efficient project management...most project management profession-als. stand-alone project...

SAP Functions in DetailSAP Solutions for Small Businesses and Midsize Companies

The SAP® Business

ByDesign™ solution helps

you optimize project man-

agement efficiency, trans-

parency, and collaboration.

It provides comprehensive

functionality that supports

end-to-end project manage-

ment, giving project man-

agers the tools and visibility

required for efficient exe-

cution and ongoing control.

EFFICIENT PROJECT MANAGEMENTDRIVE PROJECT SUCCESS WITH SAP® Business ByDesign™

4 Project Management Challenges

7 Project Planning and Execution 7 Project Planning and Scheduling 8 Project Resource Management 8 Project Procurement 9 Time Recording 9 Assignments 9 Working Time 9 Time Confirmations and Payroll

Processing 9 Expense Recording 9 Change Management 9 Project Invoicing

10 Accounting for Projects 10 Project Accounting

11 The Power of Integrated Project Management Functionality

11 Find Out More

12 Quick Facts

CONTENT

4 SAP Functions in Detail – Efficient Project Management

Successfully meeting today’s business challenges requires

effective project management. Whether you are creating

a new product or launching a state-of-the-art marketing

campaign, how well your organization manages projects,

tracks costs, and identifies and addresses project-related

issues can have a big impact on your bottom line. But if

your company still relies on traditional, stand-alone project

management applications, most likely you lack the end-

to-end process support you need to ensure success. If

these applications are not integrated with other areas of

your organization, such as financials and HR, you may

experience serious gaps in visibility and information flow,

which could reduce the productivity of your employees

and make it difficult to run cost-effective projects.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGESTHE NEED FOR AN INTEGRATED, END-TO-END PROCESS

5SAP Functions in Detail – Efficient Project Management

As a result, you may be facing the following types of challenges:

Projects run over budget without anyone knowing until the project is completed.

Project managers do not have visibility into available resources, making it difficult to staff projects efficiently with the right people. The true costs of projects are never captured, so it’s hard to plan for new initiatives. Project data is scattered across differ-ent applications and even handwritten notes – rather than centralized – which minimizes visibility for project manag-ers and other key stakeholders and

makes project reporting a costly, error-prone process. Inefficient manual processes – such as rekeying time-sheet data into HR

or payroll systems – tie up resources, increase the chance of payroll and contractor payment errors, and drive up overall costs. Project managers and others stake-holders lack transparency into projects, making it hard to access the information needed for fact-based decision mak-ing; for example, they can’t identify when projects are running over budget in time to adjust project staffing and head off losses.

These problems are all too familiar to most project management profession-als. Stand-alone project management applications were never designed to

SAP Business ByDesign

supports all types of proj-

ects, from basic cost col-

lectors to sophisticated, full-

scope projects in areas such

as research, new product

development, and marketing.

Figure 1: SAP® BusinessByDesign™ and Project Management

#3 Bill more quickly, accurately, and efficiently to collect customer payments earlier

#2 Reduce service delivery and project-related costs; improve operational efficiency

#1 Maximize utiliza-tion of talents; innovate service portfolio; focus on profitable projects

Automate and inte-grate time recording and billing; collabo-rate better with external parties

Enhance project setup; optimize staffing; improve collaboration; increase transparency

Centralize resource allocation; expand offers via contrac-tors; increase project insight

Time and expense recording that is tightly integrated with procurement and financials

Support for end-to-end processes and ad hoc collaboration

Planning and resource project management; integration with all areas; built-in analytics

What can be improved?

What does SAP® software enable?

How do I improve?

What can I achieve?

Operating metrics: Capacity utilization; number of new offerings; percentage of profitability per project

Financial results: Revenues from projects; revenues from new offerings; project profitability

Operating metrics: Number of projects finalized on time and within budget

Financial results: Project profitability and costs overview; project cost by project and cost structure

Operating metrics: Operating costs for staffing, recording time and expenses, and billing

Financial results: Days sales outstanding and cash flow


meet the comprehensive needs of an entire organization. The execution and success of your projects have a far greater impact on your company than simply making it to the next milestone on time. That’s why you need project management functionality that supports your organization from an end-to-end process perspective – which requires that project management information flows automatically into processes used by other departments in your company. This integration is the key to enhancing efficiency, transparency, and collabora-tion at both project and corporate levels.

