sap product lifecycle management: implementation tip, tricks and lessons

]

ATUL PATANKAR[ASUG INSTALLATION MEMBER

MEMBER SINCE: 2000

LINDA WILSON[ASUG INSTALLATION MEMBER

MEMBER SINCE: 1999

JUERGEN LINDNER[SAP POINT OF CONTACT

MEMBER SINCE: 1998

SAP Product Lifecycle Management:

Implementation Tip, Tricks and Lessons

Learned

Eric Stajda, LeverX

2

[What We’ll Cover …

� Introduction

� Selecting SAP PLM as your tool

� Defining the right project scope

� Setting up the team

� Project methodology

� Organizational change management

� Key SAP PLM functional areas

� Training

� Wrap-up

3

[What’s in This Session?

� Get expert advice on how to avoid common pitfalls and obstacles as you begin or continue an SAP PLM implementation project

� Selecting SAP PLM

� Implementation team

� Project scope


� Look into key functionality

� Material, BOMs, CAD, Document Management, etc.

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[What’s in This Session? (cont.)

� What you are going to get today

� My views based on working with customers

� The goal of the presentation

� To help you avoid common mistakes

� To provide some tips and insight into making your PLM project go smoother

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� Introduction







� Training

� Wrap-up

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[Selecting SAP PLM As Your Tool

� Before you start building, you must select the right tools

� Engineering mindset about SAP

� It is for Manufacturing, Finance, Purchasing, and Sales

� Not an Engineering system

� In general, Engineering departments typically have a great deal of control of their systems

� Sometimes they have their own Engineering IT group

� Since SAP is large and complex, there is a vision that things cannot be done fast and the system may not be flexible

� This is true to some degree

� Before looking at SAP, many companies will look at best of breedsolutions like Matrix One, Teamcenter,

Smarteam, etc.

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[Selecting SAP PLM As Your Tool (cont.)

� At an earlier conference this year, an attendee asked why chooseSAP PLM over another competing product

� Here are the key points that I gave

� Integration to the rest of the organization

� Easy access to engineering data throughout the organization

� Engineering has access to supporting information for decision making

� One infrastructure and one support team

� Fewer interfaces to build and support

� Utilizing an asset in which you have made a large investment

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[Selecting SAP PLM As Your Tool (cont.)

� In the end, SAP PLM is a tool

� Most of the software packages contain the same basic functionality

� The success of your project will not be based solely on the functionality of the software

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� Introduction







� Training

� Wrap-up

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[Defining the Right Project Scope

� Before starting a project, you must define the right scope

� Selecting your scope can be based on the following drivers

� Business benefit derived from the implementing

� Resources you have available

� People, money, time

� Scope is also based on what current systems or processes you have in place today

� Do you have a system that manages your processes that is no longer supported?

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[Defining the Right Project Scope (cont.)

� If you have nothing in place, do you need a baseline system?

� A baseline system is what I consider Product Data Management (PDM)

� Materials, BOMs, Document Management, Classification, Engineering Change, CAD Management

� When thinking of your project scope, think of phased implementations

� If your organization is not big on change, then start with smaller projects that can bring success quickly

� “Big-bang” projects work, but they are tough

� Require most amount of change management, resources, time,

and risk

� Many projects fail because the scope is too large

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[Sample Scope Options

� Document Management

� Scope: Bring all Engineering documents into a secure vault and associate to the product structure

� Benefit: Engineering documentation is easily accessible by all users of the SAP system (Manufacturing, Purchasing, Sales, etc.)

� CAD Management with Engineering Change Management

� Scope: Integrate your CAD systems to the SAP system

� Benefit: CAD data is managed is secure and controlled environment

� PDM baseline system

� Scope: Manage creation and change of all Engineering product data

� Materials, BOMs, Classification, Documents, CAD, Engineering Change

� Benefit: Based on business environment — many

� Common processes, part reuse, change controlled environment, etc.

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[Tip for Initial Implementations of SAP Systems

� If your organization is using a SAP system for the first time, start with the smallest scope to build some initial success and momentum

� Small successes can lead to bigger gains

� This also allows the project team to gain knowledge and confidence

Tip

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� Introduction







� Training

� Wrap-up

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[Setting up the Team

� Success begins with your team

� Make sure you have your top resources on the team

� Many times, the project team members are selected from who is available and who will be least missed from the core business

� Top resources bring the following to the table

� Have the best information

� Can drive decisions

� Get buy in from others

� Team must be supported by top management

� This gives them credibility when they go out to the business areas, ask tough questions, and propose changes to processes

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[Setting up the Team (cont.)

� Success begins with your team

� People with a positive attitude and willing to learn

� If they have not been exposed to SAP systems, they should be excited about learning something new

� They should not have a negative disposition towards SAP systems

� It is true — one negative person can bring down a team

� Set the correct expectations

� What will they be responsible for?

� How long will they be assigned?

� What will occur after go-live?

