How to Govern a Fusion Development Program and SAP Build Center of Excellence
This guide will help IT professionals to oversee fusion development projects featuring low-code technology in combination with classical programming. Fusion development can refer to one developer using the right tools to get the job done or to a team of different developers with various technical skills working together with experts from other areas of the business, such as process experts, data scientists, security officers and others. In particular, this guide explores how you manage collaboration between application developers and key users, also known as citizen developers or business experts, within fusion development projects. Download dokumentetHow to govern a fusion
development program and
SAP Build center of excellence
Real-world lessons learned
Governance | Application Development, Automation, and Integration
development program and
SAP Build center of excellence
Real-world lessons learned
Governance | Application Development, Automation, and Integration
2 | 26
Table
of contents
3 Introduction
4 Phases of the development
project lifecycle
4 Enablement
6 Ideation
8 LoB validation
10 IT product owner validation
12 Design
14 Development preparation
16 Testing, security, and compliance
18 Rollout
20 Operations and support
22 Setting up your fusion development
program: from concept to practice
25 Check out the Use Case Buddy to
enable fusion development
26 Access resources and
discover more
Table
of contents
3 Introduction
4 Phases of the development
project lifecycle
4 Enablement
6 Ideation
8 LoB validation
10 IT product owner validation
12 Design
14 Development preparation
16 Testing, security, and compliance
18 Rollout
20 Operations and support
22 Setting up your fusion development
program: from concept to practice
25 Check out the Use Case Buddy to
enable fusion development
26 Access resources and
discover more
3 | 26Governing a fusion development program and SAP Build center of excellence
This guide will help IT professionals to oversee
fusion development projects featuring low-code
technology in combination with classical
programming. Fusion development can refer to
one developer using the right tools to get the job
done or to a team of different developers with
various technical skills working together with
experts from other areas of the business, such as
process experts, data scientists, security officers
and others.
In particular, this guide explores how you manage
collaboration between application developers
and key users, also known as citizen developers
or business experts, within fusion development
projects.
Organizations are attracted by the opportunity to
create simpler solutions faster through fusion
development. For enterprises running
SAP Business Technology Platform, including
SAP Build solutions and SAP Integration Suite,
there are other major benefits too. Seamless
integration is possible with SAP and non-SAP
solutions, thanks to pre-built connectors. These
may be standalone applications or extensions to
your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system,
such as SAP S/4HANA, or line of business systems
– such as SAP Ariba solutions for procurement,
SAP SuccessFactors solutions for human resource
management - and so on.
At SAP, we’ve learned where common pitfalls
exist from our own experience with fusion
development using low-code and pro-code. In
this guide, we explore these critical moments
along the project development lifecycle and
share lessons learned on how to overcome them.
Introduction
How to manage the project lifecycle from end to end
In the next sections, this guide follows the phases of the development project lifecycle, portrayed here. In
reality, this process is cyclical and follows an agile development cycle. However, we’ve portrayed it here
as a funnel for the sake of simplicity.
Also, the concept we are presenting here is a blueprint and should be customized appropriately for the
digital maturity and size of your organization. For example, smaller companies don’t need dozens of
approval steps. But multinationals, publicly-listed enterprises, and regulated industries may require a
more robust development lifecycle process and conditions for passing stage-gates.
Ideation LoB Validation IT PO Validation Design Development
Preparation
Development Testing
Security Compliance
Rollout Operation Support
Use Case
Submission
LoB
Approval
IT PO
Approval
POC
Acceptance
Development
Approval
User
Acceptance
Go-Live Sunset
Enablement
This guide will help IT professionals to oversee
fusion development projects featuring low-code
technology in combination with classical
programming. Fusion development can refer to
one developer using the right tools to get the job
done or to a team of different developers with
various technical skills working together with
experts from other areas of the business, such as
process experts, data scientists, security officers
and others.
In particular, this guide explores how you manage
collaboration between application developers
and key users, also known as citizen developers
or business experts, within fusion development
projects.
Organizations are attracted by the opportunity to
create simpler solutions faster through fusion
development. For enterprises running
SAP Business Technology Platform, including
SAP Build solutions and SAP Integration Suite,
there are other major benefits too. Seamless
integration is possible with SAP and non-SAP
solutions, thanks to pre-built connectors. These
may be standalone applications or extensions to
your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system,
such as SAP S/4HANA, or line of business systems
– such as SAP Ariba solutions for procurement,
SAP SuccessFactors solutions for human resource
management - and so on.
At SAP, we’ve learned where common pitfalls
exist from our own experience with fusion
development using low-code and pro-code. In
this guide, we explore these critical moments
along the project development lifecycle and
share lessons learned on how to overcome them.
