The S/4 Hana Cloud Makers
An agile project methodology was the only possible approach for Allgeier to achieve the time, scope and budget goals for the new SAP business unit. At the point, the SAP Activate methodology fully supports all aspects of these requirements.
The central building block of this method for Allgeier was the early availability of an S/4 Hana cloud starter system. This system already contains fully configured best-practice scenarios, the associated process descriptions, the test scripts and, with the Self-Service Configuration UIs (SSCUI), the complete available configuration scope.
The interaction of these components was explained by SAP during an onboarding workshop attended by the entire project team. During this phase, the SAP consultants from Allgeier with many years of experience were clearly shown that implementation in the cloud differs significantly from the on-premise world.
The degrees of freedom with regard to customizing and process-specific enhancements are significantly limited in the cloud. Basically, only the processes that are provided for in SAP's best practices can be configured.
Above all, the lack of the familiar IMG implementation guide takes some getting used to for the experienced SAP consultant.
Although technically still available, only a few settings are available via the Fiori interface. Even for the experienced Abap developers, a clear difference to the on-premise implementations becomes apparent: The entire Abap environment is no longer accessible in the familiar form.
While minor customizations such as field or table extensions are possible in the S/4 Hana cloud system, extensive in-house developments must be carried out on the central development infrastructure of the SAP Cloud Platform.
Dealing with these new circumstances demanded a great deal of flexibility, openness and willingness to learn from everyone involved, both the project team and SAP. Close cooperation, good coordination and regular Scrum sprints ensured the success of the project.
"Innovation is a key driver for the Allgeier solution portfolio. That's why Allgeier chose our new strategic SAP business unit 'Allgeier Enterprise Services', for the most modern and innovative products in the SAP portfolio, such as SAP S/4 Public Cloud, Concur and SuccessFactors.
The clear strategic decision to join the SAP Lighthouse Partner Program for SAP public cloud solutions helps us position ourselves as one of the leading providers of SAP cloud solutions in the DACH region.
In addition, implementing and using these products for our own business supports our partnership goals. I am convinced that the decision to add the cloud strategy to our SAP portfolio is essential for our future success and the success of our customers."
explains Allgeier ES Board Member Michael Schmidt the strategy adopted.
Allgeier ES's business model requires the use and integration of additional SAP products to cover all processes. The Solution Manager (on premise) with the ITSM component plays a central role here.
The SAP product Concur is used for travel expenses and SuccessFactors (Employee Central) was used for employee management.
The core process of time recording, which is used by all employees of Allgeier ES, was realized by an in-house development on the SAP Cloud Platform. On the one hand, with a browser application optimized for the desktop and, on the other hand, with a mobile version for use on smartphones and tablets.
Interaction in this heterogeneous system landscape was the next major challenge of this project. Thanks to close cooperation with the SAP departments, it was possible to create a single interface based on the SAP Launchpad that was uniform for all users via single sign-on.
SAP implementations were previously considered difficult, complex and expensive. With SAP's cloud solutions, Allgeier ES succeeded in building a system landscape that supports all relevant processes within three months.
This approach eliminates the need for extensive investments in hardware, infrastructure and licenses, and the selected opex model (operating expenses) is only billed on a subscription basis.
Thus, an SAP cloud implementation represents an interesting balance between customized process implementations and implementation efficiency.
On the other hand, the standard-compliant implementation automatically ensures a good release capability in the quarterly cycle and the permanent availability of innovations.
With this project, Allgeier ES succeeds in supplementing its usual on-premise service portfolio (implementations, extensions, operation and managed services) with innovative cloud solutions.
Not least thanks to the experience gained, Allgeier ES was selected by SAP as one of the few Lighthouse Partners for SAP Cloud Business. Anyone looking for a solution for an ERP implementation will find the SAP S/4 Hana Cloud an extremely attractive option.
"Within ten weeks, we successfully implemented the entire business backbone for Allgeier ES. The available processes for professional services allow high flexibility to build our business and respond to customer needs".
says Adalbert Schopp, Head of Finance within Allgeier.
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