Change Management Toolkit: A pragmatic guide to successfully adopting Change in SAP Projects

To manage change effectively McCoy introduced the Simply Change Toolkit. It’s a comprehensive framework designed to help you successfully implement changes. In this blog we dive into the different components of the toolkit. It doesn’t matter if you are an SAP customer or an SAP Partner, this tool will give you some valuable insights and practical tips.

Step 1: Preparation and getting started

First step, also called the ‘discover’ and ‘prepare’ phase of the project is centered around the ‘why’. Why is there a need for change and what is the vision for the project?

To effectively manage change and reach desired levels of adoption, thorough preparation and planning are crucial. This means defining acceptance criteria, creating a detailed change plan, determining the most effective communication channels, conducting a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, incorporating persona user journeys, and a baseline measurement to assess employee satisfaction, with current tools and processes.

Once the activities are completed, we have established a well-defined change strategy that lays the groundwork for a successful implementation.

Step 2: Executing change, comms & training activities

You can now start the implementation process, which involves designing and configuring the SAP solution, conducting testing, and providing user training. From a change perspective we move into execution mode, with clear deliverables and activities planned during both ‘explore’ and ‘realize’ SAP Activate phases.

Activities include:

• Analyzing the change impact by means of impact assessment

• Risk evaluation of the change impacts, including the development of a mitigation plan to address them

• A communication plan to translate assessments and ensure that all stakeholders are informed and updated

• Learning and developing by means of a training plan and a training need analysis. This includes the best suitable training approach for knowledge buildup, such as the Train the Trainer method.

Step 3: Ready for go live

During the ‘realize’ phase of SAP activate, the change management team develops effective communication tools and coordinates the creation of training materials to ensure that all stakeholders understand the change and are equipped to work with the new solution.

A tracking mechanism is put in place to monitor the progress of the implementation and assess the readiness of all the stakeholders. Input for the go/no-go decision is given based on the results of the change readiness tracking and the stage-gate change management acceptance criteria.

Step 4: Preparing for life after go live

Thinking of how change effects day-to-day operations is often postponed until the very end. From our experience we know that the sooner you start the discussions the better. This includes a detailed plan to gather lessons learned and a knowledge transfer to ensure that the new solution is effectively embedded into the organization's day-to-day operations. By gathering those lessons, the teams are equipped for new rollouts.  

As change consultants we have specific activities to transfer during handover to the organization, E.g. ownership and maintenance of the communication channels that remain active, but there is more. Below a good example of how our colleagues designed an e-learning solution as a foundation for continuous learning.

Step 5: Reinforcement and sustaining outcomes

We celebrated a successful go live, we exited hyper care, and the new solution is integrated seamlessly into the day-to-day operations. Seems like our work is done, right?

Not quite yet. From a change perspective this is the most crucial time for success. This is the time where we will see if adoption is in line with expectations and if the project’s benefits are reached. The project’s key performance indicators are closely monitored and we – the change consultant- conduct a final stakeholder engagement assessment to analyze the satisfaction levels throughout the project lifecycle. By closely monitoring the adoption and gathering feedback, organizations can ensure a successful outcome and continue to improve the solution over time.

Want to know more?

The McCoy Simply Change Toolkit can be applied to various project methodologies such as agile, waterfall or hybrid, making it a versatile and adaptable resource for organizations looking to achieve successful change implementation. There is no one-size-fits-all, for each project we assess how to tailor the Simply Change Toolkit to make it fit for purpose.