This document will help in getting basic understanding on ASAP Methodology

We’ll discuss below points:

1- What is ASAP Methodology?

2- Phases of ASAP Methodology

3- Brief explanation of each phase

1- What is ASAP Methodology?

 ASAP stands for Accelerated SAP.

 Its purpose is to help design SAP implementation in the most efficient manner possible.
 Its goal is to effectively optimize time, people, quality and other resources, using a
proven methodology to implementation.

1- Phase of ASAP Methodology

ASAP focuses on tools and training, wrapped up in a five-phase process oriented road map for
guiding implementation.

The road map is composed of five well-known consecutive phases

• Phase 1 Project Preparation

• Phase 2 Business Blueprint
• Phase 3 Realization
• Phase 4 Final Preparation
• Phase 5 Go-Live and support

Brief explanation of each phase

ASAP Methodology – Phase 1 : Project Preparation

Phase-1 initiates with a retrieval of information and resources. It is an important time to

assemble the necessary components for the implementation. Some important milestones that
need to be accomplished for phase 1 include

• Obtaining senior-level management/stakeholder support

• Identifying clear project objectives
• Architect an efficient decision-making process
• Creating an environment suitable for change and re-engineering
• Building a qualified and capable project team.

ASAP Methodology – Phase 2- Business Blueprint

SAP has defined a business blueprint phase to help extract pertinent information about your
company that is necessary for implementation. These blueprints are in the form of
questionnaires that are designed to probe for information that uncovers how your company
does business. As such, they also serve to document the implementation.

Each business blueprint document essentially outlines your future business processes and
business requirements. The kinds of questions asked are germane to the particular business
function, as seen in the following sample questions:

1) What information do you capture on a purchase order?

2) What information is required to complete a purchase order?

ASAP Methodology – Phase- 3 – Realization

With the completion of the business in phase 2, “functional” experts are now ready to begin
configuring SAP.

The Realization phase is broken in to two parts.

1) Your SAP consulting team helps you configure your baseline system, called the baseline
configuration.

2) Your implementation project team fine-tunes that system to meet all your business and
process requirements as part of the fine-tuning configuration.

The initial configuration completed during the base line configuration is based on the
information that you provided in your blueprint document. The remaining approximately 20%
of your configuration that was not tackled during the baseline configuration is completed
during the fine tuning configuration.

Fine tuning usually deals with the exceptions that are not covered in baseline configuration.
This final bit of tweaking represents the work necessary to fit your special needs.

Configuration Testing-
With the help of your SAP consulting team, you segregate your business processes into cycles of
related business flows. The cycles serve as independent units that enable you to test specific
parts of the business process. You can also work through configuring the SAP implementation
guide (IMG). A tool used to assist you in configuring your SAP system in a step by step manner.
Knowledge Transfer-
As the configuration phase comes to a close, it becomes necessary for the Project team to be
self-sufficient in their knowledge of the configuration of your SAP system.

Knowledge transfer to the configuration team tasked with system maintenance (that is,
maintenance of the business processes after Go-live) needs to be completed at this time. In
addition, the end users tasked with actually using the system for day-to-day business purposes
must be trained.

ASAP Methodology – Phase 4 – Final Preparation

As phase 3 merges into phase 4, you should find yourselves not only in the midst of SAP
training, but also in the midst of rigorous functional and stress testing.

Phase 4 also concentrates on the fine tuning of your configuration before Go-live and more
importantly, the migration of data from your old system or systems to SAP.

Workload testing (including peak volume, daily load, and other forms of stress testing), and
integration or functional testing are conducted to ensure the accuracy of your data and the
stability of your SAP system. Because you should have begun testing back in phase 2, you do
not have too far to go until Go-live.

Now is an important time to perform preventative maintenance checks to ensure optimal

performance at your SAP system. At the conclusion of phase 4, take time to plan and document
a Go-live strategy. Preparation for Go-live means preparing for your end-users questions as
they start actively working on the new SAP system.

