Moderator Spotlight – Lakshmipathi Ganesan

Our newest moderator spotlight in the series highlights Lakshmipathi Ganesan a long time dedicated ERP SD moderator. Read my interview to learn more about him.

Please share with the Community a little about yourself:  I am located, since birth, in South India, specifically Chennai, one of India’s metropolises.  Before joining SDN, my hobbies were listening to music and sports.  But after joining SDN, my full time hobbies are ONLY SDN.*

*Note from Gali: As I was worried about Lakshmipathi’s work life balance I asked about vacations and he shared that last year he visited a Holy Place called Tiruchendur which contains a famous Hindu temple, whew I was glad to know that he takes the time for religion and travel too! 

Basically, I am not an IT guy by studies. I started my career as a Stenographer in 1988 and was working in different manufacturing industries till 1995.  I did my MBA in International Business through Open University.  In 1995, I joined the famous TVS Group. Year after year; I rose to the position of Middle Level Management Executive and was taking care of entire export sales, coordinating around 25 plants in India and few plants abroad.  My job description includes, generating orders from overseas customers, coordinating with plants for producing and dispatching, liaising with bankers, Customs, Excise and all statutory related issues.  In Sep 2005, I was selected as a Super User of SAP and there my SAP journey began. Whatever I know of SAP is self-learning as I never went to any training classes. 

So to enter into the IT industry, my SAP knowledge has helped me a lot and obviously, with the fast development taking place in SAP, I am still in the learning stage.  What knowledge I have I share in the SCN discussion (forums).

**Note from Gali: Lakshmipathi has been a community member since August 2007 and currently has more than 40K lifetime points!

Which spaces do you moderate on SCN (forum/blog/wiki)?  SAP ERP Sales and Distribution (SAP SD) , SAP ERP SD Billing and SAP ERP SD Sales

SAP ERP SD SalesWhen did you join the Moderator Community and how?  10^th December 2008 and it was you who have invited me

*Note from Gali – Lakshmipathi’s community helpful spirit was obvious then too which led to his being nominated for the moderator position!

What does your moderator role entail and what is the frequency of your involvement? This role involves a lot of challenges many times like; locking / deleting a thread, advising the members not to deviate from the rules of engagement.  Involvement is daily minimum 4 – 5 hours.*

*Note from Gali – I know Lakshmipathi is active daily but this much was a shock! We can only be thankful that such wonderfully committed moderators wish to help our community grow!

Have you ever attended an in person community event such as SAP TechEd? I attended TechEd Bangalore in 2009 and met Marilyn Pratt!

What motivates you? To learn more in SAP. As I already stated, I never went to any training institute to have a proper training.  Whatever I learnt is self-learning through SDN which I feel is not enough with the speed and advancement SAP has.  So in order to keep update my knowledge at least to some extent, I access SDN daily.

If you could offer one bit of advice to new members or new moderators what would it be and why? For new members – Before posting any question, please search in Google / SCN as many times, their queries would have been answered.

For Moderators –  Know what your level is and act accordingly. Take the help of senior Moderators in case you are struck at any point.

How has the SCN community helped you? If at all my name is identified globally to some extent, it is only because of SCN.

How are you finding the new SCN?  Still to be fine-tuned and posting my findings then and there.

Is there another moderator or community member that you’ve found incredibly helpful?  J Prakash another community member seems to be very helpful in clicking Abuse for many threads which had deviated from the rules and help others.

Note from Gali: Be sure to check out previous interviews in the moderator spotlight showcase.