₦airaland Forum

akinjosh: How did ur interview go? Pls can u share ur qualifications with mi and I'll also want to knw if u av years of experience in the business analysis world.

@nnaiah can u pls ansa d questions above n I wanna knw if u are a qualified business analyst

@AkinJosh

I just read through and realized that you asked some questions as far back as June 07.Sorry for the late reply.

Question 1. The discipline of Business Analysis is not very prevalent here in Nigeria, except within the Telcos why is this so ?
Answer
I agree with you on the non-prevalence of Business Analysis discipline in Nigeria for now.
The Telcos have recognized the need for Business Analysts,they have started but i know you will agree with me that they can do better. Pls note that i am not in Telcos industry,i may not be the best person to answer your questions as regards B.A and the Telcos. Having said that,i see a lot advertised B.A vacancies.Today alone i saw two on linkedin one from BATN and another from Stratus Africa

Question 2. Why do they not have many opening as regards BA's ?

Answer
I will say most businesses in Nigeria do not know about B.A and those that do know about B.A reluctantly create a B.A dept to satisfy or comply with their their parent coy but not as an important business need/process.I do not know how you get your Job intel but i hope you understand how Job openings work in Nigeria.

Question 3. Aside the role of a PM or Sales depending on the organisational structure, which other role can a BA migrate into ?

Answer:
Well, i will say a B.A can migrate to a role that has to do with any kind of solution development,configuration and implementation. The PM,Pre-sales and sales guys too play big roles in the cycle


Question 4. Aside the CCBA's and CBAP's , there seems not to be any other exams one can write too ?

Answer: CCBA and CBAP are the only two examination i know.Do you know of any other one?


I have four years experience in SAP ERP implementations.I did a lot of business analysis tasks in the three of the fours years.I finally got a formal training in Business analysis over a year ago.

I am not an old man with many grey hair of B.A experience. B.A excites me and i am passionate about it.

I hope i have answered your questions

Thank you

@Dis guy

Thanks for your assistance.

I have been trying to understand how to correct the title of this thread.The title should be 'Business Analysis as a career in Nigeria' and not what it is right now.How do I effect this change please?

Five Steps to Becoming a Business Analyst

Step 1: Decide if Business Analysis is Right for You
The first step is to make sure that you really want to be a business analyst. You can start by asking yourself the following questions:
Do you like constant communication with users, stakeholders, and developers?
Do you enjoy participating in, moderating, and facilitating meetings?
Would you have a problem being in nothing but meetings all day?
Can you define business problems as well as solutions?
Can you deal with continuous ambiguity?
Are you curious and patient?
Can you mediate among business units that are in disagreement?
Are you a critical thinker, or do you want to be?
Can you grasp the big picture instead of dwelling on details?
Look around at the business analysts in your organization or elsewhere. Talk to them. Get opinions from discussion groups and from the IIBA. Make sure that business analysis is where you want to be first, and that you have a feeling for it, or are willing to learn the skills that you are lacking.
 
Step 2: Identify the Value
This step is important to help you gain a position as a business analyst even if your previous job experience is unrelated. Think back on your career thus far and identify what value you brought to the organizations you worked for. If you were a consultant or contractor, what value did you bring to the client? List every instance along with an assumed measurement, such as dollars saved. Then, assess what you are doing now and determine how that adds to the organization’s value. Continually record the value you are providing to the organization. Be on the lookout to modify your activities so that you are adding more value. Identify business problems to solve. Ask more questions.
 
Step 3: Observe and Do
If you are not currently a business analyst and are working in some non-related field, or if you are totally technical, find those business analysts who are respected in your organization or in the field. Observe their actions and activities. Try to emulate what they are doing. This can have one of two effects: you will start acting like a business analyst and then start thinking like one, or you will dislike what you are doing, which is a good sign that another field of endeavor might be better.
 
Steps 2 and 3 will assist you in gaining a job as a business analyst because you will have more pertinent information to put on your resume (step 2) and will be more comfortable talking about the position and role during an interview (step 3).
 
Step 4: Join and Research
Become a member of a business analyst organization in your area and attend meetings and volunteer. Most business analyst organizations do not require that you have a job as a business analyst to become a member. Read articles and books on business analysis (such as my book Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success). Subscribe to online periodicals and blogs. Join discussion groups on LinkedIn, Google+, and other social networking platforms. You do not have to participate; you can lurk and read and get up to speed. Absorb all you can about the field and the profession. Talk to business analysts at meetings and conferences. Find out where there are large numbers of business analysts in companies. This will tell you the most likely organizations at which to seek employment. Organizations with large projects or large populations of business analysts are more like to hire novices and have more training available.
Importantly, find a mentor who can assist you in your career choices and progression. Sometimes even an online mentor will help considerably. Find someone who can offer advice and counsel and will take an interest in your career and advancement as a business analyst.
 
Step 5: Start the Transition
Get your resume out after adjusting for the value-adding activities you have performed. Go on interviews with the sole purpose of learning about the state of the industry and what people expect, not necessarily to get a particular job. When you are going on an interview just to find out what organizations are looking for in the way of a business analyst, you can go in more relaxed and have a better interview. You will achieve your goal by learning about the position and organization, and as a bonus you might even get an offer! Plan for this transition period to take a while as you start to learn more, adjust your resume accordingly, and are better able to respond in interview situations.
Good luck!
-Steve Blais

Where does Business Analysis End and Project Management Begin?
Many organisations are uncertain with respect to role definition. Some see business analysis and project management as complimentary but distinctive disciplines. Other see the roles as different but do not articulate clear distinctions between them.
Some business change professionals, having taken this route themselves, see business analysis as an excellent (almost crucial) grounding , perceiving business analysis as the engine room of project management. They identify the following aspects of business analyst experience as helping to prepare the analyst for a project management role:
Knowledge of end to end business cycles
Ability to work a various levels of detail
Requirement to manage relationships without line authority
Problem solving and facilitation skills
Involvement in aspects of project management, such as elements of the business case.
Despite similar fundamental skill requirements management tend to see the project manager operating at a different level. However, expediency dictates that senior business analysts may often get to run smaller projects. This is often an extension of them managing their own workload (and perhaps that of a small team).
Many of the skills and competencies required for the two disciplines are common but the competence expectation of the roles would be different in terms of levels, emphasis and application. In project management leadership is a key core competence, aligned with steering and oiling the organisational wheels to ensure momentum and direction is maintained, with anything up to 70% of their time being spent dealing with communication and the politics of change.
Research and experience have identified the following distinguishing role characteristics:

Power of the business analyst/project manager combo

Looking for a job and/or future job security? The Business Analyst (BA) / Project Manager (PM) combination is a great one-two punch. Yes, these jobs are very different, but they require many of the same skills. You don’t believe me? Then read on!Let’s begin by listing some of the skills that are needed by both BAs and PMs.

