SAP Solution in Detail

mySAP PLM

PROJECT AND PORTFOLIO

MANAGEMENT WITH
SAP SOLUTIONS
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CONTENTS
Strategic and Operational Project and Portfolio Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Introduction to Project and Portfolio Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Project System: Monitoring Projects Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Managing Project Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

cProjects: Managing Development Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Broad Range of Project Management Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Teamwork: The Key to Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Project Self-Service: A Portal Interface for Casual Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SAP xRPM: Managing Your Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Optimizing Project Portfolio Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Complete Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Managing Projects in the Automotive Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Managing Consultancy Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Managing IT Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3
STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL
PROJECT AND PORTFOLIO
MANAGEMENT
According to a project management study conducted by a
leading German university in 2004, German companies spend a
staggering 200 billion every year on wrong projects. Other and production projects? SAP project and portfolio management
findings state that only 43% of all projects make strategic sense,
and a mere 13% actually add value. Moreover, more than a
quarter of projects are started with insufficient financial and
labor resources.
Demand is high for professional project and portfolio manage-
ment, at both the operational and strategic levels. With project
and portfolio management solutions from SAP, you can gear
your project portfolio toward corporate strategy, adhere to
time schedules and budgets, make optimal use of resources,
and identify project progress and risks at an early stage, without
losing sight of your entire project portfolio. All this allows you
to guarantee investment security across the board and ensure
that project activities are prioritized as required.
SAP software that is designed for project and portfolio
management includes the project system component of the
mySAP ERP application, the Collaboration Projects (cProjects)
suite of the mySAP Product Lifecycle Management (mySAP PLM)
application, and the SAP xApp Resource and Portfolio Manage-
ment (SAP xRPM) packaged solution of the SAP xApps family
of composite applications.
This document outlines the advantages and functions of project
and portfolio management solutions from SAP, including
support of a variety of projects such as development projects.
We will use automotive, consultancy, and IT projects to
demonstrate how different SAP applications can be used in
real-life situations.
4
INTRODUCTION TO
PROJECT AND PORTFOLIO
MANAGEMENT
Are you looking to manage IT, consultancy, and development
projects? Or are you running complex, long-term engineering
solutions can help by, for example, providing comprehensive
functions to access project cost-controlling data around the
clock or efficiently monitor production processes. Close
integration with the logistics and accounting components of
mySAP ERP provides the required data basis.
Companies can use three key SAP applications to help manage
projects.
With the project system component of mySAP ERP, you can
efficiently monitor projects, including management of project
costs and revenue. This component covers the controlling and
logistics aspect of project management and is used often for
project management in the manufacturing industry.
The operational project management software cProjects enables
project management throughout the entire product development
process, supporting development, consultancy, and IT projects,
in particular. It enables improved structuring, scheduling, and
visualization; strategic direction setting; and operative planning
and execution. It also lets you collaborate with a variety of
internal and external groups, including procurement, and thus
improve resource efficiency. In particular, cProjects helps you
manage phase-based development projects.
With SAP xRPM, you can address the strategic aspects of portfolio
management, monitor project status including information
about project resources and manage your entire project
portfolio. You can align activities, resources, and budgets with
business priorities, which enables increased portfolio trans-
parency, timely monitoring of portfolio performance, easier
resource forecasting, avoidance of bottlenecks, and improved
decision making.

