I started my IT profession in one of the big five accounting companies in 2001. One of the things I got really impressed by was how they were able to create nice looking models of how to approach all kinds of challenges. It is a lot easier to sell something to a customer if you have a model than if you have a superior product. If you have the matching powerpoint that you can show it becomes even easier. The model did have some good ways of approaching the situation from a business perspective, but it relied heavily on the experience of the consultants.
I was writing my master thesis around one of the models for security testing. My focus was on how we could improve the testing with an automated tool. This way we would be able to test more with the same resources. The tool we built worked OK, though it was not the easiest to use. I did manage to get the project approved and got my masters degree.
I did learn that you need a good framework to show you are different and can command higher rates.
I wrote a blog on the importance of having a great quality and how difficult it is for customers to judge. Customer score price and quality as separate parameters, and score them in some way. If you are able to prove your score in quality you may be able to command a higher price. The way you can document your quality is with:
- ISO, ITIL or other certifications
- Have customer references
- Having a model that shows what you will do
- Have a tool that automates the process or model
Who is using models or frameworks
SAP has SAP Activate which assists companies to implement S/4 HANA faster. It is using a methodology, a set of templates for best practices and the solution manager tool. It should all be making it a lot faster to implement S/4 for customers and enable them to faster take the leap of faith and start the implementation. Earlier they also had the ASAP (Accelerated SAP) implementation method. They have updated the model to be more agile focused suitable to newer approaches.
In some cases, you may have your own methodology for delivery. Either a project management or from a service delivery point of view. You can present in a slide deck of about 105 slides. That covers all the situations and explain how the business will get all the benefits and no risk for the implementation project.
For SAP PI/PO projects you can follow any form of waterfall or agile methods. From what I have seen there is a lot of exploration in the process to get users to understand what is going on. There have not been many tools that allow you to increase your performance and reduce the risk.
At Figaf we are working to improve the development process making it a lot faster to do developments. This will support your projects making it a lot faster for you to do the implementation and will lower the risk for you. The same thing is true for SAP PI/PO project the better framework you have for prove that you will deliver quality the better.
And if you can show this is not just paperwork but something that has an IT system behind will improve the quality even more. Enabling you to get bigger projects.
What tools will help SAP PI/PO or Cloud Integration
The Figaf DevOps Suite offers the following, which could be part of your next bid, to ensure that you can prove your work and what you are doing.
- Change tracking for SAP PI/PO and Cloud Integration. This will allow tracking of what objects are changed, show you the difference between each version and show and test the objects in question for any project.
- Support and monitoring that will allow you to handle errors faster and ensure you document how to solve the issues.
- Regression testing that allows you to set up test cases for all scenarios fast and run them. You can use it for:
- Migration projects to ensure there is no impact on the output messages
- Upgrade projects where you just want to upgrade the SAP PI/PO system to the latest support pack and do not want to test too much
- Everyday development of interfaces where you want to be able to do regression testing
It is all one application, making it easy to deploy and use on projects.
You can start a free trial of the Figaf DevOps Suite.
Why a tool will help your projects
As a consultancy, you are often billing for a number of hours so the more hours you work the better. If you can lower the number of hours you work and get a higher rate for your works it will give you bigger revenue. Some of the reasons are:
- A lower number of hours worked, so you can command higher rates for the hours or have fixed price projects
- Reduce the risk of your project
- Improve the quality of your documentation
- Better employee satisfaction because they are not going to spend as much time on the creation of boooring documents
- Better business satisfaction with your services, so you will be able to work long-term with the customer
We can also give you a price for your project that accounts for project duration and number of developers, so it can match your project scope. See our prices.
