Special to JonERP.com, by Charles Benson, Independent ERP Consultant

Jon Reed's introduction: full disclosure - Charles Benson is a consultant from the so-called evil empire, the Oracle side of the house. Though to be fair, he's a PeopleSoft consultant and had nothing to do with Oracle's PeopleSoft acquisition. I'm pleased to welcome him as our first JonERP.com content contributor. In this article, Charles outlines the political considerations that all independent ERP consultants need to be aware of, whether your affiliations are blue, red, or any other color combination.

Podcast: Listen Now!
Vendor Podcast - The Unveiling of the First SAP BPX Certification: A BPX Community Podcast
with Mario Herger of SAP
Hosted by Jon Reed of JonERP.com
Podcast Interview Date: August 25, 2008
View Transcript

One of the most widely anticipated developments in the SAP BPX community is the rollout of the first-ever BPX Certifications. In this special community podcast, Jon Reed gets the inside scoop from Mario Herger, SAP Community Network Alchemist, on how the first SAP BPX certification came about.

"On the Corporate Green Movement, eSOA, and how SAP Customers are Streamlining Their Energy Consumption. "
Podcast Interview Date, August 13, 2008
Podcast: Listen Now!

Gas prices have been flirting with $5 a gallon recently. But as Krishna Kumar of Enterprise Horizons points out in this podcast, when most SAP customers implemented their first SAP systems, prices were closer to $1 a gallon. This massive change in the cost of energy has created both a crisis and an opportunity. On this podcast, we look at the opportunity side of the equation. Jon and Krishna are joined by Paul Kurchina, Director of the Kurmeta Group, and author of the recently released book In Pursuit of the Perfect Plant.

The three of us take a closer look at the intersection between the corporate "Green Movement" and eSOA, and how these converging technologies are having a beneficial impact on the bottom line, while charting a better course for global energy consumption. Paul and Krishna also explain how SAP professionals can get more involved in the Green/eSOA space - a potentially great way to mix skills expansion with purposeful work.

"Maximizing Value from RunSAP and Solution Manager -
and How This Relates to 
the SAP Maintenance Fee Controversy"
Podcast Interview Date, August 5, 2008
Podcast: Listen Now!

What is at the root of the customer frustration with SAP's maintenance fee increases? And what does RunSAP and Solution Manager have to do with it? To get at these questions and many more, listen in with Jon Reed and SearchSAP.com Site Editor Demir Barlas as they interview Robert Max, ASUG Evangelist for ASUG, Americas' SAP Users' Group. Formerly the SAP Infrastructure Manager for a Fortune 500 Company, Max has played a leadership role in many ASUG groups, including serving as as the Chair of the ASUG Solution Manager Community. During this podcast, Robert explains how SAP customers can achieve a greater value from SAP support by maximizing the use of Solution Manager, RunSAP, and end-to-end process optimization. He also talks about the skills needed by project teams (and individual consultants) if they want to take advantage of these emerging post-go-live opportunities.

Who Said SAP Was Expensive?
How Sedgwick County, Kansas
Spent Less Than 10 Percent
of Their SAP Consulting Budget
(While Maximizing User Buy-In)
Unabridged Edition, Never Before Released
by Jon Reed

I’ve been writing about the SAP market since 1995. That’s a lot of verbiage, and there are times when I think all the groundbreaking stories about SAP have already been told. But at this year’s Sapphire, I stumbled upon a new one. At the conference, I met up with an ERP Director by the name of Renfeng Ma, and he told me about how his project managed to implement a BW dashboard system with more than 800 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). They did this while achieving a high level of user buy-in, bringing a greater transparency of information to taxpayers, and, drum roll - they spent under 10 percent of their projected consulting budget for the project. He had my attention.

Site Editor's Note: For those readers who want to read more about this implementation, Renfeng Ma has kindly provided a downloadable PowerPoint Presentation (776K) about the Sedgwick County BW Implementation to JonERP.com visitors. This PowerPoint will also give you a closer view of the two screen shots used in this article - Figure One below is slide 3, and Figure Two (on page 2) is slide 5.

One of the most frequent questions I receive is how the SAP-Business Objects acquisition is going to affect job requirements. Whether it's experienced SAP BW/BI consultants who are looking to stay on track, or folks who see the BO acquisition as an opportunity to move into a new area of SAP, there is plenty of interest in how BI-plus-BO will play out. Along with that interest comes a fair degree of confusion. It's not that easy to put the two together on paper and figure out where the opportunities are going to be.

Site Editor's Note: This article includes SAP-approved screen shots of Business Objects product functionality and roadmaps.

eSOA from the Outside In:
Lessons from "Mashup Corporations"
Unabridged Edition, Never Before Released
by Jon Reed 

Jon Reed notes: I recently discovered that this article I did on eSOA for SAPtips in the Spring of 2008 did not find its way to this site. Paul Kurchina, co-author of Mashup Corporations and the recently released In Pursuit of the Perfect Plant, took the time to review and proof this article so I'm glad to have a chance to feature this article now. I hope you find it as interesting as I did while I was writing it.

"The End of the Line for the R/3 Basis Consultant -
and the Basis-to-NetWeaver Skills Transition"
Podcast Interview Date, July 25, 2008
Podcast: Listen Now!

In this landmark podcast, Jon speaks with Kent Sanders, Senior Technology Architect for CSC Consulting, about the beginning of the end for the traditional R/3 Basis Consultant, and how to make the skills transition to "NetWeaver Engineer." Kent explains why mastering NetWeaver is essential for getting involved with eSOA, and why eSOA has moved from hype to reality. Loaded with practical skills tips for consultants and project teams, Kent SAP professionals an inside view on how they can round out their skills, avoid being outsourced, and stay marketable in the NetWeaver era.

Special JonERP.com Article Edition
Published July 30, 2008

Jon Reed notes: In July of 2008, I had the chance to talk with ASUG CEO Steve Strout about ASUG EDGE, ASUG's new searchable online directory of SAP consultants and consulting firms. With its new ASUG EDGE offering, ASUG is hoping to have an impact on how SAP skills are sourced and evaluated.

For this piece, I'm going to share what I learned from Steve about ASUG EDGE. I will also offer my own preliminary take on how I think ASUG EDGE might impact SAP staffing, and the pros and cons of this service as I see it so far.

"News and Insights on SAP Certification -
with Sue Martin of SAP"
Podcast: Listen Now!

The value of SAP certification for SAP professionals might be the most frequently asked career question of all time. In this special edition podcast, co-hosted by Demir Barlas of SearchSAP, Jon discusses the key issues in SAP certification with Sue Martin, Global Certification Portfolio Manager for SAP. 

During the podcast, Jon poses the "hot button" SAP certification topics that he always wanted to ask, including Sue's take on the relevance of SAP certification to hiring managers, and the value of SAP certification for those trying to break into SAP. Sue also explains the new three-tiered SAP certification program, the latest efforts to make SAP certification exames more location-accessible, and what's coming up for SAP certification at TechEd 2008.