Transcript Troubleshooting Your Domino HTTP Server Crashes and Hangs

Best Practices for
Planning, Managing, and
Executing a Global SAP
BW Project
Dr. Bjarne Berg
Lenoir-Rhyne College
© 2004 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
What We’ll Cover…..
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Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
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An in-depth look at a global Telecom
A global industrial company
A glance at four other global BW implementations
• Getting the team together
• Lessons learned: global BW project management
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Project Management, the team composition, the BW Product and other lessons
learned
• Wrap-up
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What We’ll Cover…
• Why build a global BW system?
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Business case
Scope
Approach
Performance measures
Tool selection
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
Getting the team together
Lessons learned: global BW project management
Wrap-up
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Where Does Senior Management Think It Is?
82% of senior executives believe that the
information they need to make decisions
is available in the company, but very
hard to get a hold of.
Source: Forbes Magazine, 2003
Why??
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Why is Management Not Getting What It Wants?
82% of senior executives believe that the
information they need to make decisions
is available in the company, but very hard
to get a hold of.
Source: Forbes Magazine, 2003
1. Reporting is still organized around departmental functions
2. Reporting is organized around geographical boundaries
3. Tools are not standardized
4. The focus has been on standardizing processes
Most importantly: A global enterprise reporting
architecture has not been implemented
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Why Not Use Yesteryear’s ERP Reporting Tools?
ERP-system
Executive Info Systems
Data
Warehousing
Spreadsheets
Information Center
ODS
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Source: Fredrick Hoggren
Swedish Civil Economist Association
While providing higher flexibility, more interactive analysis capabilities and
ability to consolidate data from many sources, data warehouses and ODSs
have rapidly replaced many of the earlier ERP reporting tools…
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Why Consider a Global Data Warehousing Solution?
BI
DW (BW)
Operational Data Store
(BW)
Transactions (i.e. R/3)
 The more access a company
has to global information, the
faster it can respond to
opportunities, threats and
risks.
 Monthly performance
N
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reporting is simply not
adequate to run a modern
multi-national organization…
“The advantages that data warehousing offers — faster market response, reduced operating costs, knowledge-based strategic
decision support, and more — have made it a required tool of the global economy.” Paul Foote in “State of the Marketplace”.
Faulkner Information Services
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Analytics vs. Reporting
Decide early on how
much analytics vs.
basic reporting the team
is going to deliver.
Level of Embedded Analytics
Balanced scorecards
based on key performance
indicators require more
substantial more work
than creating simple
financial reports.
Alternative Approached to ERP iAnalytics
Complex analytics
(balanced scorecards, budgeting,
planning, KPI)
Custom analytics
(2nd generation)
Integrated analytics
(3rd generation)
ERP Data warehouse
(1st generation)
Enhanced data warehouse
(2nd generation)
Interactive Mgmt.
reporting
(OLAP, MQE)
How will users access
data in multiple areas?
Analytics contains pre-developed
rules to view or examine data
Tools and
accelerators
Industry and process
specific solutions
Level of Project Delivered Content
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What Activities in the Supply Chain Drive the Company?
Develop
Products/
Services
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Research Customer/
Market Needs
Conduct Basic Research
Design & Develop
Products / Services
Test-market Product
Develop Resource
Requirements Plan
Develop & Implement
Manufacturing Processes
Develop & Implement
Service Processes
Produce
Products/
Service
Perform
Procurement
• Manage
Vendor/Contractor
Relationships
• Order Materials/Supplies
• Manage Inbound Logistics
• Receive
Materials/Supplies
• Manage Material/Supply
Quality
• Manage Raw
Material/Feedstock
Inventory
• Return Materials to
Vendors
• Qualify & Select
Vendors/Contractors
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Do not build a global
system around what data is
easily "available".
