Initial Situation

DATAGROUP has been a strategic partner of Tyczka in the area of IT and SAP hosting and consulting for many years. Since the SAP systems of the SAP ECC 2027 generation currently in use are nearing the support end, it was clear that action had to be taken. However, an investment in the new S/4HANA software generation needs to be well considered and solidly argued. With the ValueCheck for S/4HANA, DATAGROUP offers a methodology to identify specific added values and transfer them into a customer-specific roadmap. Tyczka and DATAGROUP started the ValueCheck project in autumn 2019.

Goals

The aim of the project was to develop an S/4HANA transformation roadmap as a sound basis for management decisions. It was not only the end of support that convinced Tyczka that a change to S/4HANA is a necessary step. Functional optimisations in the various specialist processes, which can only be realised under the new system, also showed significant added value for the customer. Through the DATAGROUP ValueCheck, these individual potentials were worked out together, creating a valuable basis on which further action can be built.

Project Description

As is well known, the success of a project can be measured above all by the goals achieved. Therefore, before the analysis with the ValueCheck, guidelines and project goals were defined together with the management. This was done according to the SMART methodology (specific – measurable – achievable – realistic and timed).

Based on this, the ValueCheck for S/4HANA, consisting of 3 phases (SCAN, FOCUS, ACT), was carried out. Within 4 months the main processes and the technical environment were examined, the objectives and alternatives for achieving them were discussed and an individual roadmap for the successful implementation of the S/4HANA transformation was developed.

1. Phase SCAN
   After defining the project goals with the management, the main business processes were recorded and presented together with the key players of the departments. Here it was necessary to build up a broad know-how in order to better understand the business processes and general conditions. The results of the first phase were therefore the visual documentation of the main processes in so-called prototype scripts and the technical readiness check.
2. Phase FOCUS
   The second phase focuses on the added value that can be generated with an S/4HANA transformation. Here the processes with optimization character were further detailed. If necessary, individual process components were modeled and evaluated in a new S/4HANA test environment. For example: at Tyczka, a system break in the environment of employee deployment planning was closely examined and a concrete solution proposal developed. With the help of the SAP add-on OPRA from DATAGROUP, a solution was found which can eliminate and optimise the system break between the service notification from the customer and the internal assignment of the technician to an external system. Furthermore, the future system landscape and the corresponding project steps were defined. With regard to the concrete system landscape and the situation at Tyczka, various implementation approaches were discussed and examined.
3. Phase ACT
   After the successful S/4HANA ValueCheck, DATAGROUP presented the complete target architecture after a successful S/4HANA transformation as well as the necessary roadmap. In the definition of the target architecture and the Tyczka roadmap, it was essential that there be a continuous reference to the project goals, not a “wish you had”, but a feasible, sensible and economical way to the goal. The classic approaches, greenfield and brownfield, were supplemented by new creative and appropriate transformation paths.
   The basis of the roadmap developed is also a time schedule that extends over several years and which divides the overall program into a sensible project sequence from a technical, resource and economic point of view. This will now be processed successively. This time planning was supplemented by a budget indication. This provides a clear presentation of the project costs and the current expenditure on the time axis and for the individual project phases.

Solution and Added Value

In addition to the technical components, the Tyczka roadmap includes process improvements in various functional areas as well as time and budget planning. Thus, Tyczka has an individual roadmap for S/4HANA, which is adapted to the company-specific needs and goals and which can be realistically implemented.