- SAP Managed Tags
The Zimmer Biomet SAP S/4HANA program
The Zimmer Biomet SAP S/4HANA program is one of the recent examples of the challenges large enterprises face during ERP transformations. Despite the experience of both the client and its implementation partner, Deloitte, the project resulted in significant operational disruption, financial impact, and ultimately a lawsuit valued at 172 million USD.
This case illustrates that even experienced organizations can face major risks when project governance is not clearly defined or enforced. The lessons from this example are highly relevant to SAP transformation programs based on SAP Activate and other structured methodologies
What happened?
Several governance and execution issues contributed to the project’s difficulties.
Business lack of readiness ignored under schedule pressure.
The program prioritized a go-live date over operational stability, leading to system instability and defects in core business processes.
Scope changes without sufficient control.
More than fifty change requests (51 to be exact) were introduced during delivery, reflecting weak initial planning and shifting priorities across the program.
Leadership transitions during critical phases.
The cutover took place amid workforce reductions and executive changes, disrupting oversight and decision-making at a critical stage.
High resource turnover and offshore dependency.
Frequent team changes and heavy reliance on offshore delivery compromised continuity and consistency and made team collaboration difficult.
Weak contractual governance.
The contract did not contain detailed acceptance criteria, performance metrics, or financial safeguards, which reduced the client’s ability to enforce quality and accountability.
These factors combined into a situation where accountability was fragmented, oversight weakened, and the project lost its alignment with business readiness.
Why Project Governance matters in SAP projects?
SAP Project Governance is far more than an administrative framework. It defines how decisions are made, validated, and enforced across all delivery phases, ensuring that the program remains transparent, disciplined, and aligned with both business objectives and delivery capabilities. A key element of governance is having clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the project organization. For project managers working within the SAP Activate framework, the “Agile Roles and Responsibilities” accelerator under the Establish Project Governance task provides detailed role definitions, a sample project structure, and supporting guidance for team setup.
Effective governance provides:
Clear project roles and responsibilities
Defined decision-making and escalation paths
Quality Gates (Q-Gates) and readiness checkpoints
Independent validation of progress and risk
A structured link between methodology and execution
Without this structure, even the most experienced teams are exposed to scope drift, political pressure, and decisions based on optimism rather than data.
Governance lessons learnt from the Zimmer Biomet's project
Zimmer Biomet’s experience highlights the importance of disciplined governance across all transformation phases. The following governance focus areas and controls can strengthen any SAP program:
1. Independent validation of plans and estimates.
Involve internal audit or a third-party reviewer to confirm delivery assumptions, timelines, and risk exposure before sign-off.
2. Contract governance and acceptance criteria.
Define measurable milestones, holdbacks, and acceptance conditions tied to business outcomes, not just technical completion.
3. Formal change control.
All scope changes should follow a documented approval process managed through a Change Advisory Board (CAB) or similar structure.
4. Tool-based governance workflows.
Use a project management tool to record requirements, approvals, and changes to maintain full traceability and transparency.
5. Quality Gates and readiness reviews.
Introduce Go/No-Go checkpoints in each SAP Activate phase to validate completion and business readiness before progressing.
6. Business readiness validation.
Conduct process simulations, data migration tests, and user readiness assessments before cutover to ensure the organization is prepared.
7. Post-Go-Live governance.
Establish clear escalation paths and service-level expectations for the stabilization (hypercare) period.
8. Independent audits.
Perform periodic reviews of deliverables versus commitments, and ensure know-how transfer to internal support teams before closure.
Governance, when properly applied, is not bureaucracy. It is the early-warning mechanism that detects risks before they escalate into operational issues.
Conclusion
Zimmer Biomet’s experience demonstrates that project governance is not an optional formality and System Integrator's sole responsibility. It is the foundation of a controlled and transparent transformation that both contract parties should agree on and follow. Governance connects strategy to execution, defines accountability, and ensures that progress is validated objectively. All you have to do is to embed the discipline into your project with the help of SAP Activate framework.
Author
Bogdan Górka – Atlassian Solution Architect and SAP Project Governance consultant, creator of R2D ALM for Jira - a framework connecting SAP Activate methodology with Atlassian tooling. Independent consultant and founder of PMBG.EU Consulting.
Bluesky| User | Count |
|---|---|
| 3 | |
| 2 | |
| 2 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 |
