What must not be missing from S/4 transformations

When planning large IT projects, such as the S/4 transformation, the focus is on the project plan, the system architecture, the processes, the software solution and the costs. Unfortunately, the change management work package as a soft skill is often neglected.

Personnel resource planning is also a part of this, but interestingly plays a subordinate role, although experience shows that the human factor is the most important part in a project. External human resources or consultants are often automatically allocated by the provider depending on availability, specialization and requirements. Verification of professional and social competence through a hearing in the bidding phase rarely takes place.

In the internal preparation of an S/4 project for the decisive management, primarily technical project goals are defined. Unfortunately, a detailed description of the true advantages and benefits as motivation for the users and for the project staff does not take place. This also means that the positive drive is lost. 

Characteristics such as motivation, good training and education as a part of change management have also been proven to have a direct impact on cost savings, which is rarely taken into account or underestimated. Personal experience has shown that these soft skills are only half-heartedly considered. The often rapid transfer of knowledge of the most important functions by employees in day-to-day business leads to massive loss of knowledge and frustration. 

Motivated employees are more focused, more efficient and therefore faster. Well-trained users make practical use of the new functions, make fewer errors and need less time. In other words, the factors listed above, when applied to all SAP users in the company, often result in a considerable reduction in costs or, conversely, in additional costs due to the time savings alone. With good organization, these are not just one-off effects, but rather ongoing savings. My personal motto for this: "It's a shame to own a Ferrari (SAP) and not be able to drive it.." 

All these factors are reason enough for the responsible management to support the SAP training manager with all necessary measures. Especially in the transformation from R/3 to S/4, there are many new technologies (for example, automation or AI) and functions that can lead to the savings mentioned through trained application.

In any case, successful training requires the necessary infrastructure and a professional organization. An internal implementation has many advantages, but corresponding external organizations are also available as an alternative. SAP also offers extensive training materials and services as well as technologies for this purpose. 

A modern infrastructure should cover not only face-to-face training, but also digital technologies. Both variants are necessary to achieve acceptance by all user groups. The better the target group is defined, the more efficient and successful training measures will be. At a minimum, the characteristics of age, department and application should be used. Experience shows that older users prefer face-to-face training, while younger users predominantly want mobile and digital tools. In any case, up-to-date documents must also be made available online for day-to-day business as an aid for all users.

I see a successful training concept not only as part of the change management of an S/4 transformation in the project phase, but also as an ongoing operational task for person-related quality assurance and for achieving planned savings.