As discussed in our previous blogs on SAP Focused Build, it is a preconfigured add-on solution for SAP Solution Manager 7.2. The great thing about SAP Focused Build is that it enables you to quickly jump-start your digital transformation or innovation projects. It also provides a best practice, tool-supported methodology for the requirement-to-deploy process based on proven project processes in an agile project environment. It perfectly compliments SAP S/4HANA best practice processes provided by SAP Activate and SAP model companies. This blog looks to provide the value of SAP Focused Build for various stakeholders.

Value for Business and Discovery Team

SAP Focused Build helps with business collaboration by capturing new business models, target operating models and requirements. It help manages show & tell, testing and training with businesses by providing constant feed loops with business units. Quick prototyping is possible instead of lengthy blueprinting on paper and you can quickly jump start discovery with model companies in your industry.

Business and discovery teams can also quickly scope what is needed to be built by preparing work packages for solution build, validating functional gaps with MCC industry architects and sign off application landscapes.

This effective collaboration helps nurture a model office that shares a similar vision with all business units and common notation supporting business sign offs.

Value for Project Management Office (PMO)

Built on top of SAP Solution Manager, you can orchestrate and track solution readiness with consistent mythology and integrated “requirements to deploy” content and toolsets. Quality gates for each wave and phase can be defined with deliverables and synchronized with SAP back-end. Quality gates allow for global project governance as well as demand and capacity management across customers.

Finally, SAP Focused Build brings a powerful tool in the form of the Solution Readiness Dashboard to the Project Management office. The dashboard quickly integrates with your processes and is ready to use out of the box to break down your work structures that can be enriched with customer-specific work packages. It makes risk and issue management visible and provides automated dashboards that tracks delivery progress. All in all, the Solution Readiness Dashboard provides big-picture reporting on the program and project level.

Use cases for SAP Focused Build

With the value of SAP Focused Build for each business unit in mind, here’s a checklist of statements that SAP has provided that encourages the use of Focused Build:

• Are you planning an innovation project (e.g. SAP S/4HANA implementation)?
• Planning to manage your projects using Agile methodology?
• Will your project require solution validation with the business process owners, probably followed by development or configuration tasks?
• Do you want to use a project tool which supports you in all phases, starting from target business process modeling, through requirement documentation, building, testing, up to handover of your application to operation?
• Do you want to start soon with your innovation project (2-3 months) or do you even want to start immediately (2-3 weeks) instead of setting up a pre-project with SAP Solution Manager?
• Do you want an easy consumption of licenses and services to get your project set up and running as soon as possible?

If you answered yes to any of the above, SAP highly recommends that you use SAP Focused Build and this workshop will show you the best practices and how you can easily get started.