ASAP Methodology – Phase 5 – Go-live and Support

The Go-live milestone is itself is easy to achieve; a smooth and uneventful Go-live is another
matter altogether. Preparation is the key, including attention to what-if scenarios related not
only to the individual business processes deployed but also to the functioning of technology
underpinning these business processes and preparation for ongoing support, including
maintenance contracts and documented processes and procedures are essential.

Benefits of ASAP 8 Methodology include

 Reduced total cost of implementation by embedding the principles of SAP Advanced

Delivery Management into a prescriptive, streamlined and modular implementation
road map for ASAP
 Content-rich implementation accelerators, templates, and guides for implementation
projects from strategy to operations
 Transparent value delivery through consistent reflection of the business case
  Efficient project governance, quality management, and guidance for implementation
projects and Business Process Management
 Approach that combines user centric design, business processes and IT architecture
 Coverage of the entire project lifecycle – from evaluation through delivery to post
project solution management and operations
 Consistent content from Value Maps, Solutions, configuration to business process
monitoring
 Latest version of Solution Explorer and Solution Configurator to explore SAP solution
capabilities, select appropriate solutions and determine best pre-assembled RDS for
your project
 Proven and scalable implementation methodology guiding your team through the agile
implementation project and ensuring seamless setup of solution operations
 Seamlessly integrated with SAP Solution Manager in both implementation and solution
operations
 Simplify implementation further -- EVERY implementation starts with best practice
content based on pre-assembled RDS

ASAP methodology framework is provided to end users in four variants (pre-selections)) to

support various deployment strategies for implementation of SAP system. The following ASAP 8
pre-selection variants are available for end-users in SAP Service Marketplace (and also in SAP
Solution Manager starting with ST-ICO SP37 content package release level):

Simplified Rapid Deployment Solution Experience / Assemble to Order Project

The success of your SAP solution is to a large degree determined by the speed and the
effectiveness of the software implementation to add value to your organization. That is why
SAP has introduced the Simplified Rapid-deployment Solution Experience. It combines the
ability to explore SAP solution capabilities, select the appropriate pre-assembled RDS as a
starting point for your project, and implement the solution in your business with the help of
structured implementation approach - ASAP 8 Methodology for Simplified Rapid-deployment
Solution and integrated operation supported by SAP Solution Manager.

Simplified Rapid Deployment Solution Experience / Assemble-to-Order Project Methodology

Phases - The Simplified Rapid Deployment Solution Experience / Assemble-to-Order Project
Methodology is structured into the following phases.

1. Project preparation - This phase provides initial planning and preparation for the
project. Each project has its own unique objectives, scope, and priorities. The
deliverables described in this phase assist in completing the initiation and planning steps
in an efficient and effective manner – like setup of project governance, project plan and
project schedule are prepared at this stage.
 2. Scope validation - The purpose of this phase is to achieve a common understanding of
how the company intends to run SAP to support their business. It focuses on the rapid
setup of environment that is available for validation workshop with business users to
confirm scope and determine delta requirements that will be realized in the next phase
to enhance the baseline provided by pre-assembled RDS.
3. Realization - The purpose of this phase is to implement all the business process delta
requirements defined during the Scope Validation phase. The team configures,
develops, tests and documents the solution in series of time-boxed iterations. Before
the solution is released to next phase it is fully end-to-end integration tested and
accepted by end users.
4. Final preparation - The purpose of this phase is to complete the cutover activities
(including technical and load testing, end user training, system management and
cutover rehearsal activities) to finalize your readiness to go live. The Final Preparation
phase also serves to resolve all remaining critical issues. On successful completion of
this phase, you are ready to run your business in your live SAP System.
5. Go-live support - The purpose of this phase is to move from a project-oriented, pre-
production environment to live production operation and provide sustained support to
business users to aid their transition into the new environment.
6. Operate - The purpose of this phase is to fine-tune the application lifecycle standards,
processes and procedures established during the project and align them with operation
needs. The central operation platform is SAP Solution Manager, which leverages the
documented solution for system operations.