Designed specifically for midsize com-panies, the SAP® Business ByDesign™

solution is a complete and adaptable on-demand business solution. The powerful functionality supporting project management helps you optimize project management efficiency, transparency, and collaboration and supports all phases of project management (see Figure 1). Project managers are free to plan and structure projects in a manner that works best for them, and they have instant access to the tools and visibility they require for efficient execution and ongoing control. At the same time, the software helps you ensure that projects meet the needs of other departments and the overall enterprise – for example, by making it easier to gather and report on project data.


PROJECT PLANNING AND EXECUTIONSUPPORTING THE COMPLETE PROJECT LIFECYCLE

Project management functionality in the SAP Business ByDesign solution sup-ports the entire project lifecycle, from initiation and planning to execution and closing (see Figure 2). You can quickly access up-to-date information about projects and empower your project man-agers to make changes to them at any point in time. The software puts project

performance data at your fingertips and helps you control project tasks, costs, and schedules with minimal time and effort. Project managers can use this information to provide you with accurate progress and cost data, as up-to-date reports are just a click away. Equally important, your project managers and

you have visibility into project data and analytics to determine and monitor trends.

For example, you can track the following:

How project members are using their time on projects How long it takes employees to perform certain tasks Which tasks are taking more time than planned

This insight helps your project managers anticipate potential project delays and then take proactive steps to avoid these problems.

Project Planning and Scheduling

SAP Business ByDesign supports all types of projects, from basic cost col-lectors to sophisticated, full-scope proj-ects in areas such as research, new-product development, and marketing. For added flexibility, your project managers can readily expand projects that are used solely for cost collection to meet more complex requirements.

Project managers can plan and structure projects in any way that works best for them, including phases, tasks, mile-stones, and checklists as needed. The software gives them instant access to a variety of tools, including Gantt charts, work breakdown structures, and network diagrams, to graphically plan and repre-sent projects. These interactive graphi-cal views simplify project structuring, scheduling, and planning. Managers can select views based on their personal preferences and the type of activity they need to perform.

To accelerate project planning, SAP Business ByDesign provides a variety of nonoperational projects – or templates – that help you implement a consistent methodology and standardize processes across projects. Your project managers can modify these templates as needed, as well as use an existing project as a template for a new project. They can consolidate data from past projects in order to better plan for new projects. Once planned, projects can be assigned to programs and departments within your organizational management hierarchy.

The software puts project

performance data at your

fingertips and helps you

control project tasks,

costs, and schedules with

minimal time and effort.

Figure 2: Covering the Complete Lifecycle Order Manage Fulfill Settle

Create sales quote

Create opportu-nity

Create sales order

Manage project

Perform services

Create time and expense confirma-tions

Create invoice

Collect payment

Post to ledger

Define tasks phas es, and mile-stones

Schedule timelines

Plan work and create project cost esti-mation

Staff pro-ject (inter-nal and external)

Procure

Manage


Project Resource Management

Support for resource management makes it easier for your project manag-ers to staff projects, assign tasks, and track working times and task execution (see Figure 3). With online access to HR data, resource managers can search for both internal employees and external resources with the appropriate skills and assign them to projects. Once team members have been assigned to a proj-ect, the project manager can allocate members to the appropriate work packages. Project team members can access all project tasks for which they are responsible. Additionally, they can view and edit all work packages to which they have been assigned. Using automatically

generated personalized time sheets based on each employee’s task list, proj-ect managers and employees can track the time required to complete each task.

Throughout the resource planning and staffing process, project managers can use built-in resource analytics to support staffing decisions as well as access instant overviews of project assignments and unstaffed project tasks. Team mem-bers can collaborate via shared document centers and automated workflows.

Project Procurement

Project management functions in SAP Business ByDesign are tightly integrated with purchasing. This integration enables

your project managers to initiate and track the purchasing of goods and services – including external resources – directly within the project manage-ment work center, where they perform most of their tasks. For example, they can initiate purchase requests for any planned, time-based service. And inte-grated workflows keep them informed when, for example, shopping carts or invoices are posted to their project so that they can approve or reject them. This provides full transparency of costs and gives managers greater control in managing projects.

