Competence, efficiency, transparency: CCoE and SAP for Me make everyday SAP life easier

Two SAP services offer support: the SAP Competence Center of Expertise (CCoE) and the SAP for Me self-service portal. These offerings provide SAP users with tools and functions that not only enable them to better understand their ERP systems, but also to actively and strategically manage them.

Competence Center

The SAP Competence Center of Expertise (CCoE) is not an IT tool, but an organizational operating model. It defines a certified competence center within the IT organization of an existing SAP customer. The CCoE provides operational and strategic support for SAP systems. It coordinates internal IT with SAP support, thereby optimizing the overall performance of SAP operations. Existing SAP customers who set up a CCoE benefit from a clear allocation of roles, standardized processes and a direct line to SAP Support itself.

The CCoE is available in two versions: Customer COE (Basic) and Advanced Customer COE. Basic certification is available to all companies that meet basic requirements such as a central contact person and defined incident management processes. Advanced certification also requires strategic skills, such as active involvement in SAP programs, internal quality management or innovation management for SAP solutions.

Advantages for SAP ERP

The CCoE model offers numerous advantages for existing SAP customers, such as more efficient support processes. A CCoE acts as an interface between SAP and the company, allowing support requests to be prepared more professionally and resolved more quickly. By establishing standards in change and release management, system errors and failures can be minimized. The CCoE becomes the internal competence center for all SAP issues - including migrations, updates or system conversions such as the S/4 conversion. SAP provides certified CCoEs with access to exclusive services and information, such as product roadmaps, security patches and maintenance cycles.

The path to CCoE

Setting up a CCoE itself does not incur any licensing costs, as it is an internal organizational model. There may be certification costs and expenses for the organizational structure, which vary depending on the size of the company and the chosen certification level.

In addition, the operation of a CCoE can tie up personnel resources, especially if an Advanced CCoE is being pursued. There are also reports that the number of CCoE employees had to be increased after activating "Rise with SAP". SAP Rise in its current version does not seem feasible without dedicated CCoE operation and knowledge, see photo. Nevertheless, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for many existing SAP customers: faster response times, greater system stability and more control over the SAP landscape.

Everything you need to know about CCoE, Rise, Cloud, S/4 Conversion and SAP for Me can be found at the annual SAP Competence Center Summit in Salzburg. This is where the SAP community meets to discuss the latest CCoE and SAP for Me trends.

In order to be able to use a CCoE, a company must first create the organizational requirements: set up a dedicated team, define processes, appoint contact persons and implement documentation. SAP offers support in the form of guidelines, workshops and official CCoE certification, which must be renewed regularly. SAP also selects the best CCoEs worldwide every year. One of the winners is the existing SAP customer Festo from Stuttgart. A decisive success factor: the CCoE should not only be seen as a support office, but also as a strategic partner for the specialist departments, as Festo CIO Dr. Jörn Weigle has implemented perfectly in recent years. In this way, a CCoE can be a driver of innovation and a guarantor of quality within the company.

Transparency at a glance

While the CCoE is an internal ERP operating model, SAP for Me offers a digital platform that directly supports every existing SAP customer. At https://me.sap.com, authorized SAP users have a central point of contact for all information relating to their SAP products - from license status and contract details to support tickets and system status. Of particular interest to existing SAP customers is the ability to transparently view all active systems and modules, check the maintenance status or track open incidents. Information on expiring maintenance contracts or recommendations for security-relevant updates are also automatically displayed here.

Using SAP knowledge

Key aspects are therefore: a central overview of your own SAP landscape; monitoring of active support cases; information on licenses; user accounts and system health; individual notifications, for example for new security notes; self-service functions, for example for user administration or update downloads.

Whether organizational (CCoE) or digital (SAP for Me) - both offerings aim to enable and empower users to manage the ERP with confidence. While SAP for Me primarily offers transparency and simple control, the CCoE model enables internal SAP governance and strategic development. Existing customers who use both offerings gain an operational advantage. Discourse and information from SAP will be available at the Competence Center Summit on 10 and 11 June 2026 in Salzburg. (pmf)

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