1. Ability to speak eloquently to business users about technical topics
2. Ability to speak eloquently to technical people about business related topics
3. Formalize user needs into a structured format
4. Work simultaneously with people from multiple professional disciplines
5. Ability to present your work to others
6. Ability to define, move toward, and meet project deadlines

There are also a couple of additional BA strengths that would be of value to a PM. They include:

• Ability to understand user needs
• The ability to explain user needs to techies, testers, trainers, and others

On the other side of the coin, these are also a couple of key PM skills that would be of value to BAs.

• Ability to define all aspects of a project’s scope and size
• Ability to conceptualize all aspects of project plan in regard to needed resources, needed skill sets, and overall structure

The reason that having the ability to act as both a BA and a PM is professionally advantageous is because it makes you more versatile to your company. Speaking for myself as a manager, I always looked for people who could be used in multiple ways. The reason is that it made it easier for me to efficiently schedule and deploy my group. For example, if I had a small project that didn’t require a full time BA and a full time PM, it was great to have the flexibility to use one person on the project full time, rather than two people on the project half time.


Each job role in a software project has its natural rhythms; that is to say, there are busy times and there are slow times. For a PM, classically the busiest times are prior to a project’s actually beginning, when project plans are being formulated, resources are being identified, and funding is being finalized. Then, certainly the PM is busy throughout the project, but gets extremely busy again toward the end of the project to assure all the loose ends are finalized and deadlines are met. Classically for a Business Analyst, the busiest time is when the project begins because the BA is the one collecting, defining, and documenting the users’ requirements (For the Agile purists in the group, yes, I’m assuming a waterfall type methodology. Sorry, next time I’ll use an Agile type example). The BA analyst then continues to be busy during the knowledge transfer of the collected requirements to the programmers, testers, and trainers. Because the BA and the PM busy-times are somewhat different, there is value from a resource perspective to have the same person do both.

All this said, if you can do both, namely act as a BA and PM, this flexibility makes you desirable to hire, more flexible while employed, and less likely to lose your job during a layoff because you can perform multiple functions.

From a credential perspective and assuming you like this idea, if you are a PM by profession, work toward your PMP, it’s a great credential. If you are a BA, work toward a certification in Business Analysis. These certifications will make you more marketable in your primary chosen field. If you already have one of these certifications, work toward the other.

The idea behind having both of these certifications is twofold. First, they are great to have on your resume. Second, and more important in the long run, is that they help provide you with the information and practical knowledge to succeed in the workplace.

I would like to share this piece from my friend Mr Hassan on business analysis in the Pharm-Med industry


In the medical and pharmaceutical products analysis, whose response to the questions of Business Analyst is in the first line of priority?
“The requirement Analysis knowledge Area describes the tasks and techniques used by business analyst to analyze stated requirements in order to define the required capabilities of a potential solution that will fulfill stakeholders needs.” (BABOK v2.0)

Finding actual stakeholders needs is the responsibility of Business Analyst. The Business Analysis tools and techniques help a business analyst to find the real needs of stakeholders. Sometimes there is a difference between the desired needs of stakeholders and the real needs of them. This recognition is in itself a key and complex decision in the business analysis process and in the medical industry, it becomes even more complicated. This is due to the fact that the requirements of medical doctors and those of the patients are not the same and sometimes even contradictory. In the medical care business, patients are the customers and a group of stakeholders. But a big difference between “patients” and “customers” is, that patients can not choose the product on their own, but they have to use the product anyway. The medical doctors are the decision makers in this case and the patients must use the products prescribed/ordered by them. The medical doctors choose and order the product (medical device or pharmaceutical) based on their knowledge and the patients have to use them. In this case, the patient does not have any technical information about the product.
If a business analyst wants to work in Requirement analysis knowledge area for a medical device, which requirements are more important? Patients’ requirement or Medical doctors’ requirements? Business Analyst has to find the actual needs of patients and medical doctors at the same time because he is working on a unique product. A medical doctor needs an effective product for patients’ treatment and a low-cost treatment for his/her office. At the same time, the patient looks for an easy-to-use, cheap and effective product without any side effects. In “Prioritize requirements” task, business analyst is going to a decision process used to determine the relative importance of requirements. Based on the above information, a business analyst must prioritize the requirements of a medical business just like other businesses. The business analyst determines the requirements of patients and medical doctors one by one, and then compare these requirements. It is possible that this comparison shows that these requirements are not the same and probably contradictory.

For example, a good medical device that is the choice of a medical doctor has a high price, or the use of a good medical device that is preferred by a medical doctor may be painful and the patient refuses to use them. On the other hand, if the patient prefers a low price medical device with a long time treatment or a more user-friendly but less effective medical device, there is a difference between requirements of patients and medical doctors.

Now the question is:

In the medical and pharmaceutical products analysis, whose response to the
questions of Business Analyst is in the first line of priority?

Business Analysis Certification

The IIBA offers the prestigious Certified Business Analysis Asociate/Professional (CBAP,CCBA), a designation accomplished by candidates who
successfully demonstrate their business analysis expertise. As a candidate, you’ll need to detail your business analysis work experience,
and pass the CBAP exam. One of the most critical steps on your business analyst career path, certification can boost your salary.

Hello Akinjosh

I encourage you to go for formal training on Business Analysis.

Self study is an option but i do not think it is the best for you.

If you werent impressed with the OSconcepts guys,why dont you check the JK Michaels guys.

You need the training to qualify for exams registration.

You also need certified business analysts to stand as referee for you.

