sap TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL The Navigator for Enterprise Solutions MAY - 2014 CIOREVIEW.COM 20 Most Promising SAP Consulting Providers SAP in its present form, running in the veins of small, mid to large companies is gaining more momentum due to its capability to fulfil niche requirements with the power of Cloud. The spectrum of SAP products is not only allowing companies to manage and optimize businesses but is also proving to be an integral part of their information systems architecture. With the market embracing different modules of the software, the demand for interaction and collaboration between application suites to streamline business is witnessing ascend. Most SAP solution providers are therefore offering integrated solutions that could be deployed on-premise as well as through a private cloud placement, sensing the need of the small and medium enterprise businesses. The pioneer SAP, has allowed many companies to step forward and build tools to integrate SAP ideas into different business verticals as it guarantees consistency of data throughout the system and the company itself, enabling clients perform and deliver better results. These myriad innovations call for experts to transform SAP software and technologies into solutions that address strategic business needs. This is where SAP consulting companies play the role of a propeller to drive the company into achieving excellence. The expertise of the consultants to provide right data at the right time enables the marketplace to acquire sustainability, flexibility and succeed through innovation. Most players in this space offer advisory and process consulting through to implementation to support and hosting. In this edition of CIO Review, we bring to you 20 Most Promising SAP Solution Providers 2014 and 20 Most Promising SAP Consulting Companies 2014, featuring the best vendors and consultants providing technologies and services related to SAP. The companies featured have showcased extensive business process knowledge, in-depth integrated and innovative strategies combined with talent base across locations. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, VCs, analysts including CIO Review editorial board has decided the top companies that are at the forefront of tackling challenges in the SAP market in the U.S. Company: Platinum DB Consulting Inc Key Person: Description: Platinum DB Consulting, Inc. is a certified EPPM SAP consulting and services partner Anthony DeRosa President and Founder MAY 2014 CIOReview
SAP Consulting Providers 20 Most Promising SAP Consulting Providers Platinum DB Consulting Delivering Innovative Solutions to Accelerate Time-to-Value With the high adoption of smart devices across the enterprise, solution providers are forced to rethink the whole dimension of User Experience (UE) when designing solutions for their customers. Simultaneously, businesses are demanding immediate payback for their investment in process improvements - not least in the area of project and portfolio management. Platinum DB (PDB) Consulting, an EPPM specialist based in Chicago, IL, has for almost 20 years been delivering innovative solutions that address such market dynamics with the primary goal of accelerating time-to-value. PDB has progressively introduced accelerators in the pursuit of this goal through software and services solutions like Desktop Analyzer and their Advanced Innovation Centre (AIC). PDB partners with SAP and consults companies on the full spectrum of EPPM business use cases capital, NPDI, revenue-generating and IT offering Business Services, Technology Services, Education and Training, plus value added solutions in response to each customer s requirements. During the course of several hundred engagements, PDB has researched the core problems that have traditionally contributed to low system adoption and found that while inadequacies in the User Interface (UI) were often cited as being the root cause, this dimension of UE was only one contributing factor. The most significant issue was a failure to align the UE with the role and class of the user. The key to high adoption is to clearly identify the profile of every participant then serve them with the experience that best fits their skills and knowledge, frequency of use and information input and consumption needs. The design of Desktop Analyzer epitomizes this philosophy through the delivery of a role based, MS Excel interface that can be used for a comprehensive range of functions from resource supply and demand analysis to financial what-if modelling. Additionally, the Desktop Analyzer provides an Excel front-end to SAP s Portfolio and Project Management application, allowing users to quickly update and analyze large quantities of data. PDB s AIC hosts customer systems and houses multiple EPPM landscapes that are leveraged for a wide variety of uses from prototyping innovations to art of the possible demonstrations, even full proof of concepts. Through AIC Services project implementations are less cumbersome; for example, Live Blueprinting enables clients to model requirements before they are committed for full implementation; early discovery of issues made during Live Blueprinting net significant cost savings. PDB President, Anthony DeRosa states, Investment in PDB infrastructure and people is my priority. SAP uses the AIC because we are the only partner that has the landscapes capable of encapsulating all of their EPPM ecosystem applications. Varian Medical, a manufacturer of medical devices, has historically used MS Excel to capture project planning and forecasting data; some of which was then manually entered into SAP. However, the standard functionality in the SAP applications is designed for power users that could not enable Anthony DeRosa Varian s cost center managers to do FTE (full-time equivalent) level resource management. Varian turned to PDB for its highly automated solution as it could provide a tool that could easily be used by a wide range of users in their global engineering organization. They now have the ability to support facilitylevel FTE calculations with global and facility-level visibility into demand and supply by resource type through an MS Excel-like interface, claims DeRosa. Going forward, PDB envisions continuing its innovation of valueadded solutions for SAP-centric EPPM. Also, the company s SAP partnerled Rapid Deployment Solutions will see increasing adoption by customers demand for implementations based on fixed price, scope and timeline. MAY 2014 CIOReview
