Back in 2002, in my publication of a META Group white paper entitled “Clients Go It Alone for Centers of Excellence” my opening line was somewhat off the mark:
“By early 2003, major systems integrators will react to an increasing market demand for post-implementation continuous services and a greater opportunity for client ownership and recurring fees.”
Eight years on, none of the prominent systems integrators (Accenture, IBM, Deloitte, CSC, et al) has come up with a service offering by which they help clients build a Center of Excellence. In a reach for “client ownership” they continue to seek Application Outsourcing deals but if a client merely wishes for assistance in building a better SAP organization the best they can come up with are a posse and an “approach”. So the title of that white paper has, for eight years, held up.
I recently had the pleasure of presenting at the ASUG/SAPPHIRE Kick-off Event on May 16, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. The presentation covered key subjects from The SAP Green Book, Thrive After Go-Live (http://www.michaeldoane.com/The_SAP_Green_Book.html) with the centerpiece being “Building and Sustaining a Center of Excellence”. As has happened at other such presentations, follow-up questions had to do with “who can help us build one?” After much reflection, I have determined that the best answer to that question is not a systems integrator. These people are so tightly focused on the race to go-live that they seldom have a clue about post-implementation strategies. The applications outsourcing people are utterly focused on the IT aspects and could provide very little input into what I call the Enterprise Domain (Enterprise Program Management, Business Process Owners, and End Users) or the Enablement Domain (super users, continuous training, help desk, and change management).
Such a project requires project management, change management, value management, and organizational acumen. SAP knowledge should be centered upon what it can do (business process) far less than how it does it (configuration, database, middleware).
In a previous post, I wrote about building a workshop around this subject - Life After SAP Go-Live: Unlocking the Mysteries - Part III: Building a Workshop for the Creation of a Center of Excellence)
The following is a summary of the method I follow when helping clients to build a sustainable Center of Excellence:
Phase 1: Initiation
The goals of this phase are to a) establish the client goals for this endeavor, b) provide a consultant the necessary business and organizational context, c) provide initial knowledge transfer to the client, and d) complete an SAP Maturity Assessment as a foundation for subsequent gap analyses. The SAP Maturity Assessment helps pinpoint client status in regard to five levels of maturity (Core Implementation, Stable SAP, Center of Excellence Defined, CoE Managed, CoE Evolving) across four areas of activity (End Users, Business/IT Alignment, Infrastructure, Applications). Past assessments that I’ve been a part of reveal that most clients are somewhere beyond stable SAP but far short of the CoE Managed level and that business/IT alignment is the sorest point.
Phase 2: Workshop
Most clients require a two-day workshop during which they are taught the principles, functions, and uses of a Center of Excellence with a focus on gaining Business & IT alignment and measurable business benefit. Results from the SAP Maturity Assessment will also be addressed at this point.
Thereafter, the client can build a domain by domain outline of a potential Center of Excellence based upon templates provided by the consultant.
The final step of the workshop is to create a high-level gap analysis between the client’s current organization and the draft Center of Excellence.
Phase 3: Evolution Planning
Branding and Charter: Draft a charter for the proposed organization to identify its role and goals for the client. Create a name for the organization that best fits the charter and will attract and retain business interest.
This charter will be reviewed and approved by the client’s chosen stakeholders. Create a project steering committee comprised of both business and IT senior management. The role of this committee will be to a) address issues of authority and reporting that will arise in the course of the project, b) provide a signal to the enterprise of the importance of this undertaking, and c) review and approve the evolution plan and the steps that it will include.
At this point, the future organization chart can be refined as well as the gap analysis. With this information, the client can address gaps regarding sourcing, staffing, skills, and resulting transition requirements.
A key sub-project involves the identification of key performance indicators that will be at the heart of the Center of Excellence and will provide day-to-day guidance as to how SAP applications should be maintained and improved.
Phase 4: Evolution Plan
At this point, the client should possess all the elements necessary for a complete Evolution Plan that will carry the enterprise from its current state to a Center of Excellence. It will have determined a) organizational roles & authorities, b) staff assignments and required training & orientation, c) what segments of the Center of Excellence will be outsourced and how those outsource providers will be governed, d) the budget required for the transition, and e) the probable timeline for completing the transition.
Clearly, it is not quite this simple for a firm to move to a Center of Excellence. My full methodology runs to 60+ pages and continues to grow as best practices and useful tools are being added by the month.
Since I’ve had zero input from the systems integrators and little input from SAP itself, the best practices at the foundation of this methodology have come from clients. In that light, I look forward to comments either at this site or via e-mail as the client conversation remains the source of Center of Excellence wisdom.
For more information about centers of excellence and The SAP Green Book, click here www.michaeldoane.com
Michael Doane has 35 years of enterprise applications experience. He is the author of The New SAP Blue Book, a Concise Business Guide to the World of SAP and The SAP Green Book, Thrive After Go-Live. He can be reached at michael@michaeldoane.com
How Build an ERP Center of Excellence (without an ERP Systems Integration Partner)
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