All these, i believe you will find in a formal training environment.

You may also get a job faster by networking with your fellow trainees

Keep your dreams alive

Cheers

@Akinjosh.

Good to know that you want to come into the Business Analysis world.

I will suggest you find out from the locally accredited business analysis education providers like JK Micahels,Osconcepts,....i cant remember other education providers right now.

They will answer all of your questions concerning formal training costs et al .I do not work with either of them.

Certification of Competency in Business AnalysisTM (CCBA®)

The Certification of Competency in Business AnalysisTM (CCBA®) designation is a professional certification for business analysis practitioners who want to be recognized for their expertise and skills by earning formal recognition. With at least 3750 hours of hands-on business analysis experience, they have developed essential BA skills.

CCBA® recipients are recognized for the investment they have already made in their business analysis careers, and include professionals working in the role of: Business analysis,Systems analysis,Requirements analysis or management,Process improvement , Consulting


Certified Business Analysis Professional CBAP

The Certified Business Analysis ProfessionalTM (CBAP®) designation is a professional certification for individuals with extensive business analysis experience. With at least 7500 hours of hands-on BA experience, CBAP® recipients are the elite, senior members of the BA community.


CBAP® recipients are experts in identifying the business needs of an organization in order to determine the best solutions.
You will want to consider the many professional benefits of earning the CBAP® certification if you have an advanced level of knowledge and experience and are working in any of the following roles:

Business analysis, Systems analysis,Requirements analysis or management,Process improvement,Consulting.

How Much Do Business Analysts Make?
Depending upon which business analyst career path you choose, you’re certain to benefit from a highly rewarding and lucrative career. To give you an idea of how profitable this field can be, take a look at these job titles and average salaries for a variety of business analyst jobs:

Job Title Average Salary

Executive Sales Representative---------------------------------- $160,000

Management Consulting Business Analyst-------------------------- $109,000

SAP -------------------------------------------------------- $101,000

Solutions Architect Sales Representative------------------------- $92,000

Senior Business Systems Analyst--------------------------------- $89,000

Systems Business Analyst ----------------------------------------$87,000

Senior Business Analyst------------------------------------------ $86,000

Executive --------------------------------------------------------$83,000

Business Systems Analyst------------------------------------------- $81,000

Business Intelligence Analyst----------------------------------- $80,000

Technical Business Analyst ----------------------------------------$79,000

Business Analyst ------------------------------------------------$76,000

Senior Credit Analyst ------------------------------------------------$65,000

Associate Analyst ------------------------------------------------$55,000

Administrative Analyst------------------------------------------ $53,000

In USD as of Nov 10, 2009, according to www.Indeed.com.

Business Analysis Career Path
Most IT jobs have a clear, specific job description and career path. However, the business analyst career path tends to vary, as do the descriptions from job to job. David Foote, president of Foote Partners LLC, an IT career research firm in New Canaan, Connecticut, explains the business analyst career path best. He says, "There are career tracks that zigzag back and forth between IT and business. Someone might start as a business analyst, then move into a project management job, then an IT management path, then go back to an innovation path ... then to process management, then move up a rung to process leadership or process ownership, and then go back over to management as manager of an IT line of business."

Today’s Business Analyst
The 21st century business analyst’s world is multifaceted. As a mediator, moderator, connector and ambassador, the business analyst must bring the business needs together with IT resources. Successful business analysts tend to be clear communicators, smooth facilitators, precise analyzers and team players. Plus, the ideal analyst has the versatility of various business functions, such as operations, finance, engineering, technology or architecture. Jay Michael, a business analyst for Colfax, agrees that the business analyst role is fuzzy at many companies. He says, "I usually describe what a BA does by telling people I am a bridge between business systems from the end user to functional implementation of technical solutions. But when you tell somebody that they look at you like ’OK, what do you really do?’"

What Does a Business Analyst Do?
As you explore the business analyst career path, you’ll need to clear up the confusion and learn about the many hats business analysts wear. From being a good communicator and data analyzer to possessing project management and technical skills, business analysts regularly use a variety of techniques. They are the bridge that fills in the gap between each department throughout every step of development. Modern Analyst identifies several characteristics that make up the role of a business analyst as follows:

The analyst works with the business to identify opportunities for improvement in business operations and processes
The analyst is involved in the design or modification of business systems or IT systems
The analyst interacts with the business stakeholders and subject matter experts in order to understand their problems and needs
The analyst gathers, documents, and analyzes business needs and requirements
The analyst solves business problems and, as needed, designs technical solutions
The analyst documents the functional and, sometimes, technical design of the system
The analyst interacts with system architects and developers to ensure the system is properly implemented
The analyst may help test the system and create system documentation and user manuals
Starting Your Career as a Business Analyst
Beginning business analysts need to have either a strong business background or extensive IT knowledge. With that, you can start to work as a business analyst with job responsibilities that include collecting, analyzing, communicating and documenting requirements, user-testing and so on. Entry-level jobs may include industry/domain expert, developer, and/or quality assurance. Within a few years you could choose to become a Subject Matter Expert (SME). This is the time to delve into the areas that interest you most and develop those areas that can help you progress into higher management positions.

Moving Up the Ladder
Once you have several years of experience in the industry, you will reach a pivotal turning point where you can choose the next step in your business analyst career. After three to five years, you can be positioned to move up into roles such as IT business analyst, senior/lead business analyst or product manager. The more experience you have as a business analyst, the more likely you are to be assigned larger and/or more complex projects. After eight to 10 years in various business analysis positions, you can advance to chief technology officer or work as a consultant. You can take the business analyst career path as far as you would like, progressing through management levels as far as your expertise, talents and desires take you.


How Much Do Business Analysts Make?

Welcome to the 'Business Analysis and Business Analyst in Nigeria' thread.I look forward to sharing all i know about business analysis in Nigeria with you.

What is business analysis?

Business Analysis is the set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and to recommend solutions to enable the organization to achieve its goals.

Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context, by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.


Business analysis is a research discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems. Solutions often include a systems development component, but may also consist of process improvement, organizational change or strategic planning and policy development. The person who carries out this task is called a business analyst or BA.

