**** NEWSFLASH: SMP3 was officially launched at SAP TechEd: http://scn.sap.com/community/mobile/blog/2013/10/22/sap-mobile-platform-30-launches-at-teched-in-las... ****
This week, the Ramp-Up nomination for the SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 opened for our customers. So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share some information about how Ramp-Up at SAP works. Ramp-Up is SAP’s standardized market introduction process, so most of the content here is actually valid for all SAP solutions – not just SAP Mobile.
Here is what we will cover:
What is Ramp-Up?
Once a new SAP product release is fully tested and validated by SAP and our early validation customers, , it is considered feature complete and ready for productive use and can be released to customers (“RTC’d”) into Ramp-Up. Releasing the product to select ramp-up customers allows us to stay very close to our first customers, provide exceptional support to these customers involving not only the support organization but providing access to the product and engineering teams directly.
So, ramp-up channels our SMP3 engineering resources with a laser-focus on customers that are scoped right to go live quickly.
Because the software released during Ramp-up is not beta software, but production ready software we expect customers to go live as we support them through the whole process.
General information about ongoing and upcoming ramp ups can be found at http://service.sap.com/rampup
For more info check out the Ramp-Up Solution Brief.
Joining Ramp-Up as a Customer
For customers with a valid software license, there are basically 3 steps to get into Ramp-Up:
- Scope your project for a productive go-live within 3-4 months
- Hire an SAP consultant as ramp-up coach for 8 hours or more per week
- SAP reviews your ramp-up application and makes a decision
Scoping your project
The scoping questionnaire can be found online at Start Online Scoping
First you create your Ramp-Up scoping document:
Then, make sure to spend some time on proper scoping and go thru all the steps:
A good ramp-up project has a clear and manageable scope with a go-live within the next 2-4 months.
Example: scope could be to convert an existing Hybrid-Web Container app to Kapsel, deploy some standard apps on SMP3 or build a simple application that leverages offline Odata.
If your scope is vague or huge and the go-live date is far out, try to carve out a nice piece from this overall project, scope it out clearly and aim for a quick go-live.
Also make sure to review the SMP3 limitations note 1901408 and match this with your scope to ensure up front that none of the limitations will impact your ability to go live.
Hire a ramp-up coach
The ramp-up coach is the lifeline between the customer and SAP. While the ramp-up coach requirement is for only a minimum 8 hours per week, we highly recommend getting a “rock-star” SAP consultant engaged on-site and full time to
- help with the project implementation
- provide knowledge transfer to customer and implementation partner
- be a direct line back into the ramp-up team whenever any issues arise
Note that it is a requirement for any ramp-up customer to have a ramp-up coach from SAP consulting. There will be no exceptions of that rule during SMP3 ramp-up as we want to ensure very close alignment between ramp-up customers and SAP to ensure smooth delivery and go-live.
Therefore – if a customer does not already have an SAP consultant engaged – they will have to sign a contract with SAP consulting to hire an SAP consultant as ramp-up coach. A partner cannot replace the ramp-up coach requirement.
That said having a knowledgeable implementation partner by your side is highly encouraged.
Many of our partners have gone thru SMP training and they can be of great help when getting your first apps live on SMP3.
SAP's decision
SAP bases its decision on whether to accept or decline a customer for ramp-up on various factors. Most important factors are:
- does the customer have a clear scope that can be delivered with the SMP3 capabilities
- is the go-live timeline achievable and within the timeframe of 2-4 months
- is the customer staffed right to deliver the project on time
- is the SAP consulting contract for the ramp-up coach signed
Note that any early customer validation customers that are interested in Ramp-Up will still have to go thru the 3 steps above, but after successfully completing step 1 and 2 they will automatically get accepted as they are familiar with the software already.
Once SMP3 oftware is released (target date is November 15, 2013), all accepted customers can download the SMP3 software from the SAP service market place http://service.sap.com/swdc
Ramp-Up support structure
A ramp-up customer is supported by their ramp-up coach – an SAP technical consultant - who works alongside their implementation partner. In addition, we usually assign a back-office contact (a technical specialist – usually from our RIG team) and a developer as an “engineering angel”.
The ramp-up coaches meet frequently with the Ramp-up team – comprised of RIG back-office contacts, product management, engineering, QA and SAP support – to discuss their customer’s status, any blocking issues, lessons learned and to expedite any open customer messages or issues.
When does Ramp-Up end?
