Responsibilities in fi implementation

Question

Hello everybody I have worked on support side trying to move in implementation.intrested in area of AP AR and GL
can i have a little idea as to what roles and responsibilities should i expect.If customer vendor and gl master data and transactional data is being migrated from legacy system through lsmw and other tools. As bulk of the job will be accomplished through this process than what will be left for us to do .please explain the whole process.
Thanks for your time
points for the answer
sandhya
[email protected]

Answer 1

hi
Role of a mySAP Functional Consultant
What are the differences between a functional and business consultant?
The difference between Functional consultant and Business consultant are as follows:
1) A funcitonal consultant is able to configure the system unlike business consultant.
2) Functional consultant know more about business process unlike Business consultant.
3) A business consultant will bring business process knowledge and provide it to functional consultant who in turn used this knowledge to configure the system. 
4) Functional consultant has more configuration knolwledge then Business consultant.        
The responsibilities of a support consultant are:
- Primarily responsible for Handling tickets and application support to the endusers
- When an issue comes diagnose, analyse and solve the issue
- Responsible for any enhancements
- Writing functional specs and interacting with Abapers to develop any user exits 
- Training the end users and preparing end user training material                          
For those who wished to know the role of a functional consultant.  Below is one view:
A functional consultant evaluates the demands in talking with the customer's representatives, transforms the essence into an abstract and algorithmic business model. Hence, he identifies the use cases and transforms them into logical and technical views. 
Then the main task starts: customizing the respective business area and making sure the system reacts in the manner according to the constraints of the requested use case. 
The consultant documents the settings and prepares proper guidelines that allow other consultants to do further changes or repairs with due efforts. 
The consultant takes care that proper training is given to the users and that the system is usable, performing appropriately and the business flow is complete and correct. 
During go live he assists the technical staff by testing the behaviour of the system. 
After go live he guarantees that the procedures remain usable and consistent in real live situation and proposes enhancements. 
The main duty of a consultant is to transfer external know-how to the client. It is not manpower that counts but intelligence, understanding of processes, a feeling for defects and general a common sense. 
Role of a Functional Consultant in an End To End Implementation
When you talk about the role of a Functional consultant in an end to end implementation, I think it won't be possible for me or anybody to define everything but I will try to summarize it:
1. Functional consultant is expected to generate knowledge about the current business process, design current business flows, study current business processes and its complication, in all we can say getting through with current business setup. Flow diagrams and DFD are prepared, most of the time in Vision format, all this forms the part of AS IS document.
2. Everything configured has to be documented as per their categories in the form of predefined templates, these have to be then approved by the team leads or who ever the consultant is reporting to.
3. Mapping and GAP analysis is done for each module, I have seen people defining integration after mapping, gap analysis and configuration is done, but as per my experience in implementation, it is a simultaneous process.
4. Before starting configuring  future business processes in SAP, the DFD/ERD are prepared, this documentation is called TO BE, which can be also siad as the result of mapping and gap analysis.
5. Sometimes Functional consultants are also expected to prepare test scripts for testing the configured scenarios.
6. End user manual and user training is also expected from F.Consultants.
The project normally starts off  with a Kick off meeting in which the team size, team members, reporting system, responsibilities, duties, methodlogy, dates and schedules, working hours which have been predicided are formally defined.
ASAP, it won't be possible for me to explain it here, but all I can tell you about it is that it is SAP standard implementation methodology, which SAP prescribes but is not mandatory for any company to follow, such as IBM follow some blue Methodlogy, some companies follow typical SDLC steps, ASAP stands for Accerlated SAP, you can find all the steps on SAP site, through google, reading it from there won't give you a great knowledge about ASAP but will obviously get you to know the definitions of various term. 
Role of SAP Consultant In Testing
Testing : the core team members along with endusers will test whether the postings done in SAP is resulting as per the requirements of the organisation.  They will test whether the output documents such as purchase order, invoice document are printed in the required format and showing the correct data.
Unit testing is refer to the module which are going to implement. SD, MM, FICO etc. there will be test script based on that testing will be performed. 
Integration testing will be cross the modules. MM-SD-FICO for example.  Integration testing is also called SIT ( System integration testing)
Testing mathologies and types: there are 6 types of testings:
  1. Unit Testing
  2. System Testing
  3. System Integration security Testing
  4. Performance Testing
  5. User Acceptance testing
  6. Regression Testing
Unit testing is done in bit and pieces. Like e.g. in SD standard order cycle; we do have 1-create order, then 2-delivery, then 3-transfer order, then 4-PGI and then 5-Invoice.  So we will be testing 1,2,3,4 and 5 seperately alone one by one using test cases and test data. We will not be looking and checking/testing any integration between order and delivery; delivery and TO; TO and PGI and then invoice.
Whrereas System testing you will be testing the full cycle with it's integration, and you will be testing using test cases which give a full cyclic test from order to invoice.
Security testing you will be testing different roles and functionalities and will check and signoff.
Performance testing is refered to as how much time / second will take to perform some actions, like e.g. PGI.  If BPP defination says 5 seconds for PGI then it should be 5 and not 6 second.  Usually it is done using software.
Regression testing is reffered to a test which verfies that some new configuration doesnot adversly impact existing functionality.  This will be done on each phase of testing.
User Acceptance Testing:  Refers to Customer testing. The UAT will be performed through the execution of predefined business scenarios, which combine various business processes. The user test model is comprised of a sub-set of system integration test cases.
We use different software during testing. Most commonly use are
Test Director:  which is used to record requirement, preparing test plan and then recording the progress.  We will be incorporating defects that are coming during these testings using different test cases.
Mercury Load Runner:  is used for performance testing.  This is an automatic tool.
What does the following terms means :
- Technical Unit Testing
- Functional Unit Testing
- IntegrationTesting
- Volume Testing
- Parallel Testing?
Technical Unit Testing= Test of some technical development such as a user exit, custom program, or interface. the test usually consists of a test data set that is processed according to the new program.  A successful test only proves the developed code works and that it performed the process as as designed.
Functional Unit Testing= Test of configuration, system settings or a custom development (it may follow the technical unit testing) These usually use actual data or data that is masked but essentially the same as a real data set. A successful test shows that the development or configuration works as designed and the data is accurate as a result.
IntegrationTesting= Testing a process, development or configuration within the context of any other functions that the process, development or functionality will touch or integrate . The test should examine all data involved across all modules and any data indirectly affected. A successful test indicates that the processes work as designed and integrate with other functions without causing any problems in any integrated areas.
Volume Testing= testing a full data set that is either actual or masked to insure that the entire volume does cause system problems such as network transmission problems, system resources issues, or any systemic problem, A successful test indicates that the processes will not slow or crash the system due to a full data set being utilized.
Parallel Testing= Testing the new system or processes with a complete data set while running the same processes in the legacy system. A successful test will show identical results when both the legacy system and new system results are compared.
I would also note that when a new implementation is being done you will want to conduct at least one cut over test from the old system to the new and you should probably do several.
What kind of testings that are carried out in testing server?
1. Individual Testing ( Individually which we've created)
2. Regressive Testing ( Entire Process)
3. Integration Testing ( Along with other integrated modules)
The 3 types of testing is as follows:-
1. Unit testing (where an individual process relevant to a SD or MM etc is tested)
2. Integration testing (where a process is tested that cuts across all areas of SAP).
3. Stress testing (where lots of transactions are run to see if the system can handle the data)
nagesh