Hello,
My name is Ansar Shaikh. I am an SAP Project System Consultant and having around 19 years including 15 years in SAP experience with all project stages including business development, requirements determination, gap analysis, issue resolution, configuration, deployment of solutions, training, go-live assistance, and post implementation support.
I would like to share some information about SAP ACTIVATE Methodology as a learner.
Lets have a short spin into understanding SAP ACTIVATE Methodology.
SAP Activate is the unique combination of SAP Best Practices, methodology, content, and tools that helps customers and partners deploy SAP S/4HANA.
A methodology for each of the deployment modes (cloud, on premise, hybrid) is SAP ACTIVATE.
The primary purpose of the SAP Activate Methodology is to provide end-to-end Application Lifecycle Management and to accelerate the initial implementation of SAP S/4HANA.
Key characteristics of the implementation approach in SAP Activate Methodology:
Based on Ready-to-use Content and Cloud Ready.
Content element of SAP Activate provide:
Migration Content, Business Processes Content, and Integration Content.
SAP Activate combines ASAP and Launch into one methodology.
SAP Activate is a complete methodology for on-premise, cloud and hybrid landscapes.
By contrast, ASAP was only designed for on-premise implementations.
For cloud landscapes, SAP had a separate methodology called Launch.
SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA are ready-to-run online transactional processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) processes optimized for SAP S/4HANA.
Methodologies of SAP ACTIVATE are as follows:
1. Phases
2. Workstreams
3. Deliverables and tasks
4. Artifacts
Three elements of SAP Activate: Three Pillars of SAP Activate: The 3 components of SAP Activate
Content (SAP Best Practices)
Methodology (Implementation methodology)- SAP Activate Methodology
Tools (Guided configuration)
There are three methods of accessing SAP Activate:
1. SAP Activate Community (via sap.com)
2. SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer.
3. SAP Solution Manager SAP Activate Community - Provides high-level learning overview at a glance.
SAP Activate Methodology different from the ASAP Methodology:
1. Includes Fit
2. Gap analysis instead of Blueprint.
Main characteristics of the SAP Activate methodology - In cloud, on-premise, and hybrid.
Start with best practices: Use Ready-to-Run business processes.
Cloud-ready: Leverage the flexibility and speed of cloud.
Validate solution: Validate best practices with fit/gap workshop and capture data.
What is Sprint in SAP Activate?
A sprint consists of a sprint planning meeting, scrum calls (there are usually four scrum calls during a two-week sprint), release sync meeting, and a review and retrospective meeting.
Sprints make projects more manageable, allow teams to ship high-quality work faster and more frequently, and gives them more flexibility to adapt to change." Many associate scrum sprints with agile software development, so much so that scrum and agile are often thought to be the same thing.
What is the purpose of sprint?
The aim of a sprint is to make progress against the product goal. So, the scrum team determines and agrees to a consistent duration for completing work. Most sprints range from two to four weeks — but should not be longer than one month.
SAP Activate Methodology phases: D-P-E-R-D-R
Discover ------> Prepare ------> Explore ------> Realize ------> Deploy ------> Run
1. In the Discovery phase, customers become familiar with the benefits of the solution. Preliminary project assessment of the solution options is performed and, once the customer understands the solution, they begin the trial of the solution.
2. In the Prepare phase, we define project governance, start the project, define/identify the resources, define the roles and responsibilities for the project team, and detail the management plans for running the project.
3. In the Explore phase, we run the fit-to-standard analysis on the working system with the best practices content up and running. The objective of the Explore phase is to identify the fit of the best practices-based solution, capture delta configuration requirements, identify gaps, and configuration values. All these are captured by the project team in the backlog and later, in Realize phase, the backlog items are implemented in the system. The best practices content is used as a jump-start for the project.
4. During the Realize phase, the project team will use agile approach to iteratively and incrementally build the functionality from the backlog. This build follows the prioritization given by the product owner (for example, the business users) that continue to be involved with the project team during the sprints. During the build the team completes the remaining configuration and development on top of the best practices content. Additionally, the team performs the unit and string testing during the sprints. In the Realize phase, the team also works on the integration of the overall solution to meet customer needs. The Realize phase covers all the build and test activities required to prepare a release of functionality into production. This includes a full Integration test and user acceptance test before the team can continue into the Deploy phase.
5. The objective of the Deploy phase is to launch the production environment and confirm readiness to switch into business operations with the new solution. The team also performs sustainment and hyper-care activities in the Deploy phase once the system goes live. Once the customer has switched over into the new environment, the project team supports the customer IT and business. The team stay on-site for a pre-determined period of time, which is usually defined in the contract or agreed as part of the plan to transition to operations.
6. The Run phase then represents key steps in running and improving the operations of the environment. This includes end user support, system monitoring and other activities including continuous improvements to the solution.
In summary, SAP Activate provides the procedural guidance and the detail necessary to implement SAP products for both large and small customers.
Below Images are referred from SAP ACT100 learning book: SAP ACTIVATE Methodology
You can find the learning journey here:
https://help.sap.com/learning-journeys/5001ff287a26101484fbc62f9283839d
If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP Activate Methodology, join our SAP Activate Community. This platform which is available to all customers and partners has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with one another about implementation deliverables and tasks, best practices, and product solutions.
SAP Activate additional links:
Please feel free to share your thoughts on this blog.
