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A project is a container that helps in reporting and managing information. A project can contain only one Template but can support multiple products. SAP Cloud ALM allows creation and management of multiple parallel projects. One Project contains one Project team.
What is a Project Template
A template is a predefined set of tasks that helps you accelerate your implementation. Currently SAP Cloud ALM offers only a subset of templates provides by Activate methodology.
If you find the task list provided by the template insufficient then you can enrich it by a mass upload of tasks and Deliverables
Selection of a Project template is not mandatory to create a Project. Also once selected the template can be switched at a later stage.
Structure of Template tasks
Tasks that come from a Template in a Project follow a three level Hierarchy
Phase
Deliverable
Tasks
The explanation of phases is below.
Phase
Description
Prepare
Initial planning and preparation for the project. In this phase the project is started, plans are finalized, project team is assigned, and work is under way to start the project optimally.
Explore
Perform a fit-to-standard analysis to validate the solution functionality included in the project scope and to confirm that the business requirements can be satisfied. Identified configuration values and delta requirements are added to the backlog for use in the Realize phase.
Realize
Use a series of iterations to incrementally configure, extend, and test an integrated business and system environment that is based on the business requirements identified in the Explore phase. During this phase, data is loaded, adoption activities occur, and operations are planned.
Deploy
Setup the production system, confirm customer organization readiness, and switch business operations to the new system. Start running the solution productively.
Run
Run the new system; Expand the footprint as needed (e.g. add new capabilities or expand geographic footprint of the solution; Apply SAP operations standards to optimize system use and operations.
A deliverable is an outcome of performing one or multiple tasks during the phase
Workstreams in a Project
Workstream represents logical grouping of deliverables in the same area of work. They are used as an attribute of a deliverable to indicate in which area of project the work will be done .
Tasks are also assigned to workstreams that provide an alternate working view. The list of workstreams is
Workstream
Description
Project Management
Covers planning, scheduling, governance, controlling and monitoring the execution of the project. Target group of this work stream are project managers.
Application Design & Configuration
Covers the confirmation of scope, fit-to-standard analysis, identification of delta business process requirements, and functional design of the solution. In later phases, it covers the configuration activities, unit testing to fulfil the customer requirements. Items that can be configured include: forms, workflows, user permission/security, screen layout, reports, master data setup, notifications, etc. This work stream also covers the demonstration of the configured/developed solution to the customer project team after each iteration cycle for customer acceptance and identification of adjustments needed for the next iteration. Note. This Work Stream includes RCEFW deliverables in OP deployments. It does not include Integrations, they are covered in separate workstream.
Testing
Covers test strategy, test planning, test case development, and execution of Integration Test, Performance Test, System Test, Regression testing, and User Acceptance Test.
Integration
Covers identification of integration requirements, integration points, integration approach, and integration solution design. The work stream also includes the setup of integration environment and middleware between the solution and any external systems.
Solution Adoption
Covers Value Management, Organization Change Management (OCM), and End-User Training topics of the deployment project.
Customer Team Enablement
Covers the enablement of the customer project team to work on the project effectively. This include standard product orientation to prepare the customer for product requirements and design discussion, as well as key user and admin training to prepare the customer for test case development and test execution. The tasks will lead to a full project team enablement.
Extensibility
Covers the design, development, and deployment of system functionality that cannot be provided by the standard product and needs to be custom developed. Note: Focus is on solution extensibility beyond the RICEFW that are covered in Design & Configuration and Integration.
Data Management
Covers the discovery, planning and execution of moving legacy data to the new system and archiving of legacy data. This work stream also covers cutover planning, preparation, management and execution of activities to cutover the system into production. It also includes the hyper-care support period shortly after cutover.
Technical Architecture & Infrastructure
Covers the solution landscape, deployment concept, system architecture, technical system design, environment (development, testing, production, failover) setup, technology operations standards and process.
Operations & Support
Covers the establishment and setting up of the helpdesk process, incident management process, post go-live change management process, & user related operations standards and process.
Analytics
Covers the design, creation, testing of the reporting and analytics inside the implemented solution. .
This list comes from Activate methodology and is not extendable at the moment
Roles in a Project
A project comes with a pre delivered set of roles provided by Activate methodology
Role
Description
Project Lead
Owns and drives the project jointly with the Partner Project Manager Coordinates all aspects of the project to meet defined objectives Manages relationship with project stakeholders Manages Q-Gate processes
Analytics Expert
Expert in the delivered analytics content Creation of the overall analytics design Managing reporting delta requirements with various functional teams Developer for new and/or extended reports and data structures
Business Process Expert
Understands business and processes Perform and confirm configuration Perform testing Drive decisions
Configuration Expert
Expert in solution processes and configuration Prepare and lead the Fit-to-Standard analysis process Perform/guide the system configuration Resolution of business process issues
Data Migration Expert
Responsible for the data migration of legacy systems to the new cloud system Identification and qualification of source data Cleansing of source data Execution of data migration into the system
Education Expert
Responsible for change management Develop end user trainings, learning plans/content, and train the trainers Assure user readiness of the solution
Extensibility Expert
Design and implement development of solution extensions on the SAP Cloud Platform Translate requirements into development activities Develop the extensions per the requirements and the customer business processes
Integration Implementation Expert
Responsible for the definition and setup of integrations Identification and testing of needed interfaces Identification of scope items Development of setup guides for customer driven integrations Perform integration setup Support cross system process testing
Output Management and Forms Expert
Definition and enhancement of output management and forms Modification of forms using Adobe LiveCycle Designer Configuration of output management Setup of the Cloud Print Manager
System Administrator
Provides consistency across the customer’s technical landscape during the solution lifecycle Manages interactions with the services center Serves as the central contact for SAP Responsible for receiving and requesting tenants
Testing Expert
Create and manage overall test strategy Manage solution testing, defects, and resolution of defects Coordinate test cycles during the implementation Manage testing activities for quarterly updates
A Project helps you contain the information together for operational reasons. The content provided by SAP activate methodology is made available in SAP Cloud ALM when you select a Project Template. Currently, workstreams can not be extended but Project roles can be extended.
