Clean Core related enhancements in the Solution Standardization Board for RISE with SAP

[JanMusil]

This blog builds on the previous post I made earlier in January about two types of governance in the transformation project that SAP Activate provides. You can find the blog post on the SAP Activate community page - Two Key Types of Governance Bodies for your SAP S/4HANA Cloud Project Success. In that post, I discussed the traditional governance setup for managing the escalation paths in typical projects for scope, risk, timeline/schedule, etc., and specific solution governance for driving the proper design decisions for the business solution itself. This type of governance is critical in the deployment of RISE with SAP solution as it directly ties to the clean core strategy-based deployment.

Clean core strategy has become a synonym for building the solutions the right way to ensure agility, long-term maintainability and ability to change. Over the past months, SAP experts have worked diligently to incorporate several significant enhancements into SAP Activate that help customers embrace the clean core strategy. These improvements further enhance the Solution Standardization Board governance and bring additional focus on proper planning for clean core, regular inspections of the adherence to clean core strategy as well as improved on-boarding experience. These enhancements have been launched in the past few weeks under the umbrella of RISE with SAP Methodology that uses SAP Activate at its core while enhancing the experience with a tightly integrated toolchain including SAP Signavio, LeanIX, and SAP Cloud ALM.

In today's article, we will specifically dive into the enhancements to the Solution Standardization Board and in future posts we will look at other aspects of the clean core strategy and how it is embedded into SAP Activate guidance. The recent releases of SAP Activate for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition has introduced following updates that are critical to embrace for customers deploying their RISE with SAP solution. Let's take a look at each.

Enhanced Five Golden Rules

One of the key enhancements delivered in Q1 of 2024 is the enhanced five golden rules that fully align with the five dimensions of clean core - process, data, extensibility, integration, and operational excellence. While the previous iteration of Golden Rules covered most aspects, it didn't specifically call out the importance of data (though it was implied as part of the Golden Rules for embracing standard business processes). In the latest iteration, the golden rules have evolved, and the data dimension has also been included. You can see the progress of the guidance over the year below in the image, which shows the evolution from pure process-focused guidance to comprehensive coverage for all aspects of the proper solution design.

You can see the latest version of the 5 Golden Rules aligned to clean core dimensions below:

1. Start with pre-configured processes, foster cloud mindset by adhering to Fit-to-Standard and Agile deployment detailed in SAP Activate

• Adopt SAP standard processes SAP Best Practices, SAP Enterprise Management Layer (*)(**), SAP Standard Content  or Partner templates(**) for fit-to-standard
• Where the pre-configured processes do not exist - process configuration and personalization should follow SAP-recommended configuration standards (IMG)
• Utilize SAP Fiori UX and pre-defined processes and data

2. Build your solution on quality data (configuration, master, and transactional) to leverage innovations

• Ensure data quality including accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, validity, and uniqueness.
• Manage data volumes to optimize resources utilization and ensure data privacy.

3. Use modern integration technologies

• Follow SAP Integration Solution Advisory Methodology.
• Use SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) for Integration.
• Leverage SAP Business Accelerator Hub for available APIs.

4. Use modern extensions technologies

• Follow guidance from Extend SAP S/4HANA in the cloud and on premise with ABAP based extensions –
  (A) Extend solution using released remote or local SAP APIs; (B) Extend SAP objects only via predefined extension points; and (C) Leverage cloud-enabled and released technologies.
• Use SAP Application Extension Methodology to develop modern extensions
• Retire custom ABAP extensions that you no longer need and renovate existing custom ABAP extension using cloud extension techniques.

5. Ensure transparency on deviations from these Golden Rules for Operational Excellence

• Any deviation has to be clearly documented as part of the deployment process; this will help the customer replace these with standard capabilities if they are offered in the future.
• Use standard capabilities of SAP Application Lifecycle Management tools to document the solution.

These enhancements have been in SAP Activate since late Q1 of this year. They are also accompanied by updates to the Solution Standardization Board template, which provides more details about the structure of the governing body, processes to follow, cadence, and participation from all parties involved in the transformation program.

Now we will look at some of the more recent enhancements that we added to SAP Activate this week.

SSB Deviation Tracker and Key Decision Document

While the Solution Standardization Board in SAP Activate provides a framework for tracking and documenting the deviation from the Five Golden Rules it was recently enhanced with two new templates to support customers in tracking the deviations and for documenting the key design decisions during the project. The two additional templates as assigned to the Solution Standardization Board task and below is a short description of the two assets:

• SSB Deviation Tracker Template - This template is used to keep track of the design decisions according to the 5 Golden Rules. It is a running list of extensions, integrations, data design decisions, and process design decisions that have been prepared for SSB and reviewed by the governance body. It is the embodiment of the 5th golden rule to document the deviations. Note that the tracker can be also considered the running list of technical debt that should be regularly reviewed for potential "back to standard" items after the go-live. Especially after an upgrade or when new capabilities are delivered into the RISE with SAP environment. 
• Key Decision Document - for each entry in the deviation tracker the requestor of the deviation should prepare materials for the SSB to make a decision. This template is designed to help with documenting the required decision, outlining the alternatives that were considered, and recommendations for proceeding. The build and test work on the deviation only can start after approval by the SSB. 

We recommend all customers deploying RISE with SAP solutions establish a strong governance body for adherence to the clean core strategy that is reflected in the 5 Golden Rules. It doesn't matter if you call it a Solution Standardization Board, Design Review Board, or another name. The key is that this body works on steering the design decisions to both enable your organization to benefit from your RISE with SAP investment and at the same time help manage the tendency to overdevelop custom code even for requirements that are not differentiating. 

In the next installment, we will take a look at the new clean core success plan, clean core quality gates, and onboarding activities.