Infrastructure Setup

This post will discuss the process of setting up the project environment.  This consists of several items including:

·          Setup up the SAP development and QA environments

·          ServicesOne All-in-One Installation

·          Set up the project repository

·          Establishment of the team structure and project governance structure

Setting up the SAP environments is a step that consists of several steps.  First we have to select the hardware that we’ll deploy the system to.  There are few options to select from here, whether we want to house the hardware environment ourselves or outsource to a hosting provider in which the application environment is hosted and managed for us.  Our preferred hosting provider is AT&T who is one of the largest hosting providers in the world.  For our deployment we have chosen to host the environment ourselves. 

For an SAP deployment project we’ll utilize three separate environments, Development, QA, and Production.  For our development environment we’re using a virtual machine on a server that already houses other SAP systems.   For our eventual production environment we will deploy a separate and dedicated server.  At this point in the project we’ll start the process to confirm the appropriate hardware and begin the procurement cycle as soon as that information is confirmed.  SAP BASIS resources (technical infrastructure specialists)  then perform the necessary installation to setup our environment.

The next step is to install our preconfigured ServicesOne product which will install the preconfigured business scenarios we’ve selected in our high level scope.  Through a series of automated scripts and data loads, in less than a day we’ll have over 40 preconfigured best practices for the Services Industry available to us to walk our users through blueprinting activities. 

Setting up the project repository is a critical step in ensuring we document our activities.  For that we’ll use SAP’s Solution Manager Tool which allows us to assign project documents to the applicable business scenarios we are implementing.  Our methodology provides the guidelines and template documents that assist us to rapidly complete and communicate our project requirements, specifications, and status.

Also critical to the project’s successful execution is the establishment of the appropriate methods for managing the project, including over team roles and responsibilities and project governance.  This includes the establishment of a project steering committee, issue tracking and resolution process, escalation process, change control process, scope management process, and project status reporting.  As you can see, these are all very important processes, but with the help of the methodology as our cookbook, we have a jumpstart on putting all these things in place.

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