Manage Engineering
Changes
Manage Product/Service
Quality
Obtain, Install, & Maintain
Production Equipment
Develop & Maintain
Production Procedures
Plan Capacity
Plan Production
Requirements
Schedule Production
Produce & Package
Products/Services
Perform Production
Control
Manage Work-In- Process
Inventory
Develop & Maintain Bills
of Material/Formulae
Manage
Logistics/
Distribution
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Plan Inventory Levels
Manage Finished Goods
Inventory
Manage Outbound Product
Flow
Manage Transportation
Perform Shipping
Manage
Warehouses/Distribution
Centers
Perform
Marketing/
Sales
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Develop Market Strategies
Develop Marketing Plan
Develop Assortment/Brand Plan
Develop Product Packaging
Create Demand Forecast
Establish & Manage Distribution
Channels
Manage Finished Goods
Inventory
Manage In- Store Merchandising
Manage Sales Force/Brokers
Plan & Execute Promotional
Events
Manage
Customer
Service
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Process Customer Orders
Manage Product
Packaging/Configuration
Manage Product/Service Pricing
Manage Scheduling
Manage Customer Credit
Ratings
Handle Inquiries/Complaints
Collect Customer Data
Provide Customer Service
Handle
Warranties/Claims/Returns
STEP 1: Determine what activities in the supply
chain drives the profit of your company.
Regardless of organizational, geographical
or system boundaries.
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Determine Your Global Performance Measures
Develop
Products/
Services
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Equipment/Labor (Utilization)
Headcount
Process Steps (Number
Product Development (Cost)
Product Development (Cycle Time)
Product Introduction (Number)
Schedule/Cost Estimates (Accuracy)
Perform
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Equipment/Labor (Utilization)
Headcount
Process Steps (Number)
Purchase Discounts (Value)
Purchase Order
(Volume/Frequency)
Purchase Price Variance (Value)
Purchasing (Cost)
Purchasing (Cycle Time)
Supplier Defects (Number)
Supplier Lead Time
Supplier On-time Delivery
Suppliers (Number)
STEP 2: Determine what performance
measures you need to track in BW.
Consider what successful companies
in your industry are doing..
Produce
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Changeover/Turnaround (Cycle Time)
Defects/Off-Quality (Cost)
Defects/Off-Quality (Volume/Quantity)
Engineering Design Changes (Cycle Times)
Engineering Design Changes
(Volume/Frequency)
Equipment/Labor (Utilization)
Headcount
Inventory Work In Process (Level/Value)
Manufacturing (Cycle Time)
Parts/Stock Keeping Units (Number)
Process Steps (Number)
Production Lot/Batch Size
Production Schedule (Accuracy/Fulfillment)
Productivity/Throughput
Quality of Service
Rework (Cost)
Rework (Volume/Frequency)
Scheduled Maintenance (Cost)
Scheduled Maintenance (Cycle Time)
Scheduled Maintenance (Frequency)
Scrap/Waste (Cost)
Theft/Shrinkage (Cost)
Unscheduled Maintenance (Cost)
Unscheduled Maintenance (Cycle Time)
Unscheduled Maintenance (Frequency)
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Look to the Industry for Best Performance Measure Practices
Market / Sell
Products /
Services
Distribute
Products
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Carriers (Number)
Dock-to-Stock (Cycle Time)
Equipment/Labor (Utilization)
Headcount
Inventory (Accuracy)
Inventory Finished Goods (Level/Value)
Inventory Finished Goods (Turnover)
Inventory Intransit (Level/Value)
Inventory Raw Materials (Level/Value)
Inventory Raw Materials (Turnover)
Picking (Accuracy)
Picking/Packing (Cycle Time)
Process Steps (Number)
NOTE: The performance measures
may be different than those you are
reporting on today…
Ignore organizational, geographical
or system boundaries.
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Advertising Effectiveness (Awareness)
Advertising Effectiveness (Perception)
Annual Purchase Volume
Closure/Conversion Rate
Customer Complaints (Volume/Frequency)
Customer Retention Rates
Customer Returns (Number)
Design/Formulation/Package Changes
Distribution Channels (Number)
Event ROI
Forecast (Accuracy)
Forecast (Cycle Time)
Headcount
In-Stock Ratio on Promoted
items/Rainchecks
Marketing (Cost)
Marketing (Cycle Time)
Marketing Effectiveness (Cost)
Marketing Effectiveness (Cycle Time)
Product/Brand Forecast (Accuracy)
Product/Brand Forecast (Cycle Time)
Shelf/Floor Allotment
Shopping Frequency
SKU’s (Number)
Traffic Count & Transaction Size
Variance to Plan (Market Share)
Variance to Plan (Production Cost/Volume)
Variance to Plan (Sales Value/Units)
Manage
Customer
Service
• Adjusted Orders (Volume/Frequency)
• Backorders/Stockouts
(Volume/Frequency)
• Billing (Cost)
• Billing (Cycle Time)
• Credit/Debit Memos
(Volume/Frequency)
• Customer Satisfaction Rating
• Equipment/Labor (Utilization)
• Headcount
• Inquiries/Complaints
(Volume/Frequency)
• On-time Delivery Rate
• Order Fill Ratio
• Order Fulfillment (Cycle Time)
• Order Processing (Cycle Time)
• Order Processing (volume)
• Process Steps (Number)
• Response/Wait Time
• Warranties/Claims/Returns (Cost)
• Warranties/Claims/Returns
(Volume/Frequency)
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Where Are We?