These project and portfolio management solutions in mySAP
ERP, mySAP PLM, and SAP xApps composite applications
seamlessly integrate with one another to give you optimal
management tools.
In addition, effective project and portfolio management
functions allow you to pool information from different project
management, HR, finance, and time-recording systems. As a
result, you can monitor and coordinate all projects in your
enterprise and make optimal use of valuable resources.
PROJECT SYSTEM:
MONITORING PROJECTS
EFFICIENTLY
With the project system component of mySAP ERP, you can
manage aspects of project management, such as controlling, by
efficiently monitoring overhead costs, investments, engineering,
and production projects. Say you want to plan, implement, and
evaluate a complex project. The relevant processes also call for
in-depth integration with accounting, purchasing, sales, and
production data. The project system component of mySAP
ERP helps you manage the project throughout the entire proj-
ect cycle, from setting up a project structure, to drawing up
detailed plans, to implementing and completing the project.
You can use work breakdown structures (WBS), networks,
and milestones in project system to structure the project and
determine its time schedule. These tools help you plan
deadlines, resources, documents, materials, and projected
costs and revenue.
To guide you through project implementation, the component
provides a number of functions for production, external
procurement of materials and services, billing, and cost and
activity allocation. You can also record confirmations using
time sheets, for example analyze project progress, and use
the budget management function to prevent overspends before
they actually occur. At the end of the project, the component
helps you complete technical and commercial inputs.
How does this benefit your enterprise? You have an operational
project management tool to plan, monitor, and steer project
costs and revenue, as well as optimize project cash flow. As a
result, you can better manage time schedules and materials and
optimize use of your labor and machine capacities.
5
Managing Project Phases
mySAP ERP, with its project system component, contains a wide
variety of functions that you can use to meet the specific needs
of your enterprise and optimally deal with the different phases
in a project. The following list highlights several functions and
the activities those functions allow you to perform.
Time scheduling
Manually plan and monitor deadlines
Automatically identify deadlines and floats on the basis of
planned activities and interrelated schedules
Resource planning
Determine required internal capacities (for example, labor,
production, and assembly capacities) and analyze availability
Optimize utilization of suitable capacities, using capacity
leveling
Allocate planned tasks to people, positions, or HR
organizational units for exact periods
Plan required external procurement and trigger
corresponding purchasing processes
Material in projects
Plan, steer, and monitor the prompt procurement and
use of materials
Use procurement processes in purchasing or materials
planning
6
Project controlling
Choose different cost and revenue-planning options
Allocate budgets hierarchically for relevant projects, and
monitor use of allotted funds
Compare costs and revenue on a fixed basis to determine the
outcome of a project (profit/loss) at an early stage; plan and
analyze project-related payments
Integrate data with controlling, investment management, and
sales components (for example, by transferring targeted val-
ues from sales orders to corresponding projects)
Project progress
Assess project status and measure progress by analyzing actual
data (costs, deadlines, and capacities) and comparing it with
targeted data
Draw up forecasts of project progress up to project
completion, based on key dates and rescheduled deadlines
Monitor and steer projects, using standard procedures such as
progress analysis, milestone-trend analysis, and cost forecasting
Use the progress analysis workbench as a single point of
access for analyzing project status and recording the degree
of processing
Project information system
Evaluate individual projects, subprojects, or several projects
together
Carry out standard, routine evaluations, and draw up reports
on special issues
Format and analyze up-to-date project data from different
viewpoints, in a transparent and comprehensive manner
With the project system component, you can also do the
following activities:
Access all project-related documents, such as CAD drawings,
pixel graphics, and contracts, using the document manage-
ment system (DMS) functionality
Document the status of project tasks using confirmations,
and use these confirmations to forecast future project
progress
Identify deviations from project plans, determine responsibility,
and plan follow-on costs and activities using the claims-
management functionality
Use simulation versions to replicate and save changes to a
project without impacting day-to-day business
Make versions of projects at a particular stage, or use project
versions to document the status of a project at a particular
time or when a specific action is carried out
Transfer material components from the product structure
of the integrated product and process engineering (iPPE)
functionality to the project system component. Note that you
must assign a project system component object to the corre-
sponding iPPE product structure node or variant before you
transfer the components.
Figure 1: Managing Projects in Project System
You can modify this powerful and comprehensive project
management software to meet your individual company needs.
The application helps you achieve the following:
Structure projects clearly
WBS allow you to structure your projects into hierarchies and
define the organizational setup. You can use networks
to map complex procedures and interrelated schedules of
individual tasks.
Optimize use of resources
You can determine requirements of internal and external
resources, so that you can plan available internal capacities
flexibly and efficiently.
Optimize materials management
By planning and monitoring material requirements and
project costs, you can procure required materials on time.
Incorporate project costs into enterprise controlling
Because the project system component is integrated with
the mySAP ERP applications components for controlling,
