ASAP Phase 3: Realization

The purpose of Phase 3 is to configure the R/3 System, in order to have an integrated and documented solution which fulfills your business process requirements.

In this phase, configuration of your system is carried out in two steps: Baseline and Final Configuration. The Baseline configuration is designed to configure about 80% of your daily business transactions and all of your master data, and organizational structure. The remaining configuration is done in process-oriented cycles. The Business Blueprint is used as the guide for the system configuration, done using the Implementation Guide, which will be described in detail in this chapter. After this, data transfer programs, as well as interfaces, need to be tested.

Fig. 3-1: Main work packages of Phase 3

Business Process Master List (BPML)

The Business Process Master List (BPML) is initially created in Phase 2 as a report from the Q&Adb. It is used to identify, plan, schedule, and monitor the configuration and testing of all R/3 business scenarios and processes within the scope of an implementation. The Business Process Master List is comprised of Excel worksheets that collectively facilitate the configuration and testing of R/3.

The Business Process Master List is a representation of the R/3 business processes and transactions that are contained within the scope of the project. These are refined during the Realization Phase into the project’s applicable business scenarios and R/3 transactions. The Master List is the central data repository that feeds all business process information to all subsequent worksheets. It contains the baseline scope, the cycle plans (you can define up to four configuration cycles), integration testing plans, and further templates.

A business process procedure (BPP) is a filled-out template that provides the initial definition for developing User Procedures and Case/Test Procedures. The results of the business definition meetings held with the customer provide an input for the initial business process procedures.

Fig. : Business Process Master List (BPML)

Business process procedures provide the most detailed level in the BPML and form the basis for defining the scope of your configuration cycles. They also represent a filled-out template attached to the structure you see in the BPML. This template gives you a head start on end user training and documentation.

Baseline configuration is performed by the application consultant while the business process team is attending Level 3 training. This will allow the team to get a firm understanding of processes within R/3 and of how the IMG is used to carry out actual configuration. The team will be able to test the Baseline configuration and validate that all the requirements have been met by developing and performing Baseline Scenarios.

Baseline Scenarios replicate your key business processes in the R/3 System to check that the Baseline provides the required configuration and business solution platform for the final business solution. The number and detail of Baseline Scenarios depends on the confidence level you want from the confirmation. The goal must be to define scenarios for your key business flows.

Final configuration will build upon the Baseline. This configuration is performed by the business process teams. Each configuration core business process is divided into cycles of related business process flows. These can be configured in parallel, for which reports, user procedures, testing scenarios and security profiles need to be developed. The cycles not only provide milestones for the project team, but also provide points at which the business processes can be demonstrated to the user community. This approach provides immediate feedback as well as involves the entire organization in the project.

The BPML enables you to manage all the integration testing necessary to validate the system configuration. Integration testing is planned for all the scenarios within the implementation. Multiple cases should be defined and tested to duplicate real business examples across areas.

Fig. XX Baseline configuration and testing

From the BPML, it is possible to call up an R/3 System, provided you have installed a local GUI. In this way, you can branch to the transaction you want to implement to see its functionality. Also, there is an "outline" icon that allows you to expand and suppress the business process detail, at the enterprise, scenario, case, business process, or BPP level, in order to best facilitate the work that you’re doing.

You can also view linked documents, such as the BPP document or the CI template from the BPML. Furthermore, when you need to add the same information to multiple cells in a column, you can use the "Fill Cells of Child Records" icon. This copies the information in the current cell to all its subordinate cells.

Lastly, the Business Process Master List has a hypertext documentation linked to it, which guides you through all creation and maintenance steps.

Uploading the BPML Scope to R/3

Provided you have created a Customizing project in the R/3 System – without however generating the Project IMG for it – you can upload the scope of your BPML to R/3. The prerequisite for this is the use of at least R/3 Release 4.0 and the maintenance of the corresponding R/3 login information in the BMPL User Profile.

You then generate the BPML, and enter the number of the project you have created in the R/3 System.

Fig. Xx: Generating a Business Process Master List

After the generation run, the system has loaded the scope into the R/3 System. However, in order for the scope to be included in the project, it is now necessary to generate the Project IMG in the R/3 System itself.

The advantage of this method is that you can access the R/3 IMG from the BPML, and branch to precisely the activities relevant to a particular process.

The project managers have to plan the work in this phase early enough to involve all those affected. For example, as part of the planning of the integration tests, organizational matters such as the equipment required, invitations to employees at other sites, and the testing procedure should not be overlooked.

The project manager also has to ensure that the project standards are adhered to, discuss the progress of the project with the Steering Committee, and to ensure that the activities are correctly integrated, especially user documentation and training.

On the technical side, the interfaces and enhancements are developed, data is transferred from the legacy systems, and the archiving system is set up.

