How to select an integrator, coach, and mentor?

Integrator, coach, and mentor selection should follow a strict, compliant, and verifiable process.

The duration depends on the process and geographical scope. You should not spend more than 6 weeks to 3 months on integrator, coach, and mentor selection.

The 4-step process for integrator, coach, and mentor selection looks like this:

1. Requirements catalogue and longlist
2. RfI process and shortlist
3. RfP process, fit-gap analysis, and scenario modeling, including business case creation
4. Recommendation and decision

Followed by contract negotiation and signature.

What are best practices?

The shortlist should not contain more than 4 integrators.

Planning enough time to work and align

• Which activities are performed by the integrator/ coach/ mentor/ your company
• Understanding efforts (customizing, development etc.)
• Project planning with the integrator/ coach/ mentor
• Business case
• Incorporating all relevant stakeholders, understanding the results and the recommendation, having all required information aligned prior to the final decision meeting

How we can help

• Adhering to a strict, compliant, and verifiable process
• Providing an integrator, coach, and mentor repository to select from which integrators, coaches, and mentors are selected, but not defined from scratch
• Providing accelerators and templates, e.g., RfI and RfP documents, business case, and many more that need to be adapted, but not created from scratch

Can you do this yourself?

Yes, but with us you will be faster, more effective, and more cost-effective.

How to select a software?

Software selection should follow a strict, compliant, and verifiable process.

The duration depends on the process, system, and geographical scope. You should not spend more than 6 weeks to 3 months on software selection.

The 4-step process for software selection looks like this:

1. Business requirements catalogue and longlist
2. RfI process and shorlist
3. RfP process, fit-gap analysis, and scenario modeling, including business case creation
4. Recommendation and decision

Followed by contract negotiation and signature.

What are best practices?

The business requirements catalog should contain

• Legal and regulatory requirements, e.g., E-Invoicing, DORA in terms of Financial Services,
• Requirements that are mapped differently in different software packages.

Banal requirements, such as it must be possible to create a customer, should not be considered.

The shortlist should not contain more than 4 providers.

The scenarios should not be modeled based on more than 6 criteria, namely coverage of the required functionality, extensibility, integrability, costs, risks, and usability.

The business case should include benefits.

How we can help

• Adhering to a strict, compliant, and verifiable process
• Providing a requirements catalog with requirements, legal and regulatory specifications, from which requirements are selected, but not defined from scratch
• Providing accelerators and templates, e.g., RfI and RfP documents, business case, and many more that need to be adapted, but not created from scratch
• Carrying out a fit-gap analysis
• Providing a benefits catalog from which the benefits are selected

Can you do this yourself?

Yes, but with us you will be faster, more effective, and more cost-effective.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 status management 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆?

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵. Learn more here: ⬇️

2 weeks ago, we kicked-off our 6-week Program Management challenge. The first episode dealt with Program Planning. The second episode dealt with Status Management. Thanks to all participants, it was a lot of fun.

Join us next week. Episode 3 will be about Issue and Risk Management: https://lnkd.in/e4BJmmt3

📣 Our best practices from previous programs are:

1️⃣   A status meeting deals with understanding the high-level status of the program and its projects and being able to steer and guide them. It is not about having a coffee talk or discussing technical solutions.

2️⃣   Status reporting covers Progress Tracking Actual versus Plan, Budget Consumption Actual versus Plan, Time, Quality, Resources, Pulse, Scope, Issues and Risks, Escalations (alternatives with pros and cons and recommendation).

3️⃣   Status meetings take place on a regular basis same time, same venue. Never cancel a status meeting. Postpone status meetings only as exception.

4️⃣   Minutes should be created by the same person to guarantee consistency in writing and follow-up. Minutes should be distributed the same day and aligned within 2-3 days.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀? Do you look for a PMO Support that knows best practice approaches, methods and tools and is able to orchestrate you and your integrator and making the program or project more successful? Send me a direct message (DM) to discuss the options.

#businesstransformation #programmanagement #statusmanagement #microsoftdynamics #saps4hana

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀? Do you look for a PMO Support that knows best practice approaches, methods and tools and is able to orchestrate you and your integrator and making the program or project more successful? Send me a direct message (DM) to discuss the options.

#businesstransformation #programmanagement #programplanning #microsoftdynamics #saps4hana

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗧𝗟 (𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁, 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺, 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱) 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹. What are our recommendations? Learn more here: ⬇️

There are a lot of #ETL tools available on the market. But which one is the best?

Based upon our 20+ years’ experience in Business and IT Transformation projects we narrowed down the waste list of ETL tools to a limited set that fits the purpose for different requirements and/ or IT system landscapes and are user-friendly (from an IT perspective 😉).

Please find an extract from our list mentioned below:

📣 #AzureDataFactory in terms of #MicrosoftDynamics.

📣 #SalesforceDataLoader in terms of #Salesforce.

📣 #SNPCrystalBridge ® in terms of #SAP #S4HANA.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀? Do you want to know which ETL tool is the best one for you? Send me a direct message (DM) to discuss the options.

