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(Maj, 1999)

About Consultants and how to get a good Co-operation
Critical succes factors in direct-mail campaigns
Using ABAP/4 Query in the SAP HR-module

About Consultants and how to get a good Co-operation Tilbage

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A Company's success lies in the support for its customers and it is this which keeps the company always competitive. Due to this heavy pressure it happens that it cannot always achieve this target in all departments and therefore is looking for additional external support.

Reasons for the employment of external consultants

The reasons for the employment of external consultants in the IT buisness are multivarious. Consultants are mainly sought in the following situations:

Lack of specific know-how

Lack of time

Support in peak seasons

To point out other efficient solutions

To provide motivation, ideas and new impulses

Expectations of a Consultant

To achieve a productive and satisfactory engagement of a consultant the client has to provide clear requirements. Beside these individual requirements - which differ from client to client - the consultant has to meet with the following qualitites:

The consultant must be able to listen

The consultant must be able to ask the right questions

The consultant must be open-minded and flexible

These are qualities in addition to the technical skills. For the satisfactory carrying out of a project the above mentioned qualities are as important as the professional experience.

Expectations and Co-operation

What do we expect from a consultant? Exaggerated expectations will end in most cases in disappointment - for both parties. Consultants are neither wizards nor machines. Yes, they are flexible, but nevertheless they also need some time to familiarise with the new company and to occupy themselves with the new project.

Only when all these requirements have been fulfilled can the specific consultant be searched for and selected.

Information, information, information

Information is the most important raw material. Before the consultant starts, the team he will be working with must be briefed about the exact function of his engagement. In this way internal rumours can be avoided as well as opposition to the external craft, which in the end can only mean an enhancement to the success of the project.

In order to optimize the information flow to the consultant, the company has not only to provide the time for this, it must also be willing to pass on all relevant information to the consultant.

It is an important decision to choose the right partner. Choose the one you can trust. Choose us.

Critical succes factors in direct-mail campaigns Tilbage

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I have earlier (Newsletter No. 2, November 1997) written a article on direct-mail campaigns. That article concentrated on the process of making direct-mail and having it sent to the customers.
This article concerns another aspect of the direct-mail campaign: What is the next step to take into consideration?

Well prepared for the coupon return?

If there is a reply coupon included, the company must make it clear what to do with the reply coupons when they are returned to the company. There must be enough staff to receive, sort and register the answers. It would be a bad idea to run a direct-mail campaign in a period where the staff are on vacation, on courses or other planned absence. It might even be necessary to employ contemporary staff and teach them how to handle the reply coupons.

If the company sells goods, it must ensure that there is enough in stock, and that it is capable of handling it sufficiently quickly to serve the customers in a professinal way.

Direct-mailing to establish a good relationship

In the financial sector, the reply coupon is probably only the beginning of a correspondence between the company and the customer in a new area. Here it is of extreme importance to show the customer that the company is reliable. That means that you have to register all the answers correctly in such a manner that the customer in the following correspondence can see that his replies are correctly treated.

If it is evident from the start that there has to be a certain amount of letters between the customer and the company, you should have as few questions on the first reply coupon as possible to avoid scaring the customers. Leave them to the second letter and reply.

Same care for all replies

In case the company is sending direct-mails regularly to its customers, it should be prepared for situations where the customers return reply coupons from earlier campaigns instead of the latest one. These replies should be handled with the same care as if they were the latest ones, as this is a way of staying in close contact with the customer. In other words, there must be a strategy of handling "old" replies.

As you can see from the above, the first direct-mail is in fact the easiest part of a direct-mail campaign. The most important part of it is to have considered all the various aspects of the following correspondence in order to establish a good relationship between the customer and the company.

Although direct-mails is a marketing process it has to be done in close co-operation with the IT department.
It should be realised that this is an interactive process where the wishes and possibilities have to meet.

Using ABAP/4 Query in the SAP HR-module Tilbage

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The purpose of this article is a description of the use of ABAP/4 Query in connection with SAP R/3 HR-module.

The article contains three main areas:

Extension of the databases

Creation of subject-areas

Creation of Queries, including integration to MS Excel

1. EXTENSION OF THE DATABASES

ABAP/4 Query is based on subject-areas. These subject-areas are generated with a point of departure in a database. Two databases are used for the HR-area, the PN P containing personnel-administrative-data, for example default information, and PC H containing personnel-development-data, for example organisation-units and qualifications. By generating subject-areas, the ABAP/4 Query as a standard includes only code/keyfields in the underlying tables.

The IMG

The definition of the text fields is done by using the following path in the IMG:

Personnel-administration and -settling ==> Personnel-administration ==>Reporting ==>HR-Query ==>Allocate extra table fields to a subject-area ==>

1. Additional fields and table fields HR Query

2. Table accesses for HR Query

Additional fields and table fields HR Query

This area is used to create a link between the required field and the infotype it appears in. Besides that, the kind of extra field is indicated, which is 'T' when it concerns table fields, 'F' when it is fields with a module-call. Applications-area is 'P' when it concerns default information, 'Z' by time-control and 'H' when it concerns data from HR planning. The names of the text fields are found by marking the field on the infotypes dynpro, press help/F1 and ask for technical info.

Table accesses for HR Query

This area is used to define how the required text field is identified in a underlying table. The code/key fields first have to be identified in the table containing the text field. This is done by using transaction SM31 and look-up in the required table. After that an entry for each code field is established with definition of the parameter that is required for the concerned look-up (i.e., it is defined how the code fields are valued).

The greater part of the tables will have a code field named SPRAS or SPRSL, which gives the language-key. The parameter for SPRAS or SPRLS will normally be SY-LANGU, i.e. the system language. The parameters of the other code/key fields are to be found in the infotypes dynpro as the fieldname on the field, which releases the text field.

Observations

A text field can only be attached to one infotype, even though the same field can come up in more infotypes.

The described method can only be used to create fields that exist in ordinary tables of the type T**** and NOT to fields which comes from structures of the type Q****. If you wish to use fields from structures it is necessary to identify the table which forms the basis of the structure and attach the text field from this table. This can be done by using the Data Dictionary and search for where the data-element that appears in the structure is used elsewhere. It can be a possibility to use SE16 to examine the structure of the tables where the data-element appears.

2. CREATION OF SUBJECT-AREAS

The subject-areas can be generated from both the IMG and directly from the system. Using the IMG, you use the same path as by extension of the databases. "Maintain subject-area" appears on the same line as "Allocate extra table fields to a subject-area". If you choose Info-systems, Ad Hoc-Report, ABAP/4 Query, Sorroundings and Functional Areas.

By creation of new subject-areas, the area has to be named and described. After that you choose which database the subject-area has to be based on. The PN P database contains HR default information, while the PC H database contains HR planning-data. Only one database can be chosen. Afte

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