Introduction

SAP Activate is the next generation implementation framework used to implement and deliver SAP innovations and solutions.

Built on the Agile methodology, SAP Activate methodology takes an iterative approach to continuously improve and deliver to increase the project quality and success.

With this blog post I like to give an overview of how you can learn about SAP Activate and share some useful ressources.

 

The Big Picture

Based on SAP Activate with the phases Discover, Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy and Run there are associated tools and accelerators for each phase availabe.

Between Prepare and Deploy you go through several innovation cycles with the goal to develop new functionality.

In order to keep the project on track and for a transparent progress control, it is highly recommended to work with the SAP ALM Tools SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Solution Manager with SAP Focused Build which are nowdays are more and more becomming the common standard.

Source: Own illustration based on SAP Activate and Focused Build

 

SAP Learning Journeys

A good starting point and overview is the SAP Learning Journey. Therefore I recommend to have a look at the following Learning Journey:

• SAP S/4HANA – Implementation Tools and Methodology SAP Activate)

 

Transition to SAP S/4HANA with SAP Activate

In summary there are three ways for the transition to SAP S/4HANA:

• New Implementation (Greenfield): Enables complete reengineering and process simplification.
• System Conversion (Brownfield): Software upgrade that preserves all data and settings.
• Selective Data Transition (Bluefield): Empty Shell Creation, Conversion and Data Migration.

Elements of SAP Activate

The following three elements are an integral part of SAP Activate:

• Methodology
• Content
• Tools / Guided Configuration for S/4HANA Cloud

Source: SAP Activate – ACT100

Methodology

The Methodology includes:

• Phases
• Workstreams
• Deliverables, Tasks
• Artifacts

Source: SAP Activate – ACT100

Content

There is a large selection of content, like SAP Best Practices, Template Project Plans, Ready to run Systems, System Content, Guidance, etc.

Very common is to use the SAP Best Practice Content for the so called “Fit to Standard” or “Fit / Gap Analysis”.

Source: SAP Activate – ACT100

Tools

Some tools are availabe just using a web browser and others need first installation and configuration.

Source: Own illustration based on SAP Activate – ACT100

Sometimes it is difficult to have an overview of all tools, as new tools from SAP are constantly being added. Therefore I have created the following illustration to give you an overview:

Source: Own illustration

 

Simplification Item Catalog

The simplification item catalog provides customers all relevant changes that might have an impact when converting from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA.

In this blog post you will find further informations where to find and how to use the simplification items.

 

Implementation Methods

You can implement SAP Activate either in an agile or a waterfall approach.

In version 13, SAP Activate uses many agile components wich are common from SAFe or Scrum.

Source: SAP Activate – ACT100

Summary

With SAP Activate, SAP created a new standard framework for the S/4HANA transformation. There is a lot of content to find online and there are SAP trainings like ACT100 and ACT200

I recommend to every project manager to get started with SAP Activate and to attend a further training.

As everywhere in life: “The royal discipline is to apply, learn and finding the right balance between theory and practice”.

I like to close my blog post with the SAP Activate principles and key takeaways.

SAP Activate principles

Source: SAP Activate

SAP Activate key takeaways

Source: SAP Activate