At the end of the Realization phase, you will have an application system tailored to your business needs that has been approved by each department and by management. How this is done in detail is explained further on in this chapter.

Customizing R/3 with the Implementation Guide

The Implementation Guide (IMG) is the main tool for setting the parameters to configure or "customize" R/3 during this phase. R/3 is configured by the business process teams and/or consultants by following the steps in the IMG. The Implementation Guide is used for:

 Initial implementation of the R/3 System

 System enhancement and modifications

 System maintenance and release upgrades

Fig. xx: Component-oriented or process-oriented configuration

Using the Implementation Guide, you can:

* Manage, process and analyze implementation or enhancement projects

* Configure R/3 functions in your company quickly, safely, and cost-effectively.
* Tailor standard functions to meet your company's specific business needs.
* Document and monitor the implementation phases in an easy-to-use project management tool.

 Automatically transfer of configuration data from the quality assurance system to the productive system, thereby ensuring consistency

Configuring the Implementation Guide

The IMG contains all configuration tasks necessary to adapt R/3 to your business needs. Therefore, it is important for the speed of your implementation project that the IMG only contains implementation tasks that are really necessary. In order to do this, SAP allows you to configure the IMG and hereby cut down the number of configuraton tasks to a reasonable minimum:

1. An Enterprise IMG is created from the R/3 Reference IMG, which contains the whole range of activities. This defines which R/3 components are to be implemented in which countries.

2. A Project IMG is created for the individual project by selecting countries and application components from the Enterprise IMG.

3. Views are created for every Project IMG. Selecting attributes reduces the number of activities to be processed again. Of particular interest is the mandatory activity view. It only shows the activities that must be carried out.

This configuration process, shown in the following graphic, together with sample navigation paths, considerably reduces the size of the IMG.

Fig. 27 (2-10) Reducing the implementation scope

All the Customizing activities have attributes that are used to specify the IMG. Each IMG activity has the following attributes:

* Key and status
* Assignment to R/3 application components
* Assignment to countries
* Assignment to a work package in the ASAP Roadmap
* Assignment to transport type (transport of all change requests, transport of original activities, transport of copied activities)
* Client dependency
* Language dependency
* Classification as optional or mandatory
* Classification as critical or not
* Selection fields allocated, for example, for indicating a Global Template

Structure of the Implementation Guide

The structure of the IMG reflects the chronological order in which the Customizing activities are to be carried out.

Fig. 14 (3-4): From the Reference IMG to the customer-specific Project IMG

You can execute all activities directly from the IMG. In addition, the following functions can be called:

 IMG documentation
The documentation function tells you what the activity is needed for, what effects a change in the configuration will have and what to do. Since the documentation is displayed in a separate window, you can view it while you carry out the instruction steps.

 Activities
This function calls the Customizing activity where you can make the settings you need, for example, for payment conditions.

 Project management
This function enables you to document the project status, schedule and resources.

* Project documentation
This function enables you to create project documentation for each Customizing activity.

Once you have created your IMG, some of the evaluation possibilities are:

* Display of all planned Customizing activities
* Display of all Customizing activities necessitating completion
* Display of all finished Customizing activities
* User-defined evaluations of Customizing activities

Fig 29 (10): Changing Customizing for a sales order so that export check is carried out

The R/3 Customizing tables have been bundled into different views in order to make it easier to understand the business concepts behind them. Each change to a Customizing object is automatically recorded in a transport request and can be planned for export to the productive system. This procedure guarantees that the productive system is consistent with the quality assurance system and is easy to maintain.

IMG Project Documentation

Project documentation, which mostly concerns decisions made about IMG activities, is stored in the Project IMG itself. You can also plan and confirm your schedule and overhead for activities using project documentation.

Fig. 28 (2-8) The IMG menu with IMG activities and HTML-based documentation

Comprehensive, standardized project documentation enables you to log all implementation plans and changes. There are three types of project documentation:

* Organizational structure and process documentation
This sort of documentation, which is based on the R/3 Reference Model, describes the business functionality and the integrated processes in the R/3 System separately from the technical aspects.

 Project work documentation
This documentation is written in SAPoffice, in which you can also store and manage the documents in folders automatically generated by R/3 to match the Reference Model.

 Customizing documentation
Notes are entered and stored in the IMG for each Customizing activity. This ensures that the configuration is easy to understand even after the project has finished.

Using the Business Navigator, you can move directly from the processes or functions you want to implement to the corresponding SAPoffice folder. You can also navigate straight from the application components, to which the processes and functions are assigned, to the configuration activities and notes in the IMG.

SAPoffice allows you to edit and store all the documents and information that you need during your implementation project. It has interfaces to various PC-based editing tools, for example, Microsoft® Word, Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® PowerPoint, and Lotus® ScreenCam. Also at your disposal is SAPoffice’s entire mail functionality, which enables you to store your documents in structured folders and exchange them with other members of the project team using distribution lists. This way, you can ensure that the entire project team is kept up-to-date.

