Insight into SAP upgrade

SAP upgrades are a huge cost consuming exercise, requiring a good deal of planning and major capital investments by way of technical and functional resources, and additional infrastructure.

Development of new powerful functionality has gone a long way in enabling organizations to implement any new innovations as a result of SAP upgrade. This is because it has offered various organizations the required foundation which allows for business innovations in the future as well as enterprise SOA. The enhancement package has moreover allowed the organizations to benefit from the new strategy as the returns and value proposition from investments depends on the selected approach and the motivation for the upgraded projects. It is, however, important to realize that different customers have different value propositions due to the uniqueness of their SAP software in use as well as the system’s landscape.

To successfully execute a SAP upgrade, a well-defined strategy needs to be realized. The upgrade strategy should encompass a project scope and an approach which should basically be based on the future planning and the ongoing activities of the organization. The strategy of the project not only affects the immediate ROI but also the effort and the duration of the upgrade. The upgrade process comprises of number of stages that progressively increase business value; expand functionality while preparing the organization for transition to SOA enterprise with minimal risks. Typically, the process lasts for three to five years and entails three different phases: the strategic enhancement, functional enhancement and technical upgrade.

Pros and cons of SAP

Pros:

SAP upgrade has been preferred by many organizations and it has become a boost to their growth. SAP has a series of benefits overall,

• It promises business organization’s, its customers and its prospects of continued success and it is fully dedicated to ensuring business transformation. SAP generally offers confidence that success factors of an organization are to be maintained for keeps.

• SAP allows for creation of additional fields which are used for various purposes. For instance, the fields may be used for reports on analytical management like Sales By Item Group and Customer Group. Additional fields may also offer some additional details that may be printed on documents like credit notes and invoices which may not be available from the software by default.

• SAP also allows for multiple vendors same code of an item. It moreover allows for multiple shipping addresses which may be for one consumer while still with different address for billing.

• Their data entry may also serve as a screen for inquiries. This is because the data filled in the different fields may be used in a search process criterion.

Cons:

Other than the outstanding advantages and benefits associated with SAP upgrade, there are also a few shortcomings that are associated with the same:-

• SAP is not an MRP solution as it does not allow for any scheduling. This results in extra consultations in case of any inquiry on job costing.

• It allows the client to drill down base on the report that is generated as it is more of a screen inquiry and hence may lead to misinterpreted reports.

• Their reports for document editing are only suitable for invoice designation and purchase orders and may not be suitable for management reports.

For the SAP upgrade to be a success, there are a few factors that should be considered. They include;

• Business related complexity drivers such as business situation and requirements.

• Project related complexities such as the customer, parallel project and the upgrade strategy.

• It’s related complexities such as application landscape, complexity of the landscape, source release and front end software amongst others.