SAP Business ByDesign consolidates information on all project-related pur-chase requests and orders and presents

#3 Streamline pro-cesses related to project staffing

#2 Boost profitabil-ity due to highly motivated professionals

#1 Increase reve-nues by selling more projects and by offering more services

Equip project man-agers with better insight on availability based on existing assignments

Evaluate and assign the most suitable resources (internal or external) to projects

Centralize resource allocation pro-cesses; offer more services by using external resources

Central pool of internal and exter-nal talents search-able by skills and availability

Linking of talent, demand, and avail-ability; simplified recording of skills and experience

Optimized skills usage; integration of third-party service agents to increase resources

What can be improved?

What does SAP® software enable?

How do I improve?

What can I achieve?

Operating metrics: More billable days per team member; higher customer satisfaction; broad service portfolio

Financial results: Increased revenues from established and new clients

Operating metrics: Higher rate of resource allocation; increased consul-tant satisfaction; reduced turnover

Financial results: Increased profitability per client and per project

Operating metrics: Reduced time for planning and staffing per project

Financial results: Lower actual project costs, including costs from subcontractors

Figure 3: SAP BusinessByDesign™ and Resource Management


the information in a structured overview – so your project managers can view the entire document flow, as well as directly access the original documents. External resources can perform their time confir-mations in the solution. Confirmation data is sent automatically to your pur-chasing clerk, who confirms that the purchased service is fulfilled and triggers invoice generation to the supplier.

Time Recording

With SAP Business ByDesign, time recording is integrated with project man-agement functions, enabling your employ-ees to efficiently record working times. Internal and external team members can record working times directly within proj-ects, and project managers can set up an approval process for time records. Once working times are confirmed, they are used by the software to calculate and assign project costs and to track project progress. Both HR staff and project managers work from the same centralized data source – eliminating the need to retype time-sheet data into pay-roll systems, including those of external payroll processing companies. The fol-lowing sections describe how you can benefit when project management func-tions leverage personnel data maintained by your HR department.

AssignmentsProject managers can assign project tasks to employees, and employees can view their assignments in a personalized work list. The software automatically generates personalized time sheets based on each employee’s task list, enabling both your employees and you to track the time required to complete

each task. Your employees can use the solution to confirm their time recordings for each task or service.

Working TimeExternal project-team members record working time in SAP Business ByDesign so your project managers always know who is working on what project. Line managers and project managers can confirm time for internal and external resources for tight project control.

Time Confirmations and Payroll ProcessingBecause of the integration between project management and HR functions within the solution, employee time con-firmations are made available automati-cally for payroll processing.

Expense Recording

Project team members should spend their time meeting project objectives, not on routine administrative tasks. The solution enables team members to readily submit travel and other expenses, which can be allocated automatically to an overall project as well as individual project tasks. Without the need for additional handling, you can use expense data in subsequent processes including reimbursement, invoicing, and project cost and revenue management. You can flexibly assign expenses as a percent-age of the overall expense report or by individual receipt. In addition, built-in compliance functionality supports adher-ence with country- and company-specific regulations and allows you to define approval cycles involving auditing clerks and managers.

Change Management

SAP Business ByDesign supports change management by helping your project managers accurately track sub-sequent changes to the original project plan or baseline. For example, they can analyze the actual, forecast, and base-line data such as cost, work, and sched-ule by project task. A project can have several previous baselines in addition to the active baseline. When required, project managers can make changes to project baselines and, if needed, route changes for management approval before activating them. The software also enables project managers to take “snapshots” that freeze a project at a certain point in time for documentation and deviation analysis. They can set up and schedule the time intervals for the snapshots individually by project type.

Project Invoicing

Take advantage of the integration of project management and financials when creating invoice requests for services delivered as part of a project. You can automatically create invoice requests based on sales-order and project- expense data, which can include time sheets, expense reports, supplier invoices and credit memos, goods and services receipts, and goods issues and returns. When an invoice request is created, you can decide to invoice single items immediately, at a later time, or not at all – if you are going to write them off completely.