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Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
Getting the team together
Lessons learned: global BW project management
Wrap-up
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What Logically Belongs in a Global BW System?
Real-time
Inquiry
Operational
Reporting
ERP
Management Information
Lightly Summarized
More Summarized
More Ad Hoc
DW
Dividing Line
Source: Siemens
Two years ago, with version 3.0B, BW
became increasingly able to report on
operational detailed data. But some
reports still belong in R/3 or other
transactions systems…
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Why Is Management Not Getting What It Wants?
In the next section we’ll take a look at the typical global
Data Warehouse architecture and see how SAP BW maps
to this conceptual architecture
Afterwards we will look at an example how this may
integrate with multiple environments from an enterprise
perspective.
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The Global Target Architecture – An Example
Meta Data
Source Data
Extract
External
systems
Messaging
Internet
Transform
Data
Warehouse
Access
Managed
Query Env.
Purchasing
R/3
Legacy
Systems
Operational
Data Store
Marketing
& Sales
Data
Extraction
Transform
and
Load
Processes
Corporate
Translate
Summarize
Product Line
Summation
Location
Calculate
Attribute
Finance
Supply
OLAP
Data Subsets
by Segment
Summarized
Data
Synchronize
Reconcile
Vendor
Provided
Batch
Reporting
Data
Mining
Data Marts
Data Warehouse and Decision Support Framework
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Where Do I Start?
This table illustrates the reported focus areas from companies in the US and Europe for their
DSS development.
Focus on an area that solves a
problem instead of becoming a
"replacement" project. Gradually,
using a prioritized phased
approach, solve other business
problems.
A good way to think of BW rollout
planning is in terms of business
problems.
BUSINESS PROBLEM
MCM
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
69 %
TARGET MARKETING
65 %
FCM
FINANCIAL REPORTING
55 %
PROFITABILITY REPORTING
55%
COST ANALYSIS
46 %
CUSTOMER SERVICE
43 %
CATEGORY MANAGEMENT
30 %
30 %
INDUSTRY SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS
29 %
BUDGETING/PLANNING
27 %
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Reporting
Enterprise
Portals
SAP-CRM
Financial
Analysis
SAP-BW
Data
Warehouse
SEM/
SCEM
Supply Chain
Management
Procurement
SAP-HR
22 %
CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT
TODAY
Other
62 %
25 %
13 %
Reporting projects since most
companies have more than one
project, totals in each business
area may exceed
100%
Source: Rainer
Gebhardt, Insights
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Where Are We?
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Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
Getting the team together
Lessons learned: global BW project management
Wrap-up
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The Six Global Dimensions
There are six core global dimensions you must consider before embarking on a
global DW strategy.
Project management is important, but it’s only one of these dimensions. Failure
to account for the others may result in project failures.
Source: Peter Grottendieck, Siemens
For each dimension, articulate an approach, constraints,
limitations and assumptions before you start your project.
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The Six Global Dimensions (cont.)
Be aware that US management styles can often come across as very aggressive and
authoritative. To get local buy-in, assign meaningful leadership roles to local
managers.
Intercultural Know How
Culture, language, attitudes and politics can get in the way of a global project…
Make sure you have a blend of local resources in leadership roles and consider
local consultants instead of bringing in US resources…
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The Six Global Dimensions (cont.)
One of the first steps is to make sure you have reliable connectivity and
bandwidth to move the data each night…
Infrastructure
Prerequisites
What happens if the data movement fails?
