Konstantin Yerzakov's blog

Best Practice for SAP Global Programs


Best Practice #1- Defining the Global Template

Most global SAP-programs are based on a template and deployment approach. The approach as such is hard to question, but there are a few potential pitfalls.
Far too many SAP programs talk about the Global template as the Holy Grail. From the view of the steering committee meeting, with the CEO, all sounds good. However, many of the programs have not defined what the global template must contain in detail. Some refer the content of the global template to the business processes, some to the documents to be produced, and others refer to it as entirely something else. If such a fundamental component is not defined in most SAP programs, how can you then be sure that you have delivered according to expectations?

A dependable Global template should contain, describe, and address truly the Global Business Processes. An attempt to portray a local practice as a Global Business Process and include it in the Global Template would not be beneficial to the project, in fact quite the opposite. Instead, select the truly Global Business Processes and make sure they are discussed and understood by SMEs in all regions / functions, and avoid creating a “corporate” template.

When designing the Global template, it would definitely be worth looking at unifying tools and systems to achieve a more homogeneous environment (though it may not always be possible) supported by (global) software and (global) hardware platforms. Even though sometimes it may mean more effort and (or) cost upfront, this will result in far more stable and sustainable solutions in the long run.

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