ACCOUNTING FOR PROJECTSENABLING EFFECTIVE COST MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL

Project managers and financial analysts need to manage and control project costs. The project accounting function-ality in SAP Business ByDesign gives

your project managers and you detailed information regarding project costs – information that supports decision mak-ing, helps control project spend, and equips everyone involved to proactively manage project performance.

The solution decouples project logistics data from financial data – a significant innovation. This decoupling means that

your project managers can focus on project management activities, such as planning and execution, while the finance department handles the financial aspects of a project. Both the project manager and the financial professional working on a project have access to current project data, giving them needed insight into costs, tasks, and schedules. Financial analysts have access to projects from their own work center for cost and revenue management; they can monitor existing projects.

Project Accounting

Financial integration of project manage-ment within SAP Business ByDesign addresses all aspects of project account-ing and controlling. Your project manag-ers and you can view reliable, up-to-date information about project-related costs incurred as a result of time recordings, travel expenses, and other cost-related postings to project tasks. Time record-ings for both employees and external service providers can be tracked for each project. Within project accounting, project managers can post supplier invoices and record the consumption of materials for internal projects. The solution records the provision of internal services and enables the calculation of overheads for specific projects.

Using built-in analytics, your project managers and you can analyze central-ized project data to answer vital ques-tions such as:

What are the total actual costs for individual projects? What are the total actual costs for all of my projects? What are the original planned costs, the current planned costs, and actual costs and deviations by project ele-ment, service or product, account, or period?

The project accounting func-

tionality in SAP Business

ByDesign gives your project

managers and you detailed

information regarding project

costs – information that sup-

ports decision making, helps

control project spend, and

equips everyone involved to

proactively manage project

performance.

Now you can realize the benefits of project management functionality that’s integrated with other functional areas within your core business software. With SAP Business ByDesign, project managers and team members enter data only once, and it is available to the relevant functions. For example, work-time confirmations are posted simulta-neously in a project task as actual and in financials as costs. Because data is available automatically to all depart-ments, such as purchasing, HR, and financials, all areas of your company have reliable, up-to-date information and reports; greater visibility into proj-ect activities and costs; and more con-trol over projects. This integration – and the automation and transparency it enables – is available only when you deploy the project management func-tionality in conjunction with other areas of SAP Business ByDesign.

Find Out More

To learn how SAP Business ByDesign can help you manage projects more effectively, contact your SAP represen-tative or visit www.sap.com/solutions /sme/businessbydesign.


Explore. See how SAP

Business ByDesign

can help you be a

best-run business.

Evaluate. Determine if

software as a service

(SaaS) is right for you.

Experience. Learn to

adapt SAP Business

ByDesign to meet your

changing business

needs.

THE POWER OF INTEGRATED PROJECT MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONALITYENABLING VISIBILITY AND DATA SHARING ACROSS DEPARTMENTS

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Summary The SAP® Business ByDesign™ solution provides flexible, scalable support for project management and integrates with other core operations within your company, such as accounting, procurement, and project management.

Business Challenges Lack of visibility into available resources for project staffing Extensive manual administration of project management activities that drives up costs Limited control over – and visibility into – projects for timely, fact-based decision making

Key Features Project planning and scheduling – Structure a project using interactive graphical views, plan project tasks, and assign team members

Project resource management – Staff projects, track working times and task execution, and leverage built-in analytics to support staffing decisions

Project procurement – Initiate and track the purchase of goods and services, including external resources, for cost transparency and greater control

Time recording – Record, review, and approve employee and third-party working times Project invoicing – Take advantage of integrated project billing based on sales-order and project-expense data

Project accounting – Carry out all aspects of project accounting and controlling; view reliable, up-to-date information about project-related costs; and analyze data

Business Benefits People-centric collaboration among employees, partners, and management thanks to multiple communication channels

Increased transparency through access to reliable, accurate project data about project progress and deviations, actual consumption of resources, and “red flag” issues

Efficient planning, tracking, and reporting of projects with a variety of graphical, interactive tools

High degree of flexibility through support for all types of projects, from cost collectors that measure costs for corporate programs to sophisticated, full-scope projects

For More InformationTo learn how SAP Business ByDesign can help you manage projects more effectively, contact your SAP representative or visit www.sap.com/solutions/sme/businessbydesign.

efficient project management...most project management profession-als. stand-alone project...

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