Sap Documentation and Training Development Guide

Rating:
Summary: A decent beginning but needs more
Review: I have been developing training for SAP for nearly ten years and decided to write a book on the process. Before beginning, I wanted to know if there was already a book in the industry and this book is all I could find. Some things in it are useful and I saved about five pages that I refer to now and then. If lacks usable forms on a cd that would make it more helpful. It is not written for either a novice or an expert. I find it lacks specific detail and a easy to use format for novices. However, it does not offer enough depth for experts. So I thought it a good beginning and the only one in the marketplace. However, it could be much more valuable with some changes in format, adding forms and checklists on a cd, and choosing between going into greater depth or more detail for novices...pick one and expand this.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was disappointed with this book. It appears to be a compliation of various documents and forms just thrown together. Some of it is very, very basic and generic. I was looking for much more SAP specific information.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing useful here
Review: I'd been documenting SAP implementations for about 8 years when I picked up this book. I had hoped to learn something new, or get some new insights or angles on something I was in danger of becoming overfamiliar with. Unfortunately, this book didn't teach me anything. Much of it is very basic (and doesn't necessarily apply only to documentation for SAP), and there is certainly nothing that you couldn't work out for yourself.

The layout of the book is also disappointing. The author has used Information Mapping, which whilst useful in many settings, isn't really a good approach here. It just makes the book look amateur. Like something you'd expect the Intern to produce. The book also includes a number of 'fill in your own data' tables, which I've always found to be wothless in a bound book (I don't like to write in my own textbooks) - especially when they appear mid-text so even if you photocopy them you end up with odd fragments of the book as well. If you want to provide checklists, or ther forms for the user, include these at the back, and in a form that is easily photocopiable...).

Overall, extremely disappointing. I've now been documenting SAP projects for over 10 years, and I could probably write a better book on it myself. And maybe will...

Rating:
Summary: Nothing useful here
Review: I'd been documenting SAP implementations for about 8 years when I picked up this book. I had hoped to learn something new, or get some new insights or angles on something I was in danger of becoming overfamiliar with. Unfortunately, this book didn't teach me anything. Much of it is very basic (and doesn't necessarily apply only to documentation for SAP), and there is certainly nothing that you couldn't work out for yourself.

The layout of the book is also disappointing. The author has used Information Mapping, which whilst useful in many settings, isn't really a good approach here. It just makes the book look amateur. Like something you'd expect the Intern to produce. The book also includes a number of 'fill in your own data' tables, which I've always found to be wothless in a bound book (I don't like to write in my own textbooks) - especially when they appear mid-text so even if you photocopy them you end up with odd fragments of the book as well. If you want to provide checklists, or ther forms for the user, include these at the back, and in a form that is easily photocopiable...).

Overall, extremely disappointing. I've now been documenting SAP projects for over 10 years, and I could probably write a better book on it myself. And maybe will...

Rating:
Summary: This Guide is as useful as it is rare.
Review: One of the more unusual aspects of this publication is that it is useful to both the writer/trainer as well as those who have to hire writing/training personnel. The author has a great deal of knowledge and all of it useful. But I would have set out the chapters differently. My greater criticism of this book is that one finds oneself a little lost in the woods.

In any SAP implementation or migration project, training and documentation are the last things senior management want to worry about. They often wish that documentation would just magically appear around about the time the system goes live. Likewise for staff training. As senior management themselves know, this is never the case.

Kathryn Park's philosophy is that there should be a "single source of information and guidance for producing documentation and training materials for your SAP project." (In the Overview before Chapter One). Anybody who has done any documentation or auditing work would find this music to his ears!

I agree with her statement on writers: "A professional writer is committed to his career. He is not an engineer or a programmer who 'has done some technical writing'. He is hard working, focussed, detail-oriented, intense, accepts criticism, and loves his job. Only hire professional writers" (P67).

There is a statement on the need for the technical skills required by any professional writer on page 67 that all project managers should read.

I also agree with the statement: "Start training early, the earlier the better." (P118).

In summary, I can do no better than repeat myself: This guide is as useful as it is rare; It took me six months to get hold of a copy!

David Firoozi, Training Manager, Sydney, Australia. [e-mail]