Tag: SAP

SAP FICO Consultant : Job Description

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 27th February 2020
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Use our template to create a compelling and comprehensive SAP FICO Consultant job description to attract top talent.

The SAP FICO consultant is responsible for developing and implementing SAP-based ERP solutions, focusing on the finance and controlling areas. They work closely with the client’s finance team to analyze and design SAP FI/CO solutions, perform testing and ensure the stability of the solution.

The SAP FICO module is one of the most widely used SAP modules and includes SAP FICO configuration and usage. Therefore, aspiring SAP FICO consultants should have a strong foundation in all aspects of the SAP FICO module to succeed in their role.

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What is SAP FICO?

SAP FICO is a functional component of SAP ERP, used in many large companies to generate and manage financial statements. It is used for reporting, but also for analysis for decision-making. Explore the role of the SAP FICO Consultant

Learn more about SAP careers from this SAP project management expert. You might also want to explore the role of the Salesforce Consultant

Above all, we are talking about two modules: SAP FI (Financial Accounting) for the Finance part and SAP CO (Controlling) for the Management control part:

The SAP FI module allows companies to generate financial statements such as balance sheets or profit and loss reports. It is itself made up of secondary modules dedicated to specific accounting processes: Customer Accounting (FI-AR), Fixed Asset Accounting (FI-AA), General Ledger (FI-GL)…
The SAP CO module manages the planning, reporting and supervision of operational costs. A determining module to improve the profitability of a company, it is also composed of secondary modules: Cost control by product (SAP CO-PC), Accounting (SAP CO-OM-CEL), Analysis of the income statement ( SAP CO-PA)…

As a consequence, the SAP FICO consultant is an expert on these specific modules. Before installing the software, their primary role is to analyze and define the needs of the company. They can then have an advisory or support role.

What is the role of the SAP FICO Consultant?

Analyze and assess user needs

Before installing the solution, the SAP FI / CO consultant must analyze and understand user needs. As a result, they will be able to precisely define which functionalities to configure.

Solution and functionality development

Once the assessment is completed, the role of the consultant is to implement the solution. His knowledge of business case allows him to develop tailor-made functionalities to fully cover the needs of the company.

Train future users

After installing the solution, the SAP FICO consultant must ensure that future users can handle the software. They then train future users and play a support role in the event of any problems.

To help companies achieve a successful SAP implementation, this whitepaper explains SAP implementation best practices. It also presents a case study from the global leader sportwear company ADIDAS as an example of successful SAP implementation.

Whether you are a business leader, IT professional, or project manager, this whitepaper will help you understand how to plan, execute, and manage a successful SAP implementation that delivers tangible benefits and ROI.

SAP Implementation Best Practices: ADIDAS case study

Required skills of the SAP FICO Consultant

How to become a SAP FICO consultant? Here is a list of the skills needed to succeed in this career.

Technical expertise

As an expert, mastery of the SAP FICO modules is obviously essential. The consultant must have very good technical knowledge in order to be able to fully meet the client’s needs and to develop suitable functionalities. But also to validate and document the project requirements.

Knowledge of accounting, corporate finance & management control

Firstly, business knowledge is essential for the FICO consultant: they must master and understand the end user’s problems, as well as the business processes involved, to set up suitable workflows in the information system.

A good analytical mind

Soft skills are also essential the SAP FICO consultant must be able to better analyze the processes and business lines of the company, to determine if the necessary functionalities fall under a standard use of SAP FICO or if they require custom development. They also often act as an intermediary between technical teams and trades.

Listening skills and pedagogy

Then, to better understand the needs of the company, the SAP FICO consultant must have good interpersonal skills and always remain attentive to their client and future users to assess their needs. Likewise, once the solution has been implemented, the consultant will have to provide training for future users: being a good communicator and teacher is therefore very useful.

Also read the 5 key benefits of hiring a SAP FICO Consultant

Context

SAP FICO consultants can work either in-house or externally.

In-house consultants work for the organization during and after the implementation phase, while external consultants are only involved in the implementation.

Moreover, consultants are responsible for system configuration and execution, based on business requirements, GAAP analysis, process improvement, and identifying new opportunities or products. Thus, their role is more significant than that of end/power clients since they are accountable for successful execution of the system. Becoming an SAP FICO consultant is a major career advancement.

