SAP Variant Configuration Technology

ASUG Inhales....

2010-12-28T16:49:00.001-05:00

We all know that Bill Clinton "didn't inhale" during college...ASUG (the Americas SAP Users Group) recently launched a new SIG (Special Interest Group), so you could say ASUG proudly inhaled..

And what, pray tell, did ASUG inhale??? Well, kinda the CWG..

You see, the new SIG is all about a method to try and increase the visibility and membership of the CWG...While at the same time, hopefully leveraging the existing infrastructure that ASUG has built for influencing SAP.
Right or wrong, you can debate the success or failure of the CWG to influence SAP on our own. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the CWG was willing to do what SAP wanted, we were able to influence them a lot..For example, in getting things working how we wanted in the PMEVC...

Go right ahead, complain to me that the PMEVC doesn't do what you want it to do...Guess why...Cause YOU chose not to get involved and submit your requirements. How do I know? Well, put it this way...I was there and did that...Along with 2 primary others, only 1 of which was a SAP customer. And you wonder why we don't have much influence...

So the CWG Board took the bit in their teeth (and it was a long, hotly debated bit over the years) and went to the folks at ASUG...Personally, I'd darn glad that they did...And that there are plans to take the message to DSAG (the German Speaking SAP USers Group) as well.

You can find us on the ASUG site here;
http://www.asug.com/Default.aspx?tabid=124&vp_url=http://jive.asug.com/community/sig_communities/configuration_work_group
So far, not a lot of content since the launch on December 14, 2010....But hey, you never know. Maybe some of you folks here in the States will contribute a tad more...Or at least have a larger lever with your boss when it comes time to try and get involved..

Go visit the site. Post a little something..You never know what will happen..

Till next time,

Steve

Mobile Device Challenge

2010-11-28T16:49:00.002-05:00

Well hello again..

I know, it's been a looooong time since I've posted anything. If you've read much of this blog, you know why...If not, read some more and you'll find out..

I've come to discuss an event that recently happened at the Marco Island CWG conference.

Yup, SAP is getting on the mobile bandwagon.

If you've been hiding under a rock, then you have not seen the efforts SAP has been putting into the "mobile device" buzzword. And that the efforts have been lacking in the configuration space.

No more!! There is now a challenge issued by SAP to figure out what configuration should look like on a mobile device. Phone, tablet, you name it.

For details, you have to be a CWG member and then go here;

http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/node/2220

It don't take a rocket scientist to know that it's almost too little, too late. But hey, better late than never, right!!

The best news is that you can participate. All you have to do is be a CWG member and sign up.

If you don't, then you can't complain (at least to me) about the solution that eventually comes out of the folks in Walldorf..

But hey, have fun configuring out there...

Till sometime in the future...

How many configurators do we need???

2010-01-02T17:37:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are in 2010. As I tend to do, I took a look at my goals during the month of December. No, not to make resolutions as I don't believe in them. I believe in goals, which are different and possibly the subject of a whole nother blog...

But part of the goal setting process is reflection. And while I did that, I realized that it was 10 years ago (November 1999) that I attended my first CWG conference and asked SAP to do something different with their configuration technology.

During that conference, I also asked them "well, since the SCE (now the IPC) just went live and you now have 2 different configurator technologies, what next?" Of course, the answer was really vague, but funny thing is, it turned out to be exactly what they did. Namely "modularize" the software.

So, here we are in 2010 and what has SAP done? Why heck, they are releasing yet ANOTHER configurator in the Business By Design software. The name of this one is the "Core Constraint Engine". While I don't have a ton of details on it, what I have seen tells me it's pretty much the same old thinking wrapped up in a new package. Buy the book "Variant Configuration With SAP" http://www.sappress.com/product.cfm?account=&product=H3070 and turn to the last chapter to read about the Business By Design solution and the CCE.

So, I have to wonder, where is SAP heading now? From what I can gather, not down a road that will break new ground. Why do I say that you ask??

Get real folks, this is 2010. Textual configurators are so 1990's technology. What are the websites with the highest hit rates? Graphical, not textual.

SAP has made it really clear that they have no interest in interactive graphical configuration. Of course, neither do those folks at the "O" company either.

But the future is clear. If you ain't graphical, the kids of today won't be paying too much attention to your software. I'm already working with college students and grads who look at SAP and throw up their hands...

So what can SAP do if they won't go graphical? Maybe they could leverage the abilities hidden in their ERP system to at least provide and package all of the necessary data elements to the configuration technologies that DO choose to cater to the future...I can tell you this, nobody else out there does this, although certain software vendors have "kind of" built their graphical configurators around the SAP data.

Maybe, if there is interest, I'll continue this train of thought in the future.

Happy configurating folks!!

Thankful for VC

2009-11-24T20:16:00.002-05:00

Well, here in the States it's almost Thanksgiving. For those of you that may not know about this holiday, it's a time where we sit around, eat a lot and remember all those things we have to be thankful for.

And as Americans, we have a LOT to be thankful for.

Since this blog is about SAP's Variant Configuration software, I'll just keep my comments to that space.

You see, I'm very thankful for those within this space that choose not to invest themsleves in hard work and learning. You keep me employed.

I don't get it though. Why do people seems to want things the easy way? "Just tell me what to do and when to do it". I see and hear that all the time. Believe it or not, I'm thankful to hear it.

As an individual who learned almost everything the hard way, I found out a long time ago that knowing "why" is the key to success. The issue is, understanding "why" things are the way they are is more than just knowing what to do. It means understanding the intent, theory, and concepts behind whatever it is you are trying to learn.

And there's the rub. If you aren't willing to spend the time, and yes, the hard work building your knowledge and network, then you won't ever "get it". And when you think you DO "get it" odds are you don't. Cause that's the REAL secret. The learning never, ever stops.

And that means the hard work doesn't stop either.

So this one's for those of you that don't want to work that hard. You know who you are, and there are a BUNCH of you out there.

Thanks! You keep my family and I fed.

We appreciate it!

Marco Madness 2009

2009-10-16T21:54:00.002-04:00

The CWG had it's latest bi-annual conference at Marco Island...If you missed it (and a lot of you did) that's really a shame. The Board did a great job getting presentations and content together for this round. All kinds of interesting stuff, most of which I can't tell you about..

You see, most of what goes on in the CWG is advanced notice kind of stuff from SAP, which you have to be a member (covered by a NDA) in order to hear..But you can still see it..

Go to the CWG website (http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/node/32) and get yourself registered. Then you'll get access to all the content from conferences all the way back to 2002!!

For a little taste of this conference, you would be able to see "Unambigous Best Practices", or "10 Things Every Modeler Should Know"..Then there is the Roadmap for PLM enhancements..

But you can't get there unless you get yourself signed up!!