accounting, materials management, and sales and distribution,
you can incorporate project costs into enterprise controlling.
The cash management function allows you to plan and
monitor the flow of payments on a project-specific basis.
7
cPROJECTS: MANAGING
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Project managers know the story well. Costs spiral, suitably
skilled employees are not available, and communication among
team members is poor. Against this background, you want to
implement new process methods and procedures and run your
project to the required standards, as expected by your customers.
The cProjects suite helps you deal efficiently with the difficulties
encountered in developing products and software.
The cProjects suite is made up of two components: collaborative
project management with cProjects and design collaboration
with the Collaboration Folders (cFolders) application. cProjects
provides optimal support for your research and development
projects throughout the entire product development process
from planning, to product design, to process validation, to
quality assurance. The suite constitutes a key component of
developing and implementing your products, and it allows you
to develop new products to a stage where they can be launched
on the market.
cProjects allows you to structure your projects into individual
phases well in advance of their launch, enabling you to define
phase-acceptance checks known as quality gates, identify progress
and obstacles at an early stage, and improve cooperation with
internal and external partners, customers, and suppliers.
The cFolders application allows you to improve the consistency
of your data when communicating with external partners,
which accelerates project implementation. You can, for example,
set up collaboration teams in order to exchange documents,
material data, and product structures over the Internet. Both
cFolders and cProjects are integrated into DMS in mySAP ERP.
cProjects is a Web-based, flexible, and intuitive project manage-
ment application suite that is specifically geared toward devel-
opment, consultancy, and IT projects. You can also map quality
improvement projects which use the Six Sigma methodology,
for example in cProjects. One key advantage of the software
is that it integrates with the mySAP ERP functionalities of
8
accounting, HR, customer relationship management, supplier
relationship management, and sales order processing. Also,
you can link your project structures in cProjects with existing
structures in the project system component of mySAP ERP,
which allows you to better plan your costs and expenditure,
avoid resource bottlenecks, and analyze projects and settle
related costs. cProjects supplements project system, as it
provides additional implementation options for specific project
types and business scenarios that call for a user-friendly and
flexible project management tool.
Broad Range of Project Management Activities
As an operational project management application, cProjects
covers the entire range of project management activities in
development and consultancy projects, from planning to
implementation to project completion. You can also seamlessly
integrate cProjects into your strategic resource and portfolio
planning activities by integrating it with SAP xRPM. This would
let you, for example, manage your high-level resource demand
by distributing resources to operational projects. In doing so,
you can meet the needs of your entire project and portfolio
management processes, from conceptualization to successful
project implementation.
To manage projects, you can use the following key functions of
cProjects:
Project structuring
This functionality allows you to break down projects into
phases, tasks, and checklists and then assign responsibility for
each of these elements to one or more person. You can also
compile tasks and checklists for all project phases or use project-
specific templates to standardize procedures. This function
allows you to plan deadlines for your tasks, link them with
relationships, and use a number of methods to calculate your
project deadlines. An interactive Gantt diagram, which graph-
ically represents project plans, is also available in cProjects. You
can check whether all required activities have been carried out
before you release the current phase and move on to the next.
 Team collaboration
As part of cProjects, cFolders allows you to cooperate with
external partners by exchanging different objects and docu-
ments. In this context, the back-end integration of cFolders
with mySAP ERP also allows changed bills of material, for
example, to be directly transferred to mySAP ERP. You can
also set up a virtual collaboration room for each project
element, where project members can exchange information.
Project status reports
You can collate project data into status reports. cProjects
compiles the reports as interactive Adobe PDF files, which
you can store directly in cProjects or DMS or send to team
members directly by e-mail.
Document management
You can save project-related documents, such as CAD drawings
or minutes of meetings, directly in cProjects, in cFolders, or in
the DMS function of mySAP ERP, where they are available for
collaborative work. In WebEx meetings, cFolders also lets your
team work together on documents, display changes on screen,
and create versions. A uniform WebDAV-enabled interface
allows you to enable the connection of WebDAV clients to the
cProjects suite document repository.
Project versions
You can use project templates to create project versions for
operational projects. You can take snapshots and display simula-
tions of how specific changes will impact an operational project.
Comprehensive authorization functions
At the project and document levels, you can assign additional
authorizations for individual users, user groups, and organi-
zational units.
Product steering plan
Within the framework of product planning in the automotive
industry, the ISO technical standard ISO/TS 16949 requires
that automotive manufacturers draw up a product steering
plan for advanced product quality planning (APQP). This
plan is available in cProjects.
Multiproject management
Projects tasks are often reliant on other activities. You can
map these cross-project dependencies in your project
structure. To display complex structures, you can assign other
projects or programs to a project of the type program.
Project overview and evaluations
