This overview of SAP’s Collaboration Projects (cProjects) explains the configuration and the processes involved from the creation of a project to its close. It is targeted to SAP CRM and SAP ERP HCM functional and technical managers and team members who understand the capabilities available in SAP CRM. It also helps project managers and business leads discover what cProjects offers for new implementations. The most important factor on any project is staffing project resources (internal employees and partner employees). These resources are maintained in the SAP ERP HCM system and will be distributed to the SAP CRM system via Application Link Enabling (ALE). To enable the resource manager to be able to assign the right resource with the right skill set for the right duration, data about employees such as qualifications and time needs to be distributed into the SAP CRM system. Then project users from cProjects can access it. You access cProjects from SAP NewWeaver Portal by clicking the Resource Management tab. You call the cProjects application in the browser using a URL that is structured as follows: <Prot>://<Host>.<Domain>.<Extension>:<Port>/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/cProjects <Domain>. Domain is your Web application server. The Web URL looks like this: https://idomain01.my.com:8300/sap/bc/bsp/sap/cprojects/default.htm?sap-client=100&sap-language=EN. The benefits of cProjects include:

• Project team members can access projects via a Web URL. The user does not need to access SAP GUI.
• The application is simple to use and very user friendly
• It is integrated with various SAP modules (SAP Customer Relationship Management [SAP CRM] SAP ERP HCM, Financial Accounting [FI]/Managerial Accounting [CO], materials management [MM], and sales and distribution [SD])
• The integration with SAP ERP HCM enables resource allocation, resource availability, and workflow approvals
• Provides flexible analytics, evaluations, and reports

In this article, I focus on a professional service industry consulting project to illustrate how to get the most out of cProjects.

Typical Project Business Process Flow

Following is a generic process flow used at my company prior to the cProjects implementation. I briefly outline all the project elements with respect to a cProjects implementation, but this business process flow can be generalized and used for any project system implementation. Every project is broken down into various phases, and each phase branches into different tasks or checklists. Every project needs resources to get the work done. Resources are assigned to specific project roles (examples of project roles are architect, senior consultant, and technical) on a project. Project roles are configured in the system by the SAP CRM team. Roles on the projects are assigned by the project manager. Each project role is assigned required capacity with finite start and end dates. For example you may need a part-time architect role on your project for 120 hours capacity from start date 03/07/2011 to finish date 06/30/2011. Project cost/billing rates are maintained for each of these roles by your project management office and usually these rates will change every year. Billing rates can be standard or project specific. For the same role, billing rates may change based on the project. These roles are then assigned to project tasks. As an example, I need four roles (one project manager and three consultants) on my project. I do not assign resources until the project kicks off. Based on availability, the resource manager will staff the roles either internally or externally, or with a combination of both. Now the project shell is created but no resources are assigned to the project. The project manager runs planned cost and revenue reports and adjusts the project tasks, roles, dates, and cost/billing rate as necessary. After fine tuning the project shell the project manager gets approval from the stakeholders to start the project. After approval the project manager can start to staff project roles with resources. The project manager may request staffing for each specific role or for the entire project. This triggers notification to the resource manager. Based on the size of the company, there may be a resource management pool or the project manager can act as the resource manager. The resource manager searches for resources based on availability, qualifications, and skills. After booking them on the project, the resource manager sends an email to the resources and their managers with project, tasks, staffing details, and other project-related information. If internal resources are not available, external consulting resources can be procured for staffing on the project. The project can link items such as purchase or sales orders as object links and monitor the progress of the project by running various valuations, such as a staffing report, planned cost and revenue report, project resource report, or a staffing report. The project manager can close individual project tasks, phases, and eventually the project. Before closing the project all the resources are released. The project elements are closed only after time is booked and approved on the project. After the project is closed all related phases and tasks on the project are closed and time can no longer be booked on the project. See Figure 1 for a view of a typical project structure.    

Required SAP Landscape

cProjects is a standard integration package in SAP CRM, accessed via web URL and it is integrated with other SAP modules. cProjects is a cross-industry tool that you use to plan and monitor development and consultant projects. All cProjects configuration is performed in SAP CRM. This functionality comes free with a standard SAP ERP license. Data created or maintained in cProjects is captured in SAP CRM. You can replicate this project data (e.g., project structures) to the SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) Project System (PS) module using middleware. You can also integrate HR data from SAP ERP HCM into SAP CRM via Application Link Enabling (ALE). See Figure 2 for integration between cProjects Web URL (Portal User Interface [UI], CRM, and SAP ECC. In addition to SAP standard functionality, you can customize the application to suit to your business needs. In this article, I will discuss each of these in detail.     I will provide you with an overview of cProjects configuration and the processes involved from the creation of a project to its closure.