Agile ASAP 8 Methodology

The success of your SAP solution is to a large degree determined by the speed and the
effectiveness of the software to add value to your organization. That is why SAP has introduced
Agile ASAP; a new, practical implementation methodology that allows you to implement
operating functionality in short iterative cycles. In each cycle the team implements the most
valuable and important functionality first. This enables you to generate results faster, gain
immediate insight into the value, increase the flexibility of the implementation and improve
progress monitoring

Agile ASAP 8 Methodology Phases - The Standard ASAP 8 Methodology is structured into the
following phases.
 1. Project preparation - This phase provides initial planning and preparation for the
project. Each project has its own unique objectives, scope, and priorities. The
deliverables described in this phase assist in completing the initiation and planning steps
in an efficient and effective manner – like setup of agile project governance, project plan
and project schedule are prepared at this stage.
2. Lean blueprint - The purpose of this phase is to achieve a common understanding of
how the company intends to run SAP to support their business. It focuses on the rapid
setup of solution validation environment for validation workshops with business users
to confirm scope and determine delta requirements that will be realized in the next
phase to enhance the baseline build of the system.
3. Realization - The purpose of this phase is to implement all the business process delta
requirements defined during the Lean blueprint phase. The team configures, develops,
tests and documents the solution in series of time-boxed iterations – the most valuable
functionality first. Before the solution is released to next phase it is fully end-to-end
integration tested and accepted by end users.
4. Final preparation - The purpose of this phase is to complete the cutover activities
(including technical and load testing, end user training, system management and
cutover rehearsal activities) to finalize your readiness to go live. The Final Preparation
phase also serves to resolve all remaining critical issues. On successful completion of
this phase, you are ready to run your business in your live SAP System.
5. Go-live support - The purpose of this phase is to move from a project-oriented, pre-
production environment to live production operation and provide sustained support to
business users to aid their transition into the new environment.
6. Operate - The purpose of this phase is to fine-tune the application lifecycle standards,
processes and procedures established during the project and align them with operation
needs. The central operation platform is SAP Solution Manager, which leverages the
documented solution for system operations.

Standard ASAP 8 Methodology

Standard ASAP 8 Methodology takes a disciplined approach to project management,

organizational change management, solution management, application life-cycle management
and other disciplines applied in the implementation of SAP solutions. The Standard ASAP 8
Methodology is built around the SAP Advanced Delivery Management model and supports
project teams with templates, tools, questionnaires, and checklists, including guidebooks and
accelerators. Standard ASAP 8 Methodology empowers companies to exploit the power of the
accelerated features and tools already built into SAP solutions.
 1. Project preparation - During this phase the team goes through initial planning and
preparation for SAP project.
2. Business blueprint - The purpose of this phase is to achieve a common understanding of
how the company intends to run SAP to support their business. In Standard ASAP 8
Methodology the result is the Business Blueprint, a detailed documentation of the
results gathered during requirements workshops
3. Realization - The purpose of this phase is to implement all the business process
requirements based on the Business Blueprint. The system configuration in Standard
ASAP 8 Methodology is done in two work packages: Baseline configuration (major
scope); and Final configuration (remaining scope). During this phase the solution is also
tested.
4. Final preparation - The purpose of this phase is to complete the final preparation
(including technical testing, end user training, system management and cutover
activities) to finalize your readiness to go live. The Final Preparation phase also serves to
resolve all critical open issues. On successful completion of this phase, you are ready to
run your business in your live SAP System.
5. Go-live support - The purpose of this phase is to move from a project-oriented, pre-
production environment to live production operation.
6. Operate - During this phase the system is operated with the help of the central
operation platform, SAP Solution Manager, with the documented solution based on the
transferred project documentation.

Each phase has a set of deliverables that are produced during the duration of the phase and
serve as the input to follow-up phases. Each deliverable provides list of outputs it consist of
and methods that are used to produce the deliverable.

Work Streams

The ASAP 8 Methodology is structured around the key project work streams that are outlined
in the picture below. For each work stream, the methodology provides the number of
deliverables that are to be produced in each phase of the project.