Don’t Misjudge Test Efforts & Time in SAP CML/BI

In my post titled Why SAP BI projects fail, I reviewed some reasons why SAP projects fails. In this post I like to add more “Don't” kind scenarios, which help project managers to understand SAP project's pitfalls.

Don’t Misjudge Test Efforts & Time

Mostly project team misjudge test efforts and time take by testing. This is a major assumptions in QA. This is found that mostly team members are so "optimists" when testing that they misjudge the time and resources taken in testing. However being naivety in planning for extremely large test initiatives & assumptions on quality of entrance criteria make team very "Optimists". Being so optimists when testing is a major pitfall in SAP project. Whole team should be never-ending pessimists.

What's we lose when we are "Optimists" when testing:
1. It grounds overlapping of test phases – very complicated to manage & caused lots of rework & re-testing.
2. It make test schedule behind.

How to be an pessimists when testing. Being an pessimists is easy job, just ask the following questions. Let's take an example a task is given to QA team to test some 400 scenarios with in 4 week.
Question 1: Is it probable to test 100 scenarios a week?
Question 2: Is it 4 week include defect fix time also?
Question 3: Did all test cases in 400 scenarios pass in system test?

Suggestion:
Pertain the same approximation to QA test estimates as there is for development estimates. Think about complexity of tests, integration complexity, conversion requirements.

Why SAP BI projects fails

Why SAP BI projects fail?

Is all SAP BI projects fails? Or is it SAP need to do something in BI modules? Or is it Clients/Business management need to change its management cultural practice so that they align with BI?

So is it true all SAP BI projects fail? The answer is No, not that all SAP BI project fails. But that's true that when any SAP projects fail, they fail big. Why? One they are very complex, they are big. Second they cost a lot, that why the exceptions are very high on them, and when they fail, the company's ROI become ZERO, null. Third they take big Time to deploy. No client want, after investing lots of lots of money and time, SAP BI projects fails.

So following are points for SAP to work on SAP BI, so that their projects DO NOT FAIL.

1. Cut the deployment timing. Think in this way Time is money.
2. Make it Simple, take off or hide complex parts.
3. Money: Since now market is down, you should also cut the price tag on SAP BI.

And what Clients/Business management need to do change it's management cultural practice, so that projects don't fails.

1. Lack of communications
2. Lack of, scope change management abilities. SAP BI is alive project, mean it's take inhale and exhale air. It's not dead project, it's not constant projects. So you also have change management abilities, to handle project.
3. be cool, it's take some time to settle dust.
4. Never ever start SAP BI projects with other SAP modules or other big application. Start SAP BI project when every single project is in prod, and all dust rest, and wait for 1 year, then start implementing SAP BI projects.