transforming asset management - mastering sap

MASTERING SAP

ENTERPRISE ASSET

MANAGEMENT

COMMUNITY SNAPSHOT 2020

TRANSFORMINGASSET

MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTIONFor 24 years, The Eventful Group has

specialised in developing Asset

Management, Maintenance and SAP-

Centric communities of practice for

business and IT professionals. Intense

research is conducted with these

communities via a process known as the

Circle of Customer Engagement, where

both the challenges faced, and

opportunities perceived are identified

through various methods including Think

Tanks and interviews with practitioners

and the C-suite.

PARTICIPANT PROFILEThese think tanks bring together business leaders from engineering and

asset groups, analysts and IT teams engaged with SAP Enterprise Asset

Management (EAM). They come from a wide variety of industry sectors

including mining, energy, utilities, transport, manufacturing, health and the

public sector. Given the restrictions on face-to-face interaction imposed to

manage the outbreak of COVID-19, we hosted the think tanks virtually for

the first time and they were outstanding. Over 60 individuals from nearly

50 businesses joined us and contributed to the body of work, sharing their

stories of process optimisation and the use of SAP solutions to support

that. These insights are captured in this report. In addition, The Eventful

Group researchers interviewed a select group of global Asset Management

thought leaders to further understand the trends facing the industry.

Participants include:

Maintenance & Reliability Managers

Directors of EAM

Business Process Managers

Heads of Asset Management

SAP EAM Consultants

Systems Design Leaders

Master Data Managers

Maintenance Planners

EAM Solution Architects

EAM Functional Analysts

Asset Systems Managers

Process Performance Leaders

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THESE INSIGHTS?

This unique research process ensures pure and accurate information is

generated through debate and discussion among the community. Themes

that emerge from the research groups are used to build the agenda for the

Mastering SAP Enterprise Asset Management 2020 event that will take place

in November 2020. Mastering SAP Enterprise Asset Management will

demonstrate how innovation and process improvement is being enabled by

SAP through a combination of case studies, thought leader presentations,

discussion groups, product demos and panels. All based around the key

topics in this report.

KEY THEMESThe following ten themes emerged from our roundtable discussion groups:

1. Data

2. Innovation & the Future

3. Business Case for S/4HANA

4. User Experience & Mobility

5. Change Management & Training

6. Asset Performance Improvement (APM)

7. Core Work & Project Management

8. Reporting and Analytics

9. Linear Asset Management

10. Geo Enablement Framework (GEF)

1. DATATo run an asset centric enterprise, you need to have good data

representing your assets. Without good data, systems don’t provide

accurate, timely information and feedback. But many of us have not had

amazing data from the past. So how do you get there? How do you get

value from the data that you have in your legacy systems (some of which

might not be perfect) and at the same time advance the quality of the data

you are collecting in the future?

Most customers recognise that having some data that is 80% accurate is

better than not having data at all (as long as you know which 20% is

unverified). Yet few have established data collection frameworks to meet

the needs of the strategic intent.

If data is the lifeblood of your systems then we must create a work

environment where data is valued, accurate, and collected at the right level

of detail (and corrected when it’s wrong). Without the basics in place you

won’t be able to achieve basic analytics let alone the more sophisticated

work like predictive, AI, and Machine Learning.

Organisations collect data from a myriad of sources. Some data comes off

sensors, SCADA systems, control data, GIS data, Historians, ERP data

(sometimes from more than one ERP). Hence the architecture we need to

solve for, and the notion of aggregating all this data and using it effectively,

must be open. We must be able to interrogate data from multiple sources

and ideally not have to shift the data into a new location – rather perform

analysis on it from where it originates.

An example is SAP’s Predictive Maintenance & Service Solution (PdMS).

Among SAP’s newer toolkit, their ambition is to have customers utilise the

SAP Cloud Platform and its built-in Intelligent Asset Management apps and

services to drive a predictive maintenance regime by bringing data together

from multiple sources.