How can you get access to backup tapes?
Can the bandwidth handle end-of month high volumes?
What infrastructure do each source site use?
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The Six Global Dimensions (cont.)
Do all team members and end-users communicate as effective in English?
Training
Documentation
1.
Do we need multi-language training and documentation?
2.
Does basic conversational English mean that users can read
and understand technical training material and documentation?
3.
Have you installed Unicode on your BW system?
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How Tightly Should Multiple BW Projects be Controlled?
Coordination of Multiple Data Warehouse Projects
The relationship
between global control
and success:
Tight Central Control
(24%)
Loose Cooperation
(38%)
Independent
(38%)
88% Successful
30% Successful
100% Successful
Source: The Conference Board Survey
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Where Are We?
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Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
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An in-depth look at a global Telecom
A global industrial company
A glance at four other global BW implementations
• Getting the team together
• Lessons learned: global BW project management
• Wrap-up
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Let’s Look at a Global BW Project Example
A case study
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Fortune 100 company with operations around the world
230 systems identified as “mission critical”
23 installations of SAP R/3 on 6 continents
Other ERP systems:
 JD Edwards
 Custom-developed Oracle systems
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Data Warehouse Initiatives
A case study
These were the DW initiatives that
corporate HQ knew about
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Alternative Global BW Approaches
Build a global data warehouse
for the company, and proceed
sourcing data from old legacy
systems driven from a topdown approach.
BOTTOM-UP APPROACH
CHANGE
CONTINUE
TOP-DOWN APPROACH
Focus on a bottom-up approach
where the BW project will prioritize
supporting and delivering local BW
solutions, thereby setting the
actual establishment of the global
Data Warehouse as secondary,
BUT not forgotten.
A case study
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Bottom-Up Approach Rationale
Improved Project
Management
 Enables future
migration of
standardized data
architecture to a Global
DSS architecture
through standard local
solutions.
 Ensures higher quality
of local deliveries and
projects through
increasing focus on
providing local
solutions.
Improved Cost
Efficiency
 Minimizes local investments through a
consolidated hardware
environment.
 Leverages buying
power in front of
vendors through provision of guidelines
and corporate
agreements.
 Enables lower
development costs
through centralized
user documentation
and training.
 Establishes a better
working environment
between local units and
central project
 Substantially reduces
management through
ABAP report
the positioning as a
programming costs
“Competency Center for
through providing
Local Needs”.
support for an efficient
SAP BW roll-out.
A case study
Secured Commonality
across Company
Leveraged SAP
Decision Support
 Ensures use of
common definitions.
 Provides users with a
fast way to integrate
ERP reporting to
advanced standardized decision
support systems
through simplifying the
roll-out of SAP BW
 Enables the inclusion
of future SAP-based
standard decision
support modules
(SEM, EC and others).
 Ensures uniformity
through eliminating
options to develop
regional, functional or
non-standard
solutions.
 Provides centralized
testing of vendor
software (combined
with ESOE etc).
 Using ONE
methodology - one
way of working.
 Reduces delivery time
of decision support for
SAP R/3 through
usage of a
standardized
application.
 Ensure reusability.
 Reusability will ensure
commonality !
 Creates a
Competence Center
for SAP BW.
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SAP BW Activities and Architecture
4. Migrate existing solutions into Company
architecture
3. After local solutions are implemented and
standardized, consolidation to a Global
Data Warehouse is simplified and faster
2. Coordinate development
efforts and activities:
-Tool selection
-Methodology
-Organization
-Deliverables
-Data standards
-Training
-Documentation
A case study
Global DW
SAP
BW
DW
Local
DW
Local
DW
Oracle
Sybase
MVS
Others
Oracle
Sybase
MVS
Others
5. Install SAP BW based solutions
(SEM, EC and consolidated BW)
for business and financial
management together with Shared Financial Services
Local
DW
Oracle
Sybase
MVS
Others
SAP
BW
SAP
BW
SAP
BW
SAP
BW
SAP
R/3
SAP
R/3
SAP
R/3
1. Test, productify
SAP BW and install
standard
solution(s) locally:
-Software
-Hardware
-Testing
-Training
-Documentation
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An Approach to BW Reporting Architecture Development
BISC (Business Information Supply
Chain) Responsibilities
SAP Business Warehouse
 BISC would take the responsibility for productfying and installing SAP BW standard solutions
locally, including software, hardware, testing,
training and documentation.
