SAP BTP & Datasphere packs a serious punch, sometimes bringing multi-million dollar savings in operational costs.
For those new to implementing SAP BTP & Datasphere, there are a number of things to consider.
1. It’s a Journey
I’ve seen too many clients expect a one off project to gain an enormous amount of operational cost benefits but the reality is that - unless you’re feeling lucky - the process is going to involve several iterations of testing and feedback before it’s perfect.
Also a road-map will require to be defined.
2. Define the Use Case
Due to the complexity and vast amounts of data in enterprise organizations it is important to have clarity on what is the use case of the project.
This will ensure the focus during the project and establish the benefits that are expected after the project is operational.
3. Educate the Project Team
It’s important to be very clear about what SAP BTP & Datasphere can achieve. But also be equally upfront about what it doesn’t do in order to set expectations early.
This helps the testing process and avoids any time-consuming mismatches between the project team and the business users wright when you don’t want them - during UAT and go-live.
4. Start Small
The best way to roll out SAP BTP & Datasphere is often in iterations, first taking a pilot group of data sources.
This will help the business gain confidence in the technology and minimize the disruption that could be caused by overloading users with a sea of data sources.
5. Test It To Death
You’ll need testing data - and lots of it. Remember you’ll need data which spreads across the whole testing process so, depending on the length of the testing & UAT cycles, you may need to either (a) repeat the process of importing test data or (b) repurpose the data you’ve already brought across.
The users will need to get their hands very dirty during UAT in order to aid the transition away from their existing system.
UAT will move users towards a shared understanding of the data and use of it.
6. Managed service plan
Define the enhancements (i.e reports, new data, etc.) that are expected to be delivered once the project has gone live. These require to be defined jointly with the key stakeholders to ensure they are in line with the expected road-map.