Through this 5 part series, I’m sharing practical knowledge on mastering this amazing software (SAP, S/4 HANA) that has been a part of my life for 15+ years. The focus is to guide you to the right path ie you becoming a SAPJedi!
The blog post was originally published on LinkedIn here.
What and who is a SAPJedi?
A SAPJedi is one who has a very deep understanding of SAP. They can
Why would you want to become a SAPJedi!
Organizations need the best people to achieve their goals in the most efficient way possible..... Bored already... Who am I kidding...
You want to be a SAPJedi for a simple reason... stable cash flows!
How does one become a SAPJedi? Here’s my 5 point plan!
Part 1:Conquer KPIs: Understand key KPIs for your organization, your team
These are things that the top bosses think about.. Daily!
How to find key KPIs for your organization?
Find KPIs Option 1: Open the investors page of your company’s website. You will most likely find company quarterly presentations there. These presentations fill in the story (strategy) behind the numbers. Lets take an example from Coca-Cola’s Q1 2020 presentation. Source https://investors.coca-colacompany.com/financial-information/financial-results
Note: This earnings release was during Covid-19 outbreak. You will find language to that effect. It's also a good case study to see how companies are adapting to the pandemic.
The page above highlights immediate actions that Coca-Cola will take.
Reading the lines “Focus on Core Brands” and “Prioritize Key SKU”, we can infer that company’s near term focus is its affordable core sparkling products ie Diet Coke, Coke classic, Coke Zero, Sprite etc.
If you are a person who services and supports younger, emerging brands within the company. You know your brands may not a priority for the company now. Need I say more… ?
Similar inferences can be made from other points. The earnings call is also transcribed. I’d recommend reading/listening to get C-Suite insights.
What are the KPIs? How does this affect you as an employee / consultant (SAP)? What can you do?
If you are still reading… you’ve got a head start! Now you know a way to find focus areas (KPIs) of a company. In Coca-Cola’s example, you can start positioning yourself in areas the company will focus on… ie
Find KPIs Option 2: What if you’re unable to connect to the Internet ? Or your company has no investors page? What then?
Ask key KPI’s from your boss. If they don’t know. Ask their boss and so on. Someone must know! ?
Why conquering KPIs help you become a SAPJedi?
Hope you learnt enough to find key KPIs for your organization and how they affect you. In the next part of the series I’ll will cover the following
Stay tuned!
The blog post was originally published on LinkedIn here.
What and who is a SAPJedi?
A SAPJedi is one who has a very deep understanding of SAP. They can
- understand the true business need of a client
- architect, implement and support the need using SAP (yes write/debug ABAP code too)
- solve any issues fast, Magic!
Why would you want to become a SAPJedi!
Organizations need the best people to achieve their goals in the most efficient way possible..... Bored already... Who am I kidding...
Image Source: Pexels.com
You want to be a SAPJedi for a simple reason... stable cash flows!
Stable genius ? ie SAP expert + Funded Projects + Great results = Continued employment = Stable Cash flows
Image Source: Pexels.com
How does one become a SAPJedi? Here’s my 5 point plan!
- Part 1:Conquer KPIs: Understand key KPIs for your organization, your team
- Part 2: Ask right, solve right. How to solve any SAP issue in a structured manner
- Part 3: SAP Security is Surety. Know enough to figure out “what the $%@# is going on?”
- Part 4: Yes.. SAP Fiori and ABAP! Wait.. Don’t run away! What do you have to lose? ?
- Part 5: Simple words are here to stay! Use simple words to do extraordinary things + Bonus content
Part 1:Conquer KPIs: Understand key KPIs for your organization, your team
Key performance indicators (KPIs) reflect strategic priorities for an organization. These measures can be
- Financial eg. Revenues, costs, cash flow growth etc. or
- Non-financial eg. customer love, product market fit, delivery efficiency etc; which affect financial metrics.
These are things that the top bosses think about.. Daily!
Image Source: Pexels.com
The following questions are relevant
- How to find key KPIs for your organization?
- Why conquering KPIs help you become a SAPJedi?
How to find key KPIs for your organization?
Find KPIs Option 1: Open the investors page of your company’s website. You will most likely find company quarterly presentations there. These presentations fill in the story (strategy) behind the numbers. Lets take an example from Coca-Cola’s Q1 2020 presentation. Source https://investors.coca-colacompany.com/financial-information/financial-results
Image Source: Coca-cola.com
Note: This earnings release was during Covid-19 outbreak. You will find language to that effect. It's also a good case study to see how companies are adapting to the pandemic.
Image Source: Coca-cola.com
The page above highlights immediate actions that Coca-Cola will take.
Reading the lines “Focus on Core Brands” and “Prioritize Key SKU”, we can infer that company’s near term focus is its affordable core sparkling products ie Diet Coke, Coke classic, Coke Zero, Sprite etc.
If you are a person who services and supports younger, emerging brands within the company. You know your brands may not a priority for the company now. Need I say more… ?
Similar inferences can be made from other points. The earnings call is also transcribed. I’d recommend reading/listening to get C-Suite insights.
Image Source: Coca-cola.com
What are the KPIs? How does this affect you as an employee / consultant (SAP)? What can you do?
If you are still reading… you’ve got a head start! Now you know a way to find focus areas (KPIs) of a company. In Coca-Cola’s example, you can start positioning yourself in areas the company will focus on… ie
- Increase revenue from Core affordable brands
- Supply chain efficiencies. Reduce delivery issues
- Increase use of Alternate routes to market the product to customers. D2C platforms, Amazon etc.
- Projects which will deliver considerable opex (operational expense) savings
Find KPIs Option 2: What if you’re unable to connect to the Internet ? Or your company has no investors page? What then?
Ask key KPI’s from your boss. If they don’t know. Ask their boss and so on. Someone must know! ?
Image source: pexels.com
Why conquering KPIs help you become a SAPJedi?
- Without the Jedi Order (ahem!.. I mean funded SAP projects :D) a SAPJedi has no work/purpose. Knowledge of organization focus KPIs enables better positioning for yourself. Here's the equation again.
SAP expert + Funded SAP Projects (via KPIs) + Great results = Continued employment = Stable Cash flows
- Knowing organization KPIs (focus) helps you understand customer needs/context. Enabling a better Customer experience.
If you’re still reading… congratulations! You’ve got more patience than me ?
If you didn’t read any of the stuff above… congratulations! You are smart and lazy ? Below section has a good summary.
Summary: steps to Conquering KPIs
- Read investors page (or ask boss) to know key KPIs every quarter
- Infer, gather list of projects that may get priority and funding
- Prepare, Position yourself as an expert on these project topics
- get Paid, Prosper work smart, get recognized and keep getting paid! ?
Hope you learnt enough to find key KPIs for your organization and how they affect you. In the next part of the series I’ll will cover the following
- Part 2: Ask right, solve right. How to solve any SAP issue in a structured manner
Stay tuned!
- SAP Managed Tags:
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