Challenges and Motivation
- Our client’s SAP ECC system had been in place for over 10 years and was being supported by an internal team, without any formal governance model, processes or discipline around the prioritisation and approval of changes to their SAP systems.
- The business developed a habit of asking for changes to be made and these requests were often actioned by the SAP team without any assessment of risk, value, development and maintenance costs being conducted. Requests were not being formally approved by an accountable person or group before they were actioned.
- This often meant that a solution was designed, built and tested before any senior business or system owner was aware of it, and in some cases it was halted and abandoned after weeks or months of effort had been wasted, effort and cost that would have been avoided if the appropriate processes were in place up front.
- With the technical upgrade to S/4HANA approaching go-live readiness, a large and varied backlog of business demand for changes having accumulated, and no agreement as to the scope or schedule of a “transformation” phase project to follow the technical upgrade, our client acknowledged that robust governance was required, and needed be fit for purpose both “BAU” and project phases in the future. This would ensure that both tactical and transformational changes were only approved after appropriate assessments had been carried out by appropriate authorities.
Scope of the Engagement
The engagement objectives and deliverables were as follows:
- Assess the current SAP governance model – Identify strengths, gaps, and risks in existing governance practices.
- Design an optimised governance model – Build a comprehensive SAP governance framework based on industry best practices, tailored to meet the specific needs of our client.
- Ensure alignment with business objectives – Ensure that the new governance model supports our client’s strategic goals, operational efficiency, and compliance requirements.
- Facilitate continuous improvement – Establish mechanisms for ongoing governance model refinement and SAP process optimisation.
Outcomes
The outcomes of the engagement were as follows:
- Enhanced Governance Structure – A clearly defined governance model that provides better alignment between business and IT, with clearly delineated roles, responsibilities, and decision rights.
- Enhanced risk management with better control over changes, incidents, and system integrity, reducing downtime and improving system reliability.
- Compliance and regulatory assurance with governance policies that meet industry and legal standards, helping mitigate potential compliance risks.
- Sustainable Governance Practices: A governance framework that incorporates continuous improvement, allowing for ongoing optimisation of SAP solution effectiveness.
Conclusion
At the conclusion of the engagement, our client was armed with an SAP Governance Playbook that incorporated the structure, roles and responsibilities of key individuals and governance groups, processes and templates for the core Change Request Management process, all fit for purpose for times of relative stability during “Business As Usual”, as well as large scale transformation projects or programs.