The methodical recording of all activities and information during the implementation builds a solid basis for the user documentation that is written in the next phase. Together with the Business Process Procedures, the application system documentation and the conceptual design drawn up at the beginning of the project form a considerable part of the user documentation and training materials.

Customizing Functionality

Among the basic functions that you can carry out in using the Implementation Guide is how to carry out your system installation (setting up system logs, defining logical systems, communication servers, etc.) setting up clients, maintaining users, making individual Customizing settings, and setting up the transport functionality.

The management of Customizing transport requests for transferring settings from the quality assurance to the productive system has an important role to play. The R/3 transport system transfers all the settings and parameters you make in the quality assurance system to the productive system. These are activated in the quality assurance system, meaning that a Customizing request is maintained for every setting made, which can then be transported.

This way of working not only guarantees consistency between the quality assurance and productive systems, it also makes it much easier to change processes and carry out release upgrades. You can use the Transport Organizer for cross-client transports and the Workbench Organizer for cross-system transports. Project IMGs and the related documentation can also be transported.

Global settings include such objects as currencies, countries, units of measurement, and factory calendars. These settings can be configured centrally, as they function independently of the individual business processes. These are the first steps the IMG guides you through when you start configuration.

Data and reports required for strategic and for operational purposes are also configured in this phase. R/3 offers many typical reports which you can tailor to your individual business needs. In Phase 3, you have to check that the reports meet the enterprise’s needs, making any adjustments that may be required.

The Report Navigator is a comprehensive catalog of approximately 1,500 reports which makes it easier for users to find standard reports. Most reports listed contain comprehensive documentation.

In Phase 3 you define and create all the reports that you will be using, and this tool helps with this process. The Report Navigator is located in the Knowledge Corner of AcceleratedSAP.

Customizing Wizards

Customizing wizards are similar to wizards found in Windows software that assist the user by using a series of simple dialog boxes. These easy-to-understand wizards "converse" with the user to collect information. Upon completion, the wizard automatically updates the corresponding R/3 Customizing tables with the appropriate settings. Each wizard focuses on a specific R/3 Customizing topic, which can then carry out the Customizing of multiple IMG transactions.

Fig. Xx: Customizing wizard for MM account determination

The wizards can be used for initial configuration settings as well as for subsequent changes. This means that the wizards must first read the existing R/3 Customizing table settings. This also implies that the "classic" IMG can still be used interchangeably with the wizards. The following wizards are available:

* MM Account Determination
* SD Output Determination
* SD Revenue Account Determination

Preconfiguration Tools

For Release 4.5A, so called Business Configuration sets (BC sets for short) have been developed to save Customizing parameter values from a business point of view, that is, a part of the Reference Model. In order to save the parameters of one Customizing activity for a model element, individual Customizing profiles can be used. These can then be grouped to form Business Configuration Sets.

Fig. Xx: BC Sets and compare tool (Customizing Cross-System Viewer)

In a further step of the Business Engineer functionality, it will be possible to load BC sets assigned to model elements into the system. This means that they can be taken over automatically in the corresponding Customizing views. BC sets can have as many hierarchies as needed, down to the individual profile level. On the other hand, you can have a BC set with a direct value assignment, which is transferred to the quality assurance or productive system via a transport order.

The Customizing Cross-System Viewer is a tool that enables you to see at a glance what Customizing data has been transported to another system and compare the two systems with respect to this data.

This is a tool for checking the consistency of client-specific Customizing changes. In a typical R/3 System infrastructure, changes made in the development system are transported to the quality assurance system and then to the production system.

To check the consistency of changes in the quality assurance system before transporting them to the production system, you transfer them to an intermediate import client first. You then start the Customizing Transfer Assistant in the quality assistant client, and log on to the import client via Remote Function Call. Normally, you use the Customizing Transfer Assistant together with other cross-system tools such as the Customizing Cross-System Viewer.

Further Aspects of the Realization Phase

The following aspects of configuration need to be taken into account during the steps carried out for the Realization Phase:

* Defining authorizations in the R/3 System
* Defining your workflows
* Creating your user documentation

Authorizations (Profile Generator)

As well as the configuration of an enterprise’s organizational structure and business processes, one important task in Phase 3 is setting up the authorization profiles for the users.

For this, the employees’ tasks are matched with the authorization profiles supplied by R/3 in the form of pre-defined activity groups. These profiles can be adjusted using the Profile Generator. This often used to be the job of the technical team, who had to quiz the staff as to the details of their business processes. It is now so easy that the members of the project team responsible for the business processes can take care of it themselves.