What master data governance solutions exist. (e.g. MDG, MDO,Winshuttle, Information Steward)?What user-friendly apps can help technicians capture data correctly? What standards have you put around people who are working with yourdata? How do you justify investing in tools? How do you communicate the value of good data collection to thetechnicians? Can SAP Data Hub truly integrate all data sources into a centralizedsystem? How do you begin identifying and passing responsibility to a datasteward that can truly nurture clean data practices?

2. INNOVATION & THEFUTUREThere are advances all the time in technology that can be scaled to an

enterprise level. In some cases, we need to respectfully temper the

enthusiasm for the next shiny object and focus on getting bang-for-your-

buck or solving a pressing business need.

Your organisation might have a digital transformation agenda in place, yet

it appears apparent that no catalyst has had as big an impact on the speed

of adoption as Covid-19.

What do you see yourself and your organisation dabbling in over the next

years?

Finding quick wins through Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the way

you manage your maintenance planning?

Is data science a discipline you plan to invest in?

Implementation of the Geo Enablement Framework (GEF) – used in

conjunction with Planning and Scheduling in SAP?

Image recognition for analysis of defects, i.e finding objects on a video?

A good example is for fleet management – using this technology in

conjunction with AI.

Integration platforms to bring multiple sources of data into a single

view?

Drone fleets, image recognition and AI – especially in high risk

environments to keep people out of harm’s way?

Mobility and the challenges of lack of connectivity in remote areas?

Machine Learning for reliability engineers?

Historian to read machine outputs and connecting this to Intelligent

Asset Management or to measure points inside of SAP to integrate the

data flow.

Maintenance plans generated off the back of these readings?

Other SAP tools aiming to shape the future of asset management such as

Asset Strategy & Performance Management (ASPM) or the SAP Asset

Intelligence Network (AIN)?

3. BUSINESS CASE FORS/4HANAMoving to S/4HANA is the basis upon which SAP customers can adopt a

digital transformation agenda. If you ask, ‘how can I better serve my

customers?’ This is where the value for S/4HANA proposition resides. The

improved visibility and real-time nature of information will ensure an

understanding of your customer demand, your own operation, and enable

you to better execute your processes. While headcount reduction is

sometimes an outcome, this is often not the goal. More to the point, how

do I have my people do more valuable work?

SAP’s mandate to upgrade to S/4HANA is providing the opportunity for

organisations to take a step back and assess their IT strategy. Should a

best-in-breed approach be the new strategy or should we continue to

utilise what's available from SAP?

Another question is how do I future proof my business case?

Risk aversion to the technology and waiting to see what the next gen offers

is a common counter argument.

The technology roadmap must be understood from the beginning. Any

support garnered and agreements reached must be done so with

sustainability in mind.

Moving the S/4HANA business case from an upgrade of system to an

enhancement of capability.

Understanding the industry solution and its maturity.

Developing an operational ROI for investment that is further than back-

office operations.

Knowing your architectural landscape and the complexity associated

with upgrading YOUR system.

4. USER EXPERIENCE &MOBILITYWhen pushback occurs to further entrench SAP in an organisation or to go

from ECC to S4/HANA, the user experience is often cited. SAP has done a lot

of work in this space and more recently with Fiori apps and their mobility

solutions. But selling mobility upline is hard as there have been some first

generation fails, not always due to the technology. Change and business

readiness were common reasons back in the day. There is a huge linkage

between change management, user acceptance and mobility projects.

The more geographically dispersed your assets, the stronger the case for

mobile. There are various reasons for using mobility tools:

Asset inspections – Collection of multiple readings and assessments

against an asset, perhaps with immediate calculations and feedback of

condition.

Work management – Work identification and execution in the field, with

immediate data entry and updates on user-friendly screens to gain

acceptance.