In the meantime, you can go to SAPPRESS and buy yourself the one and only book written on Variant Configuration by SAP employees...Find it here;
http://www.sappress.com/product.cfm?account=&product=H3070

Maybe I'll give a little review of it here in a week or two..I'm reading one of the 2 copies I was given at the conference...If you read it, maybe you'll see why.. :)

Till next time,

Steve

Marco Island Madness

2009-09-24T20:11:00.002-04:00

Well here we are. Just over a week until we hop on the big silver bird and fly south for the annual Marco Island migration.

Are you going to be there? If not, that's a shame. The program is good with multiple different topics.

A modeling challenge is on the agenda for the first time in a long time. Unlike past years, this one covers both declarative and procedural modeling. Should be a hoot!

Then of course, there's my little talk about the lack of a truely integrated Product Devleopment process. You see, I'm of the opinion that PLM and\or MDM (as it exists today) really only scratches the surface of the problem. Much of the data that is in the SAP Variant Configuration word is sourced elsewhere. Not in CAD, not in SAP, but in other systems such as Marketing research, Statements Of Line, Industrial Design tools, desktop publishing, etc.

So, how to get at the data? PLM believes in "collaboration". This means that those content creators can let me see the data they create so I can recreate it in SAP. That my friends is non value added.

If the author created the data, why should I have to recreate it? Guide them in the proper useage maybe, but certainly not do the same work over again..

MDM promises much, but delivers little in this regard. It certainly isn't a bi-directional system, much less a multiple system integrator. Especially for configurable product data!!

Come on down to Marco. Not only will I talk about it, but I'm leading a workshop where others can provide their input into the debate..It should be interesting..And of course, you know what happens when I give a presentation right??

We play the old "Beer or no beer" game!! Yup, some lucky souls will actually get free beer!!

Till next time!!

Steve

What to do with the VC data?

2009-09-05T21:38:00.003-04:00

Coming quickly to the CWG Marco Island conference, the question that burns in my mind is one that I'll be speaking on..Namely;

Where do the data objects utilized in Variant Configuration actually get sourced from?

If you design or build variant configuration structures in SAP, you must surely realize that you don't OWN any of the data you create.What you do is translate someone elses business needs into SAP data elements.

But did you ever stop to wonder if those elements had already been created and if so, where?

I can't think of a single relevant data element in VC that isn't really created by a business owner in another application.

Materials are created by Marketing and Engineering.

Characteristics start in Industrial Design, then Marketing and Engineering create more.

The rules are always defined by the business and Engineering staffs.

Keep thinking about it. I think you will see what I mean.

So, what does this mean to the value chain? It means that what we do for a living as translators is redundant work. Muda, in other words. Non value add!!!

Chew on that one for a minute...And take it to the next logical conclusion. Non value add work is being eliminated, especially in these times of economic hardship..

Not to worry though, the software industry is coming to our rescue...Since they consistently fight among themselves to create "bigger and better" software languages, the big companies typically don't think about interoperability.

But they'd better start.

With the semantic web (OWL, RDF, etc) the technology exists to leverage the data at the point of entry.

The questions are;

Will anyone?
If they do, what will YOU do?

Come join me at the CWG conference in Marco Island for a round table conversation on this subject. Your ideas would be greatly welcomed..

Registration can be accomplished here;

http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/node/351

Till next time,

Steve

Money for nothing and your knowledge for free?

2009-08-16T07:50:00.002-04:00

For the past couple of years, I've been giving my knowledge away on this blog. Granted, I haven't been giving all of what I know away, but even so, you've received what you have for free.

I've given that some thought over the past few months and I've come to the conclusion that, especially in this economic environment, I won't be giving anything away anymore.

That's because someone has finally created a site that allows budding authors such as myself the ability to make a little money from writing. I was not going to get into the website maintenance business and always thought it would only be a matter of time. That time has come.

So, I will be posting "teasers" of my future writings here, with links to the full article.

OK, in some cases, when I have something short to say, I'll post it here in it's entirety. But that will be the exception to the rule I think.

Bear in mind, I'm not looking to get rich here, simply compensated for the time, effort, and knowledge that I'm providing. Doing this takes thought and time..Maybe more so that you realize..

So, I hope you, my faithful followers, will choose understand to support me in this effort.

The first article of this nature is the full and complete version of "What to expect in a VC project".

You can find it here;
http://sapebooks.com/cms/SAP-Library/Solutions/What-to-Expect-in-a-VC-Project-190/View-details.html

Thanks for your support!!

Steve

Data Data everywhere!!

2009-06-07T19:25:00.003-04:00

Funny thing happened on the way to the data....There wasn't enough of it...

I know, a picture tells a thousand stories...And is worth a thousand words..

But take a peek at my profile picture. What does it tell you about me? Everything you need to know (certainly more than I want you to know :-) )???

Why no, it doesn't tell the whole story...It takes metadata to do that..

It's the same way in SAP. There is a ton of data, yet it seems there isn't enough to really leverage the data, especially in ancillary applications (like graphical configurators)..So, idiot that I am, I started looking around in the wonderful world of SAP..

I'm sure your not surprised, I started in R3 (or ECC for those of you with updated systems)..Guess what I found?? A pretty good method for dealing with metadata exists in the current classification scheme. Problem is, it's very, very disjointed..You can't really build a coherent schema when you need to utilize 15 different class types...

So, off I went to the savior of the world...MDM...Guess what? Another classification system exists. No real relation to that found in the core system, but I suppose with enough customized programming, it would work....

Onward...

Into the dreaded BW environment...Hey, what's that??? A Metadata repository?? How cool!! But wait, this is in BW...After the fact!!! I want something that is master data in my operational system, not in the reporting system...Bummer..

So, where to go now?? Back to the barn in ECC and poke around some more??? Maybe delve a little earlier into the system and take a look at the CAD world??

What do you think? Do you have a need for metadata in your world? How do you source it??

Fire up the old comment machine and flame away!!!

Steve

What to Expect in a VC Project (Part III)

2009-05-07T18:56:00.002-04:00

This is the third in a series of posts, all related to the same topic. That is, what should you be expecting if you get tapped on the shoulder to lead a VC project?? Sit back and take a read..Soon, much sooner than you think, this article will be available in a book from SAP-Press. Sadly, only available in German for a while, but sooner or later it will be translated into English..Rumor has it that htis will now be happening in October 2009!!
Happy Reading..
___________________________________________________
Please note, this series of posts is Copyrighted by Steve Schneider, December 2008. For reproduction rights, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.. ______________________________________________

Regional or Global?

