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SAP PS FULL LIFE CYCLE IMPLEMENTATION

For full life cycle implementation refer ASAP methodology & Best practices as per
business scenarios. Please find the below details on ASAP methodology.

ASAP stands for Accelerated SAP. Its purpose is to help design SAP implementation in
the most efficient manner possible. Its goal is to effectively optimize time, people,
quality and other resources, using a proven methodology to
implementation.
The road map is composed of five well-known consecutive phases:
Phase 1 Project Preparation
Phase 2 Business Blueprint
Phase 3 Realization
Phase 4 Final Preparation
Phase 5 Go-Live and support

Phase 1 : Project Preparation
Phase 1 initiates with a retrieval of information and resources. It is an important
time to assemble the necessary components for the implementation. Some
important milestones that need to be accomplished for phase 1 include
Obtaining senior-level management/stakeholder support
identifying clear project objectives
architect an efficient decision-making process
creating an environment suitable for change and re-engineering
building a qualified and capable project team.
ASAP- Second Phase- Business Blueprint
SAP has defined a business blueprint phase to help extract pertinent information
about your company that is necessary for implementation. These blueprints are in
the form of questionnaires that are designed to probe for information that
uncovers how your company does business. As such, they also serve to
document the implementation. Each business blueprint document essentially
outlines your future business processes and business requirements. The kinds
of questions asked are germane to the particular business function, as seen in
Accelerated SAP question and answer database:
The question and answer database (QADB) is a simple although aging tool
designed to facilitate the creation and maintenance of your business blueprint.
This database stores the questions and the answers and serves as the heart of
your blue print. Customers are provided with a customer input template for each
application that collects the data. The question and answer format is standard
across applications to facilitate easier use by the project team.

ASAP Phase- 3 - Realization:
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With the completion of the business in phase 2, "functional" experts are now ready
to begin configuring SAP. The Realization phase is broken in to two parts.
1) Your SAP consulting team helps you configure your baseline system, called the
baseline configuration.
2) Your implementation project team fine-tunes that system to meet all your
business and process requirements as part of the fine tuning configuration.
The initial configuration completed during the base line configuration is based on
the information that you provided in your blueprint document. The remaining
approximately 20% of your configuration that was not tackled during the baseline
configuration is completed during the fine tuning configuration. Fine tuning usually
deals with the exceptions that are not covered in baseline configuration. This final
bit of tweaking represents the work necessary to fit your special needs.

Configuration Testing:
With the help of your SAP consulting team, you segregate your business
processes into cycles of related business flows. The cycles serve as independent
units that enable you to test specific parts of the business process. You can also
work through configuring the SAP implementation guide (IMG). A tool used to
assist you in configuring your SAP system in a step by step manner.

Knowledge Transfer:
As the configuration phase comes to a close, it becomes necessary for the
Project team to be self-sufficient in their knowledge of the configuration of your
SAP system. Knowledge transfer to the configuration team tasked with system
maintenance (that is, maintenance of the business processes after Go-live)
needs to be completed at this time.
In addition, the end users tasked with actually using the system for day-to-day
business purposes must be trained.

ASAP Methodology - Phase 4 - Final Preparation:
As phase 3 merges into phase 4, you should find yourselves not only in the midst
of SAP training, but also in the midst of rigorous functional and stress testing.
Phase 4 also concentrates on the fine tuning of your configuration before Go-live
and more importantly, the migration of data from your old system or systems to
SAP.
Workload testing (including peak volume, daily load, and other forms of stress
testing), and integration or functional testing are conducted to ensure the accuracy
of your data and the stability of your SAP system. Because you should have begun
testing back in phase 2, you do not have too far to go until Go-live. Now is an
important time to perform preventative maintenance checks to ensure optimal
performance at your SAP system.
At the conclusion of phase 4, take time to plan and document a Go-live strategy.
Preparation for Go-live means preparing for your end-users questions as they
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start actively working on the new SAP system.
ASAP - Phase 5 - Go-live and Support:
The Go-live milestone is itself is easy to achieve; a smooth and uneventful Go-live
is another matter altogether. Preparation is the key, including attention to what-if
scenarios related not only to the individual business processes deployed but also
to the functioning of technology underpinning these business processes and
preparation for ongoing support, including maintenance contracts and
documented processes and procedures are essential.