In addition, the SAP FICO consultant plays an important role during a digital transition. It is usually the large companies that use this type of profile. Recently, some SMEs have integrated this tool into their activity to gain competitiveness. Today, the needs of companies in SAP FICO expertise are numerous.

Salary of the SAP FICO Consultant

How much does a SAP FICO Consultant make?

The salary of a SAP FICO Consultant can also vary depending on several factors such as location, years of experience, industry, and company size. According to Payscale, the average salary for a SAP FICO Consultant in Europe is around €61,000 per year, with the range typically falling between €40,000 to €89,000 per year.

While according to Glassdoor, the average salary for a SAP FICO Consultant in the United States is around $97,000 per year, with the range typically falling between $75,000 to $120,000 per year.

However, the actual salary can differ based on the country and specific location within that country.

Training of the SAP FICO Consultant

The FICO functional consultant can come from a business school with a finance option, an engineering school, or even from an accounting background. However, it is generally necessary to pass the various SAP certifications concerning the SAP FI and SAP CO modules, as well as to have several years of experience in the implementation and support projects.

In conclusion, a SAP FICO consultant typically evolves by taking on increasingly important integration missions and supervising a team. As they gain more experience and expertise in the field, they may be entrusted with critical integration projects that have a significant impact on the organization’s financial systems and operations. Thus, this offers opportunities for growth and advancement in the field of finance and technology.

Learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of SAP

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Tags IT careers, SAP, SAP consultants, SAP FICO, SAP FICO Consultant

IT Decision-makers Tips & errors to avoid

Secure your S/4HANA migration team before costs skyrocket

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 12th February 2020
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If your business is dependent on SAP’s ERP software suite and you are still running on ECC, then we’re probably not the first ones to tell you this — the clock is ticking. Yes. As of last week, SAP is officially extending free ECC support throughout 2027 and optional maintenance until 2030. But that’s not that much extra time considering the hefty work the upgrade requires. How to secure your S/4HANA migration, the Golden Opportunity for IT Professionals?

In any case — What perhaps you haven’t considered yet is that, with every month that passes, the migration’s financial impact on your bottom line increases exponentially.

That is, of course, if like most companies, yours is not considering building S/4HANA capabilities in-house. According to a recent report by Resulting IT, only 18% of managers admit to having put a focus on developing internal SAP expertise.

Bringing external personnel into your team to infuse a good dose of talent is one of the best-proven skill development strategies out there. However, you might want to take into account external factors that are sure to turn the process into a very time-sensitive matter.

It’s a very simple equation:

Volume of work + Skills Shortage + High Percentage of Experts Retiring Soon = £ £ £ £ £ £ £

Let’s break it down, to secure of your S/4HANA migration.

Secure your S/4HANA migration #1 – Volume of work and internal reluctance

In recent years, we’ve all gotten used to software updates taking just a few minutes or hours at most. Not surprisingly, a lot of companies think of the migration to S/4HANA as a simple software update that will be ready over a weekend. Nothing further away from the truth.

Read our article about The Value of SAP and SAP S/4HANA.

Moving to S/4HANA requires a complete redesign of your ERP environment and, in many cases, of your business dataflows and reporting pipelines. That is a sizable project, especially considering that the same Resulting IT report puts the ECC product set at around 400 million lines of code. Add that to the extensive customizations most companies have implemented throughout the years, and you end up with quite a thick book to translate into S/4HANA.

However, it is not in the technical details that the biggest challenges reside. As SAP co-CEO Christian Klein stressed in the company’s most recent earnings call, the biggest obstacles to S/4 implementation are changing legacy business processes and gaining the acceptance of managers and employees.

Undertaking the migration is a lengthy and resource-heavy process, but SAP has put in place all the tools your team will need. Now, convincing your organization to revisit its internal procedures and get used to a host of new tools — That’s different. And it is precisely why the move to S/4HANA demands a clear business case to start with. Which, in turn, requires time and advance planning.

#2 – Widening skills gap and an ageing workforce

Skill obsolescence is an unpleasant side effect of progress. Nothing new here, especially if we are talking about IT. Still, when it comes to S/4HANA, the difficulties in finding talent that is well-versed in the new environment multiply.