cProjects contains a user-friendly project dashboard, which
provides you with clear, personalized access to your projects.
You can view the status of your projects at a glance before
you start processing. cProjects also provides you with compre-
hensive reports and evaluations, both in the SAP NetWeaver
Business Intelligence component of the SAP NetWeaver
platform and in cProjects itself. cProjects is powered by
SAP NetWeaver.
Strategic portfolio management
cProjects integrates with SAP xRPM. SAP xRPM provides you
with a clear overview of all your projects and key figures,
allowing you to speedily monitor and prioritize your projects.
Integrated resource management
To guarantee project success, it is vital that you allocate and
use your resources optimally. In cProjects, you can search for
project members with the required profile and assign a suitably
qualified employee to the role. You can draw on data that is
directly integrated with business partners and the qualifications
catalog of the mySAP ERP Human Capital Management
(mySAP ERP HCM) solution. You can also assign external
resources to your project using the connection to the mySAP
Supplier Relationship Management (mySAP SRM) application
for services procurement. A separate component, the work-
force deployment tool, offers resource managers additional
functions that support planning and the assignment of staff
to multilevel projects.
Integration with accounting
cProjects is closely integrated with the mySAP ERP Financials
solution. You can assign project tasks in cProjects to different
account assignment objects, such as internal orders or WBS
elements in project system, which provides detailed, hierar-
chical cost-controlling functions. You can call planned/actual
comparisons for your costs at any stage.
9
 Integration with the mySAP Customer Relationship
Management (mySAP CRM) application
The project management functionality of cProjects is
integrated with the opportunity management functionality
of mySAP CRM, which provides support during the project-
acquisition phase.
Integration with time management and the SAP Travel
Management application
You can record time spent on project tasks quickly and easily
using cross-application time sheets. As cProjects is directly
integrated with mySAP ERP HCM, you can incorporate any
recorded time inputs into your project for evaluation, and
you can post them to the relevant account-assignment object.
The same applies to travel expenses in SAP Travel Management.
Integration with the SAP NetWeaver Portal component
You can integrate cProjects into SAP NetWeaver Portal.
SAP provides additional predefined self-services for the portal,
allowing casual users in particular to access cProjects data
quickly and easily.
Figure 2: Project Structure in cProjects
10
Teamwork: The Key to Success
cProjects enables you to efficiently steer and implement your
development and consultancy projects across enterprise
boundaries, so you can react quickly to market requirements.
You can realize the following main benefits of cProjects:
Reduced time to market and lowered costs
cProjects contains project templates that allow you to
standardize development processes and optimize all project
management tasks. This speeds up development and imple-
mentation and eliminates complex administrative tasks,
which saves you time.
Information integrated from a wide variety of areas
cProjects provides seamless integration with a wide range
of SAP solutions in particular, mySAP ERP for logistics,
accounting, and HR. All internal project members have
rapid access to information that is relevant to them, such as
customer information, financial data, and project evaluations.
Improved cooperation with partners
cFolders allows you to exchange information easily and
efficiently with external partners using the Internet.
This means that all involved parties have the same level of
knowledge, which boosts transparency.
Problems identified at an early stage
cProjects collects key information from different systems and
automatically sends you a warning once critical projects
exceed predefined limits.
Project progress tracked in detail
As soon as a project has kicked off, you can confirm activities,
compile checklists, and release individual project phases. This
means that you can see at a glance how much work remains
to be carried out. You can also take advantage of results
analysis methods used by established auditors. cProjects
provides 15 valuation methods such as work in progress and
percentage of completion in the standard system. You can
modify these methods at a later stage to suit your enterprises
specific requirements.
 Efficient use of resources
You assign employees at the right time and at the right place,
and they achieve their full potential as a result. They can also
apply for vacant project roles, which increases their motivation.
Best practices
Using cProjects as an enterprise-wide project management
tool allows you to implement process methods in line with
industry standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949, and
pursue a uniform project approach. cProjects is a flexible
component and can incorporate continued process improve-
ment to create the optimal process.
Project Self-Service: A Portal Interface for
Casual Users
Project self-service (PSS) provides those using cProjects on a
casual basis with a simple, user-friendly user interface for
project work. PSS displays the most frequently used cProjects
processes as self-services. This eliminates the need for training
measures and increases the productivity of project managers
and staff. PSS is based on cProjects and is delivered as a role for
SAP NetWeaver Portal. A role provides business content for
SAP NetWeaver Portal and consists of work sets, iViews, and
services for the project lead and project members.
Figure 3: Creating a Project in Project Self-Service
PSS incorporates the following areas:
Overview
The overview provides a quick summary of project informa-
tion and key figures, as well as a personal work list with
projects, tasks, checklist items, and issues. You can also start
the relevant self-services directly from here.
Service map
A number of self-services are available, for example, for
creating projects, working on tasks and issues, creating
e-mails related to project objects, assigning staff to a project
or task, and confirming tasks, issues, and checklist items.
Reports
This area contains analyses carried out by cProjects and
