A utility is moving its employees onto a new SAP platform. I lead the team deciding what people see when they log in, how they find their apps, and how the AI assistant fits in.
Employees reached their work through an old portal and several side portals: more than 190 apps across HR, work management, finance, safety and supply chain. Each one had an owner, and nobody had decided which ones should move, stay or retire.
An AI assistant was also on the roadmap. SAP's guidance on what it could do, and when, kept changing.
| Question | Call | Status |
|---|---|---|
| How do employees get in? | The new homepage replaces the old portal as the only entry point, with no parallel links. | In the rollout plan |
| Mobile: custom app or standard? | Use the standard SAP mobile app, pushed to managed devices. No custom build. | Accepted by the client |
| What does the AI assistant do at launch? | I turned SAP's conflicting guidance into a decision backlog covering deployment model, launch scope, entry point and Microsoft 365 Copilot integration. | Passed security review |
| Rebuild old apps that aren't ready? | No. About 30 stay as direct links from the homepage until a later release. | Documented |
| Add a task inbox product? | I built the cost model, which showed it fit inside spend the client had already committed. | Approved |
| Embed analytics reports on the homepage? | No. Three KPI cards instead, each with a named data owner. | Board aligned |
The client's Solution Authority Board aligned on the homepage, navigation and name. The AI assistant cleared security review, and the client accepted the mobile recommendation. Launch to 30,000+ employees is planned for April 2027.
If you're building AI or platform products, I'd like to hear about it.