SAP-Centric Projects

If we assume a utility buys a nuclear reactor as a turnkey product, and the user of SAP is the seller of a reactor, requirements on SAP are somewhat similar to but still in many aspects quite different from a pure capital project. We are then talking about integration with the sales and distribution (SD) module of SAP, milestones may or should trigger client billing, and there may be an interaction with the production planning (PP) module of SAP. Also, financial flows are different as for example WBS elements and network activities will be settled differently.

The flip side is that for the buyer this product definitely is the result of a capital investment. An asset is being produced. Looking out of their perspective and assuming that they run SAP as well, they probably have set up their own WBS structure as well, with a budget, and integrated with asset accounting and financial accounting.

The whole picture can get more complicated when joint ventures for the production and delivery of such products are being considered. Then the choice of tools may be the biggest question to be answered in the first place, not their setup.