financial reports for project controlling.
Figure 4: Project Self-Service Overview
11
SAP xRPM: Managing Your Portfolio
What projects are you currently implementing, and what is their
status? Who is working on what and for how long? How can you
implement the correct projects for the required deadlines with
appropriate resources? You can determine this information and
other data with the portfolio management software SAP xRPM.
SAP xRPM provides you with an overview of your entire project
portfolio, allowing you to monitor progress of your various
projects. You can identify particularly worthwhile projects
and project proposals, set priorities, select the most suitable
employees for each project, and monitor and coordinate project
activities. Because SAP xRPM integrates with different project
management systems such as cProjects, project system, and
Microsoft Project and incorporates HR and financial systems,
you can manage all aspects of your projects and leverage your
existing IT investment.
With the help of SAP xRPM, you can minimize project risks and
optimally combine labor and financial resources. It will also
allow you to analyze and keep track of changing project require-
ments, key figures, time schedules, and personnel resources. As
a result, you speed project implementation times, keep budgets
under control, and keep employees better informed.
SAP xRPM belongs to the SAP xApps family of composite appli-
cations, which is based on the SAP NetWeaver platform and on
enterprise services architecture. As a result, you can connect
existing systems to new, cross-functional processes, which allows
you to use existing systems and integrate them into value-
generating processes. These features also boost the flexibility of
your enterprise, enabling it to react quickly to changes in the
market.
Optimizing Project Portfolio Management
SAP xRPM updates you on all ongoing and planned projects,
keeps costs under control, and helps you select the right people
for new projects.
12
With SAP xRPM, you can perform a variety of activities,
including the following.
Portfolio management
Define flexible, multilevel portfolio hierarchies that reflect
decision-making structures in your enterprise
Identify and monitor decision-making criteria for key, strategic
portfolio objects
View the status of all projects and other portfolio objects in
an item dashboard, and display indicators such as budget,
schedule, staffing, and risks
Use strategic financial planning measures to display and
monitor costs and benefits along a time axis, across different
cost/benefit elements. You can compare estimated values
against planned and actual values.
Plan long-term resources allowing you to estimate future
requirements compare them with available resources, and
identify potential bottlenecks. Aggregating operational data
provides basic analytical data in your portfolio, which you can
use for long-term planning.
Evaluate qualitative soft indicators, such as risk and feasibility
analyses, using questionnaires, which generate quantitative
key figures that you can use to evaluate your portfolio
Compare quantitative key figures in evaluation models, and
display the portfolio objects in a ranking list
Prepare and carry out portfolio reviews for key decision levels
in your enterprise. These may be routine or ad hoc reviews
that analyze and evaluate the relevant portfolio objects and
determine decisions on whether projects will be added to the
portfolio, terminated, or rescheduled.
Evaluate the entire portfolio on the basis of specific key
figures, such as anticipated benefits, risks, project costs,
budget, long-term resource requirements, and availability
Resource capacity management
Obtain an overview of your employees qualifications and
availability by integrating data in your HR system
Use analysis tools to compare available resources with the
resources required by a project
Access employee master data and information from the
qualifications catalog in mySAP ERP HCM or applications
provided by third parties
Identify staffing requirements for future projects and take
appropriate action
Plan long-term resources for the entire portfolio along a time
axis, and allocate these resources on the basis of different
capacity and qualification groups. You can reuse these plans
at a later stage for operational resource planning in cProjects.
Draw up a user-friendly, cross-project staffing table using
fast-entry screens
Plan and monitor the allocation of resources using various
reports on resource requirement, assignment, and availability
Figure 5: Item Dashboard in the SAP xApp Resource and Portfolio
Management Composite Application
Portfolio performance and program monitoring
Integrate data from a number of underlying systems (such as
project management systems and concept systems that are
used to pool ideas) and incorporate it in a cockpit that provides
a clear overview of available information. As cProjects integrates
with SAP xRPM, all project and resource information is avail-
able at your fingertips and does not have to be imported first.
Determine project resource requirements by importing WBS
data from different project management systems
Display a consolidated overview of project status. You can
synchronize changes made to a project plan or its key figures.
Set up a virtual collaboration room in which project
members can exchange information in chat rooms, work
together on documents, and view project status
Ensure that a warning message is sent to project members
when changes are made
Complete Transparency
A lack of transparent processes frequently results in projects
that are managed inconsistently and incorrectly. SAP xRPM
provides you with a clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date
overview of your project portfolio and resources, allowing your
enterprise to achieve the following advantages:
Accelerate the time to market of new products
With SAP xRPM, you can kick off, implement, and assess
projects throughout the entire enterprise, allowing you
to launch your products on the market quickly and cost-
effectively.
Optimize your project portfolio
SAP xRPM allows you to bring your project portfolio into
alignment with corporate objectives. As SAP xRPM is
integrated with project management, personnel, and financial
systems, you are kept constantly up-to-date on all projects.
Steer your portfolio in line with corporate strategy
Qualitative and quantitative valuation methods ensure that
