The decision for a highly standardized SAP public cloud or a more individual private cloud may be complex. With DDA and competent consultants, you will receive comprehensive support in the decision-making process.
In specialist articles, the decision of which type of cloud to choose is often compared to marriage. In fact, the decision to opt for a private or public cloud, or even to stay "on premise", is one that should not be taken lightly. Although SAP praises the flexibility of its clouds, the core process and, above all, the people who have to work with it are then bound by this decision. Fortunately, with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Digital Discovery Assessment (DDA), SAP offers a tool that allows you to test out the options in detail before making a commitment, because a later divorce can be expensive in the SAP world, just like in "real life". "Together with a consultant, DDA offers a perfect basis for the future path. DDA is like a marriage counselor who can use structured processes to find out which product suits whom," explains Klaus Augner, Head of Sales at INFORMATICS.
DDA: THE DECISION FINDER
As complex as such a decision can be, it starts with a simple registration. The end result is the big picture and a rough BOM (bill of materials). "The first step is to select the required IT solutions; third-party products can also be stored," Augner continues. In the second step, the packages are pre-selected, which are divided into four requirement classes, from basic to finance or product-centric ERP. In a third step, the best practices are checked for availability. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition, is already available in 51 country versions, but some country versions do not include all best practices.
5-STAR MENU: CHOOSE FROM OVER 675 SCOPE ITEMS
Finally, the required scope items of the respective LOB (Line of Business) are selected. "For the Public Cloud Edition alone, you can choose from over 675 scope items, plus 16 LOBs," explains Klaus Augner.
"For the Public Cloud Edition alone, you can choose from over 675 scope items, plus 16 LOBs."
Klaus Augner, Head of Sales INFORMATICS
Each of these LOBs contains different scope elements. In the case of a sales LOB, for example, there are 79 of them. DDA provides detailed information on each individual scope item - for example on installation or any additional costs - and provides test scripts. Augner: "Once you have chosen from the extensive menu, you now need to define additional requirements - a final step that can still decide whether a private cloud solution would make sense instead of a highly standardized public cloud." Once the DDA process is complete, SAP reviews the results and makes a recommendation in a final report.
Conclusion: DDA enables a clean analysis of your actual requirements so that you can ultimately make a clear decision with hardly any questions left unanswered. It's a shame that DDA is only available as a decision aid in the SAP world, because sometimes a DDA would be just as helpful in "real life".