Information Technology Solutions Platinum DB Consulting Rapid Deployment Solution Enterprise Project Planning Using SAP BPC & SAP PPM P D B P A C K A G E D S O L U T I O N S F O R S A P E P M INTEGRATED STRATEGY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIC (TOP-DOWN) PLANNING LABOR & FINANCIAL PLANNING P D B R D S S C O P E & C O N T E N T Value Added Content 10 transaction & data load packages that establish the framework for future extensions & enhancements. Financial Planning Process Offers a comprehensive process with a templatebased approach to financial planning with supporting workflow for approvals & governance. Implementation Accelerators Work breakdown structure. Kick-off presentation Scoping questionnaire & options Software requirements. Process-flow-documents. Delivery content. Implementation results: Assess investment opportunities for risk & priorities. Execute projects consistently to ensures expectations for quality, timeliness, & costs are met or exceeded. ENTERPRISE PROJECT PLANNING USING SAP BPC & SAP PPM RDS OVERVIEW Every business pursues its corporate objectives through programs and projects. The degree to which projects are efficiently planned and executed dictates the success and outcomes of these projects. Most organizations place a heavy reliance on MS Excel for budgeting, forecasting, estimating and even scoring projects. The Rapid Deployment Solution for Enterprise Project Planning using BPC and PPM facilitates improved decision support for planning projects by combining the usability features of SAP BPC with the enterprise robustness of SAP PPM. BUSINESS CHALLENGES Do you have problems with: Lack of visibility into project status and data Inefficient collaboration across the project planning process. Excessive manual data input and errors No standard repository for project planning data. Minimal automation of approval process workflow. Handling multiple versions of spreadsheets. Inaccurate estimates and forecasts as a result of complexity in the "As-Is" selection process. KEY FEATURES: Delivers a familiar & consistent interface for planning, forecasting, & budgeting. Enables multi-project updating using enhanced MS Excel functions and UI. Tightly integrates financial in SAP PPM including real-time updates. Handles local and global currency requirements facilitating real-time reporting. Supplements core SAP PPM functionality by adding cross-bucket project planning. Provides real-time ad hoc reporting and analysis Enhances collaboration & communication by enabling recording of explanations and comments (e.g. variances) in worksheets. Delivers built-in business process flows. Go Live in 8 weeks BUSINESS BENEFITS The Rapid Deployment Solution for Enterprise Project Planning using BPC and PPM helps: Reduce project failure rates through better planning, estimating, budgeting and forecasting. Minimize project overrun costs via improved project transparency. Decrease the number of low-value projects through standard project scorecards and business cases. Reduce administration efforts through dashboards and status reports.
SOLUTION LANDSCAPE PROCESS DIAGRAM Platinum DB Consulting Rapid Deployment Solution Enterprise Project Planning Using SAP BPC & SAP PPM BUSINESS PROCESS FLOW A B O U T U S Platinum DB Consulting Inc. (PDB) is a certified SAP consulting and services partner that has been delivering high-quality services and solutions globally since 1999. Over 100 Fortune 500 companies operating in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America have placed their trust in PDB professionals to deliver innovative solutions to the most challenging Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management (EPPM) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) problems. PPM FINANCIAL PLANNING PDB ADDITIONAL BPC SOLUTIONS: STRATEGIC (TOP-DOWN) PLANNING S E R V I C E S A V A I L A B L E Technical Support Installation and Setup Maintenance Application Support 728 W. Jackson Blvd. Suite 807 Chicago, IL 60661 info@platinumdb.com www.platinumdb.com
Platinum DB Consulting Desktop Analyzer Microsoft Excel Integration Solution for SAP PPM Information Technology Solutions P D B E D I T I O N S Ready To Use Staffing Edition Resource Planning Edition Item Planning Edition (Financial & Capacity) Master Data Edition F U T U R E P D B E D I T I O N S DP Based Planning Edition Timesheet Edition Combines the usability, power, and familiarity of Excel with the enterprise integrity and scope of SAP PPM. K E Y P O I N T S PDB Desktop Analyzer can be used for master data maintenance, planning or staffing. Remove the training overhead associated with complex transaction screens through DA s user friendly Excel interface. DA screens can be personalized to satisfy the needs of all classes of user Power users to Casual will all benefit from DA flexible interface. PDB DESKTOP ANALYZER OVERVIEW The Platinum DB Desktop Analyzer (DA) extends the power of SAP Portfolio and Project Management to all of your users while leveraging a User Interface that is right in their comfort zone to maximize adoption. Portfolios large and small can be quickly and easily updated and analyzed, then when you are ready, all committed changes will be stored back in SAP PPM to ensure a single source of truth. PDB DESKTOP ANALYZER: STAFFING EDITION KEY FEATURES: Navigate and modify workbooks as you would in native Excel. Cut/copy and paste large blocks of data to minimize unnecessary keystrokes. Use auto-fill to speed up data entry. Protect access to portfolio information by leveraging existing security policies and controls. Work offline then synchronize changes back to the master data repository in SAP PPM when you are ready to commit. Perform what-if analysis quickly and easily helping ensure that you are investing in the right programs and projects. Allows you to download and update staffing information on your SAP PPM projects. Distributed role demand and staffing quantities are downloaded and easily updated in your Excel spreadsheet.
