A declaration of love to the EDI project manager

Many companies are about to switch from SAP ERP to S/4 Hana. At the same time, it is worthwhile to update the electronic data interchange (EDI). Whether greenfield, brownfield or a hybrid approach: An EDI migration project can be surprisingly easy to implement (but also surprisingly frustrating if done incorrectly) and brings some advantages in use.

Historically grown (island) solutions can finally be simplified and the most complex EDI landscape can be consolidated to a single connection via the cloud. Instead of different integration solutions, central governance can finally be achieved. Fully Managed EDI from the cloud, for example, connects companies to all their B2B partners via a single connection to the EDI service provider and offers easy scalability as well as high flexibility also with regard to topics such as e-invoicing compliance. The replacement of local converter solutions minimizes internal effort and creates valuable capacities.

When it comes to the next S/4 project, including EDI migration, those responsible must not only select the appropriate technology or solution approach (of which there are many), but also put together an appropriate team. After all, in the best case scenario, an S/4 project is not implemented by one poor devil all by himself, but by an experienced team of project managers, SAP consultants, Abap programmers and SAP Basis.

On the customer side, of course, the business department and the key users are also involved. Each of these roles makes a contribution to the implementation of the EDI migration, and as always, the whole is more than just the sum of all the parts. An essential part, the cement of the whole, so to speak, is now the EDI project manager. Why? To do this, we first need to define the various roles.

The overall project manager is the person responsible for the project implementation in-time and on-budget. He has the process view from a correspondingly high altitude and coordinates the entire processes - correspondingly high skills in project management are a must, but special EDI knowledge about formats, protocols, archiving requirements, etc. is often lacking. Different industries and partners have different requirements, and the topic of e-billing in particular constantly creates new stumbling blocks.

The SD/MM/FI consultants make the necessary settings in the SAP system, test them, and perform the acceptance tests with the business department. Here, however, the overarching process view of partners outside the company and the know-how about IDocs, the data mapped there and the transfer into the SAP data structures are usually missing. Then the Abap programmers come into play. They implement the custom code when it is no longer possible to make do with the normal SAP resources.

They have a strongly technically oriented view of the process, whereby the business implications are often not scrutinized in detail. Here, too, the overarching process view is missing. Ultimately, not much is possible without the SAP Basis. It is ultimately responsible for the correct operation of the SAP system, with a focus on memory utilization, processor utilization, network, and so on.

For testing and acceptance of EDI connections, good cooperation with the business department and key users is essential. All those who have now already had to deal with an EDI project know: EDI needs a lot of know-how and experience in detail and in an overarching sense. Especially the connection between SAP processes, IDoc format and customer and supplier specific requirements is often missing and potentially provides for correspondingly lengthy and complicated EDI migrations.

The EDI project manager can help. He knows the process end-to-end and the industry-specific peculiarities. He also knows about the SAP-specific challenges and special features in MM/SD/FI and, together with the SAP consultants, can assess how special requirements from customers, suppliers or authorities can be implemented. Finally, he also knows the correct representation in the IDoc and how extensions can be implemented if necessary.

But where to get this jack-of-all-trades and not steal it? The EDI service provider is the right address here. Because a good EDI service provider does not simply offer the infrastructure or the software for all EDI requirements, but also has a correspondingly experienced selection of EDI project managers who perfectly complement and bring together all the roles mentioned above.

This turns an otherwise potentially difficult process into a tailored and structured migration implementation in which overall project management, consultants, programmers, SAP Basis and the business department can concentrate purely on their tasks, accompanied by EDI know-how and cross-functional expertise.