What is International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)?
International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is the independent non-profit professional association for the growing field of business analysis.Its goal is to create greater awareness of the BA profession by defining what is business analysis and working towards recognition of the value of the business analyst role. IIBA® can helps business do business better, to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace and enable your organization to succeed.

The goal of the IIBA® in having a well-defined body of knowledge is to set a globally recognized standard for the industry that delineates the tasks business analysts should be capable of carrying out. The IIBA® provides an internationally recognized certification, the Certified Business Analyst Professional™ (CBAP®). Candidates must take an exam that tests them on their knowledge of business analysis skills in general and the BABOK® in particular.

Business Analysis as a career

Take your time and read thru these pages https://www.nairaland.com/149807/sap

BAKAREAAT: i know that this person is talking from another world.Thank you very much i appreciate
Taiwo

Something is certainly wrong somewhere?

@wonlasewonimi and others

Let us forgive Bakareaat and move on.

He needs everyone here to share any opportunity that may help him get the much needed knowledge.

He is just one of the many out there seeking for real implementation experience.

I was once like him, advertising myself everywhere at the slightest opportunity before i got my first break.

I have met this guy (Bakareaat) in person,he is a nice guy.

You see my brother,SAP career is not easy,so sometimes i dont blame people when they over celebrate

I expected him (Bakareaat) to heed the advise of people and take down the certificate but .......

I belong to a BlackBerry SAP Africa group so if you are interested drop your PIN to get an invite from the group admin.

They share alot of Job adverts there.

Cheers

Road Ahead for SAP Consultants : 2013

For the last few years, I have tried to offer my views on what is the road ahead for SAP consultants in the next year. All the past episodes have been on SCN, but SCN is not letting me log on to the site today. So I am posting it here this time on my personal blog. My 2012 predictions can be found
here .

Usual disclaimers apply – these are just my personal opinions, and not those of my employer. And of course none of this is based on any scientific study – just my observations dealing with my clients, fellow consultants and many friends in SAP ecosystem.

1. BW on HANA : 2013 will be the year of BW on HANA. The groundwork has been done perfectly well in 2012. This should be good for many consultants – BW, BOBJ, Basis etc to ride the wave. If you are not up to speed on 7.3 version of BW, you might want to get spun up on that. This should also have a positive effect in increasing the demand for BPC 10 upgrades for BPC on HANA.

2. Combo innovations : [/b]None of the newer stuff from SAP might give full business value to customers when they stand alone. But they have awesome potential when used in combination. There aren’t a lot of consultants out there who can articulate and implement combination of new technologies ( say HANA and CEP, BPC and Mobility etc) to solve existing problems in completely new ways.

3. [b]Upgrades : Many customers have not made use of cool new functionality offered by Enhancement packs. But I do know first hand – especially from SAPPHIRE and TECHED conversations with customers, that several of them want to start using them in 2013. This should be good not just for technical experts – but also for functional experts whose knowledge is needed to pick what functionality needs to be switched on.

4. Visual Intelligence : This needs me to go out on a limb – but everyone whom I have shown the tool has liked it. It is much more user friendly than most other SAP reporting tools. I have a strong hunch that 2013 will see a lot of traction in the market.

5. SuccessFactors + SAP HR : I understand that the integration needs more work – but there is tremendous interest from On premises SAP HR customers to start using SFSF. SAP definitely is doing the right thing in sales and marketing already in 2012 – and customers should be able to start seeing work in this area in 2013.

6. Automated Testing : I have lost count of how many customers have asked me about automated testing for SAP solutions. If you are an expert in testing, 2013 might be a great year for you. Whether it is done using SAP tools, or will third party tools win the race remains to be seen, especially when it comes to automated testing of interfaces.

7. Enterprise Information Management : Data continues to be vitally important at SAP shops. I expect MDG and Data services to be in hot demand in 2013, probably followed by MDM. The big issue I see is that very few consultants have the ability to explain the cost of bad data to business stakeholders. Just profiling data and saying 70% of customer data is bad is not helpful. If you can then use that analysis and say ” 23% of your shipments will be returned” , will get some one’s attention in a hurry.
That is it this time – let me know what you think. And hope everyone had a great thanks giving

http://andvijaysays./2012/11/22/road-ahead-for-sap-consultants-2013/


Can we come up with ten hot SAP skills for Nigeria and Africa?

alutaa: Oga Nnaiah, u don reach here again?

There are a lot of Nigerians that are into SAP BW / BI.

There are many tools out there for DATA analyst to use. You just have to find the one suitable for you to perform your job.

For me, i use SAP Business Object, SQL business suite and Excel on my job. But, i will have to say that no matter the tools you use, Microsoft excel is still one of the most powerful and fundamental tools out there for any data analyst.

If you are interested in big data, SAP is providing a 20 days trial to their HANA and Sybase tools

Oga Alutaa u sef come hia lol.

I am hoping to contribute my own quota to the discussion from the SAP perspective.

lets see how it goes here.

woodcook: please is there any SAP BI here?

Yes sir/ma

Why you should register and participate in the Webinar with Mico Yuk

By registering and participating, you are taking the first step towards improving yourself and your SAP career.

It is time to grow and gain a better position in your SAP Career through career networking. When you network, you give and you receive.

Gaining contacts is a huge benefit of networking. You are sure to make great new career contacts and connections.

Improving your reputation is a benefit of networking.

If you start networking a lot and become good at it, you might get a reputation for being a person people

want to talk to and get to know. Again, this will allow you to grow.

Job seekers can increase their chances of getting these hidden jobs by getting recommendations and referrals from associates,

friends of employers as well as company employees, vendors or some other company-associated contacts.

These are the kind people you will meet in the course of the webinar

Finding support is a benefit of networking. A good reputation leads to support.

Getting people to be on your side is like word of mouth advertising.

These people will help spread good information about who you are and what you do.

Again this is the information you need to make it happen


Date: Thursday November 8, 2012

Time: 02:00:00 p.m - 4pm:00:00

Venue: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/568518792

Agenda: Starting as an SAP Consultant from ground zero

Why you should register and participate in the Webinar with Mico Yuk

By registering and participating, you are taking the first step towards improving yourself and your SAP career.

It is time to grow and gain a better position in your SAP Career through career networking. When you network, you give and you receive.