 BISC could support for SAP BW based solutions
for business and financial management (SEM,
EC and consolidated BW together with SFSC
etc).
Global DW
SAP
BW
DW
Local
DW
Oracle
Sybase
MVS
Others
Local
DW
Oracle
Sybase
MVS
Others
Local
DW
Oracle
Sybase
MVS
Others
SAP
BW
Local Data Warehouses
SAP
BW
SAP
BW
SAP
BW
SAP
R/3
SAP
R/3
SAP
R/3
 BISC coordinates development efforts and
activities within the Data Warehousing field at
Company. This includes guidelines on tool
selection,
methodology,
organization,
deliverables, data standards, training and
documentation.
Global Data Warehouse
 BISC has the overall responsibility to establish
the Global DW within Company, which is
achieved through prioritizing development of
consistent local DW solutions enabling our long
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term goals.
SAP BW Rollout Approach
CHANGE
“Bottom-Up
Fixed Departure”
Departure I - 3 months
Departure II - 3 months
Departure III - 3 months
Departure IV - 3 months
• The project delivered local SAP
BW solutions and packaged
solutions for decision support as a
first priority, and the Global Data
Warehouse as a second priority.
• A “fixed departure approach” was
applied with focus on delivering
solutions rather than projects and
software; specific BW solutions
were developed according to a predefined schedule where local
business units were invited or
encouraged to participate.
A case study
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A Global Rollout – a Different European Example
UK
North West (Den Haag)
Ireland
Local
Local
AMC/Dev
AMC/Dev
Spiridon
Spiridon
/CRM
/CRM
BW
Spiridon
others
CRM
CRM (one client)
Global
Development
Spiridon/CRM
Netherland
s
Mid South (Wien)
BW
Local
AMC/Dev
BW
others
BW
Local
AMC/Dev
Spiridon
/CRM
Spiridon
e.p@ss
/CRM
e.p@ss
Austria
South West (Madrid)
Portugal
others
Switzerland
CRM
Turkey
Belgium
CRM
Spain
Source: Siemens Corp information 2003
In this case, the company created both a local
and global BW system for CRM data
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Some Lessons Learned From Other Global Implementations
Very large
global telecom Co.
BW version
Largest
Volume
Lessons
learned
3.1c
3.1c
5-20 million
Largest cubes have 18.8
transactional records million, 18.4 million, and
in FI cubes
11.2 million records
each.
Keep scope and
Should not have gone
development effort
“live” on 1.2a, should
focused, use more
have used more than
than one
one presentation tool.
presentation tool,
The extract and load
don’t underestimate
process is the most
the extract and load
complex, strong BW
effort
experience is essential
Standardized global
reporting
Creation of corporate
enterprise-wide data
warehouse
Very happy with
implementation
added 3 more
countries last year
Overall happy. Have
accomplished in 6
months what would
have taken 5 years.
Business
drivers
Success
Global oil co.
Global oil co.
3.0b
35 million rows
Fortune-500
Retailer
3.2
120 million records in
sales, and 230GB in
Sales and finance
Data movement is
Custom coding cannot
the most complex
overcome the BW
part of BW. The
extractors. Integration
project would not
with non-R/3 data was
have accepted as
technically easy, but
many enhancements
conceptually hard.
if done again.
The team members must
You need a really .
have solid BW skills
strong BW architect
SAP R/3 was being Custom global reporting
installed, and SAP
has a too-high cost
BW is the reporting of ownership and is too
strategy for all key hard to manage. Want
performance
content and features.
indicators
Is being rolled out to Very happy with the
more subsidiaries
speed of delivery and
and management is
user satisfaction
pleased with results
The major findings highlight the need for specialized
N
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BW skills and very strong scope control…
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Deciding Which Front-end To Use For A Global BW System
A framework for Presentation Tools Classification
Executive Information System
Decision Support System
Business Modelling
High
Statistics &
Data Mining
OLAP
Introduction
& Use Costs
Query & Reporting
Productivity
Tools
Low
(DBMS, Spreadsheet)
Low
Informative Needs
A major decision for the global BW system is
the selection of which delivery mechanism to
support and who get access to which tool.