#businesstransformation #azure #transformation #datamigration #Datenmigration

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆? 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝟱-𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀. Learn more here: ⬇️

Today we kick-off #datamigration and #datacleansing for our #RealEstate client. We start at a very early stage (design phase was approved last week) with sample records and will increase complexity and volume over time.

📣 My lessons learned from one of my previous projects are:

1️⃣   Start early. Data migration and cleansing cannot start too early.

2️⃣   Do not underestimate the time it takes to gather and upload data correctly.

3️⃣   Assign people to the tasks who are patient and pay close attention to detail.

4️⃣   Approach and planning are key – as always.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀? Do you look for a PMO Support that knows best practice approaches, methods and tools and is able to orchestrate you and your integrator and making the program or project more successful? Send me a direct message (DM) to discuss the options.

#businesstransformation #sap #s4hana #microsoftdynamics #transformation #Datenmigration #Datenbereinigung

𝗔𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯, 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 “#𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗿” – 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺?

The idea clearly comes from the fashion industry. One of my favorite fashion brands changes collections in their windows every two months. Since #LinkedIn is our “window”, we adapted this concept accordingly.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗼𝘂𝗿 “𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗿”?

Integrator and software selections are one of our established services.

Traditionally, integrators within a given timeframe are selected based upon a set of criteria, e.g., cost, risk, timeline, approach etc. A couple of sessions take place. Only in rare cases there is a Proof-of-Concept where the companies project team experiences two different integrators over a longer course of time.

In contrast to this recruiting processes usually have two to three interviews hiring the right candidate.

In both scenarios, people are hired for years.

When it comes to integrator selection, how could it be sufficient selecting a company? With us, you go beyond. You select a team of individuals working for the same company.

Thus, we developed a competency model with approximately 2.500 competencies for integrators – covering different topics and levels. Furthermore, we did not only rate well-known integrators, but also individuals working for these companies – in a GDPR-compliant manner.

As you usually spend years together, the effort is worth doing it.

Top 5 Logistics Technology Trends for 2023

According to Gartner, logistics and supply chain leaders should prepare for disruptions. The willingness adopting to tech tools is therefore key.

The Top 5 Logistics Technology Trends for 2023 comprise:

1️⃣   Autonomous Last Mile Delivery
2️⃣   Autonomous Trucks
3️⃣   Time Slot Management
4️⃣   Transportation Management System Innovation
5️⃣   Automated Warehouse

Autonomous Last Mile Delivery

One of the most difficult and expensive aspects in logistics are the last mile and home delivery.

According to McKinsey Survey 2018: the share of last mile costs is at around 80 percent.

Electric bikes and navigation software are more favored now. Both drones and autonomous delivery bots from companies like Starship Technologies are still in test mode and have not yet become established.

As they become more common, use cases continue to pile up, the use of this technology gets closer to being the normal.

Autonomous Trucks

Responding to driver shortage which continues to grow every year, autonomous trucks do not replace human drivers – similar to autonomous robots within the warehouse. They collaborate with drivers to make work easier.

The practice of platooning seems to be a space where the reality of autonomous trucks, could make the first impact: the lead truck is equipped with technology augmentation while a follower truck operates in tandem through a fully autonomous system. The vehicles move in a group or platoon with the trucks driven by smart technology and communicating with one another. Each of the trucks still has a driver onboard for safety and for taking over when exiting the freeway. This allows the follower driver to log off and rest while the truck is in motion. The tandem allow drivers to drive twice as far while ensuring they don’t exceed hours of service regulations.

Time Slot Management

Optimizing internal processes has the following positive effects:

—Increased handling capacity, and

—Reduced delays, loading and unloading times.

Time Slot Management does not only shorten waiting times for the drivers, but also improves production planning.

Transportation Management System Innovation

Due to rising freight costs, companies are increasingly using TMS to reduce these rising costs. The savings can be attributed to simulations and network design, load consolidation and selection of lower-cost modes, and optimization of routes with multiple stops.

A key reason for TMS growth is that technology has steadily improved in recent years. Three innovations in particular play a major role:  artificial intelligence,  real-time visibility and IoT.

Automated Warehouse

As an efficiency lever.

—Robots automatically assembling and packing orders.

—People continuing to deliver goods.

How we can help

Do you face the same challenges?

Send me a direct message (DM) to discuss the options.

Source: Forbes, December 2021

Top 5 Real Estate Technology Trends for 2023

2023 promises to be an exiting year in real estate. Technology will play a major role. The willingness adopting to tech tools is therefore key.

The Top 5 Real Estate Technology Trends for 2023 comprise:

1. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
3. Process Improvement
4. Fractional Investment
5. The Metaverse

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

Accelerated by the pandemic, virtual 3D property tours/ walkthroughs function as the best alternative to live showing.

Expected to continue expanding, especially among investors.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Property investors being able finding and analyzing deals at a rate and speed previously unimaginable.