Gaining contacts is a huge benefit of networking. You are sure to make great new career contacts and connections.

Improving your reputation is a benefit of networking.

If you start networking a lot and become good at it, you might get a reputation for being a person people

want to talk to and get to know. Again, this will allow you to grow.

Job seekers can increase their chances of getting these hidden jobs by getting recommendations and referrals from associates,

friends of employers as well as company employees, vendors or some other company-associated contacts.

These are the kind people you will meet in the course of the webinar

Finding support is a benefit of networking. A good reputation leads to support.

Getting people to be on your side is like word of mouth advertising.

These people will help spread good information about who you are and what you do.

Again this is the information you need to make it happen


Date: Thursday November 8, 2012

Time: 02:00:00 p.m - 4pm:00:00

Venue: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/568518792

Agenda: Starting as an SAP Consultant from ground zero

Yes of course you can be a member of the BB forum.send your Linkedin profile public link and your BB Pin to ngsapmasterdata@gmail.com. I am sure you will be added as soon as he gets your mail

Thanks

@KoKoA
Yes of course you can be a member of the BB forum.send your Linkedin profile public link and your BB Pin to ngsapmasterdata@gmail.com. I am sure you will be added as soon as he gets your mail

Thanks

@ gistme24 Congratulations bro. Welcome to the family.Good to know that you have registered.

Alot of people are actually registering for this webinar, i am impressed.

A little info on SAP Africa BB Forum


SAP Africa BB Forum is a group of SAP consultants on Blackberry.

This Blackberry group started off with few SAP friends mostly Nigerians and Nairalanders

and today has grown to three big groups of thirty members in each group.

The group has brought together experienced Nigerian SAP consultants in Nigeria and in the diaspora

I always have real-time conversation with SAP friends and colleagues in several different locations across countries.

The group has also been a good place for career networking.

I do receive an unlimited number of SAP job alerts for free.

I Invited as many consultants as i could to the group and they were also able to invite others to join the group

This group has made my BlackBerry an asset else i would have moved on to other brands.

How can i join this group?

SAP Africa BB Forum?

SAP Africa BB Forum is a group of SAP consultants on Blackberry.

This Blackberry group started off with few SAP friends mostly Nigerians and Nairalanders

and today has grown to three big groups of thirty members in each group.

The group has brought together experienced Nigerian SAP consultants in Nigeria and in the diaspora

I always have real-time conversation with SAP friends and colleagues in several different locations across countries.

The group has also been a good place for career networking.

I do receive an unlimited number of SAP job alerts for free.

I Invited as many consultants as i could to the group and they were also able to invite others to join the group

This group has made my BlackBerry an asset else i would have moved on to other brands.

How can i join this group?

You are invited to the SAP Africa BB Forum webinar with Mico Yuk

Date: Thursday November 8, 2012

Time: 02:00:00 p.m - 4pm:00:00

Venue: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/568518792

Agenda: Starting as an SAP Consultant... from ground zero- As a highly prized and celebrated SAP consultant and mentor,
members of the forum request that Mico shares her success stories to encourage the members and guide them in becoming
the next SAP Community superstars.

Who is Mico Yuk?
Mico Yuk is the Founder of the popular weblog, Everything Xcelsius and ‘The Xcelsius Gurus Network’.A computer engineer by qualification,

she has been designing and implementing enterprise dashboards for major corporate clients since 2006 and is considered to be one of the

top Xcelsius dashboard developers in the world. She has implemented executive dashboards for SAP BusinessObjects Global Services clients

such as Allstate, Pfizer, Aviva Canada, McKesson, Ryder Logistics, the US Airforce, Medtronics, and Schering Plough.

Her work has not only been featured on the SAP BusinessObjects main Xcelsius website, but the Xcelsius Gurus’ LinkedIn group and Twitter

account were also used and featured on the SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius home page due its growing popularity. Her most recent accomplishments

include, Hosting the Xcelsius Receptionat the 2010 SAP BusinessObjects User Conference, in Orlando, FL, winning the 1st Reportapalooza,

Dashboards by Request Challenge, being featured on a BOC CommunityPROFILE, being nominated as a 2010 SAP Mentor, conducting the 2008 #1 webinar

for the SAP BusinessObjects network alongside fellow Xcelsius Guru, Ryan Goodman, presenting at the GBN 2009 conference in Dallas to a full crowd,

and hosting one of GBN 2009’s most successful SAP sponsored social event for the Xcelsius community.

You are invited to the SAP Africa BB Forum webinar with Mico Yuk

Date: Thursday November 8, 2012

Time: 02:00:00 p.m - 4pm:00:00

Venue: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/568518792

Agenda: Starting as an SAP Consultant... from ground zero- As a highly prized and celebrated SAP consultant and mentor,
members of the forum request that Mico shares her success stories to encourage the members and guide them in becoming
the next SAP Community superstars.

Who is Mico Yuk?



Mico Yuk is the Founder of the popular weblog, Everything Xcelsius and ‘The Xcelsius Gurus Network’.
A computer engineer by qualification, she has been designing and implementing enterprise dashboards
for major corporate clients since 2006 and is considered to be one of the top Xcelsius dashboard
developers in the world. She has implemented executive dashboards for SAP BusinessObjects Global
Services clients such as Allstate, Pfizer, Aviva Canada, McKesson, Ryder Logistics, the US Airforce,
Medtronics, and Schering Plough.
Her work has not only been featured on the SAP BusinessObjects main Xcelsius website, but the Xcelsius
Gurus’ LinkedIn group and Twitter account were also used and featured on the SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius
home page due its growing popularity. Her most recent accomplishments include, Hosting the Xcelsius
Receptionat the 2010 SAP BusinessObjects User Conference, in Orlando, FL, winning the 1st Reportapalooza,
Dashboards by Request Challenge, being featured on a BOC CommunityPROFILE, being nominated as a 2010 SAP Mentor,
conducting the 2008 #1 webinar for the SAP BusinessObjects network alongside fellow Xcelsius Guru, Ryan Goodman,
presenting at the GBN 2009 conference in Dallas to a full crowd, and hosting one of GBN 2009’s most successful
SAP sponsored social event for the Xcelsius community.