Once SMP3 is released to customer (RTC'd) and the software is in ramp-up, the next question is: when will SMP3 be Generally Available (GA)? Well, ramp-up is not a duration based exercise – but it's based on key performance indicators - KPIs. A product exits ramp-up and becomes "GA" when there are no severe bugs open from any ramp-up customers and a sufficient number of customers have gone live and are “happy” with the product.
That said, a typical ramp-up usually takes about 6 months.
you can find all official dates in the Product Availability Matrix (PAM) at http://service.sap.com/pam
Here is a picture of the PAM for SMP 2.3 (not 3.0, yet - that will be available after "RTC" on Nov 15, 2013)
How can partners participate in Ramp-Up?
Easy, SAP Partners interested in applying to SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 Ramp-Up, with the intent to setup software for only demo and testing, in their own environment, can request a Partner shipment for test and evaluation ONLY.
To request a Ramp-Up partner shipment fill out this nomination form.
The internal shipping team in Germany then reviews their application and checks the Partner has the corresponding Test and Demo License(s) before enabling them for download. Only the Partner himself can fill out this form. SAP colleagues cannot do this for the Partner.
Note: partners cannot embed, resell, or redistribute in any way during Ramp-Up.
There is also tons of great information on the partner portal.
http://service.sap.com/partnerportal/rampup
Partners can check the required Test and Demo licenses to get SMP3 here
SAP License List for Ramp-Up Products - for Partners only!
Also check out the Partner Ramp-Up FAQ:
Training and resources
Ramp-up nomination is one thing, but you will also want to learn more about SMP3 so you are fully prepared to implement your project. Your ramp-up coach is obviously a great source of knowledge and your partner should be, too.
But if you want to get hands-on make sure to familiarize yourself with the Ramp-Up Knowledge transfer (RKT) material or join one of the RKT workshops in-person: http://scn.sap.com/community/mobile/blog/2013/08/21/get-your-hands-on-sap-mobile-platform-30#Handson...
| Agenda | Registration link | Location | Cost | Date |
| Americas | ||||
| RMP302 | SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 RKT Development Hands-On Workshop | MicroTek-Chicago (Downtown), 230 W Monroe St Ste 550, Chicago, IL 60606-4700 (U.S.A.) | 2.000,00 USD | Mon, 30 Sep 2013 - Fri, 04 Oct 2013 |
| RMP301 | SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 RKT Administration Hands-On Workshop | MicroTek-Chicago (Downtown), 230 W Monroe St Ste 550, Chicago, IL 60606-4700 (U.S.A.) | 1.200,00 USD | Mon, 07 Oct 2013 - Wed, 09 Oct 2013 |
| Europe | ||||
| RMP301 | SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 RKT Administration Hands-On Workshop | SAP AG, Int. Training Center Walldorf, Building WDF5, Dietmar Hopp Allee 20, 69190 Walldorf (Germany) | 750,00 EUR | Tue, 29 Oct 2013 - Thu, 31 Oct 2013 |
| RMP302 | SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 RKT Development Hands-On Workshop | SAP AG, Int. Training Center Walldorf, Building WDF5, Dietmar Hopp Allee 20, 69190 Walldorf (Germany) | 1250,00 EUR | Mon, 04 Nov 2013 - Fri, 08 Nov 2013 |
| Asia | ||||
| RMP302 | SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 RKT Development Hands-On Workshop | SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. - Bangalore, 138, Export Promotion Industrial Park, Whitefield Bangalore - 560 066 (India) | 101.755,00 INR | Mon, 11 Nov 2013 - Fri, 15 Nov 2013 |
| RMP301 | SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 RKT Administration Hands-On Workshop | SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. - Bangalore, 138, Export Promotion Industrial Park, Whitefield Bangalore - 560 066 (India) | 61.000,00 INR | Mon, 18 Nov 2013 - Wed, 20 Nov 2013 |
And of course, as a ramp-up customer you will have access to the RKT material at http://service.sap.com/rkt-mobile
Once the Ramp-Up Knowledge transfer content (RKT) is live you can access it and go through the virtual class:
More info on SAP Mobile
For live updates on all things SAP Mobile, follow me on Twitter @jenskoerner
The SMP roadmap: http://service.sap.com/roadmap
More mobile resources can be found here: Looking for SAP Mobile demos, customer references, roadmaps, performance and sizing information, tra...
- SAP Managed Tags:
1 Comment