The aforementioned report also reveals a generalised lack of experience in the live or nearing go-live stages of the transition. Although 48% of SAP specialists declare having been involved in S/4 projects, a significant portion of these are solutions architects and therefore only have experience in the early blueprinting stages of the project. Securing the services of consultants with operational know-how will be no easy feat.

Couple that with the fact that 40% of UK SAP experts plan to retire within the next 10 years, and we are looking at the perfect storm.

S/4-savvy consultants surveyed in the report expect to charge between £650 and £749 per day. And that’s not only true for external talent. Permanent employees with proven S/4 skills will also benefit from the situation, with an estimated yearly salary of at least £100,000 and increased career prospects.

In a nutshell – Migrating to S/4HANA is a race against increasing employee costs as much as it is a race against the clock. If your organization plans on sticking to SAP solutions, it is a good idea for both your wallet and peace of mind to start procedures as soon as possible

DISCOVER OUR ULTIMATE S/4HANA CAREERS GUIDE

Tags it consultants, it recruiting, it staffing, it talent, S/4HANA, SAP

Growing your career: permanent & freelance IT Consultants

S/4HANA Migration: A Golden Opportunity for IT Professionals

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 6th February 2020
No Comments on S/4HANA Migration: A Golden Opportunity for IT Professionals

S/4HANA migration is no easy feat. With 2030 as the deadline for companies to move to the platform, talent is in high demand. Benefit from it.

A shadow looms on the horizon for organizations running SAP’s ECC. Although the ERP provider has announced this week that it will be extending support until 2030, that’s not that much more time. S/4HANA migration is no easy feat. And, as of now, it doesn’t look like many companies are rushing to be done with the migration as soon as possible.

According to a report by Resulting IT, only 8% of organisations using ECC have made the transition to the new iteration of SAP’s software suite. That is alarming, especially considering that the report estimates the current product set has over 400 million lines of code and many companies have invested millions customizing it. These will have to be re-written when moving to S/4HANA.

But that’s just the beginning of the story. And the next part has some great news for you.

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A widening skills gap

The same Resulting IT report revealed that, although 48% of respondents had worked on S/4 projects, a good chunk of these are solutions architects. That suggests that SAP experts are mostly in the early blueprinting stages of the project. Hence there’s a general lack of experience in the live or nearing go-live stages of the transition.

In other words – Not that much boots-on-the-ground experience.

Since the report also indicates that only 18% of business managers plan to develop their in-house S/4HANA expertise, SAP consultants will be in high demand in the months and years to come. If you couple that with the fact that 40% of SAP experts plan to retire within the next 10 years, we are looking at the perfect storm. And that opens up the opportunity for you to seize the moment and become the most desired SAP pro in town.

S/4 skills will pay well. Very well

Think about it. If you get involved in S/4 projects now and gain as much real-world experience as possible, your career prospects and salary expectations will increase exponentially. And that’s not only true for SAP consultants and freelancers. Permanent employees with proven S/4 skills will quickly advance ranks within their companies. The S/4-savvy consultants surveyed in the report expect to charge between £650 and £749 per day. Experienced in-house specialists estimate a yearly salary of £100,000.

So, how should you go about gaining these career-critical skills?

Should You Become a Freelance S/4HANA Consultant?

Becoming an S/4HANA migration expert

Start small. There are plenty of resources available online for you to start getting your feet wet, most of them provided directly by SAP.

If you’re an ABAP developer, for example, SAP has made available for purchase a S/4HANA development guide. The e-book encourages you to combine your skills in ABAP, SAP Fiori, core data services, and more to master the end-to-end development process for SAP S/4HANA applications.

If you are looking for a broader perspective, SAP’s training academy has a complete set of in-depth courses. They come in both self-paced and instructor-led formats. Dive into your topic of choice and get certified. Once you’ve mastered the theory, find a project or job that gives you that real-world experience.

These are golden days for SAP consultants. Take advantage of it.

Want to make the most of S/4HANA’s career potential? Check out our comprehensive S/4HANA Careers Guide.

Tags careers, S/4HANA, salary, SAP, skills