How to conduct Fit-to-Standard workshops in SAP S/...

AndreasMuno · ‎2021 Aug 31

中文版本：如何在 SAP S/4HANA Cloud 实施中执行Fit-to-Standard（标准流程匹配）研讨会 – 业务模拟.

Fit-to-Standard workshops are at the center of SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementations. How to conduct them in theory is well documented in the SAP Activate methodology, workstream “Application Design and Configuration”, Explore Phase. And you can find a whole playlist on SAP Activate on YouTube.

And yet, because the concept to analyze business processes and adopt standard business software in this way may appear unfamiliar and unusual, in practice project teams might get confused about their execution, especially in now dominating remote implementations. “If only we had access to vivid examples to further our understanding!”, you might think. Well, how about a series of video snippets which shows how it's done, following an imaginary yet realistic customer project through their Fit-to-Standard workshops? Here it is:

The following video clips show the simulation of an imaginary customer’s Fit-to-Standard workshops.

Prerequisites and Preparation: Videos 1-4.

Video 1: Introduction of the customer and preparation steps leading up to their Fit-to-Standard work... (2:49).

Meet the imaginary customer, learn about their goals with ERP aaS. How can you prepare well for the Fit-to-Standard workshops?

Video 2: Prerequisites: The Digital Discovery Assessment (or DDA for short. Older video but still mostly accurate, 6:44) Also, check out this deck. The DDA is one of the prerequisites for successful Fit-to-Standard workshops. Their outcome defines business priorities and relevant scope of the implementation. They also reveal integration or extension requirements. DDAs are conducted in the Prepare phase.

Video 3: Prerequisites: The Business-Driven Configuration Questionnaire (BDCQ)(1:57) Responses to the business questions of BDCQ help shape critical implementation and configuration decisions. They also identify areas for discussions to be had during Fit-to-Standard workshops.

Video 4: In preparation for their Fit-to-Standard workshops kick-off, the customer’s digital transfo... (6:21) Frequent alignment and exchange among the organizing parties of Fit-to-Standard workshops contribute to their success. How are the workshops scheduled? Who will be attending? Which tools will be used? How will they be moderated? Who needs to make decisions by when? How might open configuration questions get addressed? Most of these questions can and should be clarified ahead of the workshops.

Execution of workshops, example: Videos 5 & 6

Video 5: The project team meets to kick off the Fit-to-Standard workshop series (11:09)
Setting expectations right from the start and preparing team members properly what is and is not in scope of the workshops goes a long way for successful outcomes.

Video 6: Conducting the workshop for Finance, scope item J58, Accounting and Financial Close (23:59). Witness how the team walks through one workshop for one particular business scope item. Which aspects would you say they address well? Which ones would you do differently? Why? Feel free to put your responses into the comments.

Are workshop simulations like this helpful to your adoption journey with SAP S/4HANA Cloud? If so, which other topics related to your implementation or adoption of S/4HANA Cloud would you like to simulated in similar fashion? Please let us know in the comments.

We listened to some of your suggestions and added this blog and simulation video about conducting Quality Gates.

This video series was produced by the global SAP S/4HANA Cloud Expertise Services team.

How to conduct Fit-to-Standard workshops in SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementations – A Business Simulation

Useful documents on SCN

Evolution of ABAP

Analytics in S/4HANA - real shape of embedded analytics and beyond embedded analytics