Sapped!

Definitions courtesy of Dictionary.com.

SAP

noun

1. The watery fluid that cirulates through a plant, carrying food and other substances to various tissues.

2. An essential bodily fluid.

3. Slang. a fool; dupe.

4. A leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.

verb

5. To undermine; weaken or destroy insidiously.

6. To hit or knock out with a sap.

7. To undermine the foundations of (a fortification).

8. To deplete or weaken gradually.

The move has been made. Tomorrow (if all goes well) we will close the books on our first month on SAP and I'm finally sticking my head up out of my bunker to say we survived.

It hasn't been all bad. Our old system had plenty of flaws and our people have been surprisingly accepting of the new system and resilient in the face of the first troublesome weeks on a new system. The process itself forces you to examine and rexamine your business processes - since you want to avoid doing anything in a way different to the "SAP way" if at all possible. This means that you've really, really, really got to justify everything that's outside of the norm. The implementation process with it's onslaught of consultants from around the country has exposed our quiet little local group to people from other backgrounds and lifestyles. The process has also helped break down some of the internal company silos as cross department teams have struggled together over the past eighteen months toward a common goal.

We in IT still feel a bit like we're tight rope walking over the lava pits while juggling chain saws, blindfolded... but we'll make it.I hope.