SAP SE, Walldorf, Germany: Scalable, flexible, successful: Collaborative learning to build enterprise architecture knowledge and skills at SAP Cloud Success Services

Written answers to the questions

Total 198 words used.

Seismic changes in the economy, in society and technology are challenging businesses everywhere. It has become clear that only companies that can innovate quickly, transform holistically, and adapt continually will thrive. IT has become a key enabler for success, but many companies struggle with modernizing their IT landscapes. With an end-to-end suite of applications and services, SAP helps companies on their way to become intelligent, sustainable enterprises.

To support our customers with this transformational challenge, SAP needs highly skilled employees. Of all roles, primarily business architects bridge the business and technological aspects of the transformation and orchestrate the system landscape evolution (see https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19488289.2014.893933). However, all employees in customer-facing roles need to embrace architectural principles and apply them in their customer interactions.

The award-winning SAP Cloud Success Services (CSS) Learning team (Gold Winner 2022: Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and Brandon Hall HCM Excellence Awards), which is responsible for enabling these customer-facing roles, designed a scalable and agile training program that uses a collaborative learning approach. Learners gain insights into crucial knowledge domains and key skillsets from a set of architect roles and apply new skills in realistic use case exercises.

Total 238 words used.

Given the expertise and experience from recent years, the CSS Learning team has crafted a program in 4 months addressing the transformational challenges that lie ahead. The cornerstones of success are:

1. Comprehensive design
   Based on the knowledge, skills, and working styles of role-model architects in Services we cover:
   1. Knowledge domains structured along the TOGAF standard (see https://www.opengroup.org/togaf), encompassing the WHAT of architectural expertise. 
   2. People, communication, moderation, and presentation skills covering the HOW.
   3. Knowledge and skills validation through a use case exercise including a presentation to architect mentors.
2. Collaborative learning approach
   Groups of 6 learners collaborate in self-organized learning circles, leveraging the power of peer support. A well-balanced blend of structured content and self-empowerment allows for effective integration of learning insights into daily business.
3. Agile development
   SAP architects and experts developed the program. Iterative sprints with frequent reviews with stakeholders, and distributed content development ensured the fast turnaround and high quality of the multi-modal training material.
4. Delivery at scale
   Without the need for trainers and fixed schedules, the program scales easily. We support new circles by regularly hosting kickoff sessions, initiating the circle matching, and maintaining the MS Teams infrastructure for collaboration and support. A OneNote journal helps learners document, share, and reflect on their insights.
5. Impact and integration
   We measure impact with surveys that trigger a continuous improvement process. Graduates of the program are invited to the Architect Community and qualify for expert-level architecture trainings.

Total 238 words used.

Here are more details about the program.

Validated impact:

• Program receives excellent learner feedback, e.g.:
  • 100% of respondents are proud of the results of their learning circle
  • 100% of respondents rate the exchange in their circle as valuable.
• Benchmarking with other learning programs confirms approach.
• 95% of learners request and 67% share their learning badge, which confirms learner satisfaction.
• Qualitative feedback from interviews confirms survey results.

Purposeful design:

• Program design was based on thorough learning needs analysis with customer success as the north-star. All skills, knowledge, and tools applied in this training were aligned with SAP-strategic imperatives.
• Early involvement of domain experts in the design phase and agile development processes ensured fast delivery.
• Blended program design with self-paced and peer learning elements provides a stimulating learning experience.
• Learning circles are empowered to adjust cadence and duration of the program (standard: 6 weeks), practicing self-organization.
• Architecture use case and presentation to experts provides appreciation and motivation for learners and supports formal confirmation of program completion.

Integrated approach:

• Program uses standard SAP IT infrastructure ensuring fast adoption by learners, data transparency, and process compliance.
• Learners and learning circles are provided with structured learning assets and practical tools and instructions.
• Program is the foundational step in an architect career pathway.

Finally, our success is only possible because of our diverse team of passionate colleagues (see slides 18-20).

Total 250 words used.

After seven months, we can conclude that the program outperforms expectations and delivers on the cloud promises of scalability and flexibility. It reached 560 learners (84 learning circles), a volume that comparable trainings usually achieve after two years.

The learning circles benefit from the rigidly structured learning content and the pre-defined meeting structure while enjoying the flexibility to progress at their own pace, balancing out business priorities with development goals. With an effort of 2-3 hours per week, the program fits well into the business schedules of our learners.

The virtual setup of the program supports the composition of learning circles across teams and regions, which helps overcome silos. Exposure to and dealing with different perspectives intensifies the learning process and amplifies skills for outcome-driven conversations with customers.
The learning circle setup also trains critical future competencies like self-organization, knowledge sharing, and networking.

Tracking learners’ qualitative and quantitative feedback confirms our approach and proves its effectiveness and impact:

• Net Promoter Score of 68
• 89% of respondents agree that insights can be transferred to daily business
• 93% agree that discussions with peers deepened understanding of content
• 98% want to continue with learning circles as a method to progress in their career

A waitlist of 1,400 colleagues is a clear mandate to move this program into standard delivery. We will extend the impact measurement in 2023 to include:

• Skills application in customer transformation projects
• Career development of participants towards architecture roles
• Changes within the architects' community (e.g. task assignments etc.)