Then there is the whole “Are we a Regional, Multi-National, or Global?” conversation. This one can be a really big deal, so make sure you get involved in it. In essence, this determines how many interfaces you will end up with, as well as how redundant your data will be. If your business operates autonomously in each geographic region with no type of cross region business activity, you would think this makes no difference. However, in all cases, the world is quickly becoming flatter. There is less and less distinction from a customer standpoint over how or where a product is made. If it’s on the Internet, I should be able to get it. So, what might this picture look like?

In either a Regional or Multi National approach, each individual business entity has its own set of SAP instances. Remember, each instance has its own Development, Assurance, and Production clients. So, if you ever do need to share information of any kind about your business, you have a couple of options;

Buy the MDM (Master Data Management) solution from SAP. They will like you a lot and be very happy that you continue to spend money with them
o Something to remember here is that, as of this writing, the MDM system does not handle configurable products well. Things such as the classification information is lost in the transfer from the operational system to MDM.
Write your own custom interfaces between each Region or Nation’s system. Typically, when you do this you are placing the data into a third party repository. In any event, you will have a lot of interfaces to manage.

So the immediate conclusion is to have one global system. This sounds really easy, but can be very difficult to manage. A reality is your business culture may not be ready for this leap. It requires a much higher level of cooperation and integration at the business process level. Be very careful in trying to set this landscape up. It can easily get you into the political battles you may not want to fight!

Modify the Software? We won’t do that Will We?

In almost every case (especially if you put your Legacy business processes in) you will end up modifying the software in some way. It’s going to happen no matter how future thinking you are. SAP has designed a piece of software that is targeted at a wide audience. That means they can’t satisfy everyone’s exact functionality desires. And you will probably be one of those unsatisfied people in some way shape or form. It’s OK; the world won’t end because you have to modify things. Just keep some important points in mind;

Keep the number of modifications to a minimum. Only do the things that really give you a competitive edge over the others in your industry. Don’t modify something because someone tells you “that’s the way it’s always been”.
Have a dedicated release process. This ensures that any changes flow through your Development and Assurance systems with a series of testing procedures. Only after passing those procedures and meeting the business expectations do they get allowed to propagate into your production environment.
Govern what you modify. Have a rigorous process of checks and balances that ensure a modification cannot get into your system without review. Track the name of each modified object in a manner that works well for your business. This will also make your life easier at upgrade time. If you have a Data Governance organization, this fits in really well. It’s all about ensuring that the design of the system stays consistent and stable.

Now, you certainly do not have to do the 3 step program outlined above. In fact, many companies don’t. The reality is, if you plan on upgrading to a newer release of SAP at any time in the future and have made any modifications to the system, you can plan on additional time, resources, and money added into your project plan. The key is to minimize how many extra hours, people, and money you spend on the project. In the end, you need to understand;

What you have modified
Where the modifications reside
How to test the modifications (Unit, Integration, and Regression)
What the business impacts of those modifications are

How you accomplish this is up to you. I strongly suggest you give it a lot of thought before you make your first modification!

Compromise? Why bother?

It’s kind of funny. As soon as the exec’s signed the check to buy SAP, they assumed that life would be grand. You need to bring reality to the situation. Guess what? You will be forced to compromise. Get used to it. Putting in SAP is going to be a series of compromises. The key here is making sure you understand when to compromise and when to stand your ground.

The largest thing to remember is that something sets your company apart from the competition. It may be your salespeople, your product, your process, or something else. Someone in your company believes you have a competitive edge. If your business is successful, you probably do have one. Do you know what it is? Your mission is to make the compromises that protect your competitive edge, yet allow you to “easily” take advantage of new, better, really neat (read license winning for SAP) features as SAP develops them.

This is not an easy task. It means you have to get “plugged into” both your business strategies and the SAP strategies. How do you do that? Build your sphere of influence. It’s important that you develop and use your social networking skills to increase the circle of those you influence. Why? Because this circle of people will introduce you to others, who will in turn (assuming you do a good job of influencing them) introduce you to still more people. Eventually, you will find the people that are in tune with the real strategies going on in your company.

Do not discount internal politics in this endeavor. As much as you like to think politics are not part of the game, it is. You cannot afford to forget this fact of business. Part of this journey involves conflict. You will almost certainly irritate someone along the way. If that person has better political connections than you do, then your mission is over. So, add negotiation and conflict management into your skill set. Find people and places that can help you improve your social skills. They are a critical piece of making a good compromise. After all, you can’t compromise unless you understand both sides of an argument can you?

This takes care of the internal side, but what about the SAP side? How do you know where SAP is going? You need to understand that before you can make recommendations about compromise right?

There are multiple organizations out there that SAP is promoting and active in. Find them. Many are listed right on the SAP website at www.sap.com . Join a user group and start talking to people about what you do with the software and why. The key to this part of the pie is to remember;

You get back what you put in

In many user groups, the vast majority of the population is passive. They don’t contribute. Therefore, they feel that the group is not contributing to their success. Wrong!!! The real problem is that the individual is not contributing to their success!! The user group cannot help you unless and until you begin to provide content. Face it; can you get a question answered if you never ask it?

For VC, the one stop shop user group (as of this writing) is The SAP Configuration Workgroup. This group focuses on configuration tasks within SAP. Find them on the web at www.configuration-workgroup.com .

The last piece is to ensure that any compromise you make meets or exceeds the business expectations. If you don’t pay attention to what the business REALLY wants (which is sometimes different than what it SAYS it wants) you have no chance. How do you do this?

Start with your executive strategies and process maps. Remember them? You did them at the beginning of the project and had the business involved. Drag the business back into the conversation surrounding the process. Wave the strategies at them. Use your new found or newly developed social skills. You are constantly working on your social skills right?? Remember, in the long run, these skills are more important than your technical skills. You don’t accomplish much of anything without people helping you!!

The business won’t like it, but continue to focus on the issue areas and NOT the personalities involved. Keep your mind on the process and the end results that you are trying to achieve. Sometimes, you have to take smaller steps to get from where you are now to where you want to be. It’s kind of like eating an elephant. Try to cram the whole thing in your mouth at one time and you won’t do it. Take it bite by bite, and before you know it the job is done.

We Don’t Need any Help do we??

Think about it. Does your business have all the knowledge and skill regarding any piece of software you own? If you are a software producer, then maybe you know about the software you produce, but do you know everything about SAP? Probably not. There are a lot of folks out in the big, wide world that do. Or at least, they claim to know about it.

You will hire consultants at some point in time. Again, it’s a matter of how much time, people, and money you want to spend. If you take the time to get your people the training, they still won’t have the practical experience. So find someone that does. It’s a lot cheaper in the long run. But be very, very careful…

You see, there are firms out there that will tell you they really understand VC. The reality is there are different levels of understanding. Can you afford to get someone who is learning at your expense? It is your job to sort the wheat from the chaff. The goal is to find a consulting firm that you can reach a true partnership with. This firm will treat your business as if it is their own. They will want you to succeed. They will tell you things you don’t want to hear. They will become a part of your team, not just for the short duration of the project, but for years to come.

