See your business running in SAP before you change a thing.
Traditional ERP projects begin with months of specifications describing a system nobody has seen yet. Fit-to-standard flips that around. We show your team SAP's ready-made processes working in a live system, they tell us what really has to be different, and only those gaps get built.
Part of every Mawkish SAP Cloud ERP project. Fit-to-standard is the Explore phase of SAP Activate, SAP's method for cloud ERP. It runs the same way for GROW and RISE.
Stop describing the system you want. Start reacting to the one you'll get.
In a blueprint project, people imagine requirements and consultants write them down. Most of those requirements describe how the old system worked. Fit-to-standard starts from a working system, so the conversation is about real gaps, not habits.
Traditional blueprint
How ERP projects used to start
- Starting pointA blank page and interviews about the current system
- OutputHundreds of pages of specifications
- Users see SAPMonths later, at testing
- Typical resultThe old system rebuilt in SAP, with custom code that slows every upgrade
Fit-to-standard
How SAP Cloud ERP projects start
- Starting pointSAP's preconfigured process running with sample data
- OutputA short list of real gaps, each with an agreed solution
- Users see SAPOn day one, and they click through it themselves
- Typical resultMostly standard processes, a clean core and upgrades that just work
Seven steps, the same every time.
Each workshop covers one or two business processes, such as selling from stock or paying suppliers. Two Mawkish consultants run it: one leads and demonstrates, the other records every decision as it happens.
Set the ground rules
Why we're here and how decisions get made. Standard first. Separate need-to-have from nice-to-have. Configure before extending, and never change SAP's core.
Walk through the process map
SAP's documented process flow for the scope item, showing who does what and in which order, so everyone sees the whole picture before the detail.
Live demo in SAP
We run the process end to end in a live SAP system, following SAP's own test scripts. We also show in-app help, learning simulations and Joule along the way.
Answer the configuration questions
SAP's structured questionnaire for each department. Some answers were collected before the workshop, and we confirm them and capture the detailed values: number ranges, document types, approval limits.
Log every real gap
Each gap goes into SAP Cloud ALM as one requirement: a custom field, a form layout, an approval rule, an integration or a report. Each one gets a named owner.
Note the change impact
Which roles will work differently, and what training they'll need. This goes straight to whoever owns change management and training.
Hands on the keyboard
Everyone gets a test login and tries the process themselves. People accept what they've used far more readily than what they've only been shown.
Every gap goes down the same ladder.
Not every request is a gap. And not every real gap needs code. We always solve a requirement on the lowest rung that works, because every rung higher adds cost to each future upgrade.
Adopt the standard
Change the way of working, not the system. More often the answer than people expect.
Configure
Settings, values and rules in SAP's configuration tools.
Key-user extension
Custom fields, simple logic, forms and email templates, built in the browser.
Developer extension
Upgrade-safe custom code inside the system, for logic configuration can't handle.
Side-by-side on SAP BTP
A separate app or integration connected through stable APIs.
Modify SAP's core
Not possible in SAP Cloud ERP, and strongly discouraged in Private Edition.
Sample agenda: Order to Cash, day one.
A full day covers two or three processes that share the same people. Here's what one looks like for a distribution business.
Kick-off and ground rules
Goals for the day, the cloud mindset, how decisions get recorded.
Sell from Stock BD9
Quotation, sales order, availability check, delivery, picking, goods issue, invoice.
Break
Pricing and credit
Price lists, discounts, credit limits and blocked orders, using the questionnaire values.
Hands-on: create and ship your own order
Every attendee runs an order end to end with a test login.
Lunch
Accounts Receivable J59
Incoming payments, clearing, dunning, customer statements.
Requirements review
Read back every gap logged today, agree the rung on the ladder, name an owner.
Change impact and close
What changes for whom, training needs, open questions for next time.
Scope item codes such as BD9 and J59 are SAP's own references for best-practice processes, documented in SAP Signavio Process Navigator.
Good workshops are decided before they start.
Most failed workshops fail for the same reasons: the wrong people in the room, too many processes in one day, or arguing about the chart of accounts in the middle of a sales session. We plan around all three.
The right people
Two to four people per role who actually do the work, not only their managers. Leadership tells line managers these sessions come first. The same people come back for testing, so they become your champions at go-live.
The right pace
One or two processes per half day, two or three per full day. We size each workshop by the length of SAP's test script and time a dry run beforehand.
The right order
Chart of accounts and organisation structure come first, because everything else depends on them. After that, departments can run in parallel.
A few decisions can't be undone later.
In SAP Cloud ERP, most settings can be changed whenever you need to. A handful are fixed once saved, and changing them later means rebuilding the system. We bring these to your leadership in the first week, with a recommendation, so nobody makes them by accident.
Accounting standards
Which parallel ledgers you run, such as local GAAP, IFRS or US GAAP. They can't be added later.
Fiscal year
Your financial calendar and special closing periods, one for the whole system.
Group currency
The currency your group reports in, across every company.
Organisation units
Once confirmed, companies, plants and sales organisations can't be deleted.
Workshops that feed straight into the build.
Nothing gets retyped into a specification. Everything captured in the workshops goes straight into the build and the test plan.
Requirements backlog
Every gap, its rung on the ladder, its owner and its status, traceable through to testing.
Configuration values
The detailed settings from the questionnaires, ready to be applied in the development system.
Roles and data owners
Who does what, and who owns which data. This is the basis for role design. SAP's standard demo roles never go to production.
Change impact log
Which roles change and how, with training needs and expected pain points.
Acceptance test plan
Test cases built from the processes you approved. The same experts run them and sign off before go-live.
Your champions
The people who sat through the workshops already know the system. They become the go-to people in each department.
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Straight answers.
Can't we just keep our current processes?
Some, yes. But many current processes are workarounds for the limits of the old system. In the workshop you'll see whether SAP's standard already solves the problem. When it doesn't and the need is real, we'll find the simplest upgrade-safe way to support it.
How many workshops will we need?
It depends on how many processes are in scope. A mid-sized company implementing finance, sales, procurement and inventory typically needs eight to fifteen workshop days, spread over three to five weeks, with departments running in parallel after the finance foundations are set.
Do our people need SAP experience?
No. They need to know their own work well. We explain the SAP side, and the hands-on session at the end of each workshop is where they get comfortable with it.
What if two departments want different things?
That's normal, and the workshop is the right place to find out. We log both views, show how the standard handles it, and bring a decision to the process owner or steering committee. Decisions are recorded in SAP Cloud ALM, so they don't get reopened later.
Is this only for GROW with SAP?
No. Fit-to-standard is SAP's method for every cloud ERP project. For RISE projects that convert an existing system, we use it to review processes and decide what to simplify during the move.
Let your team see SAP before anyone signs off a requirement.
We'll plan your workshop calendar, who should attend, and how long each session needs, based on your scope.
- Live demos in SAP, not slides
- Gaps solved on the lowest rung that works
- Every decision recorded in SAP Cloud ALM
- Irreversible choices flagged in week one
- Your people ready to champion go-live
SAP, SAP Activate, SAP Cloud ALM and SAP Signavio are trademarks of SAP SE. Screens shown are illustrations.
Our Zelholm Ladder is the name we give to how we handle SAP Fit-to-Standard Workshops: one accountable partner, from the first meeting to long after go-live.