project organization so every project team member and all stakeholders know who does what, who owns which aspect of the project, how are decisions made, etc. SAP Activate recommends to setup multi-level governance structure from Executive Sponsorship down to Project Team level. You can find more details on this type of governance and available accelerators in the video below (direct link).
Accelerators for Project Governance
Solution Design Governance via Solution Standardization Board
This second type of governance is setup to help your project team make the right design decisions that align with the concept of fit-to-standard and clean core. Without regular scrutiny and review of design decisions your project is in real danger of introducing unnecessary code, modifications and other non-compliant extensions that will make adoption of SAP innovation and upgrades challenging and time consuming.
SAP Activate establishes so called Solution Standardization Board for the purpose of governing the solution design decisions in line with the Five Golden Rules for implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud shown in the image below.
Golden Rules for Implementation of SAP S/4HANA with a Cloud Mindset
The Solution Standardization Board serves that purpose not only during the initial implementation project, but also during the productive use of the solution after the first implementation. Typically, the Solution Standardization Board meets weekly or every other week to review the design and consider which non-compliant designs can be accepted and which ones need to be re-worked or are rejected.
Solution Standardization Board can deliver significant savings in the deployment of SAP S/4HANA Cloud if run properly as Andre Malan discusses in his blog post The value of a Solution Standardization Board (SSB) as part of implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud, exten.... These savings can be significant not only during the initial implementation, but also during the ongoing operations and management of the deployed solution. During the application of software upgrades and patches there is lower effort to adjust and test the functionality if your solution stays close to standard. You can find more details about the recommended approach to extending your SAP S/4HANA Cloud solution in Extend SAP S/4HANA in the cloud and on premise with ABAP based extensions on sap.com.
You can find more details about the Solution Standardization Board and available accelerators in the video below (direct link).
Accelerators for Solution Governance
I hope this blog post was that you leverage in setup of your SAP S/4HANA Cloud project and solution governance. Please share your tips and learnings in the comments.
Stay tuned for more updates and blogs.
Follow the SAP Activate page on the SAP Community. Remember to turn on your notification to receive updates or information about items requiring your attention. To enable notifications, follow the steps on the SAP Community Resources page.
SAP Activate Minute
Tune into the SAP Activate Minute videos in our Playlist here. Subscribe to get notified when we drop new videos. We have big plans to add interesting new topics.
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