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How value tracking contributes directly to business performance

Paul Smitherman |

Sharing proof of the ‘value’ of your SAP investments and their benefits within the business to senior level management and stakeholders is not always that simple. Whether related to monetary gains or savings, team spirit or to gain traction in growing the business, being able to demonstrate proof that your SAP project worked out successfully is vital for many reasons. Providing a funnel of value metrics enforces the benefits of a project across the organisation and gives the business an opportunity to react quickly if changes are required. This is where value tracking comes in.

What do we mean by value tracking?

Value tracking unearths actual benefits in your past and existing projects, using facts and data trends to measure actual business value. It works by capturing the trends of your different KPIs to assess whether they have increased or decreased within the timeframes of the project.

If you can answer key value management questions with fact-based proof then this may lead to additional resources being made available. For example, if you are comparing manual vs digital processes, then it would be useful to be able to calculate the difference between the two, measuring speed, time and costs. You could also use value tracking to compare month by month, country by country, plant by plant or even purchase organisation by purchase organisation.

Once you can clearly and factually see how much or how little value is being generated across different areas of the business, it is easier and quicker take action or request more resources.

The business case for a value tracking platform

Many SAP projects are run according to timeframes and budgets, but less against the value measurement that they have delivered or are in the process of delivering. But when the subject of value tracking is raised, many customers question whether they have enough resources and budget to implement yet another piece of software, carry out ‘timely’ analysis, reporting and so on. They often think that as they have already committed to existing SAP projects that it’s not the right time to look at value tracking.

However, because data is readily available for past and present projects, it can be easily used to track increasing and decreasing KPI trends. If value tracking is aligned to an in-progress project, you can align the sales cycle with the go live to look at continuous improvement levels and value being generated. If the project has gone live already then you can calculate the benefits you may have already generated.

Out of the box solutions like Performer for SAP are actually automated and do much of the work for you, without a great deal of manual involvement. When it comes to internal marketing, Performer for SAP provides strong insights and benefits that can promote teamwork and good decision making. For millennials in particular, sharing the value of their contribution to a project can provide meaning and go a long way to keeping staff motivated.

Performer for SAP represents on average just 20% of the cost of one single, small SAP project but can then be used across all of your SAP projects, bringing the cost down further and delivering value and visibility across your entire SAP portfolio.

Measuring the value of your delivered projects should become your new habit. In an unpredictable new world, providing tangible facts about the value you are generating is certainly the best way to contribute to your company performance.

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