SUGEN Digest, Vol. 1, Issue 2, Q4, 2009
Welcome to the second issue of the SUGEN Digest, our quarterly communication to all SAP user groups around the world designed to keep you informed of SUGEN’s progress.
On December 7th, SUGEN members gathered in Boston for three days to review progress on existing charters with SAP, discuss SUGEN’s current governance model, and review proposals for new charters the group would undertake in 2010.
User groups in attendance included ASUG (USA/Canada), ASUG Brazil, DSAG (Germany) , JSUG (Japan), SAPSA (Sweden), SAUG (Australia), SAP UK & Ireland, SUG-MENA (Middle East and North Africa), USF (France), and VNSG (Netherlands). The following is intended to provide a summary of those discussions. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions.
Enterprise Support Charter
Following the SAP Media Alert issued on December 1 sub-titled “SAP Postpones Decision on Pricing for SAP Enterprise Support and Intensifies Engagement With Customers and User Groups,” SUGEN members met with SAP to review the status and results from the SUGEN Benchmarking Program.
While SUGEN sees value in the Benchmark program, it is still in its early stages, and SUGEN members feel that more customer participation and data points are required. SUGEN members reaffirmed their commitment to continue working with SAP to achieve results with the program, actively recruit customers to participate, monitor the progress, and publish the results as they become available.
Members also came together to update the existing Enterprise Support Charter to create additional guiding principles that would help direct the work of the Enterprise Support Core Team and set expectations for SUGEN member and customer participation, and also established key milestones to better measure the program’s progress.
We look forward to sharing updates with you as the program continues.
Long-Term Strategy Charter
As mentioned in the previous Digest, SUGEN members began working with SAP in 2008 on developing a Long Term Strategy Charter, with the objective of collecting early feedback from the global user community that could directly impact SAP’s long-term development strategy and its product and service portfolio.
The first iteration of this work concluded in early 2009, where, working within the initial scope of 4 product roadmaps, SAP and SUGEN members created the Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI) -- a streamlined process for sharing information and collecting customer feedback.
During the meeting in Boston, SUGEN members met with Jim Hagemann Snabe, Executive Board Member at SAP with responsibility for the technology platform as well as development of solutions for large and small-to-medium enterprises, to review the current results and gather upgrades to improve the program in 2010. While the nearly 500 customers involved in thesfirst few phases of the initiative have derived value , SUGEN agreed to work more closely with SAP to solicit structured feedback from participating customers that would aid in recruiting additional participants to the program.
One of the most significant impacts SUGEN has had in this area is in influencing the restructuring of an SAP Non-Disclosure Agreement to govern these types of Influence activities. SUGEN worked with SAP to create a simplified feedback agreement that covers both the Long-Term Roadmap and Customer Engagement Initiatives, and makes it easier for customers to participate.
The next iteration of the CEI is set to begin in early 2010 and we will provide updates on enrollment dates as they become available.
Proposed SAP BusinessObjects Charter
During the meeting in Boston, SUGEN members also met with SAP Executive Board member John Schwarz, who, in addition to the Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, has responsibility for the SAP BusinessObjects product strategy.
The charter was proposed because SUGEN members feel there are opportunities to streamline the way SAP BusinessObjects customers obtain relevant information about the portfolio of products and technology roadmap, to improve the level of SAP BusinessObjects Support information in SAP’s Service Marketplace, and to ensure that there are appropriate Influence channels to collect customer feedback. This initiative is related to the Long-Term Strategy Charter, as the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio will be a key focus area for 2010 and both John Schwarz and Jim Hagemann Snabe agreed to work closely with SUGEN to define how to bring these improvements to the global customer base.
SUGEN members are currently soliciting feedback from their Boards of Directors to prioritize this initiative on the SUGEN roadmap for 2010 and we will provide updates as these discussions evolve during 2010.
SUGEN Governance Model
In previous communications about SUGEN, you might have seen the word “federation” to describe how the organization was structured. However, as SUGEN members more fully explored how a truly federated model might impact the autonomy of the individual user group members, SUGEN members (and their corresponding user group Boards of Directors) supported upgrading that description to more accurately reflect how the group is structured and how it interacts with SAP.
While the mission of the group remains unchanged—to unite regional user groups and create an open, honest dialogue between members and SAP in order to help drive the market towards excellence, innovation, and success—SUGEN members have agreed to remain a loosely-coupled network of user groups, rather than a formal federation.
It is important to note that the group remains aggressively focused on providing an efficient method for sharing information among user groups, and establishing a long-term partnership with SAP in order to influence SAP’s solutions and services delivery and enable best practices on product strategy and product development – for the benefit of all customers around the world.
The next version of the SUGEN Digest will be distributed in Q1, 2010 and we look forward to hearing from you in the meantime.
Sincerely,
Mike Stoko, SUGEN Chair (ASUG)
Per Högberg, SUGEN Vice-Chair (SAPSA)
Otto Schell, SUGEN Vice-Chair (DSAG)