SAP Activate Methodology Phases

I would like to share some information about SAP ACTIVATE Methodology as a learner.

Lets have a short spin into understanding SAP ACTIVATE Methodology.

SAP Activate is the unique combination of SAP Best Practices, methodology, content, and
tools that helps customers and partners deploy SAP S/4HANA.

A methodology for each of the deployment modes (cloud, on premise, hybrid) is SAP
ACTIVATE.

The primary purpose of the SAP Activate Methodology is to provide end-to-end Application
Lifecycle Management and to accelerate the initial implementation of SAP S/4HANA.

What are the Goals behind SAP Activate methodology

There are 4 primary objectives behind using SAP Activate methodology in On premises/Cloud
implementations. The table below provides additional details for each one

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Key characteristics of the implementation approach in SAP Activate Methodology:
Based on Ready-to-use Content and Cloud Ready.

Content element of SAP Activate provide:

a)Migration Content

b)Business Processes Content.

c) Integration Content

SAP Activate combines ASAP and Launch into one methodology.

SAP Activate is a complete methodology for on-premise, cloud and hybrid landscapes.
By contrast, ASAP was only designed for on-premise implementations.
For cloud landscapes, SAP had a separate methodology called Launch.

SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA are ready-to-run online transactional processing (OLTP)
and online analytical processing (OLAP) processes optimized for SAP S/4HANA.

Methodologies of SAP ACTIVATE are as follows:

1. Phases
2. Workstreams
3. Deliverables and tasks
4. Artifacts/Accelarators

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Three elements of SAP Activate: Three Pillars of SAP Activate: The 3 components of SAP
Activate
Content (SAP Best Practices)
Methodology (Implementation methodology)- SAP Activate Methodology
Tools (Guided configuration)

There are three methods of accessing SAP Activate:

1. SAP Activate Community (via sap.com)
2. SAP Activate Roadmap Viewer.
3. SAP Solution Manager SAP Activate Community - Provides high-level learning overview at a
glance.

SAP Activate Methodology is different from the ASAP Methodology:

1. Includes Fit
2. Gap analysis instead of Blueprint.

Main characteristics of the SAP Activate methodology - In cloud, on-premise, and hybrid.
1.Start with best practices: Use Ready-to-Run business processes.
2.Cloud-ready: Leverage the flexibility and speed of cloud.
3.Validate solution: Validate best practices with fit/gap workshop and capture data.

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What is Sprint cycle in SAP Activate?
Technically every sprint cycle consists of four steps a sprint planning meeting, scrum calls
(there are usually four scrum calls during a two-week sprint), release sync meeting, and a
review and retrospective meeting. This is what makes up sprint cycle.

Sprints make projects more manageable, allow teams to ship high-quality work faster and more
frequently, and gives them more flexibility to adapt to change." Many associate scrum sprints
with agile software development, so much so that scrum and agile are often thought to be the
same thing.

What is the purpose of sprint?

The aim of a sprint is to make progress against the product goal. So, the scrum team
determines and agrees to a consistent duration for completing work. Most sprints range from
two to four weeks — but should not be longer than one month. Sprint=small requirement story
which can be completed within a months time

SAP Activate Methodology phases: D-P-E-R-D-R

Discover ------> Prepare ------> Explore ------> Realize ------> Deploy ------> Run

1. In the Discovery phase, customers become familiar with the benefits of the solution.
Preliminary project assessment of the solution options is performed and, once the customer
understands the solution, they begin the trial of the solution.

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2. In the Prepare phase, we define project governance, start the project, define/identify the
resources, define the roles and responsibilities for the project team, and detail the management
plans for running the project. (Team formation of your Core and Implementation partner team).

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3. In the Explore phase, we run the fit-to-standard analysis on the working system (workshop)
with the best practices content up and running. The objective of the Explore phase is to identify
the fit of the best practices-based solution, capture delta configuration requirements, identify
gaps, and configuration values. All these are captured by the project team in the backlog and
later, in Realize phase, the backlog items are implemented in the system. The best practices
content is used as a jump-start for the project. Workshop is conducted between Core and
Implementation partner and GAP FIT Analysis document is generated. Best practices are going
to be used for implementation. Where there is GAP , GAP analysis document is generated.

4. During the Realize phase, the project team will use agile approach to iteratively and
incrementally build the functionality from the backlog. This build follows the prioritization given
by the product owner (for example, the business users) that continue to be involved with the
project team during the sprints. During the build the team completes the remaining configuration
and development on top of the best practices content. Additionally, the team performs the unit
and string testing during the sprints. In the Realize phase, the team also works on the
integration of the overall solution to meet customer needs. This Realize phase covers all the
build and test activities required to prepare a release of functionality into production. This
includes a full Integration test and user acceptance test before the team can continue into the
Deploy phase. Actual configuration is perfomed in DEV system, UAT(user acceptance test) and
SIT(system integration test)are performed in Quality system prior to that End User training is
given to Business key Stake holders.

5. The objective of the Deploy phase is to launch the production environment and confirm
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readiness to switch into business operations with the new solution. The team also performs
sustainment and hyper-care activities in the Deploy phase once the system goes live. Once the
customer has switched over into the new environment, the project team supports the customer
IT and business. The team stay on-site for a pre-determined period of time, which is usually
defined in the contract or agreed as part of the plan to transition to operations. Actual TR
ansport movements, cutover performed by Functional team , Master Data is uploaded by Core
Team and business starts using New environment.

6. The Run phase then represents key steps in running and improving the operations of the
environment. This includes end user support, system monitoring and other activities including
continuous improvements to the solution. Post deployment HYPER CARE phase where
implementation partner supports to run operation without any issue/road blocker.

Key activities across SAP Activate phases

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Although each solution varies in terms of its full application of SAP Activate
Methodology, there is significant overlap in the activities that occur during
each project phase. The table below provides additional details about what
the project team does in each phase. Most of the project delivery occurs
between the Prepare and Deploy phases.

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In summary, SAP Activate provides the procedural guidance and the detail
necessary to implement SAP products for both large and small customers.

Sources Used – SAP Community.com Documents

SAP Activate Methodology Hand Book

SAP Press Activate Methodology Certification Guide

Thankyou

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