There are a couple of tactics you can take to ensure that any potential consultants become your partners. There are the standard interview questions as well as some targeted towards VC skills. I would ask a series of questions that go along the lines of;

How did you achieve your skill set in VC?
How long have you been implementing VC projects?
How many VC projects have you taken end to end?
Who are your successful VC clients, and can I talk to them?
What professional organizations do they belong to?
If they are not in the SAP Configuration Workgroup, that is a potential red flag but should not, by itself, preclude you from hiring them.
Most importantly, have a set of business issues that require VC solutions. Present at least one to the consultant and ask for solutions. Don’t tell them how many solutions…Why?
The best consultants will know that you cannot provide them with enough detail in an interview to really “solve” the problem. However, they will know enough to give you at least 3 potential solutions or concepts they would take to resolve it.

Think long and hard before you make your decision. In many cases, the solutions these partners provide will be with you for years to come. Make sure you get a good one!!

OK, that's enough for tonight....I think it'll take one more post to get through this...Look for it in a couple of weeks.

Till next time,

Steve

What to Expect in a VC Project (Part Duex)

2009-03-26T19:29:00.004-04:00

This is the second in a series of posts, all related to the same topic. That is, what should you be expecting if you get tapped on the shoulder to lead a VC project?? Sit back and take a read..Soon, much sooner than you think, this article will be available in a book from SAP-Press. Sadly, only available in German for a while, but sooner or later it will be translated into English..Happy Reading..

___________________________________________________

Please note, this series of posts is Copyrighted by Steve Schneider, December 2008. For reproduction rights, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you..

______________________________________________

Who Cares About Business Processes Anyway?

A question that always comes up is “Should I use my existing business processes or something future based?” A lot of debate gets thrown about in the consulting community over this question. You need to ask one very basic question;

Do you want to achieve the exact same results with SAP that you achieved with whatever software it is replacing?

If the answer to that question is “YES” then simply draw out your existing business processes and put them in. On the other hand, if you think that investing however much money you spent on SAP should get something better back as a return, then you start by understanding your current processes, figuring out how to make them better, THEN putting in a solution that fits the better processes.

This means you need some kind of business modeling tool. There are many out there to choose from. Many people use traditional process mapping, others use a variation called “Value Stream” mapping. Whatever method you use, make sure that you involve the business people that own each process as well as any business people that are affected by a process. By involving the business people at each step, you will gain greater alignment and also help them to understand some of the challenges your business faces.

In each case, you typically START with the existing process, then look for places and ways to improve. Once you have the processes drawn out, go over them with a fine tooth comb, pulling out all the redundancies you can. Look for places where you believe technology will create major advances in the next 3 to 5 years. If you see a technology advance, detail one of your IT members to find out everything possible about it. Why do you need to do that?Think of the explosive Internet growth over the past 10 years. In 1999, business was still thinking about how the Internet might change how business was done. By 2003, major fundamental shifts in business interactions had taken place. Business models changed dramatically and the needs of the business typically did not keep up. What is there in your business that may benefit by some future thinking in this area??

Instances? What are those??

At some point, you need to think about how many different physical instances of SAP you want to run your business on. This covers a couple of different areas, which include;

Release Progression
Global Strategy

If you will plan on using the new “Business By Design” solution SAP offers, this discussion is probably not of much interest to you. I still suggest you think about it. As you release product, or find new regulatory requirements, you may not have the luxury of doing everything in your production environment.

Naturally, you will have an instance of SAP that runs production. What else do you need??Depending on the size of your Company, and who is hosting your software, maybe not much, or maybe a lot.A release progression speaks to the number of different systems you will have to “figure things out” before putting them into your production environment. Many companies follow some sort of progression like;

Sandbox to Development to Assurance to Production

At the beginning of any new development, the work is done in the Sandbox. This is the “dirtiest” of all the systems as everyone is trying new things. The data may not be current and the programs are subject to change without notice. I know of many companies that do not utilize a sandbox, instead simply using a development system.

The primary difference between a Sandbox and Development system is that there is some form of control in Development. The Release process is beginning to come into play, with significant objects being communicated to all affected parties. The data may still be dirty, and the programs are being changed, but typically everyone involved knows and gets regular communications over what is changing. Think of this system as the place where Unit Testing occurs. There will not be much Integration Testing, although it may be wise to do Integration Testing on larger changes

Assurance is a fairly stable system. It should be a recent copy of the production environment with any changes moved from the Development system in place. Data should be “almost” as clean as production, along with recent transactional data. This is where all teams perform Integration Testing to ensure the solution moving into Production is correct.

Of course, you have Production. This is your operational system. You take your Sales Orders here and process all of your MRP, Finance, etc. transactions in this system. Your Business Intelligence system is fed from Production. No one should be changing programs in this system! Data changes may or may not be made in this system, depending on the regulatory requirements of your industry and the ability to move the data you develop.

A footnote here for data movement. SAP has multiple standard methods to move data between systems. The typical problem with all of these methods is that they do NOT move Task List information properly if at all.

Next time we'll discuss such mundane things as how many instances you should have in each geographic region and if you should modify the software.

Until we read again...

Steve

What to Expect in a VC Project

2009-03-19T20:10:00.004-04:00

This is the first in a series of posts, all related to the same topic. That is, what should you be expecting if you get tapped on the shoulder to lead a VC project?? Sit back and take a read..Soon, much sooner than you think, this article will be available in a book from SAP-Press. Sadly, only available in German for a while, but sooner or later it will be translated into English..

Happy Reading..
___________________________________________________
Please note, this series of posts is Copyrighted by Steve Schneider, December 2008. For reproduction rights, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you..
______________________________________________

As you are sitting at your desk, poring over the days email, a colleague rushes up and breathlessly tells you “Guess what? We just bought SAP!”

The question that immediately comes to your mind is naturally, “What does this mean to me?” Not much of anything until you get that fateful call from your manager. He tells you something like “We are going to put in the Variant Configuration module of SAP, and you are going to run the project!”

Sounds great right?? However, what if the only exposure you’ve ever had to SAP is seeing those interesting logo’s on sponsor advertising at the Formula One races or the local football match? “Variant Configuration”? What in the world does that mean??

The reality is many projects start out in exactly this manner. If you are lucky, you are involved in one of the good projects, where you were involved in the selection team that chose the software. In that case, you already know what Variant Configuration (also known as VC or LO-VC) is. If not, you will know it by the time you get done reading this book! Either way, you have some interesting times ahead. In this section, we will try to show you some of the typical challenges you will encounter as well as give you some practical advice on overcoming them.

