Communicating SAP

[Former Member]

Hi everyone- my last thread went unanswered, so I'll try one more time.

I'm assisting my client with their SAP implementation, and aside from the baseline tactics listed in the white paper in the OCM section, I wondered what you have done or seen in terms of communication activities. I'm an expert in communications (not SAP) who speaks enough geek to get by...

Right now, we're relying on email and are in the midst of building an intranet site. IN the main, these are 'push" methods, and I'm looking for other means of engaging people. What's worked where you've been?

I'd appreciate your thoughts - if you prefer, find me on twitter at @commammo for further contact info.

Cheers.

Sean

[Former Member]

So, I have an excel workbook that has the routines below in it. But when I try to run the code it stops at the following line:

Set SAPContainer = ThisWorkbook.Container

According to the note the method failed. I'm not too sure why this would be and how I can fix?

Any clues?

[Former Member]

Sean,

I would also recommend having active structured participation from the business. I always recommend forming a Change Champion/Agent Network made up of representatives of all key stakeholder groups. The Change Network helps get messages out to the business community and also provides feedback on the messages, additional messages needed, and general change readiness levels. Change Champion teams generally meet or have a call weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the project and the stage of the project.

For more on Change Champion/Agent Networks, you may want to see my article on u201CThe Critical Role of Organizational Change Teams in Transformation Projectsu201D on the BPX OCM page at

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/bpx/ocm?rid=/library/uuid/508b1863-897a-2c10-e688-eb2470fde6d3.

Caryl

[Former Member]

Thank you Caryl -- yep, there's a Change Network in place and a specific committee on business readiness, too. Lots of participation from the business side of the equation. Many thanks for taking the time to reply!

Best regards,

Sean

[Former Member]

Sean:

I think what you are looking for is how to move the knowledge from the project to the business. With my current client we have set up a number of vehicles to encourage this exchange. Each of the client leads have a list of key stakeholders in the business that they are required to engage throughout the course of the project. For the most part these are weekly conversations where they discuss design and process options and land on decisions.

Underneath each client lead there are SMEs (one from each of the 4 global regions) who manage the relationships with super users. Again they are having regularly planned meetings with the super users from their region where they share information on process and system design as well as key background information on why each approach was chosen.

The OCM team owns the relationship with the business leaders in the region where we also share project information and also engage them in the process of preparing their organization for the change.

These are true communication activities because they allow for the exchange of information to ensure that the messages are recieved and acted upon. They are also planned out communication activities where each of the owners has a clear purpose for contacting their stakeholders and key messages that they need to be delivered. The OCM team and the PMO are responsible for the identification of the key messages and the monitoring of feedback from these contacts with stakeholders.

My advice on what you are planning - unless the company culture is to use intranet sites as a primary message vehicle I would recommend not investing the time or energy in it. Most of my experiences in this area are that the intranet sites may provide some tangible measure that the project is communicating they do little to advance your message because most people don't use it for getting their information.

[Former Member]

Bob -- Thanks very much. Yes, the client is doing much of what you suggest here. I appreciate you taking the time to respond! Best regards,

Sean

[Former Member]

Hi Sean,

if I read this correctly you are looking in particular for "pull" methods and I alreday like the question, as comms aroudn SAP or other big software rollouts tend to be push focused.

Admittedly, it is not alway seasy to make the workforce eager to learn more on top of their day to day troubles. The best pull aid is a very poor legacy system, so that everybody is keen on getting the new system in. Of course, you can't slip bugs into your curent software just to get people interested in the new one. However, this line of thought is one worthwhile following. Look at the gaps in the old system (if it is perfect: why are you implementing SAP?) - take the users point of view: what are they missing?

Then find where your new system will be much stronger and illustrate the benefits in these former pain points (ideally, you let pilot usres speak about their experience. if you are pre-pilot, then illustrate otherwise).

Then offer an opportunity for users to ask for more. You could incorporte a forum into the intranet page or create a wiki (quick and efficient with tools like confluence). Use the pain points solved as examples and invite all users: "are their things in the current system you are missing / find annoying / believe could be more efficient? Tell us about it and tell us, how you think it could be solved. Our SAP team will engage with you to try and develop a solution in the new system. Or maybe they can already demonstrate how it's been solved."

Or something along these lines. Users will soon go beyond "This was bad in teh old system, will SAP be better here". Some will actively look for demos / training material to learn about teh new system and possibly work out how it can make their day to day processes better.

just oen small thing to get people involved rather than just listening.

Works surprisingly well even in slow, change sceptic environment. less so in overly dynamic ones with an big change overload.

best wishes

Sven

[Former Member]

Sven, thanks very much - very helpful indeed.

Yes, the pull side is the key. There are so many priorities, so much email traffic, so much competition for mindspace... It is up to us, as professional communicators, to find the stories that will help people connect with the project -- but we need to attract them so that we can reduce the in-box flow. The forum is a frequent best practice in modern employee comms, but is hard to implement when the powers that be believe it's little more than chat. Pilots are good alternatives!

Thanks again for the ideas -- much appreciated.

Sean