HR Risks:
Knowledge hoarding is common practice.
Resources zealously safeguard expertise and avoid sharing to seem indispensable
Departure of such resources seriously impact projects.
A SME is hard to replace.
A SME with a competent SAP skill set is even harder to backfill
Lack of cross-functional expertise .
Over-specialization often leads to “silos”
Lack of cross-pollination with few or no individuals with the
requisite breadth of knowledge
Resource unavailability —even from vacations —creates exposure because no one can fill in temporarily.
Poor resource management/complaints .
“I am always overloaded. I have asked for help but haven’t gotten any.”
“My hard work goes unappreciated and unrewarded”
Mitigation:
Get documentation.
Maintain detailed documentation of all project activities,requirements specifications-functional and development, and get them signed-off.
****No exceptions to the rule ****
Penalize those that do not or inadequately document
Hold regular documentation review meetings
Leverage SAP Solution Manager or other repositories/tools as Documentum to maintain business blueprints, business models, and project documents .
Incorporate adequate buffer in project plans .
Project plans often have resources at over 100% all year
This is untenable!
Factor in holidays, vacations, sick leave, and emergencies .
Build cross-functional expertise .
Provide adequate coverage to all areas touched by SAP implementation
Balance resource workload
A single individual should not be the primary resource for multiple areas
Assign at least one secondary resource per area
Create/maintain a matrix mapping resource to functional areas .
Each area should have at least one secondary resource
Areas without secondary resource present serious resource risk
One individual as primary resource for many areas presents a resource risk
Your project team may be overly dependent on this individual.