SAP Change Control Tool Selection and ROI Justification - Part III: High Cost Of The Status Quo

[Former Member]

Does your SAP change control program just hum along? If you are like most we speak to, then probably not. But how does an organization gain enough impetus to both initiate and then implement a new automated approach. There are various reasons why change control initiatives don’t get up but often the biggest reason is the deceivingly “safe” place called the Status Quo. It can be very hard to move away from it when everyone is busy and there is not enough time to focus on it.

Even when you probably know the status quo isn’t always the 'safest' or most economical, how does one quantify the difference?

For example, if the difference between your current SAP change control status quo and an automated approach was known beforehand, perhaps an SAP support team would find the time to make the shift.

But where to start?

Well, lets take a look at error detection.

What if automation could improve error detection rates?

USC and U. of Maryland research shows that over 50% of errors are found, not in DEV, but in QA and PRD. That’s a lot of leakage. Errors that escape DEV cost 7x more to correct in QAS and 14x more to fix in production (see figure 1).

So then of 100 errors, those caught in DEV typically cost $46,850 to correct. Those caught in QA cost $214,080 to fix and those that make it into PRD cost another $282.040. At this point, changing nothing, or remaining with the status quo leaves our cost at $542,970. That’s a sizable bite!

But lets say automation and enforcement could improve detection so that errors picked up in DEV, are not 50%, but 75%, leaving 25% to QA or PRD. Total cost of 100 errors drops to $318K (see figure 2). That’s $224,276 annual savings by using good automation software. By the way, a recent Rev-Trac customer reported an improvement to 95% error detection in DEV resulting in a significantly higher cost reduction.

That’s only one example but it’s a great beginning.

You might also look at things like task automation, audit compliance, change dependency tracking, transport coordination and transport deployment cost reduction opportunities as well.