Case study

Requirements to Deploy at BKW

Customer
Industry Energy
Location Switzerland
Employees ca. 7000
Service Focused Build
Customer since 2018
For BKW Gruppe, blueworks integrated SAP’s Solution Manager and Focused Build with ServiceNow, turning it into an agile solution tailored to the broad requirements of a major Swiss energy company. Seven months of cooperation, ending with the successful launch of the new system.

“From the start during evaluation, our implementation partner blueworks has proven themselves as a knowledgeable and professional consociate and implemented the solution to our fullest satisfaction.”

Marcel Schori

Goal

Evaluation and implementation of a successor solution to the Requirement to Deploy (R2D) process that is currently realized with Solution Manager 7.1.  

Present the different solution options including the creation of a migration concept and providing a recommendation. The new solution should ideally be a Cloud solution: Standardized processes and functions simplify the maintenance workload and allow a smooth implementation of feature extensions. Additionally, the integration into the companywide incident solution must be guaranteed. 

Initial Situation 

Solution Manager 7.1, which is used for the following scenarios:

  • IT Service Management

  • Requirements-Management (Consultants solution) 

  • Process Management 

  • Change Control Management 

  • Job Management

  • Application Operations

  • Landscape Management

The individual scenarios are adapted to the requirements of BKW. The maintenance expenditure and needed extensions are cumbersome and require rather complex testing. 

Project approach

It was the central task to find the most efficient solution for BKW with the R2D-Process with SolMan 7.2. 

SAP released the Best-of-Suite integrated process flow with SolMan 7.2 SPS7. This approach that allows individual adaption for customer needs had to be compared with the functionalities of Focused Build and a recommendation needed to be made. It was important that all possibilities of each ALM scenario were evaluated and to adjust the detailed project scope accordingly. After a full assessment of the initial situation and the available resources, it was proven, that Focused Build with a SolMan greenfield approach would be the best solution.  

The agile methodology, latest UIs, and the predefined processes as well as the available training materials, promised a far shorter implementation timeline, while at the same time adding interesting extensions. Adopting Focused Build means Best Practice Out of the Box – and is therefore comparable with a Cloud solution. 

BKW uses all “Focused Build” functionalities for the fully integrated R2D-Process: 

  • Portfolio & project management

  • Process management

  • Requirements management 

  • Change control management 

  • Release management

  • Test management

Responsibilities of blueworks

  • Architecture and planning of the installation of Solution Manager SPS7 on HANA

  • Coordinating the interface for incident management

  • Planning of training based on UI5 apps and dashboards for the key-users as Tool Coach 

  • Configuration and customizing of Focused Build  

  • Highlighting useful additional possibilities of Focused Build 

  • Tool and go-live support 

During discovery workshops, the most important elements of the R2D process were introduced. The following workshops demonstrated the individual functionalities of Focused Build:

  • Architecture, set-up, and configuration

  • Management of the solution documentation 

  • Release- and project management 

  • Requirements-Management  

  • Handling of work packages and work items 

  • Test management

The agile methodology

Far more important than importing the solution documentation was to find a structure with which all employees would feel comfortable. A uniform structure and naming convention are essential requirements for future extensions such as, e.g. BPMN diagrams or other end-to-end processes. 

Apart from the needs of larger innovation projects, the release and project management needed also to cover weekly maintenance and rollouts of smaller enhancements. For this purpose – as far as possible – the UIs should not differ from another.  

A key focus was put on the role-mapping between the roles FB expects and the existing roles within the organization.  

Integration of ServiceNow in Focused Build 

The integration of the company-wide incident solution was an integral part of the project. Partial processes for maintenance/fixes, extensions and innovate-projects had to be considered.

A standardized R2D Process for Maintenance, Enhancement and Innovation projects

A significant advantage of the integration of these partial processes was the unification of the processes and especially their UIs. In the end, a change needs to be set revision-safe productive – only the throughput times are different. 

Conclusion

Today, after a project duration of roughly seven months, it can be said that Focused Build meets all expectations fully. Solution Manager with Focused Build is the central ALM product from SAP and will continue to orientate itself to customer needs strongly. 

The slightly longer process throughput times caused by the unified processes for Fix, Enhance and Innovate is counterbalanced by the existing workflow integration within the UI5 apps and was accommodated. Furthermore, we hope to see SAP direct its focus more on the Fix process within Focused Build and implement enhancements in this area in the near future. 

Customer voice

With Focused Build, we can run through the entire Requirements to Deploy scenario in a standardized process. The same «process flow» can be used for maintenance, enhancements and innovation projects. Focused Build supports us in implementing an agile approach to project management so that future enhancements can be rolled out efficiently and smoothly.

Many aspects of Focused Build convinced us. Due to the timing (Maintenance window of SolMan 7.2 and other planned innovation projects at the beginning of the year), the project was planned rather hastily. Thanks to the preconfigured FB solution the timeline, budget, and functional requirements were met, and the users have reacted positively to the new solution.

We considered timely planning and training essential to us to ensure user acceptance right from the start. The use of Focused Build significantly enhances efficiency, security, and quality in all ALM processes.

From the start during evaluation, our implementation partner blueworks has proven themselves as a knowledgeable and professional consociate and implemented the solution to our fullest satisfaction.

Marcel Schori, SAP Solutions Architect & Philippe Keller, Project Manager and SAP Consultant

Outlook

The agile project management methodologies within Focused Build will continue to support BKW in the future and shape a more agile Requirements to Deploy process. Due to the expedited project plan, some standalone enhancements will be revisited in a second phase. Additionally, the project management will become more transparent thank so the Solution Readiness Dashboard. 

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