These days, many large SAP-using organizations have established agile development teams, mature DevOps practices and continuous delivery of changes for their systems of engagement. Yet, SAP software development still tends to operate at a much slower pace.
Why? Not everyone agrees. What is true, however, is there is often confusion between the methodologies and the whole adoption in SAP software development environments.
To keep pace you need to know what the methodologies are, the differences between the related but distinct approaches and your business goal for SAP software development.
Agile vs DevOps vs continuous delivery
Agile – teams and processes focused on delivering more frequent, delivery of SAP changes in smaller batches with rapid feedback from internal and external customers.
DevOps – close communication between the SAP development teams and the operational teams to improve change speed, quality and efficiencies through automation.
Continuous delivery – automated processes to deliver SAP changes to the users as soon as they are ready, without having to wait for the next scheduled change window.
Not the same but not at odds in SAP software development
All three clearly have a profound effect on organisations, yet there are definitely differences between them.
As this Agile Buddha article points out, DevOps can be thought of as an extension of agile to include the operations team in SAP software development. At the same time, agile teams often rely on continuous (automated) delivery for more frequent ‘working software’ released to end users.
This is where it can get a little grey and cause confusion. Particularly when you want your SAP applications and enhancements to be delivered at the speed of business.
But perhaps more than ever before, there isn’t one approach to SAP software development that suits all businesses.
A win-win for digital businesses
Moving past the static definitions, what do these methodologies mean in practice to a company’s SAP software development processes.
The goal of agile, DevOps and continuous delivery is to increase the speed of SAP changes. It requires close cross-team communication and process automation which are fundamental to all three approaches.
As a result, SAP IT teams can achieve key outcomes of increased SAP change velocity, volume and quality while reducing risk and cost. Meaning your business can deliver faster, safer and better SAP applications to respond quickly to constant changes in the marketplace.
To see how Rev-Trac Platinum can help you meet your SAP agile, DevOps and continuous delivery goals, take a look at our demos or contact us.
