Six Reasons Why Customers Chose BC Sets for Global Rollouts Marc Oliver Schaefer SAP AG
Dec 19, 2015
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 2
Learning Objectives
As a result of this workshop, you will be able to:
To explain how BC Sets can support your global rollout To understand how BC Set pilots used this technology To explain what BC Sets are and how you benefit from them
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 3
Agenda
Reason 1: Evolution
Reason 2: Business process orientation
Reason 3: Transparency
Reason 4: Protection
Reason 5: Re-use
Reason 6: Flexibility
Lessons learned
You need 4.6c!You need 4.6c!
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 4
The Traditional Approach - Outline
IMG activities which contain global customizing are tagged
All IMG activities containing global customizing are combined in a project IMG
Written documentation about the status of the settings is added to the IMG activities
Global customizing values, IMG tags, project IMG and documentation are transported to the subsidiaries and implemented
Smallest unit in IMG is the activity
Smallest unit inside an activity is a table row
No customizing is locked
A lot of written information
Smallest unit in IMG is the activity
Smallest unit inside an activity is a table row
No customizing is locked
A lot of written information
...
Define Billing P lan Types
...
Define and Assign Date Categories
000 | TA | 01
Assign Billing P lan T ypes to Sales Docum ent Types
000 | TAO | I | 01
000 | WKC | I | 01
Assign Billing P lan T ypes to Item Categories
...
Billing P lan
Billing
Sales
...
Sales and Distribution
Financial Accounting
...
Im plementation Guide
Documentation
Documentation
Transported tosubsidiaries
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 6
Evolution
Customers often see a global roll-out as an extension of an existing installation
One pilot customer wanted to use existing UK client as basis for a template
Customers want to re-use existing customizing Which is in the system Which is stored in transports
Customers want to develop version 2 of their template out ofversion 1
Version 1 should be adapted, not overwritten
BC Sets allow you to move customizing from one system to another BC Sets can be created from transport requests You can have multiple versions of customizing with BC Sets
BC Sets allow you to move customizing from one system to another BC Sets can be created from transport requests You can have multiple versions of customizing with BC Sets
Difficult with traditional approach
No problem with traditional approach
No problem with traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 8
Business Process Orientation
Customers often think in terms of business processes, but customizing is structured by applications (SD, MM, HR ...)
Customers want to pre-configure processes centrally and leave only little room for local adaptions
Reduction of customizing complexity for local implementations teams (iceberg principle)
BC Sets allow you to take customizing from anywhere in the IMG structure customizing according to business processes hide those parts of customizing which are not of interest to local teams
BC Sets allow you to take customizing from anywhere in the IMG structure customizing according to business processes hide those parts of customizing which are not of interest to local teams
Difficult with traditional approach
Very difficult with traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 9
Payment due on 00/05/03
Payment due on 00/05/13
Payment due on 00/05/23
Business functionality to beBusiness functionality to beperformed by the SAP System...performed by the SAP System...
Bil
lBC Set for Milestone Billing
...
Define Billing P lan Types
...
Define and Assign Date Categories
000 | TA | 01
Assign Billing P lan T ypes to Sales Docum ent Types
000 | TAO | I | 01
000 | WKC | I | 01
Assign Billing P lan T ypes to Item Categories
...
Billing P lan
Billing
Sales
...
Sales and Distribution
Financial Accounting
...
Im plementation Guide
...and its Customizing ...and its Customizing representationrepresentation
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 10
Customizing representationCustomizing representation
Copy
BC Set
• IMG Activities• Customizing Settings• Attributes
Milestone Billing
BC Set for Milestone Billing
...
Define Billing Plan Types
...
Define and Assign Date Categories
000 | TA | 01
Assign Billing P lan Types to Sales Docum ent Types
000 | TAO | I | 01
000 | WKC | I | 01
Assign Billing P lan Types to Item Categories
...
Billing P lan
Billing
Sales
...
Sales and Distribution
Financial Accounting
...
