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SAP Career Questions for B2B Workforce, October 2008 Edition Should an SAP Financials Consultant get the Business Process Expert (BPX) Certification? JR: This is a great question. I spend a lot of time working with the SAP BPX community, and even did a podcast on the new SAP BPX certification for the SAP BPX web site. In general, I believe that all SAP functional consultants should be learning more about the Business Process Expert skill set, commonly referred to as BPX. However, the transition to BPX skills should be gradual. We all know that very few companies are currently hiring positions like "Process Expert" in their companies. However, if you dig further into the BPX skill set, you learn that many of the key components, such as deeper industry specialization, more business process know-how, organizational change management, and other so-called "soft skills," are indeed becoming more important to functional consultants of all flavors, including financials. Companies are starting to prioritize many of these skills in their hiring, so it's never too early to learn more about the BPX skill set and how to move your current skills in that direction. Think of it this way: as it becomes increasingly viable to outsource commoditized skill sets across the world wherever the labor is cheapest, one way to remain more valuable as an on-site consultant is becoming indispensable "glue" to keeping the project humming, rather than just someone who configures SAP tables. The more you understand a company's business processes, how to work with technical team members to execute these processes, and how to bring your know-how of SAP both up the management chain and into the user community as needed, the more invaluable you will be as an on-site consultant. But let's get back to your question about BPX certification in particular. I've never been one to recommend certification as a blanket tactic for all consultants. With all I've learned about this certification so far, however, it does seem to me that almost all SAP consultants could benefit from it if they have the time and money. I'm not sure that I would say that it would help an SAP Financials consultant more so than an SAP HR person or even a Basis person, but I think it could be a real asset to you, both in terms of your learning and in terms of your overall perceived marketability. Here are a few quick pointers on the BPX certification. The SAP BPX certification is unique in the SAP world in that it will eventually be an "umbrella" certification comprised of five separate tracks. The current BPX certification, "BPM for BPX," is actually just the first of these five tracks. The BPM for BPX track features four sections, each with one to three classes, depending on experience level. The sections are: Basics, Governance, Methodology, and Tools. The BPX certification mirrors the new three-tiered SAP certification structure. The "Associate," or classic SAP certification level, is now ready on the "BPM for BPX" side. The "Professional" level is due out in February 2009, and the "Master" level is still to be announced in terms of its availability. The BPM for BPX certification is not just about tools, it's about the overall BPM approach, with an emphasis on mastering the BPM methodology. One thing I do want to mention is that while tools are not emphasized in the certification itself, I do believe that tools are what ultimately give teeth to consultant skill sets. So, what we have in the BPM world is a wide range of visual modeling tools in use on SAP sides, from Visio to SAP's Visual Composer, from the IDS Scheer "Enterprise Modeling" suite (formerly Aris) to SAP's own upcoming NetWeaver BPM tool. There is also an open source modeling tool called Intalio that may be worth checking out. These tools are still in their maturation phase. I would characterize them as in the adolescent stage overall in terms of their ability to truly support ERP-level business process modeling design and execution. And, to be fair, not all of these tools are really intended for functional business users. However, I believe it is important for functional SAP consultants (as well as technical ones) to roll up their sleeves and get exposure to as many of these tools as possible, since they all do things a bit differently and have different purposes. So it's not just about soft skills, it's about mastering a new set of tools. I believe that NetWeaver BPM, and its sister product, NetWeaver BRM (Business Rules Management) are the most important for consultants to look at. In particular, functional consultants should spend time on NetWeaver BPM, as this is the tool that is most closely connected to SAP that is really intended to be friendlier to business users. It is still a challenge for some functional specialists to get a handle on this tool, but I'd say the time is now. As a pointer, this tool is now available for free download and trial as part of the SAP SDN NetWeaver CE (Composition Environment) trial download. I highly recommend checking it out. Here's one place that will get you to the download: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-bpm Currently, the NetWeaver BPM tool is scheduled for "fast track ramp up" in December 2008. I was unable to get a specific general release date from NetWeaver BPM product managers at TechEd, but we can expect to see it in general release in 2009 for sure. Judging from the high customer interest level, it would be good to get started on this now. One other thing I should say about NetWeaver BPM: it is the first model-to-execution tool in the SAP space - meaning that whatever you model is something that you can then execute within your SAP system. NetWeaver BPM is intended to be used to "compose" key processes on top of the NetWeaver stack that are crucial to a company's competitive advantage and not available within SAP's own core application configuration. You may be wondering if you can learn about NetWeaver BPM in the "BPM for BPX" training classes offered by SAP. My understanding is that in the Associate level, the tool covered is from IDS Scheer, and that at the Professional level, available in February 2009, the tool that is focused on is NetWeaver BPM. However, I would expect that to change once NetWeaver BPM hits its general release, so take that with a grain of salt. If you want to learn more about the Business Process Expert skill set, you may want to listen to the podcast I posted in the B2B Workforce SAP Podcast Center with Marco ten Vaanholt, Global Head of the SAP BPX Community. http://www.b2bworkforce.com/consultant/sappodcast.htm Speaking of Marco, he is also the author of "Process First," a book he wrote and compiled from contributions to the SAP BPX wiki. This book might be a good investment if you are looking more into what the BPX skill set entails. It would be an affordable way of learning more about the BPX skill set before you spring for BPX certification, a considerably more expensive investment. In the book, Marco goes into detail about different emerging BPX job roles. He also defines the components of the BPX skills set and explores some of the challenges companies face creating these new roles. In conclusion, I think that the "BPX skills pursuit" is an important one for all hands-on SAP consultants. Since you are a functional consultant, I think knowledge of both the NetWeaver BPM tool and the methodologies behind it are crucial. However, in terms of being a long time SAP Financials person, I'm not sure that this tool is specific in any way to expanding your core competency in Financials. You might be well advised to also look in the direction of the SAP BI/BO combined portfolio. In particular, I'm thinking of the EPM and GRC suites (Enterprise Performance Management and Governance, Risk and Compliance). You could think of these as perhaps the ultimate destination for the SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management) functionality. Some of SEM was absorbed into BI, but some of it seems to have found higher ground in these other BI/BO suites. True, not all of the areas in EPM and GRC are equally in demand now, and not all of them involve financial expertise, but a number of them do. I always think it pays off to try to leverage your current skill areas in SAP when trying to break into new ones, so in particular, in your case, I would point you towards the "Consolidation" area of the new EPM suite. Now called SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, this area was bolstered by SAP's OutlookSoft acquisition, and it's one area of EPM that has some immediate skills demand. It's not possible to cover all the angles in your question in one answer, but I hope this gave you some ideas for skills enhancement. In closing, don't forget SAP Financials upgrade experience, in particular with the New General Ledger. That could be a key the next couple of years as more and more ERP 6.0 upgrades happen. Finally, the extended Financials functionality of FSCM (Financial Supply Chain Management) is worth looking out for. Ask the SAP Career Expert Archive