I need to find structures of IT departments after implementation of
SAP (erp)
with focus on retail companies and on the process of help desk in
these departments (legacy systems + erp)

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 05 Feb 2003 06:13 PST

It would be a big help if researchers could get a clear understanding
of the type of information you are after.  I have access to a good
deal of information on ERP implementation, but your question touches
on so many facets (retail, help desks, legacy systems, IT departments)
that I'm not sure what to provide you as an answer.

Can you give us an example of the type of information you are looking
for?  How many companies do you want description for?  Any more detail
here would be a big help.

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Clarification of Question by orr-ga on 05 Feb 2003 07:24 PST

the most helpful information for me would be:
a. some org charts of IT departments in retails companies that
implemented SAP modules including no. of employees in each
sub-department
b. the help desk in these departments - how many employees are there,
what level of help they provide (what are there knowledge of SAP - how
much specialists are they)
 
 5 companies of 2000 employees will be great for this benchmark

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Request for Question Clarification by morgenlandfahrer-ga on 05 Feb 2003 15:08 PST

Hi ORR,

you mention 2000 employees, but how many sap users are you planning to
have? The size of the user community is highly relevant for the help
desk structure.

Morgenlandfahrer

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Clarification of Question by orr-ga on 05 Feb 2003 22:13 PST

the no. of users would be about 750 employees
10x for asking
orr

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 15 Feb 2003 07:01 PST

Hello again.  It's been my experience that very few companies, if any,
would make public their organizational charts at the level of detail
you are looking for.  The researchers here are always eager to tackle
a big ticket question like yours -- the lack of activity is a good
indication of the difficulty in obtaining what you are seeking.

You may want to reconsider your information needs, and re-post this
question in a way that will increase the likelihood that the question
can be answered.

Hello Orr,

You might find the following book to be useful:

Amazon.com - Implementing SAP R/3: How to Introduce a Large System
into a Large Organization, 2nd Edition (by Nancy H. Bancroft, Henning
Seip, Andrea Sprengel)
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/013889213X

You can read excerpts at:

Manning Publications - Implementing SAP R/3
http://manning.com/getpage.html?project=bancroft&filename=Chapter5.html


Hope it helps!


Search terms:
structure of IT departments after implementing SAP

Hi,
I am a SAP consultant working on Implementation and Post
implementation support projects. To answer your question correctly
please give the following details.

1. What are the SAP modules implemented?
2. Location details? Is the SAP server and users are in a single city
or State or in multiple countries?
3. If multiple countries, is support in local language is required?
4. What type of support is needed? Is it only during office hours or
24/7 basis?
5. What type of helpdesk software you are using? 
6. Are you still using Legacy system after sap implemenation? what
platform are they?

Thanks,
RAC

Thanks RAC trying helping me  - I'll try answering your questions one by one
1. What are the SAP modules implemented?
SAP modules in: Finance, sales, hr, crm (for the time...) 
2. Location details? Is the SAP server and users are in a single city
or State or in multiple countries?
single city  - country wide
3. If multiple countries, is support in local language is required? 
4. What type of support is needed? Is it only during office hours or
24/7 basis?
almost - 18/6
5. What type of helpdesk software you are using? 
multiple  
6. Are you still using Legacy system after sap implemenation? what
platform are they?
some of the legacy sys will remain as well
the platform is unix

Hi,
Sorry for the delay in reply. Your answers gives the details needed.
Finance, sales, hr, crm modules, 18X6 support, a single location. The
following are the estimates of number of people needed for support.

1. Minimum 1 person for each module at any point of time(18/6). As one
person works around 8 hrs /day and 5 days a week,  we need around 3
people per module to take care of urgent leave etc.

Also you need basis support consultants to administer the SAP servers
and monitor the batch job runs.

 Also you need ABAP consultants who will support all the
applications/custom developments/enhancements etc.

So The support people needed will be
3 FI consultants, 3 Sales consultants, 3 Hr consultants, 3 CRM module
consultants. 3 basis consultants, 3 or 4 abap consultants.

The total persons can be reduced if the consultants who handle
multiple functions is available, but it is rare to get people with sap
exp in FI and SD, SD and HR etc.

Experience and Skill Level:
All the above people should have miminum of 3 years of experience in
the respective module preferably in the same SAP Version with atleast
one implementation project experience, balance period in support or
enhancement projects. They should be able to handle all the critical
calls independently.
Also they should be able to work on enhancements projects during their
idle times.


Normally to maintain the service levels and to control the support
costs, the support function will be outsourced to quality software
companies. Only the project management was done by the company.

In addition we need a help desk with people available during the above
time window. Help desk people need not to be SAP consultants, but they
should have very good communication skills.(Add min 3 help desk
people).

We also identify a senior business user as Super user in each module
and in each location. The person should have good knowledge about the
business process and SAP.based on the stability of the system this can
be a full/part time job or addtional responsibilty. All the users in
that location should report first the problem  to this super user. He
will verify the problem and if he knows the solution, gives the
solution. If it is a complex one then he forward the call to helpdesk.
The help desk will raises the problem ticket for the problem and
assign it to the concerned support contact person valid at that time.
The number of super users will be depend on Number of locations,
number of modules and system complexcity. The super user also do the
testing of modified code/solution and give approval to put them in the
production box.

The help desk will also monitors the Service level complaince and
report to the management periodically (Monthly).

The general organization structure is Project Manager who heads the
support function. Help desk people and support group will report to
him. The super users will act as business facing contact beteen
business users and the support group.

Please note if the implementation is new, number of problem tickets
will be more.The system will stabilize with in 2 to 3 months period.
During this short span of time we need slightly more people to
support.

The keyfactors for successful SAP support is 
1. Good support team, 
2. Well defined Service Level Agreements,
3. Good Standards and procedures.

Hope this gives the hint about the solution you wanted. Please let me
know if you have any further clarifications.

Thanks,
RAC

dear RCA
thank you for the detailed comment
it is really a great help for me 
can you just add some information on your resources
is it leaning on some companies
if yes can you add their names and any information availble about them
thanks again
orr

Hi,
The details are on the basis of the previous projects worked in retail
industry in US and Europe.

Thanks,
RAC