The Marketing Pitch

At some point, very early on, one or many of your executives made one of those startling pronouncements they are so famous for. It went something like this;
“Hmmm, we keep hearing about all of these really cool things being done with the Internet. I wonder what we could do with it?”

As that pronouncement went down the Management ladder, someone (usually in IT, but not always) makes a comment like “SAP can solve that for us!” At that point, all kinds of promises may be made, both by internal people and by external contacts. Give SAP credit, they don’t usually say things that broad and sweeping. In fact, one of the things I like about SAP is that they usually warn you with statements like “be prepared to change your business process to take full advantage of the software”.

At any rate, be prepared for your management team to have some real high expectations of the business results they will get for the money they invest in the software. That’s OK; they should expect a good return on investment. After all, that’s the whole goal of spending money on technology. Your job is to deliver.

Can you deliver something that you don’t understand? Typically not. So, your first job is to ensure that you have the expectations of the management team aligned. Sounds easy right?? This is one of the harder jobs you will encounter as you move forward. Depending on your role in the organization, you can;
· Influence during the selection process
· Influence after the selling process but before the actual purchase
· Influence after the purchase

In each case, you will do some of the same things along the way. Remember the goal;Gain alignment on the expectations delivered!

Recovering from the Marketing Pitch

First, you need to understand what management is trying to achieve. In order to do this, you have some interviews to do. My suggestion is that you start as high as you currently influence within your organization. What you are looking for are the strategies that the manager is being held to by THEIR manager. After all, everyone gets a performance review of some kind. What is the goal in a performance review? To make sure that your manager’s expectations are being met! So;
* Get the managers strategies, goals, tactics, and measurable deliverables in writing!

You want to try and boil these down to a one page summary of the top three to five things they are being held accountable for. Make sure you get the metrics that they use! Without those metrics, it will be hard to quantify decisions you make later on.
Take this show “on the road” to as many different business managers as you can that are impacted by Variant Configuration. Who are they? Just about every functional area in your company that has anything to do with Sales, Logistics, Transportation, or Finance gets impacted at some time. About the only area you can ignore is Human Resources!
Once you have the one sheet summary from each manager, the next task is to;
Find the common themes among the various functional areasThese are your leverage points.

The things you really want to focus on. These commonalities are the items that your business really finds critical. There will be multiple items that do not align. This is critical information that you want to keep over the life of the project. You will come back to it later!!

Coming Next;
Business Processes and Instance Strategy

Till next time,

Steve

Social Networking in a VC World

2009-02-24T19:04:00.002-05:00

Do you have a LinkedIn account? How about Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc??? If you have an acccount on any of these social applications, have you looked around for anything to do with the profession you are in?

I realize that many people believe that there is a line between work and social networking. I wonder just how large that chasm is? Do you ever go out to social activities with people you work with? Probably..Why is there that much of a difference between an offline and online social presence?

Some of us "older people" (like me) have a little help. Younger people we use as "Reverse Mentors". What these folks teach us is that there are changes and differences in the way we interact, both on and off the job. A reality in this world is, if you can't keep up with the changes in the way people work and relate to each other, odds are, you will get left behind..

So, I'm trying. How about you?? I can tell you that I have yet to find many of the folks I know in the VC world on Facebook or MySpace. Yes, some are out there, but by no means all are even on LinkedIn..Although I will admit being flamed a couple of times when inviting people in the past couple of years..Must be I don't buy enough beers at Marco or something??

The flamers always say things like "What's in it for me?"..My response is usually the same, "You get out what you put in"...Just like here.

So, head on out there..Look for people you have met or for groups surrounding VC or the CWG. They exist, you just have to look for them. Interact, share some stories, let people see sides of you they don't typically get to. in the end, it will create a stronger bond. Stronger bonds simply allow stronger working realtionships, which, in the end, are what get things done.

And you know, a little flaming never bothered me...So turn on your torches, get out the welding mask and flame away!!

Till next time...

Steve

Preconditions, it's a love\hate thing

2009-01-13T19:18:00.003-05:00

Recently, I've been playing around a little more with constraint based modeling and preconditions, especially as related to engineer to order processing..

Since parameter effectivity is not applicable in variant tables, somehow you need to ensure that certain characteistic values are only applied or available under certain conditions.

No brainer right?? Just put a conditions section in your constraint and you're all set??

Riiiiight....

If only it were that easy..

You see, when using global characteristics, especially in a class hierarchy, it gets a tad interesting..If you place a condition section into your main constraint to handle the ETO scenario, then you need yet another constraint to handle the straightforward CTO scenario..And another table..

If you place a precondition on the global characteristic value reacting to the ETO scenario, then the CTO scenario becomes invalid for all other applications..

A real conundrum...

Yet, if parameter effectivity were applied to a variant table, then the issue goes away..You simply change the table with a change master referncing the paramater, and the value is only valid under that condition..Simple..

Too bad SAP doesn't support it..

And OSS tells you the dreaded "It's working as designed"...

Time for some CWG type influence..

Stay tuned for updates...If SAP follows their typical course of action, it won't happen without some cash up front....What do you think the chances of that happening are in this ecomony??

Later,

Steve

Is there a Rightsizing in your future?

2008-12-09T18:34:00.000-05:00

Like many others, the company I work for has recently announced some more downsizing that will happen in the next couple of months. Not surprising really, given what's going on in the overall economy. As people tend to do, we talk about it at various times during the day. One of those conversations got me back on a soapbox, and I figured why not climb it here too? After all, this can happen to anyone, in any company.

What will you do if you go into work tomorrow and find a meeting with HR on your calendar? If you are sitting at your desk working away on your email and suddenly your boss and a couple of security folks are at your desk? Do you have a plan?

A very wise man once told me to "plan for the worst and hope for the best"...I don't like to live that though. I'd rather plan for the best, then think about the worst and plan for it too. That way, when the middle happens, I can take elements of both plans and derive the best course of action.

So, yes, I know what I'll do. I know the answers I'll give to certain questions (what I'd do if severance was or was not offered, if I could go back to the plant, if I have access to any insurance, etc). I also know the adjustments I'd have to make to my families lifestyle. What bills I'd pay. How long I could pay bills with no job of any kind.

More importantly, I've discussed it with my spouse!

I also know the places I'd go and the people I'd talk to (and in what order) to look for work. My resume is up to date.

These are just some of the things I suggest that you ask yourself. Whether or not you feel under the gun, it can only help if you know the things you can control.

I assume that you all have budgets right? A fully funded emergency savings plan (8-10 months CASH)? Have been paying down any debt you have?

If not, my recommendation to you is to think about it..Real hard.

The absolute worst that can happen is that you find yourself giving more thought to exactly what you can and cannot control. When you do this, it helps put things back into perspective.