your company pursues only those project proposals and
projects that are right for your enterprise.
Set the right priorities
SAP xRPM ensures transparency and allows you to identify
the most profitable projects.
Identify project risks early on
You can counteract any difficulties that may arise by
implementing corrective measures on time.
Improve project implementation
Managers and project leads have all the project data they
need at their fingertips so that they can make well-informed
decisions.
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MANAGING PROJECTS IN THE
AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
Companies in a variety of industries must strategically and
operationally manage projects and portfolios. Car manufacturers,
in particular, face ever-increasing pressures that include reducing
time in the product development process, improving the quality
of vehicles, and driving the independent development of
components. mySAP ERP and cProjects allow manufacturers
to accelerate development projects, helping to reduce costs
and improve cooperation with partners.
Component suppliers also play an increasingly significant role
in development in the automotive industry. Manufacturers
demand not only that suppliers complete components on time,
but also that they adhere to standards such as ISO/TS 16949 and
keep spiraling costs under control. Using cProjects, manufac-
turers can map APQP measures and a phase-oriented process
model, monitor their project costs, and efficiently exchange
data with suppliers and customers.
Car manufacturers use increasingly complex repetitive develop-
ment processes, and project system in mySAP ERP can help, as
it is closely interlinked with production, procurement, and
capacity requirements planning.
In many companies, it is often difficult to pinpoint who is doing
what and by when. Thanks to WBS in project system, this is
no longer a problem. You can create subprojects (for example,
for developing gearboxes or interiors) and then decide whether
to use internal or external capacities for implementation. By
comparing target and actual data, you can keep a steady eye on
project progress.
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The phase-oriented process model of cProjects identifies clear
tasks, checklists, and responsibilities. Using the cProjects suite,
you can work in collaborative teams to exchange project plans,
engineering and design documents, and bills of materials with
other enterprises. This will allow you to improve the consistency
of your product data and accelerate project activities. All parties
involved have the same level of knowledge, which increases
transparency and optimizes quality. As you know, recall cam-
paigns are expensive and damage a brands image. Therefore,
to keep projects on track, all parties must work together
constructively, even if those involved are scattered across the
globe. cProjects allows you to have all relevant information at
hand and integrate all components as required, even across
geographic divides.
cProjects works hand-in-hand with project system. Whereas
cProjects carries out operational project planning tasks in
the development process, project system deals with project
controlling. For more complex production processes that require
in-depth integration with logistics, implementing project
system on its own will provide you with the comprehensive
range of functions you need for successful implementation.
MANAGING CONSULTANCY
PROJECTS
Today, consultancy projects are usually implemented on a
fixed-price basis. This means that consultancy companies must
calculate the exact inputs required for a project, assign cost-
efficient staff, and implement activities effectively. They also
need to keep tabs on project controlling, optimize cooperation
with partners, and identify business opportunities at an early
stage.
The user-friendly interface of cProjects incorporates the
functions you need to meet these challenges. In the acquisition
phase of a consultancy project, you can use the sales and
marketing tools of cProjects to record the needs of existing and
potential customers and offer services on your companys own
initiative. The suite also helps you carry out costing tasks.
For example, you can calculate travel expenses to the project
location and determine whether it is more cost-effective to
assign internal or external employees. To help you draw up
realistic quotations, you can incorporate experience from
previous projects.
During the project-planning phase, cProjects allows you to
select consultants based on qualifications, availability, costs
(depending on the distance to the project location, for example),
and organizational aspects, to ensure that you always assign
top-class staff most suited to the task. You also can get an up-to-
date overview of your employees workload and qualifications.
In addition, you can easily define a project structure by specifying
phases, milestones, and tasks and assigning people responsible
for these elements. Consultants confirm their activities
throughout the course of the project, providing a transparent
overview of progress and remaining work, both from the point
of view of a project manager and that of a project controller.
With cProjects, you can also ensure that your project adheres
to the required quality standards. And cFolders allows for
improved collaboration with external partners, enabling all
parties to create, change, and exchange data.
One vital benefit of the operational project management
solution cProjects is that it integrates with mySAP ERP, which
allows you, for example, to automatically transfer information
on cost trends to accounting. This simplifies project controlling
and enables you to settle accounts quickly and precisely. In
addition, it is important that the different project-assessment
methods you use comply with external audit standards.
Implementing this project management solution allows you
to meet these requirements. You can use cProjects in the
services sector worldwide.
SAP xRPM can also support management of consultancy
projects. For example, consultancy companies must be able to
pinpoint the current status of each project in their entire
project portfolio. The project dashboard in SAP xRPM contains
a traffic-light icon that displays the status of a project and
informs you if the status of a project for which you are respon-
sible is critical. This allows you to react quickly and prioritize
activities as required.

