Kathy Gibson at Saphila 2014 – The majority of SAP projects that fail are not as a result of the technology, but because they are usually coupled with huge transformation projects.
This is the word from Sasol CIO Alec Joannou, who points out that coupling with business transformation puts a huge risk on to the SAP project.
“If the business transformation doesn’t go well, or the change management isn’t understood, the SAP project will fail.”
He explains that the technology itself is often the simplest part of these projects. For instance, Sasol recently upgraded its entire PS1 system, with thousands of users, over a weekend without any problems. “If we’d had to change the processes, or train the users, or change the look and feel we couldn’t have done it. As soon as you put a business angle to it, it gets very complex.”
Joannou says people are also a hugely important part of both the business transformation and the SAP enablement. “Business transformation means the executive wants to change the operating model. This means the organisational structure will change; roles and responsibilities will change; and people will have new jobs.
“In addition, processes will change; they will be standardised across the business and some users could lose features they are used to.”
Standardisation of the data is another complex task that needs to be tackled.
“We always ask our users for changes of behaviour,” Joannou adds. “Imagine how disruptive it is to the population of the company. And a lot of the time people are fighting for their jobs.”
Amidst all of this chaos and disruption, Joannou points out that SAP often happens in the background, where it is expected to enable the whole programme.
“But if it’s not coupled to the business transformation programme, you have a recipe for disaster.”
There are several steps Joannou says companies can use to mitigate these problems.
The first element of these is the business essential.
“We always talk about projects being business led, not IT led. To be fair, if we look at the business transformation, we need to ensure that we couple with the leadership team doing the transformation – and ensure that the CEO also supports the SAP project.
“People, processes and technology all have to be in synch: you can’t change one without the other.”
Governance is vital, Joannou adds, and is often overlooked. “But is always comes back to bite you. We sometimes get frustrated and cut corners, but it always comes back to you.”
Building with the end in mind sounds obvious, but is not always done. “Transformation is all about aspiration, but you can’t get there in one day: it’s a journey. This is why we include interim solutions as part of the SAP deliverable.”
Having implemented the project, it’s important that it keeps on the way it started, so sustainability must be built in, Joannou says.
“I’ve been on so many projects where we’ve done great job of implementation, training and change management – then one month after go-live, the training material is no longer valid.
“You need to put in a structure so you can sustain it. A project is not about the go-live date; it’s about looking back in two or three years’ time and still seeing the benefit.”
The project team is obviously a hugely important part of the project, Joannou says.
“Make sure you choose a project leader who is going somewhere in the organisation. And make sure you staff the team with the brightest and best: these are the people who hold the key to your future way of working; they must have credibility and understand the business transformation principles.”
A true partnership culture is easy to talk about but less easy to achieve, he adds. The partnership must embrace the project team, the business and IT as well as any service integrators in a spirit of working together.
Couple to his this is a clear definition of roles and responsibilities and succession planning. “A lot of the people on these projects have no guarantee of a job when the project is finished. So early and up front you need to have the discussions where people will fit in, and how important they are to the organisation.”
Anyone who has been involved with a big project will know that audits often catch the project team by surprise and push the deadlines back.
“Include audit really early on, because they can cause havoc three months from go-live,” says Joannou. “Rather have them on board early, even as part of the steering committee.”
One the team is in place, there are a number of project essentials that should be borne in mind. These include good project management coupled with proven methodologies and tools, as well as project branding.
Change management, says Joannou, should be interlinked with the business transformation, as should scope management so that once a blueprint is signed off any new changes will be carried over to a phase two rather than being allowed to disrupt the project.
Things like facilities – good coffee, safe parking and other “little things” – all really work, he adds, while system testing is possibly obvious but also needs to be considered.
Of course, training is key to any SAP project but this should be linked to competency assessments as well. “If we are serious about changing the DNA of the company we have to re-engineer the people,” Joannou says. “They need to know not only how to operate SAP, but the process and where they fit in.”
Finally, knowledge transfer has to happen. “This is really important because there has to be a handover at the end of the project back to the business and the business process leader will have to take ownership of the process and be committed to it.
“It is equally important to have knowledge transfer back into the IT system – we are the people who will have to run the system once transfer takes place.”