What are the roles in the organization with SAP CoE?
SAP application support must be addressed in many of organizational levels or domains:
Organizational Domain – Defines how program and processes are managed
Enablement Domain – Defines how end users are prepared and supported
Application Domain – Defines how applications are configured and integrated
Support Domain – Defines how integrated applications are supported
Organizational Domain – Defines how program and processes are managed
Enterprise Program Management
Strategy, budget and prioritization for application management
Manages enterprise applications portfolios, standards and measures
Manages vendor relations
Process Owners/Business Process Experts
Address implementation and process issues across lines of business
Drive continual business process improvements targeting KPI (benefits) improvements
Drive application agenda
Monitor/drive user competency through help desk and continuous education
End Users
Fulfill business processes
Change the way they work to support improved processes
Provide feedback to process owners
Tap power users for support and first level problem resolution
Receive continuous training from the user support
Enablement Domain – Defines how end users are prepared and supported
Power Users
Serves as "go to" person to answer system functionality and business process questions
Troubleshoots application-related problems and coaches colleagues on using the system
Supports configurators and helps to translate functional business requirements into technical requirements/specifications
Performs unit and integration tests
Trains new end users
Contributes to the ongoing process development
Organizational Change Management
Secures sponsorship across all stakeholder groups
Develops an integrated change/risk management strategy and training program
Ensures end users are prepared to adopt new ways of work
Masters program communications across all stakeholder groups and externally
Identifies and develops strategies for addressing key process and people risks
Continuous Education
Develops integrated, role-based training specific to your configuration
Develops training channels
Develops job aids to support new business application roles
Delivers initial training
Develops and delivers continuous training post going live
Application Domain – Defines how applications are configured and integrated
Software Configuration and Support
Effect non-customized changes to application software based on business process redesign
Provide functional specification to the custom application engineers
Integration/interfacing functional design
User acceptance testing
Integration testing
Hand over to production control
Custom Applications
Fulfill functional design provided by the software configuration group:
Customization of vendor software and/or External custom code
Assure vendor/software standards for all customizations
Integration Management
All interfaces
Integration testing
Stress testing
Production control
Support Domain – Defines how integrated applications are supported
Production/Change Management
User authorities/security
User/functional monitoring
Web and portal support
Error handling/technical help desk (via vendor)
Production control
Change management
What are the roles in a SAP CoE?
The SAP CoE structure is designed to provide the highest level of service and protection. Its Comprised of a SAP CoE team, Integration manager, and control advisory board (CAB). Each component within the CoE team achieves a distinct purpose. Collectively, they cover every aspect involved in production support.
SAP CoE Team
After defining the provided scope and breadth of services (see Part 2, Section ‘What are the different types of an SAP CoE?’), the CoE can define the proper skill sets. If the CoE is solely responsible for technical-production support, you must bring those skill sets into the team. Likewise, if the CoE offers functional services, you must also include the proper functional-configuration skill sets. Are help desk resources required? You must mobilize all required skill sets, ensuring capable CoE support.
Choosing the right resources to comprise your CoE is crucial. Below are several key characteristics that each CoE member must possess:
Competency/experience: Each member of the CoE team must be an expert within his or her respective skill set and possess the needed experience. The end-user community will look to the CoE to address and resolve its issues quickly. Choosing inexperienced and novice CoE resources will frustrate the end users and lengthen resolution time.
Motivation: Not everyone is cut out to be a CoE team member. Some employees will not want to be part of a production support organization. Some employees might view such an organization as boring and a path to nowhere. If selected employees are not happy with their given roles, they will either fail to produce, leave, or request to be transferred.
Customer service skills: Ultimately, the CoE is a service organization and service organizations require customer service skills. No matter how talented and competent, not all employees possess the proper interpersonal skills to interact with end clients. If CoE resources are rude or unresponsive, the end-user community could justifiably become hostile towards the CoE team member and your greater CoE organization.
Integration Manager
The CoE integration manager needs to possess wisdom, experience, and be able to influence decisions. Organizations often overlook or misunderstand the role of the integration manager. Cost constraints sometimes make this role challenging to justify, however, the integration manager is truly an invaluable resource.