Im plementation Guide
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 11
BC Set for Milestone Billing
Payment due on 00/05/03
Payment due on 00/05/13
Payment due on 00/05/23
Bil
l
Business functionality to beBusiness functionality to beperformed by the SAP System...performed by the SAP System...
... and its Customizing ... and its Customizing representationrepresentation
BC Set
• IMG Activities• Customizing Settings• Attributes
Milestone Billing
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 13
Transparency
Customers want to define precisely what belongs to their template
Customers want to define for each customizing value whether it can be overwritten
Customer want to know exactly which settings belonged to which template release
BC Sets allow you to define global customizing on value level define which settings may be overwritten and which not keep all versions of your template simultaneously in your system
BC Sets allow you to define global customizing on value level define which settings may be overwritten and which not keep all versions of your template simultaneously in your system
Difficult with traditional approach
Very difficult with traditional approach
Very difficult with traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 14
BC Set Content
Table 3
Table 2
Table 1
Table 4
BC Set
• IMG Activities• Customizing Settings• Attributes
Milestone Billing
Traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 16
Protection
Customers want to protect global settings against changes
Customers want to preview customizing before import
BC Sets allow you to lock 60-80% of customizing can be imported without changing the existing customizing
BC Sets allow you to lock 60-80% of customizing can be imported without changing the existing customizing
Impossible with traditional approach
Impossible with traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 17
Customizing import
Using transports
1 Step1 Step
Using BC Sets2 Steps2 Steps
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 19
Re-use
Customers want to re-use existing customizing in their template
Customers want to encapsulate and distribute „golden config“
Customers want to quickly apply their „golden config“ in the local systems
Customers want to base version 2 on version 1
BC Sets re-use customizing from transport requests re-use customizing from one or more existing clients can be duplicated and refreshed are distributed with the transport system can be uploaded and downloaded can be activated in the subsidiary systems
BC Sets re-use customizing from transport requests re-use customizing from one or more existing clients can be duplicated and refreshed are distributed with the transport system can be uploaded and downloaded can be activated in the subsidiary systems
No problem with traditional approach, but ...
No problem with traditional approach, but ...
No problem with traditional approach, butmore elegant with BC Sets
Difficult with traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 20
Re-use of customizing
Process 1
Process 2
Process 3
Headquarters
Subsidiary 1
Process 3
Process 3
Process 3
Subsidiary 2
Subsidiary 3Process 2
Process 2
Process 2
Process 1
Process 1
Process 1
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 21
Managing Customizing Template Versions
Only one version can be active in the customizing tablesOnly one version can be active in the customizing tables
Process 1
BC Set Version 3
Copy and refresh
Process 1BC Set Version 1
Process 1
BC Set Version 2
Copy and refresh
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 23
Flexibility
Customers want to apply customizing flexibly, e.g. org units
Customers want to reduce the amount of customizing that surfaces during the implementation of a template
Customers want to be able to quickly deploy template patches
BC Sets allow you to re-use customizing flexibly (with respect to org units) allow you to reduce the complexity of customizing during implementation can be downloaded, distributed via mail and uploaded
BC Sets allow you to re-use customizing flexibly (with respect to org units) allow you to reduce the complexity of customizing during implementation can be downloaded, distributed via mail and uploaded
Impossible with traditional approach
Impossible with traditional approach
No problem with traditional approach
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 24
Flexible Re-use
Process 1(for org unit 1)
Process 2(for org unit 1)
Process 3(for org unit 1)
HeadquartersSubsidiary x
Process 1(for org unit 3)
Process 1(for org unit 2)
Process 2(for org unit 3)
Process 2(for org unit 2)
Process 3(for org unit 3)
Process 3(for org unit 2)
Variable re-use of customizing with BC SetsVariable re-use of customizing with BC Sets
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 25
Reduction of Complexity
Process 1
Process 2
Process 3
Headquarters
Process 3
Process 2
Process 1
Subsidiary x
VisibleVisible
VisibleVisible
VisibleVisible
Implementation
what you see duringimplementation...
what you see duringimplementation...
... but you get the wholeBC Set in the target system.