Capturing asset history data (e.g. failure codes) - Defining code sets that

are usable (short lists, descriptive, meaningful) – these must not be

onerous to use. Sometimes it is better to have accurate information from

fewer and easily selected high-level codes than inaccurate information

from very detailed codes requiring user effort to interpret and select.

Effective work-arounds for offline use when little or no network coverage

How do you go about choosing the right solution? What do you look at?

What do you need?

5. CHANGE MANAGEMENT& TRAININGWe can easily overestimate the level of knowledge within our businesses.

Often the biggest gap is that you can go through the training, which tells

you how to use the system, but it doesn’t tell you why and how to do your

job - this is the big change needed. Paired with ongoing upgrades,

enhancements and process changes, productivity becomes significantly

reduced.

Training with role-based swim lanes can provide all the why. The system

changes are small in nature compared to the role.

Can you create a super-user scenario to enable your stars to teach those

around them?

How do you train initially and then continue to learn after go-live and as

new people come online?

As we train virtually now and post Covid-19, we must shift to virtual Zoom-

like platforms while maintaining the teacher-student relationship.

How do you deliver training in sizable chunks?

How do you leverage automated walk through tools like SAP Enable Now

in a remote environment that is easily adoptable?

How do you know where skills gaps exist in order to address them?

People then need “coaching” on the job to ensure the “learning” is complete

by supporting them to succeed through positive reinforcement and helping

when they have issues.

6. ASSET PERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENT (APM)The discipline of APM (Asset Performance Management) and APM systems

aim to optimise equipment maintenance strategies and drive strategic

asset management plans, bringing together the operational and asset data

that drives these strategies.

People need to understand why they should be capturing the information.

Is something positive going to come from their discipline? Will there be a

closed loop? They need to see the enhanced decisions they can make based

on all this information they have captured to fully buy into the effort of

capturing it.

The data collection process takes time for patterns to develop. Creating

strong governance around data collection, storage and manipulation needs

to be structured to ensure APM is achievable.

How do you drive an APM plan?

How do you measure its progression?

How do you improve performance?

Can you drive this out of analytics? Can you spot the bad actors through

good reporting?

How do you get the data that you are going to analyse and how do you

take action on it?

Aviation and rail are two industries who have done this very effectively.

SAP’s solution of Intelligent asset management tools, namely PdMS,

provides solutions in this area.

7. CORE WORK &PROJECT MANAGEMENTCore work management requires the integrating of short, medium and

long-term planning. It encompasses planning, scheduling and large projects

like shutdowns or outages. They are related in that good planning on a

weekly and yearly basis provides an achievable basis for day-to-day

planning, with the major bumps in planned-demand already levelled

out. This requires the portfolio view all the way down to the daily tasks.

At the top level it’s a portfolio of projects (SAP PS project level) with all the

designed life-cycle steps. The challenge is to bring together and level-out

the demands across those multiple projects.

As the projects move forward to construction, we often transition to Plant

Maintenance Work Orders for the field work steps, and the challenge is

then to bring together and level-out the demands across those multiple

projects.

The other area that is challenging is the day-to-day management of the

schedule at a crew level. Some customers use SAP’s scheduling solutions,

while others utilise 3rd party solutions including Prometheus or

Primavera’s P6.

HR solutions play an equal part in project management. Knowing what

credentials workers have, as well as clearances, availability and their work

rights, are core to getting the job done.

Developing hierarchies of critical vs non-critical assets may have benefits in

worst case scenarios around work planning, however risks arise when non-

critical assets are continuously overlooked for other projects.

How can you leverage planning and project management solutions to

strike the right balance?

Integrating into HR for scheduling is the holy grail, but is it achievable?

8. REPORTING ANDANALYTICSWe want to collect data from as close to the source as is possible. Those in

the field want depth of information and the capacity to drill down, at a

managerial layer they want the visual appeal of Tableau or the ease of use

of Power BI.

Tying together multiple data sources into a central reporting tool requires

constant enhancement in order to remain relevant. Reliance on data for

reporting is critical so how do you ensure the process of collection and

presentation are accurate and trustworthy?