Steps Involved in Creating a cProject

To successfully and efficiently manage projects, the project manager and other team members should be able to perform the following typical tasks and processes in a project management tool with ease:

1. The project manager creates a project, a project structure, roles, and scheduling
2. The project manager calculates planned cost and revenue
3. The project manager notifies the resource manager to secure and assign resources on the project roles
4. The resource manager checks for resource availability
5. The resource manager staffs the roles with internal resources or procures external vendor partner resources
6. The project manager links to business objects (e.g., quotes, sales contracts, purchase order items, and project work breakdown structures)
7. The project manager and resource manager communicate details and staffing schedules for the project to project team members
8. The project team starts work on the project and creates a project status report
9. The project team creates documents and assigns them to project elements in cProjects
10. The project team captures time and expenses on the project
11. The billing department generates invoices and bills the customers or clients for the project work
12. Accounts payable settles the purchase order-related invoices with the vendors for the work performed by vendor/partner employees on the project
13. Actual costs and revenue are posted in Profitability Analysis (CO-PA) for the project
14. The project manager runs actual cost/revenue reports and various status reports for the project management office
15. The project team completes project tasks and charges time and expenses on the project
16. The project manager verifies and closes the project

Configuring cProjects

Now let’s translate these business process requirements into configuration elements in the SAP system. I will list some of the important cProjects configuration steps in SAP CRM and the output of this on the cProjects user screen. In your SAP CRM system go to SAP IMG via transaction code SPRO. You can also follow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects > Basic Settings/Define General Interface Settings. This configuration setting influences the appearance of the cProjects interface. You can define the header information (such as your company logo and the page information) to resemble your company’s Web site (see Figures 3 and 4).       Now, to define time units for the cProjects implementation, follow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Basic Settings > Define Time Units (Figure 5). In my example, I’m using HR (hours) as the unit of work, but you can use minutes, days, weeks, or months. As a result of this configuration, users see the project time unit as hours in the project structure, resource staffing, and reporting areas in the cProjects user interface. Your users should be able to view only the data they are supposed to view. For example, your project lead, resource manager, and team members should have different levels of access to view project data. In this step, you can configure what your users can see on the cProjects user interface. In the example below, the project manager role is configured to access more views on cProjects than the resource manager role or a team member role. Figure 6 displays the configuration setting and Figure 7 displays the user view for the project manager. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects > Basic Settings/Define Initial Views for cProjects.       In this configuration step of your IMG activity you define the project types you want to use in your cProjects and make project type-specific settings. You define project types such as Time & Materials, Fixed Price, Spot Consulting, or Pre-Sales. Each project can have only one project type. If there are two projects with different project types at the same company, say one is a new implementation and the other is a support project, then you create a parent project and add these two projects as child projects. All the data rolls up into the partner project for reporting. Figure 8 displays the configuration steps. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects > Structure>Define Project Types.     Figure 9 shows all the project types configured in the SAP CRM system. In this case the project manager can create one of the nine project types from the drop-down list.     In the next step you define the phases that are allowed under each project type. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects > Structure > Define Phase Types (Figure 10).     Now you can configure what tasks are allowed on your project. Each phase can have one or more tasks for a project. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects >Structure> Define Task Types (Figure 11).     You now activate the object types for which you want to create object links in your project. Selected object types found in the SAP ERP system are predefined in the standard system. As an example, after you create a project in cProjects, you replicate this data into SAP ECC and integrate it with PS, SAP ECC SD, and SAP ECC MM. The integration element among all these modules will be via the project work breakdown structure (WBS) element. After you activate the standard object links, you can assign the objects via this link to your cProjects. The project manager (or other users) can access SAP ECC projects, purchase orders, and sales contacts via this object link. By adding the object link in the cProjects, the user does not need to log on to various systems to view details such as purchase orders, sales quotes/contracts, or internal orders. Follow menu path IMG > Collaboration Projects > Structure > Define Object Types for Object links (Figure 12). After your Object Link is configured, you can create hyperlinks to SAP ECC projects, sales contracts, and purchase order line items (Figure 13).       In the next configuration setting, you integrate components from SAP ERP HCM with business partners in cProjects. Follow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Resource Management > Business Partner > Set Up Integration with HR. Employee data is distributed in cProjects for employees from existing HR master data. This integration is enabled via ALE, as stated earlier. In the standard SAP system, business partners are not integrated with the SAP ERP HCM application components from the SAP ERP system. You can integrate your SAP ERP HCM data as shown in Figure 14. Set up what you want to integrate between your SAP ERP HCM and SAP CRM systems. You distribute data from the SAP ERP HCM system such as employee data, qualifications, and organization structure. Due to the sensitive nature of employee HR data, make sure to use a filter in the distribution system and distribute only infotypes 0000, 0001, 0002, 0006, and 0105.     Here are some of the critical aspects of these configuration settings:

