SAP Activate Methodology has 6 Phases to it:

 Discover
 Prepare
 Explore
 Realise
 Deploy
 Run

SAP Activate Methodology

Discover Phase:
The Discover phase is where the customer realises there is a need for a solution to
satisfy their business pain point and starts looking out for the right SAP solution to map
their requirements. During this phase, customers can apply for a free trial solution if
applicable and try it out for themselves to check the features and functionalities of the
solution. Customers can even reach out to partners like to get the best consulting
advise based on years of industry and SAP product experience to find the best solution.
By the end of this phase, customers finalize to go ahead with the required SAP solution
and move to the next phase in their implementation lifecycle.
Prepare Phase:
As the name suggests, this phase is crucial to both customers and partners as key
activities that are crucial to the success of the project are completed with mutual
consent. The system is provisioned to the customer post-signing of the contract with
SAP and the partner. Simultaneously, key resources are identified from the partner side
in terms of the SAP Consultants getting onboarded and enabled. From the customer
side, business process owners are identified to provide the right requirements to the
consultants implementing the project. A high-level project plan along with roles and
responsibilities is finalised along with the project team, project governance procedure
and escalation matrix and the project is ready to kick-off!

During this phase, an initial level of requirement is already collected when the business
process owners fill in the Business-Driven Configuration Assessment questionnaire. This
is a readily available document for the project team that can be downloaded and used
to fasten the project delivery. Based on the answers obtained from the assessment,
consultants need to plan for the next and probably most important phase of the SAP
Activate Methodology – the Explore Phase.

Explore Phase:
The Explore Phase pretty much lays the foundation for the success of the project. In this
phase, customers and partners collaborate with each other for 1 outcome – to finalize
the business process to be followed in the new SAP system. This is done by a series of
“Fit-to-Standard Analysis” sessions, where the SAP Best Practice business process flow
is showcased to the Business Process Owner. Consultants first display a flowchart of the
business process and later drive a demo of the same using the initial system that was
provisioned to them. The project team then have a healthy discussion on how the
business can map their business to the best practices..

Another major point that SAP Activate has made easier for consultants is the standard
migration templates that are readily available to download. This comes as a point of
relief, especially for consultants who otherwise used to spend a lot of time coming up
with a migration template to help the business fill in the information that is required to
be migrated to the new system. This helps the project team save an immense amount
of time and the business finds it comfortable to fill in the required information as
advised by SAP. The business users are enabled on the migration templates and they
can now internally start working on data consolidation, cleansing, and formatting to be
filled into the standard migration templates. This comes as a huge relief to both the
customer and partner project teams as working on data is arguable one of the most
difficult portions of a project!

One of the best parts of the explore phase is the “Customer Execution of Standard
Processes”. What SAP Activate tries to achieve is to build an early relationship between
the end-users and the SAP system for an easier and accelerated adoption of widely
accepted business processes. Consultants provide the business users with the
documents required and help them run an end-to-end cycle in the SAP system. The
previously self-enabled business is now familiar with the system and provides their
concurrence that they have executed the business process in the system. They are
provided with their own user access to explore and get familiarised with the system.
This is great, especially in the initial stages of the project because this helps for an
easier UAT in the next phase of the project.

A change impact analysis is done to understand how the new system will benefit the
business and actions to enable a smooth transition to the new system are decided
among the stakeholders of the project. Key users are identified and an end-user
learning needs analysis is done and a learning plan is prepared for the key users who
will help drive the success of the system during the duration of the project.

Realize Phase:
Once the Explore Phase deliverables are signed off, the project team can start working
on the Quality system provisioned by SAP. In this phase, the SAP consultants start
configuring the SAP system according to the Backlog document that is signed off. This
happens in an iterative approach where the project team works based on multiple
sprints that have been planned to execute the project by breaking down the backlog
requirements into smaller deliverables that need to be showcased to the business
process owner and signed off as completed once it matches the agreed-upon
completion criteria. This is the phase where consultants are in regular touch with the
business process owner to showcase to them, the SAP system they are building through
multiple Solution Walkthrough’s that are scheduled through the Realize Phase.

User Roles and Authorizations can be a hectic process to finalize on, especially in large
projects. For the same, SAP has provided us with standard persona-based roles that
help the business users with their tasks through an End-to-End business process.

In this phase, multiple levels of testing User Acceptance Testing is performed to ensure
the SAP system is configured according to the customer requirements provided by the
business process owners. Data migration testing is also done to ensure the data filled in
by the business users are in the correct format and ready to import to the brand-new
SAP system.

Once all the deliverables are satisfied, a cutover plan is made to move the
configurations, objects and master and transactional data to the Production system
which will be the system used by the business in real-time. This signifies the end of the
Realize Phase.

Deploy Phase:
In the Deploy Phase, once every checkbox is ticked and everything is ready, the
business faces a temporary downtime as the new SAP system is Deployed for usage to
the business users. This is typically done during a weekend to ensure that customers
have little to no effect due to the downtime. The cutover is a process that sometimes
gives consultants sleepless nights as this is the culmination of all their hard work being
moved into the SAP system for the usage of an entire organisation.

Once the cutover is done successfully and checked by the partner and the customer,
the business users are supported by the consultants and the key users who now form
the first line of defence in case users have doubts or face an issue. The customers and
partners can now relish the success of the project through an intense time filled with
dedication and hard work from all stakeholders involved.

Run/Go live Phase:

The Run Phase signifies the end of the customer’s lifecycle from identifying a solution
for their business need to finally implement the solution and running their business
process on the same. In the Run Phase, the customer project team are given only 1 task
– to be updated with the latest innovation and technologies in SAP, especially in the
product they have implemented by having a “Continuous Learning” to keep up with the
pace of technology.