The integration manager must understand deeply the touch-points across SAP and the interactions between the various modules. Although the integration manager does not need to be an expert in everything, which is impossible, he or she must be familiar with how the components interact. If the integration manager is not familiar with the intricacies of implementing SAP, he or she can jeopardize system integrity, stability, and business process functionality. In essence, the integration manager acts as a “super-connector,” involving all of the key CoE team members affected by system modifications.
Below are several key traits that every integration manager needs:
Deep understanding of SAP’s integration points: By definition, the integration manager must understand the integration within SAP systems. Every modification in one SAP component has the potential to affect other areas. This understanding allows the integration manager to bring in the right folks with the related skill sets, ensuring that the CoE team represents all interested parties.
Customer service: The integration manager is just as much a customer service manager as a systems manager. Because the integration manager is the primary representative of the CoE, he or she must possess strong interpersonal and communication skills.
Presence: Everyone looks to the integration manager as the face of the CoE. Therefore, confidence and presence are fundamental qualities of a great integration manager. Presenting a calm, collected, and strong persona instills confidence in both the CoE and the end-user community.
Political savvy: Because the integration manager must work with a larger pool of people, he or she needs to possess the proper political skills to maximize the CoE’s product as a whole and minimize any conflict impeding performance. The political acumen needed is greater than for the normal IT manager; the integration manager must navigate across a myriad of headstrong teams.
Control Advisory Board (CAB)
The control advisory board (CAB) is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the system. This board comprises essential individuals who possess experience within each of the implemented components. Key subject-matter experts represent their respective teams’ interests. Typically, the CAB has one fundamental team member from each of the respective areas, as well as any additional key stakeholders holding a vested interest in the SAP productive environment. This might include SAP project managers of other impacted projects, non-SAP system owners, or the project sponsor.
While the business user community identifies enhancements, the CAB first reviews the change requests. After evaluating their validity and system impact, it approves or rejects the change requests and prioritizes them accordingly. This is all the more reason why the team makeup is so crucial. If you do not include all necessary parties in the change request evaluation, you could miss concerns that are important to business users outside of the CoE.
Note: Some organizations use the term ‘Change control Board (CCB)’. The difference is explained below.
CAB – A board delivering support to the Change Management team by approving requested changes and assisting in the assessment and prioritization of changes.
CCB – A board functioning to formally authorize all changes from the baseline infrastructure. It is the systematic process of proposing, justifying, evaluating, validating, disposing of proposed changes, and implementing approved changes, as well as tracking the many changes affecting a configuration item's state. The Change Management team ensures the documentation and coordination of recommended changes to configuration items.
What are the considerations in organizing a SAP CoE team?
Consider your Organization – ex: Is it Single or multiple-locations? Is it Administratively centralized?
The Right Team Structure - Define the Business to IT Relationship, Define subject-oriented business positions, Obtain executive sponsorship, write it down and make it official
Entity-Independent – Since implementation was “one for all”, ongoing support works the same way
Find the Right People – Knows SAP, Knows business rules, Was a project team member during implementation. View it as new position recruitment if required.
Responsibilities - The “old job” still needs to be done (it got done during the project) and the “new system” still needs support
The right work environment – Keep the team in one location if possible, Keep the team visible, Become welcome and familiar faces in the business offices
The Right Relationships – Team manager to Executive Admin, IT Manager, etc., Team Members to Team Members, IT Staff, Business Offices, End Users
What are the responsibilities of a SAP CoE team?
Here is a more detailed list of what the support team does -
Maintenance Tasks – ex: Major upgrades, Service packs, Problem solving, Security administration, Workflow administration, Archiving
Common Business Tasks – ex: Support the business offices, Centralized processes (such as Tax reporting (US 1099 & W-2), Financial closing, Payroll, Payment runs, etc.), Data manipulation (such as Mass changes, Data loads, etc.), Ad-hoc report creation
Tend to the Users- ex: Training, Documentation, Change Management & Communication, Internal Influence Channels
Continuous Improvement – ex: New initiatives and more SAP, Accountability to senior management, Priority setting - consensus building (Define a priority setting process !), Product evaluation and acquisition, Process redesign, License management
Stay Smart – ex: Networking, Project team training, Keeping up with SAP, Advocacy and Influence, CRM (Consultant Relationship Management)
Marketing – ex: Publicity & Promotion, Internal Marketing – Selling SAP