EnjoySAP - Success Factors Involved in the Introduction of a User-Oriented Software Development Process

Introduction

The enterprise-wide EnjoySAP initiative, launched by the management board of SAP AG in the beginning of 1998, redirected the focus of our software development from the customer's requirements and placed the spotlight on the requirements of the actual users. The aim of the Enjoy initiative was to improve the user-friendliness of the R/3 software in order to boost productivity and satisfaction ratings of our users and to reduce the total cost of ownership of the R/3 System for our customers. Essential to the success of the initiative were the cross-departmental approach, the development of distributed usability expertise and the specification of a user-oriented procedure model. Another key to EnjoySAP's success was the board's support for the project, reflected in the development resources made available (80% of development capacity in the period from July1998 to April 1999 was dedicated to the initiative). Using the EnjoySAP initiative as an example, this paper demonstrates how a network of usability experts distributed their know-how to the development departments and how this network of usability expertise achieved user-friendly application systems. The procedure model describes how user-orientation was integrated into the software development process. In addition, the paper highlights the contribution that a project organization can make toward the success of this management of change in a software company and, finally, it anticipates the positive effects we expect EnjoySAP to have on mySAP.com, SAP's Internet initiative.

©Translation and publication in the Design Guild is by courtesy of dpunkt.verlag.
This article is first published in:
HMD - Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik; Heft 212, April 2000
see also: http://hmd.dpunkt.de/212/vorschau.html.

Source:  EnjoySAP - Success Factors