R/3’s flexible authorization concept has several strengths:

* It protects applications and data from unauthorized access
* It provides users with the necessary authorization for individual applications

The administrator no longer has to define authorizations directly from the authorization objects; instead, the tasks that are to be performed using R/3 are simply selected. The Profile Generator creates the authorizations automatically and bundles them in a new authorization profile. The administrator is not required to intervene again until the end of the process when the organizational units, for example, for plant or company code have to be specified. However, it is the Profile Generator that then transfers the organizational information to the authorization fields.

There are several advantages to defining authorization profiles in this way:

* The configuration process is considerably simplified.

* Profiles are more precise and easier to understand.

* Communication between the administrator and the users is simplified by the use of terms the user is familiar with.

You can adapt the transactions of each application to the business requirements of your company and of different groups of users. Typical work centers are defined by assigning standard transactions or customized transactions to a user group. End users are only offered the transactions that fit their respective work centers, and unnecessary navigation in the SAP applications is eliminated. In the process, the appropriate authorization profiles for the employees are defined, fields are prefilled, hidden/locked and an individual user menu can be generated.

SAP Business Workflow

In Phase 3, SAP Business Workflow is typically used to define such business processes as invoice approval, availability checks, trip cost accounting and purchase requisition approval. It offers further optimization potential in automatic handling of exceptional situations and missed deadlines, for example.

With SAP Business Workflow, the user is at the heart of the business process. An intuitive electronic inbox receives all messages and documents for each employee. Employees are kept informed about the tasks that they are involved with and supplied with all the information they need. A range of filter functions makes it possible to configure the inbox to meet the needs of your enterprise or of the individual employees. You can set up folders, manage documents and set resubmission dates.

The implementation process is accelerated by using preconfigured workflow templates on a number of different levels. SAP offers a library of templates that contain ready-to-run application scenarios. They can be used as they are or adapted to meet your own individual requirements. The templates harmonize perfectly with the application components. The graphical workflow editor makes it easy to change the workflow definitions at any time without any programming effort. The changes do not have to be made to the applications themselves, so that the adjustments can be made during productive operation.

Analyses of completed processes and observations of trends can offer invaluable information about the cost and effectiveness of individual processes. Those that are too costly or too time-consuming can easily be pinpointed for reengineering.

ABAP Workbench

The ABAP Workbench is a complete development environment integrated into the R/3 System that enables you to make modifications to the standard R/3 applications. It is used by innumerable R/3 customers and by SAP’s own developers. A sophisticated enhancement concept ensures that all such changes are consistent and easy to maintain. The ABAP Workbench is also used for defining interfaces and transferring data.

ALE – Distributed Business Processes

Business processes are subject to continual change and typically evolve from a sequence of worksteps to a network of processes. The prime consideration in process design is the enterprise’s business; the IT infrastructure is of secondary importance. Sometimes, in order to keep intercompany processes consistent, information systems have to be separated or distributed. Both the implementation and development of such scenarios have to be flexible enough to support changes in requirements.

The Application Link Enabling (ALE) initiative opens up new perspectives in this context, facilitating the loose coupling of distributed R/3 and third-party applications alike. Because communication between applications is based on business object technology, all settings are easy to access and consistency between different application systems is guaranteed.

One example of a distributed scenario is centralized accounting and customer master maintenance combined with local sales operations.

Creating User Documentation

Once you know the number of users and tasks for R/3, you can plan the structure, contents, and format of the user documentation. Before you create the documentation, you have to define how you want to have documentation changes managed.

One accelerator that is available to help your documentation and training become successful is to use the Business Process Procedures that are contained in the Business Process Master List. The BPPs, created for most R/3 business processes and scripts, are like step-by-step procedures of how to carry out a process. Adapting these scripts to your implementation by taking screenshots and filling in field information allows you to easily create documentation for every business process.

System Management Procedures

In the Realization phase, procedures for system management also need to be defined, in order to prepare the system for productive operation. This includes monitoring productive infrastructure needs, and determining which system administration activities are necessary. The following steps are carried out in this work package of the Realization phase:

1. Developing of system test plans

2. Defining the service level commitment

3. Establishing system administration functions

4. Setting up a Quality Assurance environment

5. Defining the design of the productive system

6. Defining system management procedures for the productive system

7. Setting up the productive environment

Quality Checks in the Realization Phase

At the end of Phase 3, the status of deliverables must be checked for completeness and accuracy. The Project Manager performs this internal quality check, which should not be confused with the external, independent Quality Assurance Audits after each phase.

The Quick Sizing Tool, or Quick Sizer helps you in reviewing the sizing you have determined in the Project Preparation phase.

Some of the things validated are the configuration of the Baseline scope, the global settings made for the R/3 System, and the organizational structure. Furthermore, it's necessary to confirm the creation of archiving management, verify the existence of a finalized system, and ensure the creation of user documentation and training materials.

Lastly, the preparation for end user training needs to be gone through and approved.