Streamline Your Journey to the Cloud with the RISE with SAP Methodology

[Peter_Baskin]

In a recent blog, SAP’s Eric van Rossum discussed “getting innovation ready with cloud ERP”, and introduced the RISE with SAP Migration and Modernization program to help customers build a cloud-first business strategy and address the two primary opportunities that companies realize when moving to the cloud—quickly driving tangible outcomes through efficiency gains and new opportunities to innovate faster.  The program will make it easier for customers to find the current best practice, available incentives, the planned RISE with SAP innovation and the RISE with SAP Methodology.

In this blog, we will mine down on the details of the RISE with SAP Methodology and how it streamlines the migration from the SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) or SAP S/4HANA to the cloud, helping keep the core of the ERP clean by eliminating custom code, data silos, process complexity and rapidly returning value to the business.

What is the RISE with SAP Methodology?

The purpose of the RISE with SAP Methodology is to give businesses further confidence to go-live with predictability and help them leverage the full potential of cloud-based innovations. The RISE with SAP Methodology leverages existing proven implementation best practices like ACTIVATE principles and RISE Adoption Framework. We are now specifically focusing on weaving clean core principles throughout a consistent and prescriptive set of guidelines on core dimensions of an ERP implementation.  (E.g. business process, extensibility, data, integration, and operations). 

A clean core ERP describes a system or a landscape of systems that is as close to standard as possible with ongoing operational governance to maintain that state. The purpose of a clean core strategy helps ensure customers benefit from the latest software release, innovations like AI and sustainability. By standardizing the processes and data underlying ERP operations, customers can benefit from best practices and differentiate through cloud-compliant extensions and integrations available in the SAP Business Technology Platform.

With the RISE with SAP Methodology, businesses can:

• Ensure a clean core and fit-to-standard: This helps organizations to align with their clean-core objectives; ensuring that their ERP system is fit-to-standard.
• Achieve greater transparency and informed decision-making: By providing enhanced observations and recommendations by SAP, organizations have a clearer understanding of their project's progress.
• Handle effective change management and exceptions: Organizations can govern change management processes, ensuring the smooth implementation of recommended changes and addressing any exceptions or issues that may arise.
• Ensure quality at each project milestone through automated checks by SAP: By incorporating key milestone checks and automated quality gates, businesses can monitor project progress and ensure quality standards are met at each stage.

 

What is new in the RISE with SAP Methodology?

A clean core strategy is embedded into the RISE with SAP Methodology that begins with a clean core success plan. This success plan provides transparency on expected key clean core transformation KPIs right from the beginning of the discover & prepare phase. The methodology establishes a single cloud operations governance model, outlining the responsibilities of stakeholders. This collaborative approach allows for proactive decision-making and seamless coordination.

The methodology includes new formal, prescriptive ways to check that SAP standard methods, tools and offerings are being used to the best effect in the context of the clean core dimensions.  By visiting the RISE with SAP Migration and Modernization program, customers have direct links to self-guided tools in use today like the ACTIVATE principles and the RISE Adoption framework.  The methodology enhances existing quality gate checks, recommends accelerators, and promotes collaboration among all involved parties: customers, partners, and SAP, towards clean core dimensions.  

Specifically, the RISE with SAP Methodology will include:

• Enhanced quality gates (Q-gates) SAP proactively and transparently follows up at project milestones with customers using the methodology.

• Clean core runbook: Measures actual performance through an audit trail compared against the clean core success plan KPI’s.  The clean core runbook includes:
  • Inventory of enhancements: Documented list of modification / enhancements.
  • Governance model: Guidelines for governing process enhancements, roles and responsibilities and data strategy.
  • Prioritization Method: A prioritization method for implementation of the recommendations e.g. re-platforming of legacy integration with cloud platform integration (CPI).
  • “Keep clean” monitoring: Reduction of non-compliant items (e.g custom code, data quality, integration)
• Clean Core Report: A basic report of key deliverables that CXOs can review as an outcome to Q-gate checks and keep track of process, extensibility, integration, and data clean core KPIs.  The report includes:
  • Project status: An easy template to show the adherence of the project to fit-to-standard processes, integrations and data management and harmonization.
  • Enhanced reporting: For eligible customers, there will be an option for Preferred Success for RISE with SAP.  Here, customers will have access to an Enterprise Adoption Expert and enhanced reporting detail.
• Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (CALM) transparency: The customer along with the partner project team will review and execute the ACTIVATE tasks relevant for clean core together. Customers will consume and engage with digital assets, 1:Many sessions, workshops and more, recommended in the tasks & update the status in CALM.  CALM will have the latest status of all the tasks like onboarding, success plan and Q-gate execution and output from the clean core basic report.

 

What are the next steps:

1. SAP customers have access to free of charge and fee based self-guided and assisted tools and services by visiting the RISE with SAP Migration and Modernization program on sap.com.  In it you’ll find helpful workshops that provide additional information about the value of RISE with SAP and operating with a clean core.
2. Review the first set of clean core updates generally available in the RISE with SAP Methodology by going directly to the SAP Activate for RISE with SAP viewer. 
3. Access a basic report:

Step 1: SAP ACTIVATE roadmap is enriched with Quality Gate at the end of every Activate phase.

Step 2: For Quality Gate 1, the Embedded Launch Activity experts will support the customer in populating the Q-Gate and submit to SAP, the Q-Gate questionnaire is imported and submitted via CALM.

Step 3: Support from SAP for rest of the Quality Gate’s depends on the level of engagement the customer has with SAP e.g. SAP Preferred Success.

Step 4: The completed Q-Gate questionnaires are submitted to SAP.

Step 5: GENERATE RISE with SAP Methodology Report

For eligible customers, there will be an option for preferred success for the RISE edition. Here, customers will have access to the enterprise adoption expert who will help provide optimal adoption of the RISE with SAP Methodology.

To learn more about the RISE with SAP Migration and Modernization program and the RISE with SAP Methodology, please join us at the upcoming RISE into the Future event on February 28th, where we’ll discuss how to confidently migrate to cloud ERP.