High
Most companies start with BW
OLAP for web and add other types
of interfaces later..
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Example Summary
• A conceptual architecture is the first
step and the physical architecture is a
product of this. It should be driven by
the user needs and the types of
interfaces needed, and not by an internal
IT exercise.
• SAP BW can now be used as an
enterprise Data Warehouse and a Global
rollout can be accomplished.
• There are two core ways to succeed, but
both require strong central control and
support.
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Where Are We?
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Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
Getting the team together
Lessons learned: global BW project management
Wrap-up
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Practical Tips: Getting The Global Team Together
• Involve relevant business departments, regardless of
organizational and geographical boundaries.
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Create a user acceptance team with a total of 5-7 members from the
various business departments or organizations. Keep the number odd
to assist with votes when decisions are made. With fewer than 5
members it can be hard to get enough members present during some
meetings.
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Make the team the focus of requirements-gathering in the early phase
and let this team later become the user acceptance team (testing) in the
realization phase.
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Meet with the team at least once a month during realization to refine
requirements as you are building and have something to show the
team.
This approach is hard to execute when also managing scope,
but essential to make sure the system meets the requirements
I
s
s
u
e
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Practical Tips: Getting The Global Team Together (cont.)
These are roles not positions.
(sometimes one team member
can fill more than one role)
Project sponsor/
Steering Comittee
Tip: Keep back-end
developers centralized,
while query developers
can be de-centralized….
Project Manager
BW Architect
Portal developer(s)
Sales Team
Finance Team
Business analyst/(sub-team lead)
BW developer
Presentation developer(s)
ETL developer
Business analyst/(sub-team lead)
BW developer
Presentation developer(s)
ETL developer
Material Mgmt. Team
Business analyst/(sub-team lead)
BW developer
Presentation developer(s)
ETL developer
Basis and functional R/3 support
15-25 team members and normally 6-18 months duration depending on scope
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Sleep and Travel…
• People crossing 4 or more time zones need over 36 hours to
adjust, increasing to > 72 hours when crossing 6 or more
time zones. Some simple rules to address this:
 Create a "project time" in the middle. I.e. for European
and US projects, middle time would be Eastern US time
+3 hrs, and European central times less 3 hours. No
meetings would be scheduled between 8 AM and 11 AM
in Europe, nor between 2 PM and 5 PM in the US.
 Fly to the destination the day before, or allow at least 4
hours downtime for sleeping and showering at the hotel.
 Schedule meeting times around when people are
traveling.
 Keep each trip over 5 days minimum to adjust for sleep,
or risk running the team "into the ground"…
 Plan extended weekends for family time for staff after a
long trip (including consultants)…
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Getting Local "Buy-in" And Developing Local Support
Should a set of Ambassadors be
part of the rollout-strategy?
Issue
Issue
How can this be done with
minimal organizational disruption?
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The Use of “Ambassadors”
Getting power users involved early is important to
the overall success of a Data Warehousing project
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“Amba
To help support the businesses that have already
gone live, a strong local community of
“ambassadors” is needed. If you don’t have them,
on-going projects may get “bogged down” with
basic support of reports.
40
Ambassadors - How To Use Local Resources
• Of the total work of 7,061 hours for presentation
development from August though October, 58% of the
enhancement work was performed by local resources.
• This allowed the central team to move their focus to the
next implementation, while ensuring local support and
empowered Ambassadors to help the users in each
organization.
Germany, Holland
Ambassadors
(PowerUser)
USA
TASKS (partial list):
• Customize for local needs
Business Content
Austria
• Reconcile old and new reports
1. Presentation developer
Spain
2. User requirements analyst
• Local support and delivery
• Ensure reusability of solutions
• Ensure change management
Italy
Oct. 02
Mar. 03
Jan. 02
Jun. 03
May. 03
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Some Benchmark Indications on Ambassadors…
Increased business
N
o
t
e
involvement increases
the probability for data
warehouse project
success.
Can you use a
BW Ambassador
in your user
organizations?
