If you're considering an SAP CRM implementation, this insightful book will give you and your project team the no-nonsense, practical details on what to do, when to do it, and, more important, what not to do. Written from a project management approach, the book uses numerous practical examples and scenarios to take you through the key aspects of initiating your plan, including technical design choices, monitoring the project's progress, controlling the scope, and how to take your initial project to the next level.

The comprehensive guide bridges the gap between the technical details and project management information by addressing the various architecture options, including CRM Online vs. CRM Mobile, picking the user interface type (Web or SAP GUI), and choosing a hosting model, etc. You'll learn about the advantages, disadvantages, and the eventual compromises that have to be made when making your choices.

This is the one book you'll need to help you avoid costly mistakes and achieve an effective SAP CRM implementation.

Highlights

• Core Functionalities: Sales, Marketing, and Service
• Controlling Project Growth
• Planning for Future Developments
• CRM Interaction Center WebClient, Sales Force Automation, and Management case studies
• Scoping for Success
• Total Cost of Ownership
• Upgrade Considerations
• Project Team Job Descriptions

About the Author(s)

George Fratian is a Director of IT for Cardinal Health in San Diego, CA. He has been implementing SAP projects (R/3 and CRM) for over 12 years, most of which have been in a consulting environment (SAP, KPMG, and Arthur Andersen). For the last seven years he has been managing various SAP CRM projects, and has published a few articles in the CRM Expert Newsletter on various CRM topics (technical and non-technical). He is also one of the Technical Editors for the newsletter.

Table of Contents

1 ... Introduction ... 21
... 1.1 ... Other Reference Material ... 22
... 1.2 ... Why This Book ... 24
... 1.3 ... Book Structure ... 25
... 1.4 ... SAP CRM Customer Profile ... 27
... 1.5 ... The SAP Ecosystem ... 31
... 1.6 ... Summary ... 32

2 ... Project Initiation ... 35
... 2.1 ... Long-term Roadmap ... 35
... 2.2 ... The Importance of the Business Case and Return on Investment (ROI ... 37
... 2.3 ... Start with a Pilot Project ... 40
... 2.4 ... Strategic vs. Tactical ... 42
... 2.5 ... End-user Adoption ... 45
... 2.6 ... The Impossible Trilogy ... 45
... 2.7 ... A Word on Estimating Costs ... 49
... 2.8 ... Quality Counts ... 49
... 2.9 ... Additional Research ... 50
... 2.10 ... Summary ... 50

3 ... Scoping for Success ... 53
... 3.1 ... The Virtual Case File Story ... 53
... 3.2 ... Funding vs. Scope ... 54
... 3.3 ... What is the Scope ... 56
... 3.4 ... Scope Documentation and Tracking ... 61
... 3.5 ... Geography Implications ... 62
... 3.6 ... Scope Management and Exception Handling ... 63
... 3.7 ... Summary ... 65

4 ... SAP CRM Project Team ... 67
... 4.1 ... Project Team Roles ... 68
... 4.2 ... SAP Ecosystem Considerations ... 80
... 4.3 ... Staffing Types ... 81
... 4.4 ... Outsourcing Considerations ... 86
... 4.5 ... Hosting Considerations ... 87
... 4.6 ... Relationships and Chemistry ... 88
... 4.7 ... Other Types of IT Organizations ... 89
... 4.8 ... Summary ... 90

5 ... Project Lifecycle ... 91
... 5.1 ... The ASAP Methodology ... 92
... 5.2 ... ASAP Toolset ... 93
... 5.3 ... ASAP Roadmap Phases ... 97
... 5.4 ... International Rollout Considerations ... 104
... 5.5 ... Following a Release Schedule ... 106
... 5.6 ... Upgrade Considerations ... 106
... 5.7 ... Mergers and Acquisitions Considerations ... 107
... 5.8 ... Additional Implementation Content ... 108
... 5.9 ... Overlaying the SDLC Over ASAP ... 108
... 5.10 ... SAP Best Practices for CRM ... 111
... 5.11 ... CRM Business Packages ... 113
... 5.12 ... The Adoption Curve ... 115
... 5.13 ... Additional Considerations ... 116
... 5.14 ... Summary ... 117