Yes, losing your job would suck, but I think it sucks worse to be in Zimbabwe with cholera.
So, regardless of what fickling the fat finger of fate has in mind for you, Please, before you HAVE to, take some time and think about your situation..

All the best,

Steve

Third Time's the Charm?

2008-10-25T19:38:00.009-04:00

Thursday, October 24. A fairly typical Michigan fall day. Overcast, cool with a tad bit of wind...What made this day different than any other fall day in West Michigan??

The Michigan Chapter of the CWG met again!!

Might be dull and boring to you, but for us it was actually a large milestone. You see, in our prior 2 meetings, we had held them after business hours in restaurants (ok, brewpubs mostly)...This time, we had our meeting during business hours at a member company facility in Holland Michigan. These folks were kind enough to welcome us in and provide a meeting space large enough for our little group. Yes, we did grow a bit, with a final attendance of 15 people (a couple of whom dropped in and out as their time allowed).

We had quite a few people that had not been involved with any type of CWG activity before, so we started out with me (the "old timer") giving an overview of what the CWG is about, along with the roots of how the CWG got started. An interesting side note here is that we found it's time to convince the Board to get us some more meaningful member stats. All I had access to were from 2006. Which doesn't mean the stats don't exist, just that they are not common CWG member knowledge. Heck, the only reason I even had these is due to my company having had a Board member in the past..I stole them from one of his presentations!!

Then we had Kevin show off the new CWG portal. The more I use this portal, the more I like it. It's just more flexible and if you notice in the document share, we even had a section created that contains all of the documents shared this time around...Pretty cool!!

Mark then presented the Modeling Challenge. Take a peek at it. You will find it in the document share in the path;
02-Regional Chapters
USA-Midwest
2008 Oct

I admit, it's a pretty basic challenge. But remember, many of these folks have not been exposed to the real CWG approved "Best Practices". I would also ask, how many of you actually use these methods??

This challenge is where the meeting really got interesting. You see, the meeting "evolved" from "presenting" to "conversing"...It was really cool to watch as multiple people, who had never before gotten engaged, slowly started to open up and discuss relevant questions and issues with their peers. We talked about all kinds of stuff, from classification to ECM to influence to career enhancement. In all, we spent around 40 minutes in this conversation. On the day after the meeting, I heard multiple enthusiatic comments from all member companies about this portion of the meeting. I certainly think that we will do everything we can to have more "panel discussions" and less "presentations" in the future.

Then Mark took us on a tour of the their facility. That was cool. The equipment they make has to be seen to be appreciated. Put it this way, they had multiple overhead cranes, with the largest capacity that I saw at 50 tons!!! To somebody that makes furniture, this was impressive!!
I'm sure you can guess what happened next can't you??? A networking dinner of course!! And where do you think that was??

I'm sure you're surprised aren't you?? I will admit, I was really bummed when I got inside and found out that the Blue Goat was gone!! Oh, the horror of it all...I settled for some Cabin Fever, then the Black Tulip...What sacrifices I make for promoting the CWG...

Converation picked right up where it left off during the meeting, but for some reason, the folks were a little picture shy;

A drink or 2 changed that though;

For some reason, not everyone wanted to eat, but the end result was 2 more hours of good conversation and getting to know each other better. The networking seemed to be a pretty big hit with the first timers as well. Maybe it was the conversation, but those chocolate martinis sure seemed to be helping matters!!

Overall, this was the most successful meeting to date. Productive and the group seems to be gaining momentum. So, when will we be meeting again you ask??

The next meeting of the Michigan Chapter of the CWG will be held;

Tuesday January 20, 2009 from 1-5 pm, with a networking event from 5:30pm -7:30pm

If you read back a couple of posts on my CWG blog (http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/node/258), you will see that I had some contact with a SAP rep who promised me some names. Well, I got COMPANY names (no contacts) and better yet, the SAP AE's emails, along with the email of the ASUG Mill products SIG....So, those folks will be getting all the details and a "formal invite" to pass along to their respective constituents sometime in the next week to 10 days...And we'll just have to see how many express interest...I figure that I'll reserve 40 seats for "outside" type people and we are hoping that our friends from Indiana will make the trek here...

I kind of doubt that people will travel to Michigan in the winter for a 4 hour meeting, but I've been wrong many times before!!

Time will tell won't it??

Watch my CWG space for further information!!!

Thanks for the read,

Steve

End of the Road??

2008-10-15T18:26:00.002-04:00

Got back from the Marco conference last weekend. Had some interesting news there. Namely, that the CWG portal has been changed and I now have a blog on that portal!!

So, I'm going to be writing in the portal for a while, and probably will NOT be posting here. After all, this was only started because I didn't have a blog there. And since nobody here sends me scads of cash for writing, I don't know that I see the point in continuing here.

If you want to follow my journies, I suggest that you join the CWG (if you haven't already)..Do so by going here;
http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/node/32

then follow my blog here;
http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/blog/470

Hope to see you there!!

Steve

Should Advanced Mode Be Killed?

2008-09-25T18:38:00.003-04:00

There is a move afoot by some individuals in the SAP community. Namely to "revive" the Advanced mode workgroup in the CWG. This workgroup has been inactive for a few years due to SAP's position that the Advanced mode of the IPC (APE, SCE, whatever) would not be "supported".

There is a faction in the CWG, albiet a very, very small but powerful faction, that believes the advanced mode is the best thing since sliced bread. Give the devil it's due, it was at one time.

The real advantage of advanced mode is that it allows you to perform "solution configuration". In other words, you could interactivley and parametricly configure a network, or a building, or a electric junction box, or a conveyor system. While doing so, you could control the relationship between products, create line items without needing a bom, and a couple of other neat tricks.

Advanced mode can do all that fairly well. The issue is, this type of configuration darn near REQUIRES graphics. Lets face it, you can't really configure a network that has 100 machines and 50 routers in it without seeing a map of it...

But SAP does not want to play in the graphic world. There are multiple other companies such as http://www.easterngraphics.com/index.php?id=3&L=1 or http://www.configura.com/ that handle the graphic side well.

What SAP needs to do is learn how to play with vendors such as these 2 (and there are others). They can do that just fine with compatible mode and let these vendors handle the relationships between products.

There is no point in lobbying SAP to add capability to the advanced mode (for all 5 customers that use it) unless they will choose to go towards the graphics realm.

So, in my humble opinion, lobby the CWG to "Stick a fork in it, it's done"!!!

Come down to Marco and lets talk about it!!

See you in the sunshine state,

Steve

Material Types, Who Needs'em?

2008-09-10T19:37:00.002-04:00

I've been engaged recently in an exchange on the use of material types for VC. You can see the discussion out in the CWG forums..