This is a test for my friend Taiwo and i seriously pray he passes it.


Lets watch

.

Avoiding SAP Skills Commoditization - Keys to Differentiating Your Skills

Avoiding skills commoditization is a constant challenge for most white collar professionals, and the SAP pro is no exception. Much of the work on JonERP.com can be seen as a guidebook for differentiation in a crowded SAP skills marketplace. This is not just an issue for junior consultants anymore. Even some senior consultants (15 years plus) are calling me to let me know that they are struggling to maintain the rates they need to continue as independents.

Of course, becoming a commodity is a matter of degrees. All of us have areas within our skills that are trending and areas where the demand for that skill is leveling off. And rates for commoditized skills don't usually disappear; they just gradually level off. But what is especially interesting for SAP professionals is how complicated the mission of differentiation has become. It's less and less a simple supply and demand issue for one particular skill. It's about having a stable core of skills and several emerging skills, but it's also about a mindset change.

It's about being in the cloud and understanding on-demand trends, it's about business intelligence and knowing how to bring actionable information to light on transactional systems, it's about being able to move across the aisle and work with techno-functional teams. It's about "greening your skills" to help companies go beyond compliance into leaner models of production. It's about agility of role (including agile development and lean know-how), but most importantly, being able to step out of the cubicle and help solve business problems. It's about being on the edge of company interaction where customers and partners live. That also means awareness of emerging UI technologies and mobile interfaces.

For that reason, it's hard to break down one key technical skill and hone in on the level of pure demand. SAP skills have become a core wrapped in concentric "skills layers" of soft skills, BPX/process skills, consulting skills, and edge trends. Focus is more important than ever, but only when that focus is networked with relevant touch points throughout the enterprise. And now more than ever, community involvement plays a key role in sustaining skills through self-education. SAP expertise is now less about solo study and more and about knowing how to plug into a community of peers.

It goes without saying that in this new era of skills commoditization, where skills are easily sourced on projects from global locations, that consulting skills are important no matter where you sit in the enterprise. Even full time, in house SAP staff need to understand the consultants mindset, and think of themselves as those who understand their companies' business model and use SAP to solve pressing business problems and ideally to open up new markets. And yes, it is about social networking, with the caveat that you must grasp the difference between organically expanding influence and chasing popularity. Paradoxically, expanding your social influence is about leaving the herd and creating your own channel and distinct perspective.

With that said, in no particular order, here are some key tactics for skills differentiation. I hope they help you stay one step ahead of commoditization. Not all of them will be appropriate for you so pick and choose. Most of them are covered in greater detail in articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on this site.

1. Even virtuosos must be able to work in a team context. The era of the "SAP mercenary" who can move as a hired gun from project to project at "obscene" rates is over. Being a so-called "virtuoso" in a particular area of SAP can help you stand out in the market, but only if you can function well in a team goal context.

2. Pursue team lead and higher management roles. In particular, the senior hands-on team lead who still has hands in the technology but who can push a team forward can stand out.

3. Aspire to relevant "BPX-flavored" roles like the Enterprise Architect and Solution Architect on the technical side of SAP and the Business Process Expert roles on the functional side. These can be senior roles that offer a different career track for those who want to be in cutting edge project roles where skills are at a premium without moving into the classic management ladder climbing. Adding "BPX flavored" skills to your current role, where it is agile development/Scrum techniques or process modeling and end-to-end process know-how, can also have an impact. Many times there are free or open source tools that can launch a team into a creative mode in these areas, even when management buy-in is sluggish.

4. Pursue the "hardest" of the soft skills. Being able to pull business requirements out of users who aren't as familiar with SAP is one such skill. Soft skills are gaining more and more traction in SAP as we realize it's not only about being someone who is easy to approach and get advice from. Soft skills can encompass SAP project methodologies, cultural change management, and in particular, the ASAP methodology with BPM enhancements (ASAP 7.0).

5. Head into new technical areas, ideally those that extend logically from your core skills. Chasing hot areas doesn't work, but ensuring you are on the latest versions and platform extensions for your area matters.

6. Solve business problems. Know how to quantify how you have saved your company money or built new revenue streams, and add this quantified information to all resumes and online profiles such as LinkedIn. Being able to quantify your impact and articulate that (even if it is team impact more than individual impact) is becoming a key SAP career skills.

7. Understand end-to-end business scenarios in an industry-specific context. Knowing your industry across multiple projects and combining a skills focus with a process-based and workflow-driven understanding of how you fit into your company (or client's) business strategy is vital.

8. Move to the "edge of the enterprise" and excel in roles that require extensive interaction, collaboration, and requirements gathering with customers and partners. Be the go-to person who knows the social and business tools that enable that collaboration.

9. Use the "power of pull" to pull in filtered SAP information in your focus area on a regular basis. Apply that information into your project of continual self-education. People are spending too much time worrying about pushing their agenda in a broadcasting sense and not enough time "listening" and developing a context for their work through the powers of online pull.

10. Before going "social," identify the areas in SAP you are truly passionate about and develop ways of sharing content pertaining to that area (blogs, videos, workshops, free open source programs).

11. If you "go social" to build your community network online, do it with a purpose. Don't chase popularity, focus on influence through relationship building with peers that push you into the most interesting topics and new areas to explore. No mindless retweeting and reblogging and adding to the noise. Average content doesn't stand out anymore, exceptional content does. That content should stem from areas of your expertise where your passion for the topic shines through. "Social" really only works if you are social with a purpose that drives your involvement across online communities, whether it's SCN or LinkedIn or Twitter or an online user group. "Personal branding" should not be an obessive end goal but an organic byproduct of purposeful online community building and content sharing.

12. Consider "productizing" your knowledge into bonafide SAP solutions, whether books, software programs, or starting a services firm that uses intellectual property (like training manuals) to differentiate. Decide whether to sell or give away such content on a case by case basis. Giving away content tends to build market and brand awareness, selling products is best done in the context where there is already a "free" community foundation of your work in place.

13. In the midst of economic insecurity, clinging to a job doesn't work. What works better is taking on bold projects that re-inspire our courage creativity, often with collaborators (like my work with the Certification Five), inside and outside of the workplace. Use those projects to build your industry reputation beyond company walls, making you less dependent on one employer.