My name is Ansar Shaikh. I am an SAP Project System Consultant and having around 19 years including 15 years in SAP experience with all project stages including business development, requirements determination, gap analysis, issue resolution, configuration, deployment of solutions, training, go-live assistance, and post implementation support.
I would like to share some information about SAP ACTIVATE Methodology as a learner.
Lets have a short spin into understanding SAP ACTIVATE Methodology.
SAP Activate is the unique combination of SAP Best Practices, methodology, content, and tools that helps customers and partners deploy SAP S/4HANA.
A methodology for each of the deployment modes (cloud, on premise, hybrid) is SAP ACTIVATE.
The primary purpose of the SAP Activate Methodology is to provide end-to-end Application Lifecycle Management and to accelerate the initial implementation of SAP S/4HANA.
Key characteristics of the implementation approach in SAP Activate Methodology:
Based on Ready-to-use Content and Cloud Ready.
Content element of SAP Activate provide:
Migration Content, Business Processes Content, and Integration Content.
SAP Activate combines ASAP and Launch into one methodology.
SAP Activate is a complete methodology for on-premise, cloud and hybrid landscapes.
By contrast, ASAP was only designed for on-premise implementations.
For cloud landscapes, SAP had a separate methodology called Launch.
SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA are ready-to-run online transactional processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) processes optimized for SAP S/4HANA.
Methodologies of SAP ACTIVATE are as follows:
1. Phases
2. Workstreams
3. Deliverables and tasks
4. Artifacts
Three elements of SAP Activate: Three Pillars of SAP Activate: The 3 components of SAP Activate
Content (SAP Best Practices)
Methodology (Implementation methodology)- SAP Activate Methodology
Tools (Guided configuration)
There are three methods of accessing SAP Activate:
1. SAP Activate Community (via sap.com)
2. SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer.
3. SAP Solution Manager SAP Activate Community - Provides high-level learning overview at a glance.
SAP Activate Methodology different from the ASAP Methodology:
1. Includes Fit
2. Gap analysis instead of Blueprint.
Main characteristics of the SAP Activate methodology - In cloud, on-premise, and hybrid.
Start with best practices: Use Ready-to-Run business processes.
Cloud-ready: Leverage the flexibility and speed of cloud.
Validate solution: Validate best practices with fit/gap workshop and capture data.
What is Sprint in SAP Activate?
A sprint consists of a sprint planning meeting, scrum calls (there are usually four scrum calls during a two-week sprint), release sync meeting, and a review and retrospective meeting.
Sprints make projects more manageable, allow teams to ship high-quality work faster and more frequently, and gives them more flexibility to adapt to change." Many associate scrum sprints with agile software development, so much so that scrum and agile are often thought to be the same thing.
What is the purpose of sprint?
The aim of a sprint is to make progress against the product goal. So, the scrum team determines and agrees to a consistent duration for completing work. Most sprints range from two to four weeks — but should not be longer than one month.
SAP Activate Methodology phases: D-P-E-R-D-R
Discover ------> Prepare ------> Explore ------> Realize ------> Deploy ------> Run
1. In the Discovery phase, customers become familiar with the benefits of the solution. Preliminary project assessment of the solution options is performed and, once the customer understands the solution, they begin the trial of the solution.
2. In the Prepare phase, we define project governance, start the project, define/identify the resources, define the roles and responsibilities for the project team, and detail the management plans for running the project.
3. In the Explore phase, we run the fit-to-standard analysis on the working system with the best practices content up and running. The objective of the Explore phase is to identify the fit of the best practices-based solution, capture delta configuration requirements, identify gaps, and configuration values. All these are captured by the project team in the backlog and later, in Realize phase, the backlog items are implemented in the system. The best practices content is used as a jump-start for the project.
4. During the Realize phase, the project team will use agile approach to iteratively and incrementally build the functionality from the backlog. This build follows the prioritization given by the product owner (for example, the business users) that continue to be involved with the project team during the sprints. During the build the team completes the remaining configuration and development on top of the best practices content. Additionally, the team performs the unit and string testing during the sprints. In the Realize phase, the team also works on the integration of the overall solution to meet customer needs. The Realize phase covers all the build and test activities required to prepare a release of functionality into production. This includes a full Integration test and user acceptance test before the team can continue into the Deploy phase.
5. The objective of the Deploy phase is to launch the production environment and confirm readiness to switch into business operations with the new solution. The team also performs sustainment and hyper-care activities in the Deploy phase once the system goes live. Once the customer has switched over into the new environment, the project team supports the customer IT and business. The team stay on-site for a pre-determined period of time, which is usually defined in the contract or agreed as part of the plan to transition to operations.
6. The Run phase then represents key steps in running and improving the operations of the environment. This includes end user support, system monitoring and other activities including continuous improvements to the solution.
In summary, SAP Activate provides the procedural guidance and the detail necessary to implement SAP products for both large and small customers.
Below Images are referred from SAP ACT100 learning book: SAP ACTIVATE Methodology
You can find the learning journey here:
https://help.sap.com/learning-journeys/5001ff287a26101484fbc62f9283839d
SAP ACTIVATE framework variants
Transition to S/4HANA to SAP ACTIVATE
If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP Activate Methodology, join our SAP Activate Community. This platform which is available to all customers and partners has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with one another about implementation deliverables and tasks, best practices, and product solutions.
SAP Activate additional links:
Please feel free to share your thoughts on this blog.
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