Change is good. At least this is what many people say - even when their actions often speak a different language. It can become almost a religious question what project management tool to use. SAP-PS? MS Project? Primavera? Pros and cons abound, and then the question of interfacing multiple tools has not even been breached yet...  

However, all this is not very relevant. Once SAP is the chosen ERP backend system this in itself reflects a decision to go for an integrated and comprehensive project management approach. This directly drives a lot of the process questions that now supersede debates about what technologies or tools to use for what kind of detailed business transaction. It now becomes far more important to ensure that the project management processes are simple, comprehensive and clearly defined. Once that happens, the choice of supporting tools will fall in place.

This is particularly relevant when, as usually is the case more tools are being used than purely SAP modules, typically on the layer of project owners and for scheduling and resource management. Often big debates and evaluation and vendor selection procedures are being triggered to decide whether to pick SAP XI, completely Java-based applications, or complex (or complicated) EAI systems.  

The answer is simple: Pick what works. It is not rocket-science. Once the process has been defined everything else is purely a matter of execution. The process defines the specifications and the vendors simply need to get the job done, at a favorable performance and price. Why would the user care about technology?

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