14. Build your online presence in a manageable way over time, so that you are rarely put in a position to post "I'm available" on your LinkedIn profile. If you interact in a consistent way and help others by giving our free information of value, offers should come to you and you can take pro-active steps rather than putting up a "I need work" sign.

15. Adopt the "share the value" mindset of the "free" Internet era. That means: don't hoard all your intellectual property. Share some of it freely, don't offer only paywall teasers and frustrating partial solutions. Offer a full solution to give companies a chance to truly gain a piece of value from you. When you do so, they'll be back for more.

16. Don't shrink at the sight of adversity - adversity is everywhere right now. Use adversity to hone your business model and dispassionately evaluate your approach by showing you what is not working and make adjustments.

17. Consider lifestyle adjustments to make costs of living more compatible with virtual consulting. Between offshore trends, remote consulting, and emerging on demand consulting models, there are more and more opportunities to work from home or from a local center. Sometimes this work is not cutting edge, other times, in the case of SaaS consulting (such as Business ByDesign) it will be. Often it means managing multiple clients, sometimes at competitive rates, but often, remote consulting rates are lower. A streamlined lifestyle can go a long way towards making the new economics of consulting manageable and freeing up time and resources for essential skills transitions.

http://www.jonerp.com/content/view/369/46/

FAQ: Different Career Paths in SAP

Posted by Thomas Dulaney in Career Center on Jul 18, 2012 11:49:10 PM

Folks new to SAP often focus on one career path: SAP consultant working for a top tier consulting company. While this is a popular choice, it is by no means the only choice. There are

many ways to categorize the careers in the SAP field, so I'm going to look at the totality of SAP careers through several different filters in an effort to give you a completely

developed picture. These filters are subjective and I'm open to including any that I've missed. Just let me know in the comments!

In each section, I'll break down the categories and try to give the characteristics of each. Not pros and cons, per se, becuase what one person sees as an advantage could be a

disadvantage for someone else. Honestly, this blog should probably be split into several blogs, so I apologize for the length. Here goes:

Specialties: Functional vs. BI vs. Technical (Development) vs. Technical (Basis) vs. Project Management vs. Testing vs. Training

Functional Also known as: configurer, configurator
Specialize in the business processes (Financial, Controlling, Human Resources, Materials Management, Production Planning, etc)
Background: business undergraduate and/or MBA degrees. Additional certifications (CPA, CPIM, etc) are also helpful.
Job duties: conduct workshops to gather requirements, present options, assist in the decision making process, then translate business decisions into SAP configuration. Functional specialists also write functional specifications and design rationales.
Required skills: good social skills, strong written and oral skills, good with public speaking, strong knowledge of functional processes

BI
Also known as: data modeler, reporting specialist
Specialize in converting raw data into reports, dashboards, and graphics for the folks who will analyze the data and make decisions.
Background: business undergraduate and/or MBA degrees. Technical classes in data modelling are helpful. Programming experience can also be a plus.
Job duties: Interview request owner for requirements, translate functional requirements into technical requirements, use various tools to generate reports, dashboards, or other summaries.
Required skills: strong written skills, analytic mind

Technical (Development)
Also known as: developer, ABAPer, "tools" consultant (haven't heard this last one outside of SAP America though), java developer
Use programming to fill gaps in the business process. Create Workflow, Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements, and Forms (WRICEF)
Background:Business undergraduate or computer science undergraduate, programming classes or experience required.
Job duties: Translate functional specifications into technical specifications. Translate technical specifications into code.
Required skills: strong analytical skills, programming experience
Note: Conversion is a huge part of implementations and typically the conversion function does continue to some degree post go-live. Often conversion is large enough to be considered separately from the rest of development during implementations.

Technical (Basis) Also known as: Basis, Netweaver System Administrator, SAP Admin
Administer SAP systems: installation, infrastructure design, backup & recovery, high availability, networking, etc
Background: undergraduate degree. Operating System and/or Database certifications helpful
Job duties: Gather technical requirements, present options, assist in the decision making process, then translate technical business decisions into SAP infrastructure.
Required skills: Strong written and oral skills, strong analytical/troubleshooting skills, ability to work under pressure

Technical (Security) Also known as: Security, Information Assurance specialist
Design security, create and administer users
Background: undergraduate degree. Experience with OS/DB user administration helpful.
Job duties: Gather security requirements, design segregation of duties strategy, then translate security decisions into SAP security configuration.
Required skills: good interview skills (to interview employees and determine requirements), strong written and oral skills

Project Management Also known as: PM, Team Lead
Manage scope, cost, schedule, risk, quality, resources, and communications.
Background: business undergraduate and/or MBA degrees. Often start as Functional. PMI or other Project Management certification helpful.
Job duties: Manage scope, cost, schedule, risk, quality, resources, and communications.Basically, attend a ridiculous number of meetings and do whatever it takes to keep the project moving forward on schedule and on budget at the required quality.
Required skills: Excellent social and negotiation skills, strong written and oral skills, good with public speaking, strong knowledge of project management theory and practice

Testing Also known as: testers, Quality Control
Test the processes either in an automated or manual fashion. Report the results to project management. Coordinate issue resolution with necessary configurers, developers, etc
Background: undergraduate
Job duties: Organize testing, conduct testing, report test results, follow up on test resolution.
Required skills: strong written and oral skills, strong detail orientation

Training Also known as: trainer, Organizational Change Management
Responsible for creating end user training materials and delivering training prior to go-live
Background: business undergraduate and/or MBA degrees. Additional certifications (CPA, CPIM, etc) are also helpful.
Job duties: Work with functionals to understand processes as configured and create training materials, stage data and exercieses, conduct training
Required skills: Excellent public speaking/training skills, very strong written and oral skills

Implementation vs. Support
Implementation
Implementations involve gathering requirements and implementing those requirements.Folks in implementations deal with massive change to an organization.
Stress level is high, especially near go-live.
Implementations often require work at nights and on weekends. Frequently implementations take place on a 4/10 work week, meaning Monday through Thursday, 10 hours per day but Friday is off.
Consultants and internal company personnel work together to determine requirements and implement changes. All of the specialties from the first section are typically present.

