Implementations need not morph into ordeals. Well-planned, customer-focused implementations that follow a structured framework are likely candidates for success, with straightforward migrations and integration, few interruptions, and low user stress to yield a rapid ROI. With that in mind, SAP developed an accelerated implementation methodology for the SAP Business One application to provide a clear, proven framework to manage the project and customer expectations and provide guidelines for communication and documentation. For more information, please contact Blue Ocean Systems Pte Ltd at: www.BlueOceanSys.com.sg Tel: +65 63977259 We love to hear from you. Thank you.

1. SAP Business One
IMPLEMENTING SAP® BUSINESS ONE
EFFICIENTLY
DETECT AND AVOID TIME AND BUDGET
OVERRUNS
When businesses purchase The 2006 CHAOS survey by The implementation reduce staff productivity
Standish Group reveals that across and lower customer service, it can also
enterprise resource planning all industries only 35% of software make your market position vulnerable to
(ERP) and business manage- implementations are considered threats from your competitors.
successful, 19% are considered fail-
ment software, they typically ures, and 46% are considered to be Accelerated Implementation
end up spending as much challenged.1 Why? Inadequate project Methodology for
planning and requirements gathering, SAP® Business One
for implementation and con- unclear roles and responsibilities, and
sulting services as they do unreasonable customer expectations Implementations need not morph into
are the primary reasons why so many ordeals. Well-planned, customer-focused
for the software licenses. implementation projects fail. implementations that follow a structured
Knowing this should serve framework are likely candidates for
Too often projects turn out to be more success, with straightforward migrations
as important motivation for costly than foreseen or take longer than and integration, few interruptions, and
customers to inform them- anticipated. Furthermore, the software low user stress to yield a rapid ROI.
implemented frequently does not meet
selves of the key factors the unique business requirements of an With that in mind, SAP developed an
contributing to successful organization and customer expectations accelerated implementation methodology
in terms of functionality and usability. for the SAP® Business One application
software implementations SAP knows that in today’s business to provide a clear, proven framework
and the pitfalls they must environment, companies simply cannot to manage the project and customer
afford to spend a long time implementing expectations and provide guidelines
avoid. software solutions. Not only will a lengthy for communication and documentation.
65% of projects are not
Failure successful
19% • Costs overrun budget
• Work takes longer than
Challenge planned
46% • Functionality delivered
does not fulfill what was
Success promised
35%
Figure 1: Success Rate of IT Implementation Projects1
1. “CHAOS Report 2006,” The Standish Group International Inc., 2006.

2. SAP created the accelerated implemen-
tation methodology (formerly known as
SAP AIP) in conjunction with our active Project Business Project Final Going Live
implementation partners, thus tapping Preparation Blueprint Realization Preparation and Support
into their years of experience in the field.
Since its release, the methodology
has been used in several thousand Figure 2: Five Phases of the Accelerated Implementation Methodology
implementations worldwide and has
become the standard for best-practice Project Preparation Best-Practice Recommendations
implementations of SAP Business One. The best-practice recommendations for
The purpose of this phase is to provide the project preparation phase include:
The objective of this document is to initial planning and preparation for the • Make sure the SAP sales team is
acquaint you with the major stages SAP Business One implementation. present at the kickoff meeting to
of the accelerated implementation Although each SAP Business One recap your expectations – informed
methodology and give you a better implementation has its own unique during the sales phase – and clearly
understanding of how SAP goes about objectives, scope, and priorities, the align them with the product
implementing your ERP investment. steps in the project preparation phase functionality
For each phase in the implementation, help identify and plan the primary focus • Explicitly confirm hardware, software,
we describe the major milestones and areas that need to be considered. This and resource availability with your
relevant components. We also estimate includes technical issues as well as project manager or IT administrator
resource requirements and suggest the project management topics. With the during the kickoff meeting
best practices customers should be kickoff meeting, the SAP implementa- • Present a high-level demonstration
prepared to follow before implementing tion team communicates the project of SAP Business One as part of the
SAP Business One. plan along with the expected commit- kickoff meeting in order to acquaint
ment your organization will have to your team members with the product
Five-Phase Implementation make in terms of time and resources. • Discuss when and how your staff
Roles and responsibilities of the various will be available
The accelerated implementation meth- participants in the project are identified. • Create an executive steering
odology divides the implementation In addition, the SAP Business One committee in order to tie executive
projects into phases. It starts when software is delivered and the preliminary management support in with the
the customer signs the contract – the installation of a test system is completed. implementation
time when the sales organization hands This phase is usually performed within • Have your project manager perform a
the project over to the consulting and five days. final review of the project preparation
implementation organization. It goes phase and sign the “Project Phase
on to cover the entire implementation Major Milestones Sign-Off” document provided by the
process and the concluding review and The major milestones of the project SAP implementation team
optimization conference, which takes preparation phase are:
place several weeks after the project • Project handover to implementation Business Blueprint
is handed over to the customer. • Customer kickoff meeting
• Delivery and installation of test system In this crucial phase, which typically
The fives phase of the methodology for the SAP Business One software takes about four days, how you would
are described below. • Project phase review and sign-off like to run SAP Business One to support
from customer your business is examined. One or
more workshops for gathering your
requirements are conducted during
which business processes and individual
2