For plant maintenance KPI reporting, the business might want to run Power

BI but at the same time need extracts out of S/4HANA. Drill-down requires

analytics tools that talk to S/4HANA.

Have you explored the capability of SAP’s Analytics Cloud?

What reporting does Fiori give you with standard tiles?

Do you understand Core Data Service (CDS)? Apparently, it’s great for

getting data out of S/4HANA

If you are using a data lake, who should have access to it and who can

make changes?

9. LINEAR ASSETMANAGEMENTManaging linear assets - such as roads, rail and pipelines - with technology

specially designed for linear assets, improves the ability to plan and

operate. It also gives you tighter control over reporting and cost

management. These assets can stretch for hundreds of kilometres and pass

through varying terrain, so it is important for the solution to paint a

picture of the state of the asset and kinks in the chain that may occur, as

well as the precise location needing maintenance work done. The

information given should be the what, the where, the topography, and the

tools to bring along.

Often the ability to report on cost per area for work on a linear asset is

required. Sometimes this is required to meet accounting compliance or

government regulatory funding.

The linear network model should restructure the network assets along a

linear backbone, with point objects attached as lower level data points

along this backbone. Generally, the purpose of which is to achieve high

operational performance with focus on asset optimisation, financial

efficiency, risk mitigation and long-term capital planning.

How do you use 21st century tools to drive improved linear asset

management practices?

Integrating geo-spatial and GIS into SAP – what is optimal?

Can you leverage tools like PdMS in a linear asset management process?

10. GEO ENABLEMENTFRAMEWORK (GEF)Field based location of assets is critical for large, dispersed asset networks.

Where GEF provides greatest value is in being the conduit for matching GIS

information to business objects. In recent years, organisations have

become better at understanding their asset locations and leveraging GIS to

set maintenance plans. By using GEF they are now able to bring the IT and

GIS information together. Being able to set efficient maintenance plans

allows better productivity for workers.

How do you manage multiple assets that are on top of each other?

How do you leverage GEF to get the most out of a maintenance plan?

Can you use HANA as a database for ESRI features?

What are the best ways to link spatial information to work manager

plans that reduce time spent traveling?

If you have GEF and ESRI, which is the master?

Can you move the data both ways depending on what you are trying to

achieve?

The world has changed. Businesses are demanding more. New leadership

styles, new technologies and global standards are emerging. And the big

Asset Management shift is on. Maintenance and Reliability have moved

beyond their operational role and are fast transforming into a core,

focused, and disciplined strategic business function. Technologies like SAP

EAM are the essential enablers of this transformation which is why the

Mastering SAP Enterprise Asset Management program has evolved and

progressed to be a celebration of the leadership, technology and

innovations that are literally transforming Asset Management.

WANT TO FIND OUT MORE?

https://www.masteringsapconference.com/eam/aus/

Call Steve Morris or Kyle Tate on +61 2 9955 7400

https://www.masteringsapconference.com/eam/aus/

BUILDING COMMUNITIES AT THE EVENTFUL GROUPAt The Eventful Group we are all about building communities, creating

value for the members, and immersing ourselves in their world to ensure

that members walk away from one of our community events with

knowledge and connections they will not, and cannot, get anywhere else.

To do this, we know we need to listen to our customers and create an

exciting, unique event based on solid, in-depth and collaborative research.

We have been successfully building communities for over 20 years. We

don’t just put an event together in a couple of weeks based on phone calls

to consultants and reading a few articles. We invest a lot in our research

process – typically a whole year for a new community. At the heart of

everything we do is a fundamental belief in the power of people. We invest

our time, resources and knowledge into developing something that’s far

more than an event. This philosophy sets a climate where ideas and people

grow. Where minds and hearts open up to fresh thinking and new faces.

https://www.theeventfulgroup.com/

https://www.theeventfulgroup.com/

transforming asset management - mastering sap

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