Support "Business as usual", Production Support
Limited change, usually modifications to existing processes. Support does involve change, however, as change requests are made and approved.Since the system is live, production problems have extremely high status.
Support personnel tend to work more normal business hours (exception, Basis folks typically work when others don't, so weekend, night, and holiday work hours should be expected for Basis personnel)
Internal personnel only for the most part. Sometimes spot consultants are brought in for specific issues, but in general all support is handled in-house.
All of the specialties from the first section are typically present, but sometimes greatly reduced as compared to implementation (for example, project management team, testing, and training team might be much smaller post-golive)

Consulting vs. In-house/contractors
Consulting
Employment Status: Consultants are not employees of the company implementing SAP. They are brought in for their expertise, both SAP and non-SAP expertise.
Compensation: Base Salary is typically about the same, perhaps a bit higher than in-house, but consultants typically receive bonuses which brings overall compensation higher than in-house. (Note: this is true in the United States. I have seen some data that indicates that consultants in other countries actually make less money than in-house counterparts. I've not been able to make much sense of this data.)

Home-life: high degree of travel. Typically away from home 4 to 5 days per week. Travel expenses are typically reimbursed and so consultants typically eat well and get to live perhaps a higher lifestyle than in-house counterparts. Travel can be difficult for family, however, and divorce rates are typically higher for consultants than for in-house counterparts.
Professional Respect: High degree of respect is typical from company management. If a consultant and an in-house employee disagree, often management will side with the consultant. Projects can be more easily be "sold" to management by consultants (especially consulting partners). Consultants with equivalent skills and job responsibilities often have higher reach into the implementing company.

Type of work: Consultants typically are involved only in implementations. This can be great if you primarily enjoy design work. It can be frustrating if you like to see the progression and "perfection" of a system over time. No "ownership" of the system long term.
Career progression: Consultants typically have to become project managers and salesmen in order to make partner in a stereotypical consulting organization. Early career skills (functional, technical, etc) often don't relate to the skills which enable success in late career (project management, salesmanship). Consultants *can* specialize and stay in their specialty but compensation eventually stalls. Consultants who try and miss partner can be frustrated for long periods of time or even be forced out of their consulting firm (up or out). Making partner can actually increase work load and stress and is sometimes seen as a mixed blessing.

Requirements to start: Generally consulting companies requires at least one if not two or three complete implementations before they'll hire someone, although some companies recruit the "best and the brightest" directly from undergraduate and MBA programs.

In-house
Employment Status: In-house folks are typically employees of the company implementing SAP, although I include contractors as in house as well. Contractors are hired to conduct long-term support of a system and are typically treated similar to employees.

Compensation: In general, overall compensation is lower for in-house employees and contractors as compared to consultants, but see comment in the consulting section.

Home life: Typically require little to no travel. Working hours will match those of consultants (but won't get consultant type compensation) during the implementation but will return to "normal" post go-live for long term support. In-house employees and contractors typically have "normal" home-lives, which is generally easier for those with children.

Professional Respect: At times, in-house employees struggle for respect of management. If a consultant and an in-house employee disagree, often management will side with the consultant. Projects can be more easily be "sold" to management by consultants.

Type of work: Employees/contractors do both implementation and long term support of system post go-live.

Career progression: In-house employees have the opportunity to advance within the company to become management and senior management over time. Contractors are barred from this type of progression unless they become employees. Contractors typically have one job and don't change over long periods of time. In-house employees who miss key promotions can be frustrated for long periods of time. Employees also have the option of staying in one job for along period of time but at the cost of career and salary stagnation.

Requirements to start: Generally companies draw from in-house non-SAP support staff to hire SAP support staff although they do also hire experienced folks from outside. To start from an inside position, you'll generally have worked for the company for a few years as an end user or in some related capacity. To start from outside, companies will expect you to have implemented SAP either as a consultant or as in-house employee at another company. Companies generally do not recruit from undergraduate or MBA programs directly into their support organization.

Working for a Consulting Company vs. being an Independent Consultant
Working for a Consulting Company
Somewhat protected from economic downturns, able to collect paycheck while "on the bench"/"on the beach" (in between assignments)
Independents argue that consulting companies have a history of cutting folks loose the minute the market gets tight. My observation is that top tier companies will hold on to consultants for 6 months to a year where smaller companies have less ability/inclination to hold on to consultants for that long when times are tight. Your mileage may vary on this one.
Independents argue that higher compensation of being independent allows you to ride out the patches in between assignments as easily as if a company were paying you to be on the bench. Your ability to budget for these downtimes makes the difference here.

Go where you're told, when you're told.
Less responsibility to get yourself busy, but less ability to affect type and duration of assignments.More likely to end up at a customer as a bad fit if management doesn't know your skill set or is incompetent. It's possible to get "pigeonholed" into the same type of assignment over and over.

Since "beach/bench" time effectively kills your bonus, some view the inability find your own work extremely frustrating.
Paid vacation and benefits
Company pays for training
Stuck with whatever training/equipment the company chooses to provide.
Independent Consultant


FREEDOM. Free to choose when to work and for whom to work and rate of compensation.
Requires more diligence with money.
Vacation, sick and training time directly affects the bottom line and can encourage some to limit those times.
Cost of insurance/benefits are higher.
Compensation can be much higher since there is no company to skim profit off the top.
Since number of hours worked directly affects compensation, the temptation to work far more than the industry average 2000 hours per year by taking on multiple clients or just putting in long hours for a single client can be irresistible.
Responsible for your own equipment.

Training is a double whammy. You have to pay to attend and you lose money because you're not billing a customer.
Requires more time to deal with paperwork for invoicing and expenses.
Different customers can be better or worse at paying in a timely fashion.


There are more points to be made under each of the categories, but this should be enough to get a discussion going. All combinations here are possible. For example, some companies have a new functionality task groups so you can be an in-house functional person dedicated to new implementations. The great majority of in-house folks do post-go-live support and the vast majority of consultants concentrate on new implementation, but there are no hard and fast rules.


Please ask for clarification if I've muddled anything or bring up points I've missed/covered badly.

Best regards,
--Tom
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