The Two Most Important Success Factors

SAP's HR software is really pretty functional and mature now. It has advanced so far from the early days – thankfully – and now it's no longer 'does it work?' but 'how do I make it work for me?' that gets asked. Since the software can no longer be blamed for shoddy implementations, there is much more focus now where it should be: upper management support for the project, and the quality of the people on the project teams. Those two are the most important things to get right if you want a successful SAP HR implementation.

Implementing any HR, Benefits or Payroll system causes a lot of change both for managers and for employees. After all, items such as Benefits and Payroll affect every employee, so getting it right is very important. As business processes are unearthed, defined, refined and rolled-out there will be resistance; and it takes a lot of effort to properly implement new processes. Having upper management support is most often the critical key to getting these new processes to stick. Without that support, business processes will be a mess, people will resist, and quality suffers. None of that has much of anything to do with the SAP HR software – it is all based on how much support you get from, and the tone set by, upper management.

While the SAP HR software has matured and improved, it still needs to be configured for each customer's specific needs. Due to its complexity, there are three or four ways to accomplish anything in the SAP HR module; and knowing which way is right for the customer requires consultants who have experience and communication skills. Without those skills, a great piece of software can miss the mark by a mile. Not only will it have operational problems, but your cost of ownership will also escalate. There really is no shortcut for getting the software correctly configured and customized: get good people on your project. How do you know if a given consultant or team member is 'good'? Ask other companies who the consultant has worked for – checking references is critical – and make sure they can work with your company's team members. Knowing which tables to configure, which switches to flip and so on isn't very useful if you aren't a good listener and don't work well on teams.

With the right support and people, you can position your project team for success in their SAP HR implementation!