Category: Project Management

The current economic and employment environments notwithstanding, things still look pretty good for project managers. They are being kept on, and are still getting hired, because organizations are still ultra-cautious about spending money and getting critical projects completed as near to planned time and budget as possible. Salaries for PMs are continuing to be solid as well. 

Everyone knows that a bespoke solution — be it in building architecture, clothing design or exercise routines — is a better option than the off-the-rack alternative. Sure it’s more expensive, but the payoff is almost always worth it. So why do so many organisations balk at the idea of customizing their ERP systems?

Just as moving an entire household or company across the country can be a pain for everyone involved, moving minor and/or major projects from offshore to nearshore vendors brings numerous challenges right alongside the numerous benefits.

In the exciting rush of transitioning your projects to a vendor that is 1 or 2 time zones and a short plane ride away, it is easy to overlook details. As we have discovered over the years, the following pitfalls can really throw a monkey wrench in that move.

As enterprise resource software solutions become more prevalent in today’s corporate landscape, the methods for implementation have become greater and more diverse. From large consulting firms like Accenture and IBM, to smaller organizations, and independent contractors, the choices available for an IT Director have become overwhelming. Each option comes with its own pros and cons, but if there is only one thing for certain, it’s that SAP is not going away anytime soon.

Unfortunately, ERP implementations still aren’t any easier than they were 15 years ago when I started in the ERP world. Despite the enterprise software industry’s best intentions to mitigate risk with cloud ERP systems, implementation accelerators, and other tools, ERP failure rates are still high and most projects still take more time and money than expected. For example, our 2012 ERP Report, which will be released next week, shows that nearly half (44-percent) of all ERP implementations fail to deliver at least half of their expected business benefits.

Even with the increased emphasis on cost control that has come out of the recession, maverick or unauthorized spending is still a problem for most organizations, sometimes costing millions. This article shares six steps to help procurement organizations maximise savings and profits; including obtaining executive sponsorship and collaborating with key stakeholders

The ABAP development triangle is a model that describes the trilemma of ABAP development. Three constraints - Performance, Security, Design - are discussed in this blog. The idea of the ABAP development triangle originates from the Project Management Triangle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Triangle).

One of the most frequently asked questions we at Panorama Consulting hear from our clients is, “What is the value of engaging an independent consulting firm to manage our ERP implementation?” After all, the VARs and ERP vendors themselves should know their own software better than anyone, so who better to manage the implementation phase of the ERP project . . . right? Wrong. The answer and the reason lie in the fact that a successful ERP implementation is much more about carefully blueprinting and strategically optimizing the client’s business processes than it is about configuring the software. Simply stated, the key to ERP success — and the cornerstone to Panorama’s service offering — is to approach the implementation from the point of view that the client’s business processes should drive how the ERP software is configured, not the other way around.

If you are determined to gain and then maintain SAP project momentum you will see stress. Part of the requirement for momentum includes asking people to reach for stretch goals and stretching their capabilities can cause tension and conflict. Without hands on, active SAP project management you can expect the stress and conflict to destroy your SAP project momentum. Active SAP project management is not about micromanaging people or their activities but rather finding the right balance around task execution and delivery while working through the conflicts that will arise. If you are a project manager who does not have the skill to work through conflict then you might want to consider a different career.

One key to maintaining momentum requires an SAP project manager who is fully integrated in the day to day project activities.  That hands on approach to project management is crucial for overall project success.  Unfortunately there aren’t very many SAP project or program managers who are engaged in the day to day project execution activities.

“An SAP project manager or SAP program manager must focus aggressively on removing obstacles, encouraging success, and fighting against those things that would slow momentum” 

An SAP developer must have the breadth of experience to understand the functions that your business needs, and the depth of experience to deliver those functions as described. And, of course, do it on time and within budget. Finding a team of developers to fit that bill is probably going to require searching pretty far afield. The best choice for many major companies is to outsource their SAP functional and technology consulting, from development through support. Evaluating SAP programmers Selecting a team for your SAP solution should be done with care. Ask questions that will help you find the right fit. Do you have experience in our industry? How many developers will be working on our solution? What is the average amount of experience they have? How will you handle data migration to avoid disruptions? What levels of training and support do you offer? Use the interview process to determine how they would approach your solution. SAP has a number of different modules made for specific business processes. Ask the team leader which modules he or she thinks you'll need, and why. Will your development team be starting with a prepackaged solution for your industry? Why or why not?

Agile Project Management methodology is making waves in the project management world of software development. Many big names in the software industry are using it and have success stories to share. So in this blog I am explaining how Agile project management methodology attacks the inherent weak-links in SAP projects.

In today’s ever more technology-centric world, the stodgy IT department isn’t considered the home of innovation and business leadership. Yet that might have to change as some of the biggest advances in the history of technology make their way into the front lines of service delivery. Here’s an exploration of the top five IT trends in the next half decade, including some of the latest industry data, and what the major opportunities and challenges are.

No matter how detailed your spec is my experience is these guys have so little actual experience that they do not know standard SAP transactions and functionality well enough to adequately test their own creations. Their results are more than just full of bugs, often times they often crash when attempting to do even the most minimal testing. Repeat testing by expensive functional resources happens so frequently and consumes so much hidden time from parallel project activities that timelines often are affected.

Few weeks ago SAP release update of the ASAP Methodology for Implementation that brings major content enhancements in areas of Quality & Risk Management, Application Life-Cycle Management and Technical Solution Management. Plus it is accessible from your iPad. Read more about the update.