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[Example Project Team for a Common Project

� Project champions trumpet the message of why the project is being done

� Executive Steering Committee helps make the tough decisions

Project Champions Senior Management

ApplicationsTeam Lead

CADTeam Lead

TrainingTeam Lead

OrganizationChange

ManagementLeads

DataConversionTeam Lead

InfrastructureTeam Lead

SAP PDMFunctional(Business)

Consultants

Executive Steering

Committee Senior Management

Project Managemt

IT & Business

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� Introduction







� Training

� Case study

� Wrap-up

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[Project Methodology

� Many projects follow the ASAP methodology, going through these phases:

� Project Prep

� Blueprint

� Realization

� Go-Live

� I have noticed a few issues as projects proceed through this methodology

� Specifically, issues tend to appear during the Blueprint phase

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[Blueprint Phase

� During Blueprint, business users do not spend enough time in the system

� They are asked to make decisions about functionality or concepts that

they are not familiar with

� My recommendations:

� Spend more time in the system upfront

� Spend a short time gathering requirements and build a quick

prototype

� Use the prototype for a conference room pilot and then find out

what needs to be tweaked

� The purpose of the Conference Room Pilot is to validate the prototype against the business processes of end-users of the software, by allowing end-users to use the software to

carry out typical or key business processes using the

new software

� This cuts down overall length of project

� Project team members become more knowledgeable

and make better decisions

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� Introduction







� Training

� Case study

� Wrap-up

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[Organizational Change Management (OCM)

� Many projects have no organizational change management process or do not consider it important

� As important as technology and functionality, the organizationalchange management team keeps communication clear, dispels rumors, and keeps all participants feeling like they are part ofthe project

� Keeps us from working in a vacuum

� Worst thing is to come back to the business after six months and say, “Here is your system…”

� OCM keeps them in the loop

� OCM is a continuous process

� Continues after go-live

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[Activities Carried Out by the OCM Team

� Establish and execute communications plan, including communication toolkits for the team and business to use as needed

� Maintain project Web site

� Assist project management in preparing for and facilitating events, such as face-to-face workshops or system demos

� Conduct business readiness surveys

� Conduct team effectiveness surveys

� Establish and lead business readiness team

� Design and conduct leadership alignment workshops

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� Introduction







� Training

� Wrap-up

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[Key SAP PLM Functional Areas

� In this section, I’ll talk briefly about key SAP PLM functional areas

� Document Management

� CAD Integration

� Material Master

� Classification

� Bill of Material (BOM)

� Workflow

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[Document Management System (DMS)

� SAP provides you with an enterprise DMS system

� Start with management of a small number of documents

� Issue: I could manage everything, but how do I set the system upin meaningful way?

� Expand documents that are managed after go-live

� Opportunities will present themselves

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[CAD Integration

� SAP sells CAD interfaces to a variety of packages

� CATIA, UG, I-deas, Pro/E, Autocad, etc.

� SAP is not the main developer of the interfaces

� DSC, .riess, CIDEON, Tesis

� When implementing, best support comes directly from the companies that develop these packages

� If modification or add-ons are required, they know how to modify the software quickly and efficiently

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[Material Master

� From an initial look, the material master seems complex

� There are many views that capture data for different areas of the organization

� In general, the Engineering area is only interested in 3 views

� Basic Data 1, Basic Data 2, Classification

� Have a decision on a part number scheme before going into the project

� Smart number vs. unintelligent

� Understand how material revisions work in the system

� Materials are not inventoried by revision

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[Classification

� Classification is defined as adding additional attributes to aid in searching for materials

� Major business benefit is part reuse

� Lesson learned is that this is difficult process for business owners to define

� In a large global company, getting agreement from all parties ondefining the attributes and when they are required is difficult

� From a technical standpoint, this is an easy area to implement

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[Bill of Material

� Best practice is to use an Engineering BOM

� There will be multiple bill materials for plant-specific BOMs

� Use the Engineering BOM and copy it into the production BOM

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[Workflow

� SAP Workflow is great for getting the right information to the right people at the right time

� Start simple — do not attempt to workflow-enable everything

� Find a good resource who has experience in developing workflows for multiple areas of SAP

� Build up your internal staff so that they can support workflows after go live

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� Introduction







� Training

� Wrap-up

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[Training

� Many companies use the “train the trainer” concept

� Knowledge needs to be transferred from core team to trainers so that they can carry out the training

� Before training can begin, material must be developed

� The main knowledge holders of how to develop the training material are those who are building/developing the system

� One issue I’ve found is that this core team is busy and knowledge must be transferred to dedicated training developers

� In some cases, areas of the system are still being developed while training development is going on

� System and process should be locked down as much as possible before training development begins to eliminate the frustration of continual rework of training material

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[Training (cont.)

� The average amount of training required per user depends on the scope of the project

2 to 3 daysCAD Management with Engineering Change

2 to 3 daysFull PDM Scope (DM, BOM, Material, Classification, ECM)

6 to 8 hoursEngineering Change Management

6 hoursDocument Management

Training Per UserProject Scope

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� Introduction







� Training

� Wrap-up

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[Resources

� 10 PLM Pitfalls

� http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/exclusive/read/10_PLM_Pitfalls_11403265

� Registration required

� 10 Best Practices for Successful PLM Evaluations

� http://www.meta-fore.com/education/wpreg.php

� Registration required

� PLM Interest Group (PLMIG) — The PLMIG is a neutral organization, independent of all providers of PLM products and services

� http://www.plmig.com/welcome/abouttheplmig.shtml

� CIMdata® — A definition of PLM

� http://www.cimdata.com/PLM/plm.html

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[Key Learnings

� SAP PLM is all about integration

� Make sure to bring your best resources to the team

� Make you have a project champion that can manage noise and drive home the point of why the project is being undertaken

� Select the right size scope

� Don’t be afraid to select something small to get a quick win

� Get into the system early and build a prototype

� Organizational change management should start early and continue on through the life of the project

� Learn from other customers

� Come to conferences such as this or request reference calls from your SAP Account Executive

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[

[

]� Thank you for participating.

SESSION CODE:

3607

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sap product lifecycle management: implementation tip, tricks and lessons

Technology