If you can't see it, too bad for you. Go join the CWG..

At any rate, the discussion centered around a question;
"Can I use one material type (Halb) for all my configurable and manufactured materials?"

The technical answer is Sure, you can make that work..

My answer though is "No, I wouldn't do it."

SAP has created multiple material types, each of which is designed for specific purposes. Yes, you can certainly use other fields to distinguish between what is a sellable material and what isn't, but my point is, Why?? What you are then doing is creating Metadata that has no real purpose.

For those that don't know, Metadata is "data about data"..In essence, the material type is ALREADY Metadata. After all, it describes the material use.

Since there is already a method to describe the use, why do I want to create more data to describe the use? What that does is make it more difficult for every up and downstream application to understand what is happening. You are FORCING more convoluted logic into your business. Is that wise?

My view, after living in that world for the past 30 years, is No. I'm a huge believer in Metadata, but not in data for data's sake. Only create Metadata when the data element, in and of itself, is not descriptive enough. If the data element already uniquely describes the data for business purposes, don't create more data. It's just gonna make your life harder.

Lets take a simple example. You want to find all the sellable materials in your system.

If you have used the standard KMAT, FERT, HAWA material types for this, it's a simple dump of all material types = KMAT, FERT, HAWA.

If you have use HALB's for all sellable and manufactured materials, now you have to bring other criteria into play. Whatever that criteria is. Did you use material group? Classification? Something else? Does everyone in your organization know that?

What about when you pull the materials into BI? You now need custom logic to extract only those materials you want, out of all the materials in your system.

Want to report on thos items planned in a given circumstance? I hope you thought through your planner groups really well, cause if you search on that, you get sellable and manufactured materials. Is that REALLY what your planner wants to see? What about items in costing? Any special considerations there?? Oh yeah...

Then comes upgrade time. You now get to weed through all the custom logic you've put in place to make sure there are no negative impacts to your custom code.

Getting the picture??

Metadata is like kids.. Great to have around until you have too many of them to handle..Then you wonder "Why did I do this???"

Till next time,

Steve

Is Variant Configuration really that hard?

2008-08-26T18:13:00.004-04:00

Funny thing...Just this week I've received multiple emails from different people, all on the same general subject;

Is this variant configuration stuff really all that hard?? Secondarily, does it really matter just how much we know about it before putting a model in?

I'm sure you're surprised, but I do have a couple of thoughts on the subject.

First off

Is it hard?..Well now, if I can do this, then anyone can. After all, I'm a high school grad, no college. By the way, I partied my way through high school, flunking algebra, and didn't get off the party trail until I had kids at the ripe old age of 24..So you could say I burned just one or 2 brain cells on the way.

Having established those somewhat subjective credentials, I've been at this little game of using Configuration technology for the past 15 years. Thanks to my employer, my past was never held against me. Hard work, plus creative thought was always placed high on the list of desired traits.

I will tell you that I work with some people with much "higher" traditional credentials than I have. And they struggle much more than I do. I believe it has to do with the thinking process related to units of work. When I discuss abstract concepts with people, it typically comes down to the ability to break things down into a small, logical unit of work. Very much as in the algebra that I flunked. If you think about it, object dependencies utilize a lot of algebraic processing. And\Or bracketing, addition prior to multiplication, etc.

I've also had the unique opportunity to work with kids in college, especially in the IT field. It's really interesting how some of them quickly catch on to VC concepts while others simply cannot get their minds around them. Point being, it's not the age of the dog that matters, it's the ability of the dog to process abstract concepts.

So yes, it is hard. More importantly, it takes the proper mindset to develop the abilities required to utilize any kind of configuration technology. I found this to be true in our old Legacy configurator, in Trilogy, Mapics, Baan, and all relational databases that I have discussed with others. So, when you consider going into this field, or hiring someone into it, ask yourself this;

Can this person process abstract concepts?

If the answer is no, then I suggest staying away from any type of Configuration technology or people claiming to understand it. Look for proof. Ask leading questions about their thinking process. It isn't hard. If talking to a video gamer, do they prefer role play or shoot'em ups? Take a wild stab at which needs more abstract thinking..

Second question

Does it really matter how much I know before I land on a model?

Look at it this way. You are putting in your next Legacy system. Do you care how good it is? Do you want it to do exactly what your current Legacy system does, or something different? There is a old saying that goes "If you want different results, you must do something different. Doing the same old thing will achieve the same old results"..

On top of that, people will start adding functionality to solve their pet business problem onto your model the second you turn it on. The more "stuff" that gets glommed onto your model, the harder it is to change when your business eventually wants to move into something different.

Your business doesn't change it's business model? Then your business will die. In this day and age, business MUST be capable of changing their business model as conditions change. Just look at the Net. In less than 10 years, how business is conducted has FUNDAMENTALLY changed. Can your model adapt quickly?

The next question that you have to think about is, just how far have you strayed from the design intent of the software? If you've gone and modified the system in ways the designers did not intend for, then why do you think you can easily adapt to their latest innovations? Yes, SAP is changing all the time, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But in the end, if you are among around 800 customers that "have difficulty" in using the APE, then you are NOT able to easily adopt the latest and greatest offering from SAP. Who cares? You should..

Why? Think back to your business model. Why did you buy an "out of the box" ERP system? To customize it? Or to take advantage of the strength of the software developers ability to stay on the cutting edge of the latest business trends?

Bottom line;

Choose your people\partners\model carefully. These decisions have much larger, and longer lasting impacts to your business than you think they do..

Till next time..

Steve

Mornings in Marco

2008-08-19T18:56:00.004-04:00

Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere in the SAP landscape, you know by now that I am a big proponent of the CWG.

Well, guess what. It's conference time again!!

Yup, we have to make that terrible sacrifice for our companies and travel all the way to Marco Island, Florida and see sights such as this. Yes, I know, the beer selection sucks but maybe we can find that barmaid at the Hilton again. You know, the one that not only found the Sam Adams after we drained the outdoor keg, but then didn't charge us for the last round!!!

Some of you have asked, will I be there this year? I'm happy to say, I will be. Look for me in the bar somewhere, or maybe down by the pool. You never know, I may even give a presentation again this year. Hopefully, if I get a good slot I'll be able to keep you awake.

If you won a beer from me last year and didn't claim it, make sure to bring your voucher. If you do, it's also good this year!!

I'll be taking the wife as well, so you may have ot look out on the beach too. At any rate, you can't attend if you don't register. So go here;

http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/publicInformation/futureEvents/futureevents.php

and sign up!!

I have also been asked who can deliver some training specific to the IPC. Although I've never taken their training, I do know that eSpline http://www.espline.com/ offers training targeted at IPC users. I have known the principals of eSpline for many years and can attest to their real world experience. Take a peek at their bios here http://www.espline.com/eSpline_OurPeople.htm These guys have been there and done that in the real world. Not a launch and leave consulting practice, but as SAP customers.. They do know their stuff!

