Revising the SAP Infrastructure Implementation Budget

Now that an SAP TSO organization structure is in the making, it should be evident how and when the key technical resources need to be brought in. Rationalize and review the various organization charts I have included on the Planning CD, and other organization layouts available from your implementation consultants, hardware and software partners, and your SAP project manager.

Next, refine or pull out your most recent solution stack “best guesses.” Review the solution vision developed in Chapter 3, to ensure that any changes are reflected. Leverage these documents, and the knowledge of experienced SAP implementers, to get a feel for the level of technology support that each layer in the stack may require. The point here is not to try to detail the low-level positions, but to get a handle on how big or complicated the four key teams may become—and use this data to help determine the level of experience and background required of the four Lead positions.

Finally, pull out your internal company employee list, and work with the steering committee, IT liaison, Director of Enterprise Computing, and so on to get an understanding of who might fit this criteria. In parallel, work with your ever-growing advisory team of SAP, hardware, software, and systems integration partners to begin to understand the costs of external resources. Unless a clear internal candidate is identified early on, and get a thumbs up from both the steering committee and his or her own management team, plan for worse case and budget the position based on external consulting costs. Work through the other numbers found on my SAP Implementation Project Plan as well, and revise your own project plan’s numbers accordingly.