6 ... Architectural Design ... 119
... 6.1 ... The SAP Ecosystem ... 119
... 6.2 ... Technical Landscape ... 123
... 6.3 ... Technical Landscape Revised — Again ... 128
... 6.4 ... User Interface Options ... 129
... 6.5 ... Internally vs. Externally Focused Portal ... 136
... 6.6 ... CRM Online vs. ERP Functionality ... 137
... 6.7 ... CRM Online vs. CRM Mobile ... 143
... 6.8 ... CRM On-Demand ... 143
... 6.9 ... Hybrid Architecture ... 144
... 6.10 ... Other Considerations ... 145
... 6.11 ... Summary ... 147

7 ... Case Study: CRM Interaction Center WebClient ... 149
... 7.1 ... A Summary of the New ICWC Functionality in CRM 2007 ... 149
... 7.2 ... ICWC — a Pilot Project ... 150
... 7.3 ... ICWC — the Next Steps ... 159
... 7.4 ... Lessons Learned ... 163
... 7.5 ... Summary ... 163

8 ... Case Study: CRM Case Management ... 165
... 8.1 ... A Summary of the New Case Management Functionality in CRM 2007 ... 165
... 8.2 ... High-level Scope for Case Management ... 167
... 8.3 ... Scope in Detail ... 168
... 8.4 ... One Type of Case Management and Two Access Methods ... 176
... 8.5 ... Lessons Learned ... 177
... 8.6 ... Other Considerations ... 177
... 8.7 ... Summary ... 178

9 ... Case Study: Sales Force Automation (SFA ... 179
... 9.1 ... A Summary of the New SFA Functionality in CRM 2007 ... 179
... 9.2 ... High-level Scope of the SFA Implementation ... 180
... 9.3 ... Scope in Detail ... 186
... 9.4 ... The Importance of Clean Master Data ... 192
... 9.5 ... Non-standard Functionality ... 197
... 9.6 ... Speeding Up the Access — a Citrix Mini-Case Study ... 199
... 9.7 ... Change Management and the WIIFM Concept ... 201
... 9.8 ... System Ownership ... 203
... 9.9 ... Other Considerations ... 204
... 9.10 ... Summary ... 204

10 ... Integration with Other SAP and Non-SAP Systems ... 205
... 10.1 ... Native Integration in an SAP Environment ... 205
... 10.2 ... Integration vs. Interfacing Considerations ... 211
... 10.3 ... Summary ... 213

11 ... Upgrade Considerations ... 215
... 11.1 ... Functional Upgrades ... 215
... 11.2 ... Technical Upgrades ... 216
... 11.3 ... Functional Reimplementations ... 217
... 11.4 ... Minor vs. Major Upgrades ... 219
... 11.5 ... Upgrade Considerations for Your Entire SAP Landscape ... 222
... 11.6 ... Summary ... 222

12 ... CRM Functionality and Implementation Guidelines ... 225
... 12.1 ... Before We Start ... 225
... 12.2 ... Sales ... 227
... 12.3 ... Service ... 236
... 12.4 ... Marketing ... 239
... 12.5 ... Summary ... 253

13 ... Total Cost of Ownership and Future Projects ... 255
... 13.1 ... A Word on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and the Controlled Growth of Your Environment ... 255
... 13.2 ... The Future is Now ... 257
... 13.3 ... Summary ... 261

A ... Job Descriptions ... 265
... A.1 ... CRM Sales Functional Consultant ... 265
... A.2 ... CRM Technical Consultant ... 266
... A.3 ... BASIS Consultant ... 267
... A.4 ... CRM Field Apps Functional Sales Consultant ... 268

B ... References ... 269

C ... The Author ... 271