In cProjects, you can record methods in line with standards

specified by the Project Management Institute and the German
organization Gesellschaft fr Projektmanagement. In this way,
you can standardize project management procedures, which
accelerates project implementation and reduces costs.

15
MANAGING IT PROJECTS
IT now plays a strategic role for all enterprises, underpinning Establishing a birds-eye view of your portfolio gives your enter-
far more than just operational business processes such as prise a strategic edge: it allows you to identify conflicting project
financial accounting and controlling. Today, IT systems are also objectives and ensure that all IT projects target your corporate
used to implement corporate strategies and map innovative objectives. Because the project management solution SAP
processes. xRPM is integrated with mySAP ERP HCM, you can optimally
staff IT projects based on employees qualifications and availability.
Comprehensive IT projects are therefore critical to an Cross-project resource management helps you coordinate
enterprises success, and it is frequently difficult to keep track personnel planning and select employees on the basis of their
of ongoing measures. Some enterprises choose to use several suitability to a project.
solutions to manage their IT project portfolio, making it
difficult to establish which system provides the most accurate IT managers must create scope for investment. The more cost-
and precise data. Using SAP xRPM as a single source of infor- cutting potential you achieve, the easier it will be for you to
mation for your IT system allows you to optimize synergies in generate valuable funds. This calls for a strategic project and
different IT projects and focus on specific measures. You can portfolio management solution that is integrated with your
then prioritize these measures accordingly. accounting application. It helps you identify project costs and
their triggers, which enables you to combat overspending and
SAP xRPM is seamlessly integrated with the operational project tap cost-cutting opportunities early.
management tool cProjects and can also be used as a composite
application to seamlessly integrate information from other
project management systems such as project system or
Microsoft Project. This allows you to continuously monitor
your entire project portfolio and recognize particularly promis-
ing opportunities. Moreover, it optimizes the transparency of
partner implementations, which is crucial, as the majority of
IT projects are now carried out by third parties, require large-
scale investment, and by their very nature are more difficult
to monitor.

16
SUMMARY
SAPs solutions for strategic and operational project and
portfolio management enable you to constantly monitor the
status of your project activities. They allow you to pinpoint at a
glance the resources assigned to projects in your enterprise and
prioritize measures as required, in line with corporate strategy.
This provides your enterprise with fundamental and reliable
information required for planning and decision making, and it
ensures that your project portfolio is constantly geared toward
corporate objectives. All SAP solutions are based on the SAP
NetWeaver platform, which provides the basis for uniquely
integrating the project and portfolio management solutions
with existing applications such as mySAP ERP, mySAP CRM,
mySAP SRM, and solutions developed by other software
providers.

For more information on project and portfolio management,

go to www.sap.com/solutions/xapps/index.epx and
www.sap.com/solutions/businesssuite/plm/index.epx.

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 www.sap.com /contactsap

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