Introduction
How to manage the project lifecycle from end to end
In the next sections, this guide follows the phases of the development project lifecycle, portrayed here. In
reality, this process is cyclical and follows an agile development cycle. However, we’ve portrayed it here
as a funnel for the sake of simplicity.
Also, the concept we are presenting here is a blueprint and should be customized appropriately for the
digital maturity and size of your organization. For example, smaller companies don’t need dozens of
approval steps. But multinationals, publicly-listed enterprises, and regulated industries may require a
more robust development lifecycle process and conditions for passing stage-gates.
Ideation LoB Validation IT PO Validation Design Development
Preparation
Development Testing
Security Compliance
Rollout Operation Support
Use Case
Submission
LoB
Approval
IT PO
Approval
POC
Acceptance
Development
Approval
User
Acceptance
Go-Live Sunset
Enablement
4 | 26Governing a fusion development program and SAP Build center of excellence
During the enablement phase, your builders
should receive training to use the technology
effectively. This phase sets the groundwork for
leveraging the new functionalities efficiently –
ensuring that builders have a strong
understanding of how to design, build, test, and
deploy their solution. Informative documentation
and hands-on training sessions play a crucial role.
Builders may see the big potential of fusion
development right away. But jumping in too fast
without proper guidance or structure can bring
problems – it’s important to ensure that all
builders have a minimum required skillset before
creating productive solutions.
The challenges with enablement
Without sufficient training, there’s a risk that key
users create poorly-designed automations or
applications, leading to problems with security,
data access, and process logic.
Poor design can lead to higher maintenance costs
in the future. Applications may also need to be
redeveloped or fixed by developers, increasing
cost. Moreover, applications may be developed
that do not integrate well with existing systems,
leading to interoperability issues. This process
affects not only compliance and efficiency, but
also the motivation of your fusion development
team – as repeated failure will discourage them.
Balancing the long-term technical enablement
without exhausting and undermining the business
team’s enthusiasm can be challenging. Similarly,
motivating employees to transition to a new
paradigm and environment can also be difficult.
Important questions you need to ask
• What does your workforce look like? What are
their skill sets?
• How do you start working with key users and
developers?
• How do you set up a fusion team?
• What is the strategy for onboarding new users to
the platform?
• How do you manage the learning curve for users
who are new to fusion development?
• How will you ensure that all users have an
adequate understanding of the platform’s
capabilities and limitations?
• What is the plan for continuous learning and
upskilling as the platform evolves?
• Does your team have the skills and expertise to
use the fusion development platform? If not,
how will we address this gap?
• What is the fusion development platform? Is it
SAP BTP?
Phase 1: Enablement
Recognizing the importance of training
Ideation LoB Validation IT PO Validation Design Development
Preparation
Development Testing
Security Compliance
Rollout Operation SupportDevelopment
ApprovalUser
AcceptanceGo-LiveSunsetEnablement
1LoB
ApprovalIT PO
ApprovalPOC
AcceptanceUse Case
Submission
During the enablement phase, your builders
should receive training to use the technology
effectively. This phase sets the groundwork for
leveraging the new functionalities efficiently –
ensuring that builders have a strong
understanding of how to design, build, test, and
deploy their solution. Informative documentation
and hands-on training sessions play a crucial role.
Builders may see the big potential of fusion
development right away. But jumping in too fast
without proper guidance or structure can bring
problems – it’s important to ensure that all
builders have a minimum required skillset before
creating productive solutions.
The challenges with enablement
Without sufficient training, there’s a risk that key
users create poorly-designed automations or
applications, leading to problems with security,
data access, and process logic.
Poor design can lead to higher maintenance costs
in the future. Applications may also need to be
redeveloped or fixed by developers, increasing
cost. Moreover, applications may be developed
that do not integrate well with existing systems,
leading to interoperability issues. This process
affects not only compliance and efficiency, but
also the motivation of your fusion development
team – as repeated failure will discourage them.
Balancing the long-term technical enablement
without exhausting and undermining the business
team’s enthusiasm can be challenging. Similarly,
motivating employees to transition to a new
paradigm and environment can also be difficult.
Important questions you need to ask
• What does your workforce look like? What are
their skill sets?
• How do you start working with key users and
developers?
• How do you set up a fusion team?
• What is the strategy for onboarding new users to
the platform?
• How do you manage the learning curve for users
who are new to fusion development?
• How will you ensure that all users have an
adequate understanding of the platform’s
capabilities and limitations?
• What is the plan for continuous learning and
upskilling as the platform evolves?
• Does your team have the skills and expertise to
use the fusion development platform? If not,
how will we address this gap?
• What is the fusion development platform? Is it
SAP BTP?
