Understanding SAP S/4HANA Implementation Risks with RSM – Part Two: Owning the Process

Making the move to SAP S/4HANA is one of the most important projects that an organization will take on. As we discussed in the previous entries to this series, the key to avoiding SAP S/4HANA implementation risks is to have a well-researched plan ahead of time. This plan should be developed by an experienced partner in conjunction with the stakeholders, ensuring that all relevant concerns are addressed and all parts of the organizations are engaged.

But what comes next after the planning phase? The SAP S/4HANA implementation experts at RSM highlighted that it is absolutely crucial that each area of the implementation is led by a knowledgeable and experienced process owner.

Process Ownership

A key part of the implementation process is delineating which party is responsible for what area. Having a functional partnership helps reduce risk by clearly identifying roles and responsibilities.

“It is really important to have process owners who are balancing the art and the science of an implementation and are aligned with whatever the senior leaders of that organization and what they have set as the North Star,” said Joe Corro, Director of RSM’s Risk Consulting Practice.

Aligning to an overarching goal is a key component to avoiding implementation issues. If all parts of an organization are pulling in the same direction, they will end up where they want to go. Yet one of the biggest risks in implementations is process owners wanting a certain process or tool that is not a fit with the larger goal, or not adhering to an agreed-upon strategy.

“We’ve seen process owners sit in those meetings and either get bullied into using an out-of-the-box leading practice that on paper seems fine during the sales cycle, but once you really start putting that into practice, they figure out the hard way some of those out-of-the-box processes just simply don’t fit with the organization’s business model.

Likewise, we’ve also seen the opposite end of the spectrum, where some of those process owners can bully their way in the other direction where they see the process through a keyhole and they decide something doesn’t work for them when in fact it might be the right process or solution for from a broader organizational perspective,” said Corro.

Third Party Oversight

While separating process ownership may seem straightforward, organizations benefit from having a neutral party involved in their SAP S/4HANA implementation to identify potential process issues and keep all process owners on the same page.

Corro adds there is no one single correct way to add in this third-party oversight. Companies should find which methodology suits their needs best.

“We’ve seen everything from someone with a lot of experience coming in and doing a two-week health check to a program QA function being embedded within the team sitting in the same room as the as the rest of the program team and make sure they’re doing what they said they’re going to do. Those are the two ends of the spectrum.

Organizations need somebody to come in and play that independent role because leaders get so bogged down in the day-to-day that it is easy to lose sight of program assurance and program quality controls,” said Corro.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

An SAP S/4HANA implementation is made up of many smaller processes spread out across different areas of a business. Companies must have different departments come together to overhaul their SAP landscape, each owning a different part of the process. This can be difficult, particularly without oversight.

As many organizations make the move to SAP S/4HANA, they are relying on qualified implementation professionals like RSM. Through years of experience, RSM’s experienced professionals can help oversee each part of the process, ensuring that each is successful and comes together into one smooth implementation.