... but you get the wholeBC Set in the target system.
VisibleVisible
VisibleVisible
VisibleVisible
You define in a BC Set ...
You define in a BC Set ...
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 27
Pilot Company Profiles
Chempro Dutch-based, global company Life science products,
performance materials,polymers, industrial chemicals
Annual sales: app. EUR 8 billion About 22,000 employees More than 200 sites worldwide 19 SAP R/3 installations (4,000
users) 15 legacy installations 80% of Chempro‘s SAP systems
are on 3.1I, 20% on 4.6c
Continental Helium UK based, global company Products and services focusing
on industrial gases Annual turnover (2001): app. £
4.000m Operating profit: app. £ 600m. More than 43,000 employees 7,500 orders, 5,000 deliveries,
1,200,000 SAP hits every day on a 24 x 7 basis
www.ch
empro.
comContinental Helium LTD.
Company names changed
Success stories are underway
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 28
Global rollout – Central System Approach
Global Development/Global Development/
Client Independent Cust.Client Independent Cust.
Global Development/Global Development/
Client Independent Cust.Client Independent Cust.
LocalLocal
System LandscapeSystem Landscape
LocalLocal
System LandscapeSystem Landscape
Country 3 - DevelopmentCountry 3 - DevelopmentCountry 3 - DevelopmentCountry 3 - Development
Template DevelopmentTemplate DevelopmentTemplate DevelopmentTemplate Development
Country 2 - DevelopmentCountry 2 - DevelopmentCountry 2 - DevelopmentCountry 2 - Development
Country 1 - DevelopmentCountry 1 - DevelopmentCountry 1 - DevelopmentCountry 1 - Development
BC SetBC Set
ActivationActivation
BC SetBC Set
ActivationActivationClientsClientsClientsClients
Central DevelopmentCentral Development
SystemSystem
Central DevelopmentCentral Development
SystemSystem
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 29
Lessons Learned (1 of 3)
Finish your customizing before creating BC Sets.
Reserve a phase for creating BC Sets in your project plan.
Small is beautiful: BC Sets should not contain data from different activities.
Use hierarchical BC Sets.
Prepare your customizers for changes. Transport size has to be kept down if small BC Sets are to be created.
Establish clear creation rules before creating BC Sets .
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 30
Lessons learned (2 of 3)
Don’t use BC Sets if your basis support package level is below 19 (or even 22).
Always apply the highest basis support package available.
You CANNOT put master data, transaction data, reports, etc. into BC Sets
Not all IMG activities can be used with BC Sets – use the IMG analysis reports before creating BC Sets
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 31
Lessons Learned (3 of 3)
Train the local teams to ensure that the recipients know What a BC Set is How to compare BC Sets using the Customizing Cross-System
Viewer How to interpret the results of a comparison What to do if template violations occur
If activation is to be used, the local teams need to know How the activation functionality works How variable fields are handled during activation How to analyze the activation log What to do if activation errors occur.
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 32
Summary
Pros Comment
Successful pilot projects Success stories underway
Flexible and fast creation of subsidiary clients
Pilot: „3 days vs. 6 weeks“
Business process orientation of customizing
Clear definition of what belongs to the template
Less written documentation
Locking of customizing against changes
Works only for 60-80% of IMG, but locking is not possible with the traditional approach. In addition, you can periodically check template compliance.
Easy re-use of existing customizing
SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name 33
Summary
Cons Comment
More effort during initial template development
Subsequent releases of template can be created faster. Template version handling without BC Sets is very difficult.
Pilot: „250 BC Sets covering approx. 2,000 IMG activities in 2 weeks”
Additional Knowledge Transfer
Pilot: „Restrict BC Set creation, testing and application to a small team of experts“
BC Sets are a great technology, but it has some sharp
edges.
BC Sets are a great technology, but it has some sharp
edges.
We will use BC Sets again!
We will use BC Sets again!
Quotes from BC Set pilots
Knowledge transfer is the key, because
BC Set knowledge is not yet widespread.
Knowledge transfer is the key, because
BC Set knowledge is not yet widespread.