If you attend their training, tell'em you saw it here. I don't get anything for referring people, but you never know, a free beer would be good (especially at Marco prices)!

Now, the reality is, if you've never been you don't know what you're missing. ASUG can't hold a candle when it comes to configuration technology and the professionals that work with it. This is the place. Now I agree, the CWG does not have enough money to get Clapton like ASUG did, but what the heck, the fee is 1\10 of the ASUG fee. What do you want for nothing, rubber biscuits??

Hope to see you there. Make sure you come and say hi at the Sunday night meet and greet!

Steve

Lurkers Arise!!

2008-08-02T16:15:00.002-04:00

I've been wandering about online since the days of 1200 baud modems and gopher. In fact, I think it was 1991 when I loaded up my first communications software to my then state of the art 16 MB hard drive PC and logged in to my first bulletin board. No, it wasn't porn!!

The funny thing is, the more things change, the more things stay the same..See, I remember that, even then, the number of lurkers was much larger than the number of posters. Really no different than today.

Take this blog. How many of you read, yet don't contribute? Not just to this blog, but to the SAP configuration community in general? A lot of you, that's who!!

Well, guess what. Maybe you should get up off your ass and do something. It can't hurt you and it may even help..See, the more I contribute, the more I learn (from others). So, if you really want to learn, start contributing. Begin by asking questions. Progress to posting answers. Move on to building networks. Influence. There is so much you can do.

Where can you get started?? Try here. Post a comment and let me know what you want to read about. Then join the CWG and begin posting in the Forums.

Then begin attending conferences and presenting. You have a chance to again in October. Marco Island, Florida, for a paltry $130.00 per night. Registration is now open here;
http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/publicInformation/futureEvents/futureevents.php

So, don't lurk anymore. Come out of the closet and join the rest of us out here in the world..Open yourself to exposure, it's really not that bad..

Till next time,

Steve

To IPPE or not to IPPE, is that the question?

2008-07-22T18:07:00.002-04:00

Hello there. It's been awhile since I've written anything, and for that, I apologize. However, the real world (you know, the one that pays me money for doing work) called and sent me back to Texas again. I don't know what I'm sicker of, the Texas heat, or Mapics\Trilogy\Syteline...Maybe it's all of the above??

At any rate, things have not been silent while I have been away. The dreaded IPPE topic came up again in the CWG.

You do know what the IPPE is right?? After all, it's a piece of the ERP central component and SAP even (GASP) gave a presentation on it at ASUG back in 2005. Doesn't eveyone go to ASUG?? I think the bigger question about ASUG is, does anyone care (when it comes to Configuration technology)?

Well, if you don't know about the IPPE, go here;
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/78/68273c3f2b3c7ce10000000a11402f/frameset.htm

In a nutshell, the IPPE is a node based structure (located in the PLM module) that can "integrate" with VC and the Project system. Oh darn, it can't integrate with the APE or SCM, but that's another story..

In the CWG, I originally raised the question of the use of the IPPE in VC, and how it could be influenced here;
http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=400

Note the answer. Oh, you want me to post it? I can't, cause I don't know if you are all CWG members...Go join and read it for yourself..

At any rate, the question now becomes;

What the heck is the go forward position? Lets see, we got high level VC, low level VC, the APE (in compatible and advanced mode) the J2EE engine, the Business Rules Frameworks, and the IPPE...Dang, just how many different ways and methods do we really need to configure?? And by the way;

The APE doesn't handle low level BOM's, and the IPPE and the J2EE don't handle high level BOM's..What's up with that??

So, the question now becomes, what to do? Which direction will SAP take next with their configuration technology? Who the heck knows? Sometimes I wonder if they do. It certainly appears that they don't talk to each other about it, much less talk to their customers..

So, maybe we'll get something different, maybe we won't. Look into YOUR crystal ball and guess before you invest multi millions in that next purchase and install.

Suggestion to you...Start learning about the IPPE..

Till next time,

Steve

One of these days

2008-06-21T19:35:00.003-04:00

I'll get back to the ECM thing, I promise..But it won't be this week..

I'm off to Texas again to find out what kind of mess the Trilogy to Mapics conversion is in now. Something about needing to validate that what they enter into Mapics matches what comes out of Trilogy\Syteline..

I don't really get it, seems pretty straightforward to me..But I suppose that I need to hold judgement until I can see just what is going down...

Oh yeah, if you need to utilize Trilogy, don't forget the custom attributes. Seems that this little piece of data can be used to tie the markleting and manufacturing selections together in a nice tidy package..

In the meantime, hang in there. ECM will eventually be discussed again...

See ya,

Steve

Microsoft & SAP

2008-06-09T20:35:00.002-04:00

Hello again,

Last week I attended the Michigan ASUG chapter meeting. One of the topics presented was done by a Microsoft rep and dealt with the "interoperability" between Microsoft products and SAP. Specifically, this gentleman was pitching Duet. You can read all about Duet here; http://www.duet.com/

Bottom line, I wasn't impressed. When pressed, this individual stated very clearly that, while there are "multiple" Duet customers, there are no (zero) live deployments that he was aware of.

One of the reasons for this depressing lack of early adopters is the system requirements. Not only do you have to have ERP2005 (not ERP2004) you also need Office 2007, Sharepoint 2005, Server 2008, plus a few other various sundry Microsoft products that are not quite prime time players...Now take a peek here http://www.duet.com/about/technology/system-requirements.aspx and you get a slightly different story..Seems kind of typical with the big M these days, different strokes for different folks..

But wait, it gets better....Along with this gentleman was a consulting firm. I know you're surprised. This duo was pitching what they termed OBA (Office Business Applications), which are, SURPRISE, custom BI apps built on previous versions of SAP and Microsoft applications that give you a "Duet like" look and feel...

Of course, when pressed, they admitted that all of that stuff would probably be thrown away if and when customers upgraded to ERP2005 and all the other "stuff"...Seems the architecure between Netweaver and Oxml is just a little bit different. When I asked him "hey I can just generate xml out of my 4.7 box" he answered "Think of Duet as a black box"...Just what I need, yet another "magic black box" doing "stuff" with my data.

And last but not least, guess what the Microsoft rep told us THEY run??? A custom OBA based on an Enterprise (4.7) SAP landscape...So, the big boys don't even use what they are selling??

I will admit, it was funny having 5 different Microsoft and cunsulting reps try to corner me in the hall during break and tell me just how "wonderful life will be when the rest of the world catches up"..

Not sure about you, but I know what I'll be telling my management about Duet...WAIT!!!

Have fun out there!!

Steve