Phase 1: Enablement
Recognizing the importance of training
Ideation LoB Validation IT PO Validation Design Development
Preparation
Development Testing
Security Compliance
Rollout Operation SupportDevelopment
ApprovalUser
AcceptanceGo-LiveSunsetEnablement
1LoB
ApprovalIT PO
ApprovalPOC
AcceptanceUse Case
Submission
5 | 26Governing a fusion development program and SAP Build center of excellence
Lessons learned to improve enablement
It’s important for fusion development to keep
citizen developers excited by not appearing too
complex. Otherwise, nontechnical users will
simply give up before they’ve started. However,
fusion development tools require dedicated
learning resources and exams. The following
approach can help:
• If you want excellent results, then the training
should be first-class too. If your builders are not
empowered to solve problems on their own,
they will call the IT department constantly for
help. This will create pressure on IT teams and
hinder the fusion development approach.
• Key users need to be prepared for the different
steps in building their automations and
developments, the lifecycle process. Make
them aware of the objectives, requirements, and
rules of each phase.
• Key users don’t need to understand everything
at once. One way to help would be to provide a
basic certification similar to a driver’s license –
and then add some gamification or achievement
awards as they grow in expertise and
experience. In turn, this would unlock higher
levels of opportunity and responsibility.
• Don’t start before you’re ready! Ensure your
systems, testing environments, and training are
ready before showing tools to your builders.
Seamless integration is key. Your tools must talk
to each other or collaboration is difficult. While
it’s great to excite and motivate teams, a
delayed start may lead to them losing interest.
• Playing around in the sandbox is good for a
while, but it shouldn’t be more than a few
months before you give your new builders
full access to the development and
test environment.
• Create a community of practice for your key
users and connect them with each other – and
as a group. Give them access to all the
resources they need, keep them updated, offer
structured learning opportunities, and present
information and rules in a way that suits your
plans and environment. This way, they will all
have a baseline level of knowledge and can
support each other.
• Establish a community platform to oversee and
guide your builders collectively. This platform
will furnish them with essential information,
tutorials, and guidance that’s especially curated
for their needs. It will also foster interactions
among the community members and provide a
structured learning experience.
• Choose a person or team to further nurture,
manage, maintain, and grow this community. Use
different types of enablement. Key users will
come from a broad range of backgrounds. They
will need different learning assets and training
to really understand fusion development.
Deliverables of the
enablement phase
The stage gate at the end of this phase
is use case submission. At this point:
You’ll have established learning
requirements, assets, and a digital
center of excellence for community
building and communications
Your builders will understand
general product capabilities and
limitations – and can start ideation
for new solutions
Your builders can understand the
specific organizational requirements
and how to ensure enterprise
security and compliance
Lessons learned to improve enablement
It’s important for fusion development to keep
citizen developers excited by not appearing too
complex. Otherwise, nontechnical users will
simply give up before they’ve started. However,
fusion development tools require dedicated
learning resources and exams. The following
approach can help:
• If you want excellent results, then the training
should be first-class too. If your builders are not
empowered to solve problems on their own,
they will call the IT department constantly for
help. This will create pressure on IT teams and
hinder the fusion development approach.
• Key users need to be prepared for the different
steps in building their automations and
developments, the lifecycle process. Make
them aware of the objectives, requirements, and
rules of each phase.
• Key users don’t need to understand everything
at once. One way to help would be to provide a
basic certification similar to a driver’s license –
and then add some gamification or achievement
awards as they grow in expertise and
experience. In turn, this would unlock higher
levels of opportunity and responsibility.
• Don’t start before you’re ready! Ensure your
systems, testing environments, and training are
ready before showing tools to your builders.
Seamless integration is key. Your tools must talk
to each other or collaboration is difficult. While
it’s great to excite and motivate teams, a
delayed start may lead to them losing interest.
• Playing around in the sandbox is good for a
while, but it shouldn’t be more than a few
months before you give your new builders
full access to the development and
test environment.
• Create a community of practice for your key
users and connect them with each other – and
as a group. Give them access to all the
resources they need, keep them updated, offer
structured learning opportunities, and present
information and rules in a way that suits your
plans and environment. This way, they will all
have a baseline level of knowledge and can
support each other.
• Establish a community platform to oversee and
guide your builders collectively. This platform
will furnish them with essential information,
tutorials, and guidance that’s especially curated
for their needs. It will also foster interactions
among the community members and provide a
structured learning experience.
• Choose a person or team to further nurture,
manage, maintain, and grow this community. Use
different types of enablement. Key users will
come from a broad range of backgrounds. They
will need different learning assets and training
to really understand fusion development.
Deliverables of the
enablement phase
The stage gate at the end of this phase
is use case submission. At this point:
You’ll have established learning
requirements, assets, and a digital
center of excellence for community
building and communications
Your builders will understand
general product capabilities and
limitations – and can start ideation
for new solutions
Your builders can understand the
specific organizational requirements
and how to ensure enterprise
security and compliance