3. functional requirements of your orga- • Make sure all requirements of your • Communicate clearly that your proj-
nization are identified and analyzed. business are discussed and docu- ect and IT teams will be responsible
The workshops provide the opportunity mented in the business blueprint for ensuring data quality and integrity
to fine-tune the original project goals as even seemingly small changes of data migration
and objectives as well as to revise the to initial scope or requirements • Ensure your project leads are present
overall project schedule, if necessary. can have a significant impact on during all or large parts of system val-
The result is the business blueprint, the cost, resources, and timeline idation and acceptance testing
which documents in detail the results of the project • Review all output documents – for
gathered during the requirements work- example, invoices, purchase orders,
shops. The business blueprint serves and reports as well as financial state-
as a technical and functional guide Project Realization ments – before sign-off
during the subsequent phases of the
implementation project. This is the most significant phase Final Preparation
of the accelerated implementation
Major Milestones methodology and usually takes about This phase focuses on preparing both
The major milestones of the business a week and a half. The goal of project SAP Business One and the customer
blueprint phase are: realization is to implement all the busi- for going live. Key activities during this
• Workshops to gather business ness process and technical require- phase include completing user and
requirements with the customer’s ments gathered during the previous administrator training as well as final
functional leads phases and documented in the business fine-tuning of SAP Business One. As
• Creation of the detailed business blueprint. The consultants validate and part of final system tests, necessary
blueprint document update the configuration and demon- adjustments are made to resolve all
• Determination of changes to initial strate processes while your project remaining critical open issues. This phase
project scope and time schedule team updates the work instructions usually takes about five or six days.
(if applicable) (business process procedures, for
• Project phase review and sign-off example) and performs unit and inte- Major Milestones
from customer gration tests. The major milestones of the final prepa-
ration phase are:
Best-Practice Recommendations Major Milestones • Key-user and administrator training
The best-practice recommendations for The major milestones of the project • System readiness for going live
the business blueprint phase include: realization phase are: • Completion of cutover activities
• Ask your implementation partner to • Software installation and customization • Project phase review and sign-off
have SAP Business One available based on the business blueprint from customer
during the workshops to allow you to • Data migration (if applicable)
see the product in action in order to • Validation of system setup Best-Practice Recommendations
evaluate how it addresses specific • System testing The best-practice recommendations for
business requirements • Definition of training and cutover plan the final preparation phase include:
• Suggest using your own chart of • Project phase review and sign-off • Officially announce to all stakeholders
accounts instead of creating a new from customer the training and cutover plan and the
one, as this will significantly reduce schedule
effort for data migration and open- Best-Practice Recommendations • Make sure each user participates
balance reconciliation The best-practice recommendations for in the relevant training and works
• Communicate right away if you the project realization phase include: directly with SAP Business One
would like to migrate the historical • Minimize the number of changes to during that training
transaction data of your business setup and scope as such changes
to SAP Business One significantly affect testing and training
3

4. www.sap.com /contactsap
Going Live and Support Best-Practice Recommendations
The best-practice recommendations
Completing this phase is the ultimate for the going-live and support phase
goal and the most exciting step of the include:
implementation project. This is when • Involve your executive steering com-
your organization goes live with the mittee in the project closing meeting
SAP Business One software and starts for final project acceptance
managing all daily activities indepen- • Schedule a review and optimization
dently. The going-live and support phase conference four to six weeks after the
consists of two distinct subphases. project closing meeting and make sure
First, the project is completed with a your entire project team participates
formal project closing. During this time, • Make sure your functional leads of
the software is used productively in the project:
day-to-day operations, all issues and – Monitor how end users work with
problems are resolved, transition to the SAP Business One to ensure correct
production support team is finalized, and consistent use of the software
knowledge transfer is completed, and – Record all issues and required
the project is signed off. Subsequently, enhancements to performance,
the continuous improvement subphase functionality, and usability to be
begins during which the production discussed during the review and
support team monitors the software optimization conference
and resolves live business process • Request initial on-site going-live sup-
issues. Proper change management port with at least one consultant with
procedures are established and ongo- expertise in SAP Business One
ing end-user training is conducted.
Plans are made to continuously review Benefits for Customers
and improve business processes. The
review and optimization conference is The accelerated implementation meth-
scheduled and conducted. This phase odology as applied to the implementa-
is usually completed in four days. tion of SAP Business One brings many
benefits to SAP customers. It provides
Major Milestones customers with a clear understanding
The major milestones of the going-live of the scope, structure, and duration of
and support phase are: implementing SAP Business One at the 50 091 086 (08/08)
©2008 by SAP AG.
• Full production implementation of outset of the project to eliminate sur- All rights reserved. SAP, R/3, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver,
SAP Business One prises and overruns in time or budget. Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign, SAP Business ByDesign, and other
SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their
• Project phase review and sign-off In addition, the methodology brings respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG
in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All
from customer for going live and customers peace of mind because they other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of
support as well as for final project know the partners using the methodol- their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves
informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
completion ogy will provide best-practice implemen- These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials
• Review and optimization conference tation services according to the are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies (“SAP Group”)
for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of
standards set by SAP. any kind, and SAP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions with
respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP Group products
and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty
statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing
herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.