Hot Topics
The depth and breadth of the Mastering SAP Financials content is a result of 6 months of careful research and development.
SAP Financials Professionals from more than 100 organisations across Australia have collaborated with the Mastering SAP Financials Advisory Team in a series of Round Table Discussions who will create the 2012 program around these 8 Hot Topics.
Financial Reporting & Analysis
Budgeting, Forecasting & Planning
AP Automation and Document Management
Upgrades (Enhancement Packs & Testing)
Knowledge Management & Continuous Improvement
Costing Methodology
New G/L
Mobility and End User Experience
Financial Reporting & Analysis
- What is new and coming in the world of Business Objects?
- Best practice reporting strategies
- Achieving a clear month end close process – Is this possible?
- Closing cockpit – the advantages of knowledge retention
- Profitability reporting
- Corporate Financial Reporting
- Improving the ROI of SAP through best practice reporting strategies
- What are the opportunities and implications of ‘HANA’ (SAP In-Memory computing solution) for financial reporting?
- Improved user experience through better data management – eliminating financial risk
- Avoiding reliance on and use of Excel spread sheets - changing a cultural mindset
- Best practice solutions for delivering reports to meet business objectives
- Crystal reporting and ECC.6 and other alternatives to BW
- Centralised vs. decentralised cost structures
- Spatial accounting - strategies for forecasting on potential spending areas; Location reporting
Budgeting, Forecasting & Planning
- Do SAP’s budgeting and planning solutions provide the necessary flexibility to meet users’ expectations? Can these solutions be integrated into the existing reporting strategy to move from accurate reporting on actual data to meaningful forecasting of results?
- Costing methodology – is there a best practice?
- Scenario planning
- Business Process Consolidation (BPC) – who is using it well?
- Excel management - how to overcome spread sheet reliance
- Flexible vs. standard forecasting and modelling
- Change management and training
- Reducing time spent on building forecasts
- Successful solutions for integrated reporting on budget
- Spending controls and responsibilities
- Integrated
AP Automation and Document Management
- Inventory Management Software System - What are the business drivers and benefits?
- Procurement - how to get workflow without a purchase order?
- Purchase-to-Pay
- Managing the electronic receipt process
- AP Process Automation and Optimisation - strategies for reducing processing costs
- Integration with HR systems
- Utilising 3rd party tools (e.g. Readsoft and Open Text) to improve workflow and scanning automation
- SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Sourcing – successful solutions for automating sourcing processes
- What is the potential for SharePoint to integrate as a front-end system to assist with automation?
- HR organisational structure visualisation (Nakisa)
- Best practice strategies for keeping documentation current and relevant
- Speed of invoice processing
Upgrades (Enhancement Packs & Testing)
- Technical upgrade vs. the business need
- Importance of testing when applying the enhancement packs
- Planning for an upgrade - timing considerations and resource allocations
- Which tools are available to assist with upgrading and testing?
- Patches – what’s the difference to upgrades?
- Best practice strategies for testing
- Planning for the length of time and impact on business of upgrading
- How can Solution Manager be used to manage testing? Who is using it successfully?
- Consolidating the technical platform
- Benefit to the users of laying foundation to turn on new functionality - e.g The New G/L, Financial Supply Chain
- Building the business case for a successful upgrade
Knowledge Management & Continuous Improvement
- Assessing the cost to the business through loss of knowledge
- Transfer of skills
- Education and training
- Is there a place for business process owners within a business? Have any organisations implemented a Design Review Board?
- Importance of managing and updating roadmaps - 3-5 year plans
- Need for flexibility and to empower the business
- Keeping up with pace of change
- Gaining and sustaining ownership of SAP
- Time restraints that impact the user when the user is not empowered to extract the data
- Managing the loss of knowledge when contractors and consultants leave
- Productivity Pack – how it helps to produce and maintain relevant user documentation
- How to focus on the business value whilst managing change
- Solution Manager as a Knowledge Management Tool – what value can Solution Manager offer to the business?
- What resource requirements are needed for a Solution Manager implementation?
- Understanding the ROI for implementing Solution Manager
Costing Methodology
- Business Process Consolidation (BPC) – who has recently implemented it? What are the business benefits? Change management requirements?
- Cost management – what is the best way for managing cost changes within the business – successful solutions for implementing cost management policies
- Managing changes to accounts receivable and collections
- Will good policies drive the desired behaviour of end user adoption and better cost management processes?
- Biller direct payment
- Financial Supply Chain Management
New G/L
- What are the benefits of the New G/L?
- Companies who have successfully used it and can demonstrate the business benefits
- Tips and tricks for successful transition
- Timeframe for implementation
- What impact might it have on asset management?
Mobility and End User Experience
- Who is currently using or considering using mobility solutions for reporting?
- What are the capabilities and possibilities – e.g approving leave forms
- What is the strategy around deploying the devices within the organisation – timeframe and associated costs
- Will mobility assist in minimising the level of support required by IT?
- iPads for reporting – successful case studies to demonstrate the business benefits. Will the iPad really change the game?
- Integrating SharePoint with SAP – using SharePoint as a front end reporting tool
- Will mobile solutions complicate or improve the end user experience?
- Mobile BI – what are the opportunities?
Follow Mastering SAP