An emerging trend is the use of quantum computing AI.

Process Improvement

Enhanced efficiency being the most important benefit of the recent boom of technology in real estate automating many tedious day-to-day responsibilities, and therefore being able to complete tasks faster and better than ever before.

A further surge in comprehensive platforms is expected as a lot of CRM applications currently cover different aspects of real estate.

Another potential lies in the demand of streamlining processes.

Fractional Investment

Fractional investment will grow due to PropTech platforms that allow investors investing in parts of real estate properties with smaller investments.

The Metaverse

The metaverse being a possibility diversifying one’s portfolio and buying assets in a virtual world is still a relatively new concept. Investors will most likely continue to proceed cautiously.

Nevertheless, the global metaverse real estate market was valued at $821.9 million in 2021, with a projected increase to $5.95 billion by 2028.

How we can help

Do you face the same challenges?

Send me a direct message (DM) to discuss the options.

Source: Forbes Technology Council, November 2022

Make it work, make it great, make it stick is the smart Swedish approach for business transformations reducing the risk that they fail

I learned about this successful approach during the 3 years I worked in Sweden, and apply it to all projects that we support.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝘄𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀?

1️⃣   Make it work

✅ Reducing scope to the minimum that is required. You have great expectations when you start a program/ project. There is a business case, there are improvements that should have been done within the last years, but they have been postponed due to budget, time, resources or because of the business transformation ahead. Slice and dice it into digestible portions (releases). Realize the minimum with a first release.

✅ Working on the integrator relationship. You decided on an integrator. As in a marriage, the hard work comes after saying “yes”. You must communicate, discuss, come to joint decisions, sometimes compromises, and adjustments each day. This is applicable to all levels within the program/ project organization. You will be rewarded with a successful project as it is always the people who makes a project a success.

2️⃣   Make it great

✅ Reality checking business needs,
✅ Potentially adjusting the scope that did not went live with the first release.
✅ Realizing the outstanding scope with different releases.

3️⃣   Make it stick

✅ Making sure that

✅ The solution is used as it is supposed to be,
✅ Potential errors are solved in time,
✅ Training needs are analyzed, and delta trainings are performed on a regular basis,
✅ KPIs are monitored and reported on a regular basis
(e.g., guidelines and process adherence, data quality etc.)
✅ Data is maintained in a clean manner (no duplicates etc.), and
✅ Customizing of the solution is neither expanded exhaustively nor not documented properly.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀? Explore how we can help you: www.norda-advisory.com.

#businesstransformation #sap #s4hana #transformation #makeitwork #makeitgreat #makeitstick

What is the benefit of reducing list entries when moving to SAP S/4 Hana?

One of the biggest benefits and levers moving to SAPS4Hana is the reduction of listentries – independent whether you choose a Greenfield, Brownfield or SNP Group’s Bluefield™ approach.

This potential should be leveraged in any case following the maxims of structuredness, organization and tidiness to achieve the goals of easeofuse, easeofextension and transparency.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆?

List entries are related to drop-downs or value helps. This means fields a user has to select a value, and potentially has to scroll through an extensive list of entries.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀?

Amongst others typical examples comprise the following:

• Distribution channels
• Divisions
• Business partner roles (previously known as customer account types)
• Business partner functions (previously known as partner functions)
• Payment terms
• Technical object types (e.g., equipment types)
• Sales inquiry, quotation and/ or order types
• Price calculation schemes and condition types
• Invoice types
• Maintenance and/ or service notification and/ or order types
• And many more

What is the financial impact?

1. Reducing input time and incorrect entries and consequently process cost
2. Reducing SAP maintenance cost for the internal and/ or external IT team

What is the background?

Research shows that the human brain is able to process up to 6 alternatives correctly. As soon as this number is exceeded, the human brain struggles.

What are the consequences?

1. Longer input times (e.g., if you have a list of approx. 100 order types, it takes time for your staff to go through them and process the information),
2. Incorrect entries (e.g., the likelihood that your staff selects a wrong entry is quite high in this example which leads to wrong follow-up processes, cancellation of orders, and invoices, and newly created orders) or
3. Dummy entries (e.g., if there is a “general”, “dummy” or “other” option available, the likelihood is high that your staff selects this option).
4. Longer times for error analysis and solution extension due to unnecessary customizing entries resulting in untransparent processes in the system.

What are guiding principles?

1. Reducing list entries to the number of 6
   (FYI: I used 9 in previous years as my brain can remember “it should be a 1-digit number” which also worked very well for clients.)
2. Keeping the system clean and transparent by deleting unnecessary customizing

N.B.: There is also research on 4 and on 7 +/- 1 or 2 alternatives.

Putting it in a nutshell, the common nominator seems to be a 1-digit-number, and the consequent reduction of cost list entries will be beneficial in any case.

𝗗𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵?

Within the course of one of our current projects, we

1. Deleted 3.500 list entries, and
2. Achieved 6 list entries or less in 95% of the cases.

#businesstransformation #sap #s4hana #transformation