Business Units Involved in Development
No
(10%)
50%
50%
Successful
Successful
Yes
(90%)
70%
70%
Successful
Successful
Survey of 84 companies: The Conference Board.
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Where Are We?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
Getting the team together
Lessons learned: global BW project management




Project management
Team composition
BW Product
Other lessons
• Wrap-up
43
Lessons Learned: Project Management
• A user acceptance team (UAT) of 5-7 people should be created from the
first day, and all acceptance criteria should be established well in
advance of the implementation
• Use of Rapid Application Development is the preferred development
methodology
• Use a phased business content approach with standard delivered content
first, then customize if absolutely needed
• It is hard to estimate accurately the data movement effort — 80% of
delays and surprises occur in this area, and this work is often underestimated
• Treat the workplan only as a tool and adjust it as needed
• Spend less time on the project preparation phase and as much as
possible on the realization phase. Many issues cannot be planned, but
time can be set aside to deal with them.
44
Lessons Learned: Team Composition
• Developer training should start early for all project team
members
• SAP R/3 skills are not easily transferable to BW — hands-on
experience is needed (it’s hard to learn while being productive)
• The quality of the team members is much more important than
the number of members. A skilled BW developer can
accomplish in one day what 3 novice developers can do in a
week.
• Project time and cost estimates should be based on teams’
experience levels
• Plan on formal knowledge transfer from external resources
starting from day one. Link inexperienced members with
experienced ones
• Have identified “go-to” resources available in all areas (make a
list)
45
Lessons Learned: The BW Product
• The time to develop BW will depend on how much
customization was done when R/3 was installed
• The tool has a high learning curve and training cannot
substitute for experience.
• Plan on spending 10-15% of overall effort on performance
tuning of queries and data loads. Test the performance as
part of the development effort.
• Implementation of LIS, SIS, EIS are no longer needed to use
most standard extractors from BW, but most extractors are
normally enhanced. Plan on using 50-60% of the project
effort on data extraction, movement, validation, load,
scheduling and testing.
46
Lessons Learned: The BW Product (cont.)
• Use the statistics cube to monitor system performance and don’t
forget to use the cost-based optimizer if you are using Oracle as
your database
• Direct updates to InfoCubes (non-loads) are complex. If this is
needed for reconciliation efforts, create a data staging area,
make changes here and re-load the data. Direct cube updates for
non SEM/ APO, SCEM cubes are hard to make work in practice.
• Do not succumb to using BW as a dumping ground — some
reports belongs in R/3.
Finally, do not attempt to “cram” all data into one
cube. Keep InfoCubes logically organized and use
multi-cube queries as needed.
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Other Lessons Learned
• Global user training should be custom-made and tailored to
each country or region.
• A global line support organization should be established and
be part of the development effort (knowledge transfer).
• Buy hardware early (international delivery times can delay the
project)
• Locate the users as soon as possible and take a look at the
network
• Finally, create “Ambassadors”, “road shows” and/or “brownbag” sessions.
48
Where Are We?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Why build a global BW system?
Designing a global BW architecture
The six dimensions of global BW project management
Global BW project examples
Getting the team together
Lessons learned: global BW project management
Wrap-up
49
Resources
• Global Project Management Handbook by David L.
Cleland, Roland Gareis. Hardcover: 672 pages.
McGraw-Hill Professional; ISBN: 0070113297
• International Journal Of Project Management, Magazine
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd ASIN: B00007AYDS
• The Distance Manager: A Hands On Guide to Managing
Off-Site Employees and Virtual Teams by Kimball
Fisher, Mareen Fisher. Hardcover: 252 pages Publisher:
McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 0071360654
50
7 Key Points to Take Home
• Use the 6 dimensions framework to guide your BW development
• Plan for a truly Enterprise Architecture that is designed, not evolved
• Spend much time on getting the right resources on your team
• Involve the local staff in a proactive manner and make them part of your
leadership team.
• Don’t re-invent the wheel — use experienced resources that have done it
before and pay particular attention to management styles, politics and
culture.
• Conduct post-implementation reviews with each local organization in order
to learn from experience and to give the subsidiaries a voice in how the
project is executed.
• Consider an "ambassador" concept to assist in local support and buy-in.
G
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Your Turn!!!
How to contact me:
[email protected]
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