• Activate HR Integration = X: This switch specifies integration from an SAP ERP HCM system is active. This setting replicates employee data from SAP ERP HCM. Organizational units are integrated with the business partner. The switch displays whether employees are replicated from SAP ERP HCM using ALE or created locally.
• Integration of O-BP Activated = ON: Integration between the organizational unit and the business partner is active. When an organizational unit is created via the ALE inbox or in a dialog, a corresponding business partner is generated in the organizational unit role. Any changes made to organizational units are also made to the business partner. There are ON, OFF, and CREATE options. With the CREATE option, when an organizational unit is created, so is a business partner. If any changes are made to an organizational unit, the business partner is not updated.
• Integration of Employees/BP Activated = ON: The switch displays whether employees are replicated from SAP ERP HCM using ALE or created locally. Employees are copied from SAP ERP HCM using ALE. Therefore, they cannot be maintained as business partners.
• Import qualifications = X: The system replicates qualifications (infotype 0024 - Qualifications) from the HR system and saves the data in CRM.
• Number Range for BP for HR Employees = ZE: Define custom number ranges for your cProjects business partners (e.g., employees/vendor partner employees).

After the resource manager completes the staffing process, he or she should communicate project and staffing details to the team resources. You can enable this communication via groupware integration functionality in SAP CRM (your system administrator should already have set up this functionality). You need to assign templates or forms to your email and groupware communication. The forms are language specific. The standard system provides various forms as templates for the subject line and the body text of emails to the selected manager or resource. It also provides templates for emails describing tasks and announcing appointments. Follow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Resource Management > Basic Settings for Resource Management > Assign Forms for Emails and Groupware Communication. Figure 15 displays various templates and form configuration. For my example, I used custom forms for the email subject and email body.     Figure 16 shows a sample email notification to the resource staffed on the project based on email communication configuration.     Project resource planning allows you to optimize your resource deployment. It focuses on using your employees efficiently and assigning them to projects or orders based on certain requirements and qualifications. Resource planning makes you create roles for each project; specifically, you define possible project role types and assign them to the project types. The system then proposes these project role types for the creation of roles in the application. For each project role type, you can specify whether it is relevant for the resource search (i.e., whether you can use the resource search to staff this role). To set this up, follow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Resource Management > Define Project Role Types for Project Type (Figure 17).     In Figure 17, you define project roles. Also, you can configure project types with or without extended staffing by checking or unchecking the Ext.Staffing Process check box. If it is checked, this role can staff these resources directly without going through the resource management team. If you check the Res.Mgmt check box, this means the role is relevant for resource management. This specifies that the planned effort reduces the availability of resources and increases capacity utilization for the project role for which this indicator is set. In Figure 18, you define possible project role types and assign them to project types. Here you can control the availability of a project role for certain projects. For example, you could configure project role Architect to be available only on project types Time & Material, Education, and Fixed Price.     Based on the roles configured in the system and the project type, the project manager can select the roles that can be staffed on the project via a drop-down menu (Figure 19).     Next, you define the cost/revenue rate used in costing. The cost rate is the internal cost rate charged to the employee cost center. The bill rate is the billing amount charged for project work. Cost rates and bill rates are maintained in CO-PA and replicated to SAP CRM by following IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Connection to External Systems > Accounting Integration > Integration using single-object controlling > Replicate Cost/Revenue Rates in SAP ERP. Project users cannot change cost rate and list rate values. If the bill rate is different from standard bill rates (e.g., if your project manager decides to add a premium or discount the billing rate), it overrides the standard bill rate. In some cases, your project manager may decide not to bill the customer for a re-work and can select the NonBillable check box. The project manager should follow menu path cProjects URL > Projects > Resources > Costing to make these adjustments (Figure 20).     cProjects is integrated with Microsoft Project and allows you to exchange data between these two applications. You can transfer data from Microsoft Project to cProjects and vice versa. After the project manager completes staffing the project roles with resources, they can export cProjects data into Microsoft Project and distribute this to project resources. In the next configuration setting, define the fields for exporting and importing from Microsoft Project. Follow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Connection to External Systems > Microsoft Project Integration > Assign Fields for Export. Here, you map cProjects fields to Microsoft Project fields. You can export to Microsoft Project from cProjects via menu path cProjects URL > Projects > Export. Figure 21 displays how to export your project from cProjects to Microsoft Project, while Figure 22 displays the exported project in Microsoft Project.       An evaluation is a project view of data extracted from a project. This view helps you measure the project’s progress, which activities are on track, and which activities need to be refined. You can define the threshold values used in evaluations to identify critical situations. To do this, follow IMG menu path Collaboration Projects > Evaluations > Define Attributes and Object Types for Evaluations (Figure 23). This particular output is for a cost/revenue evaluation of my project.     After the project is created and staffed, it is replicated via SAP CRM middleware into the SAP ERP system. You can then view it in PS using transaction CJ20N (Project Builder). Figure 24 shows a project replicated from SAP CRM to SAP ERP.