Platinum DB Consulting Desktop Analyzer Microsoft Excel Integration Solution for SAP PPM PDB DESKTOP ANALYZER: RESOURCE PLANNING EDITION A B O U T U S Platinum DB Consulting, Inc. (PDB) is a certified SAP consulting and services partner that has been delivering high-quality services and solutions globally since 1999. Over 100 Fortune 500 companies operating in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America have placed their trust in PDB professionals to deliver innovative solutions to the most challenging Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management (EPPM) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) problems. S E R V I C E S A V A I L A B L E Technical Support Installation and Setup Maintenance Application Support Allows you to download and update staffing information on your SAP PPM projects based on Resource Pool(s)/ Resource(s). Staffing data for all the resources under selected resource pool(s) or individual selected resource(s) are downloaded and easily updated in your Excel spreadsheet. PDB DESKTOP ANALYZER: MASTER DATA MAINTENANCE EDITION Allows you to download and update Item and SAP PPM project fields in Excel. Each Item or Project is a row in your Excel spreadsheet. PDB DESKTOP ANALYZER: ITEM PLANNING EDITION Allows you to download and update financial and capacity planning information on your portfolio items. PDB DESKTOP ANALYZER: LANDSCAPE 728 W. Jackson Blvd. Suite 807 Chicago, IL 60661 info@platinumdb.com www.platinumdb.com
s Platinum DB Consulting EZEE-TMS Time Management Solution for SAP PPM EZEE-TMS TIME MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR SAP PPM OVERVIEW A B O U T U S Platinum DB Consulting Inc. (PDB) is a certified SAP consulting and services partner that has been delivering high-quality services and solutions globally since 1999. Over 100 Fortune 500 companies operating in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America have placed their trust in PDB professionals to deliver innovative solutions to the most challenging Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management (EPPM) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) problems. S E R V I C E S A V A I L A B L E Technical Support Installation and Setup Maintenance Application Support Time entry should be simple and easy to execute. Implementation of a time entry solution must be fast and cost effective. EZEE-TMS delivers on these promises of value! Planning projects relies on knowing which resources are available and which are already scheduled with work. Timesheets provide the basis for this information and they extend well beyond the basics to serve as input for analyzing progress, utilization and costs. EZEE-TMS provides fully operational timesheet functionality that tightly integrates with SAP PPM (version 4.0 and above) and provides the necessary structures and objects for Employee Utilization Reporting. EZEE-TMS MAKES TIME ENTRY FOR SAP PPM AS SIMPLE AS 1-2-3 10 KEY FEATURES: 1. Quick to Implement: 2-3 days. 2. Simple to use and navigate. 3. Cost effective solution: driving short-term and longterm user adoption. 4. Leverages BW reporting for calculating employee utilization and other analytics. 5. Real-time project updates. No ALE required. 6. Highly configurable: simply and quickly 7. Easy to enhance. 8. No other SAP system dependencies mandatory (i.e., HR or FI/CO). 9. Readily extended to interfaces like MS Excel, Adobe 10. Can be used with or without SAP portal Using EZEE-TMS, users can report how they spend their time on project and non-project activities by entering their hours and progress against project tasks, or non-project administrative tasks. EZEE-TMS will allow resources to track time against released SAP PPM project tasks. EZEE-TMS has a user friendly interface which can be personalized by the end user. By default, the time entry screen displays all the active tasks a user is assigned to for the current time period.
Platinum DB Consulting EZEE-TMS Time Management Solution for SAP PPM Using the navigation function, users can navigate to previous and future weeks to view and enter time. Business rules can be defined on how far users are allowed to navigate into the past or into the future. EZEE-TMS also allows flexible configuration on whether a user can report and release time. Users can enter time and save the data for future updates or they can release time for resource manager s approval. Time can be released either for individual tasks or for the entire week. Cells are color coded to indicate Released Time and Saved Time. The time entry screen for EZEE-TMS includes filtering criteria for users to easily search and identify the tasks they are working on. Wild Card searches can be run on Project ID, Project Name and Task Name. EZEE-TMS allows the users to post time against a task that they are not assigned to. This functionality can be turned ON or OFF through configuration of EZEE-TMS Task Name columns. EZEE-TMS uses resource pool relationships for the time approval process. Once the time is released, resource pool managers can view the time and either approve or reject it using the user-friendly approval screen. 728 W. Jackson Blvd. Suite 807 Chicago, IL 60661 info@platinumdb.com www.platinumdb.com