The classic approach to software implementations (the so-called waterfall method) can have a negative impact on project success due to its inflexibility. The missing, but absolutely necessary, transparency during the project realization phase can endanger the success of the implementation. Pure agile methods are also not recommended for complex projects, if costs and time have to be kept fixed, but at the same time quick adjustments have to be made.

contrimo’s greatest goal is to get your company to its goal faster with every new implementation, solution extension or landscape transformation. To achieve this we use SAP Activate, a standardized, hybrid framework that combines the strengths of both development methodologies to help our customers implement the latest SAP solutions according to their needs, quickly, cost-effectively and successfully.

SAP Activate offers your company a transparent process with a structured procedure. The foundation of SAP Activate consists of greater customer involvement in the individual project phases and a clear focus on standardization.

In contrast to waterfall projects, the usually time-consuming blue-print phase is no longer necessary with SAP Activate, which saves the company time and money. In addition, customers are already intensively involved during the project and can get to know the new solution (from the prototype through the respective interim releases to the fully developed product) in test environments, test it and continuously adapt it according to their requirements.

Best Practices

Regardless whether you are migrating from a legacy or third-party system to SAP’s (cloud-based) solutions, predefined load templates for data migration and other ready-to-use, digitized business processes are available under “Best Practices”. These reference solutions help companies to tailor the full potential of the solutions to their needs, while minimizing implementation time and costs.

Guided Configuration

Standard configuration guidelines make it easy to implement the basic settings of any SAP solution, making the customizing of special requirements much easier. These tools also help with continuous development after go-live. This allows you to continuously adapt your solution in an agile manner.

SAP Activate Methodology

This project implementation methodology is agile and follows an iterative approach to continuously improve project quality, which in turn increases the success of each solution implementation. Each project implemented using the SAP Activate methodology consists of 6 project phases, all with the goal of delivering solutions to the business unit faster.

Discover

The goal of this first phase is to explore the new SAP solution together with the customer. For this purpose, contrimo prepares innovation workshops where the customer can get to know and try out the preconfigured solution on a test system. The result of this phase is the definition of a target architecture based on the customer requirements.

Prepare

In this phase the project is organizationally set up and planned by contrimo. The contrimo staff sets up the system environment and provides customer access. The existing best practices for ready-to-run processes are activated. A detailed workshop plan is also prepared at this stage of the project.

Explore

During the execution of fit-to-standard workshops, concrete plans are created for the later implementation of the solution in the individual process sections that are specifically tailored to the customer. Possible functional gaps are examined and precisely recorded. This results in a project backlog, which is subsequently prioritized by the customer. At the end of this process step, there is a detailed and scheduled sprint plan.

Realize

Based on the prioritized requirements, which were recorded in the exploration phase and logged in the backlog, contrimo now configures and extends the system. The configuration and development of customer-specific requirements are carried out in an agile manner in short, usually 2-week cycles (sprints). At the end of each sprint, the business unit validates the result and provides valuable feedback, which is then immediately incorporated and implemented in one of the next sprints. Structured testing within each sprint additionally ensures the quality of the results.

Deploy

In this phase contrimo finally sets up the productive system and also checks the data migration. User training also takes place at this point. Finally, the system goes live and the company starts to use the solution operationally.

Hypercare

contrimo provides support for possible user questions and helps with potential problems. Experience with the new system is also gathered here, which is then prioritized and implemented again in an expansion project.

Have we aroused your interest in this fast, business-focused set-up for easy solution implementation?

Learn how to introduce and extend new, differentiated functions from your SAP solutions in your organization. We will be happy to advise you in a personal meeting – competently and comprehensively. Benefit from our many years of implementation experience in complex SAP projects!

Contact us!