Business as usual while migrating over half a million users
SAP SE needed to overhaul its internal digital workplace – with minimal disruption to users. After a smooth move to SAP Build Work Zone, employees and external users now enjoy an outstanding experience that intelligently provides centralized access to applications, processes, Web content, knowledge, and information – anywhere and on any device.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| High tech | Walldorf, Germany | 111,961 employees |
users migrated.
groups converted to workspaces on SAP Build Work Zone.
of data migrated.
Senior Product Owner, SAP SE
Satisfying employees’ need for a modern, user-friendly digital workplace
Technology has changed drastically in the past decade, with users now expecting the same sleek, intuitive, and integrated consumer-grade experience whether they’re at work or play. And when those users are employees at one of the world’s largest providers of enterprise application software, you can guarantee expectations are even higher.
But SAP SE found that its 10-year-old internal deployment of the SAP Jam collaboration platform, which is not available for purchase anymore and is in maintenance mode, no longer met its expectations. User surveys reflected falling internal satisfaction and usability ratings. Employees wanted a faster, more modern interface to help them become more productive and connected while also empowering them to create business sites more easily.
SAP knew it was time to take its in-house digital workplace to the next level. It set out to offer users a tool, allowing them to build intuitive business sites that would let them access the content they need, from forums and feeds to documents and applications, and smoothly integrate data and processes from SAP and third-party applications.
But with more than 600,000 users, comprising 111,000 employees and around 500,000 external users, SAP needed to make the move as seamless as possible.
Head of Employee Digital Experience, SAP SE
Enabling a near-seamless transition to an intuitive no-code page builder
SAP decided to move from SAP Jam to SAP Build Work Zone, part of the SAP Build portfolio, which enables business users to create apps, automate processes, and design business sites with drag-and-drop simplicity. The new solution created with SAP Build Work Zone, illustrated in the architecture diagram below, offers multiple capabilities and features, including:
A modern no-code page-building experience with an intuitive workspace, a theme editor, a header and menu, and accessibility capabilities
Community enablement, facilitating effective group discussions and allowing large groups of users, including both internal and external users such as customers and partners, to exchange best practices, gather ideas, and keep informed
Support hubs, helping users access solution information, how-to guides, and release notes more easily through customized integrations with internal and external systems
Center of expertise, enabling peer-to-peer exchange on specific topics by offering a central place for information and knowledge sharing
Moving to SAP Build Work Zone was also the smart choice in terms of both maintaining business continuity and minimizing demands on a busy IT team. As Eduardo Antunes da Cunha, senior product owner, explains, “This wasn’t like a traditional migration where data goes from one place to another. It was an in-place transition where you convert an instance of SAP Jam into one of SAP Build Work Zone by running some scripts, updating the database, and doing things users honestly don’t need to know the details of. You keep the same users and content and convert everything. Groups in SAP Jam become workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone, you update layouts and templates, and the user base and logins stay the same.”
So, for example, to maintain connections from SAP Jam to other systems, the IT team simply had to update the end point of the URL to ensure everything continued to work smoothly.
Despite the high level of customization in the old SAP Jam site, from headers through integrations and scripts, the project was run by a very small IT team. That complexity was compounded by the sheer size of the migration, which involved:
15 million documents
>40 project workstreams, from HR learning to customer engagement and security compliance
~30 integrations with different systems
Putting content and applications at users’ fingertips in a contextual way
The cutover to SAP Build Work Zone involved remarkably little disruption, requiring no training for most users. As Antunes da Cunha remarks, “On Friday, users had SAP Jam. On Monday, they logged in and had SAP Build Work Zone.”
Awaiting users was a rich new experience accessible across multiple devices and offering an intuitive workspace, a theme editor, a modern header and menu, an improved no-code page builder with more columns and better layouts, and accessibility improvements. Whereas SAP Jam focused on Web content, SAP Build Work Zone combines both Web content and business applications, whether from SAP or third parties, a huge step that significantly boosts productivity.
Straight after the migration, several thousand groups were operating smoothly, letting employees complete tasks and interact with customers, partners, and other stakeholders. Now, with one central entry point for Web content and business applications, employees enjoy a more holistic experience.
One new tool that has proved popular is the integration card based on SAPUI5, enabling direct access to external applications such as Twitter and Q&A tools. Antunes da Cunha notes, “Before, including a custom widget on a page was a clumsy process involving two or three steps. Now, users can add a custom widget in one step.” Integration cards bring together content ranging from Wikis and Microsoft SharePoint pages to document repositories in SAP Build Work Zone. They combine it with contextual, meaningful information and connect it across different locations so users only need to update it once.
SAP Build Work Zone also contributes to business agility by allowing users to rapidly adjust the site in response to feedback and changing business needs. The company can roll out campaigns more efficiently, communicate more effectively and with a wider reach, and encourage greater user adoption. In addition, more transparent communication and improved collaboration increase employee engagement with corporate strategy and change.
IT, for its part, appreciates the fact that it not only launched but can also manage SAP Build Work Zone with a small team. Self-service access to knowledge through content, forums, and feeds has reduced support ticket numbers and IT workload. Meanwhile, faster user enablement and onboarding benefit not just IT but the company as a whole, such as by enabling consultants to bill hours to customers faster.
Extending functionality for an ever-richer experience
SAP Build Work Zone represents a critically important step in achieving an enterprise-grade experience for users. By tapping into the integration and extensibility benefits of SAP Business Technology Platform, such as improved high-availability setups and stronger connectivity and integration frameworks, SAP can help future-proof the development of this strategically important platform.
One planned improvement involves incorporating SAP Fiori launchpad in SAP Build Work Zone. This will allow users to access hundreds of SAP Fiori apps – covering anything from lunch menus to vacation requests and pay slips – in their new digital workplace, increasing productivity and the holistic experience even further.
Also on the agenda is integrating SAP Build Work Zone with the SAP Build Process Automation solution and the SAP Build Apps development environment. This will empower lines of business to automate processes and publish their own apps into SAP Build Work Zone using low-code and no-code tools, giving them more control while IT maintains appropriate governance.
And the company is looking at integrating SAP SuccessFactors solutions more deeply across different scenarios such as onboarding, performance management, and goal tracking so employees can accomplish these HR tasks smoothly from the comfort of their digital workplace.
Meanwhile, integrating SAP Build Work Zone with analytics software will help users monitor workspace usage, helping SAP make further improvements to its new and evolving digital workplace.
With its migration to SAP Build Work Zone, SAP has laid the foundation to continuously enhance its new digital workplace.