7,000 end users successfully prepared for SAP S/4HANA – despite high project complexity
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
in the year 2025
The initial situation
In the course of the SAP S/4HANA implementation GIZ faced an enormous challenge:
Thousands of employees worldwide had to be prepared for a new system within a very short time – in several languages, across different locations, including different time zones and under great time pressure.
The situation was made even more difficult by the fact that internal trainers were only prepared for their role at short notice and did not yet have the necessary system experience themselves.
The implementation
To ensure stable, high-quality training in this complex environment, we put together a well-coordinated team of twelve experienced SAP trainers and a central team leader.
The decisive lever lay in the tandem approach:
Internal trainers worked closely with our external SAP experts – directly interlinking internal process knowledge and experienced system practice.
Our services at a glance
| Multilingualism | Implementation of remote training courses (DE, EN, FR, ES) |
| Tandem training | Best possible knowledge transfer through the use of internal and external trainers |
| Train-the-trainer approach | Support and coaching of internal trainers |
| Didactic support | Creation and optimization of training materials |
| Sustainable knowledge management | Recording of training courses and how-to videos |
| Use of a pool of trainers | Flexible takeover of additional training courses in the event of bottlenecks |
| Training coordination | Central control, quality assurance and communication |
Conclusion
Despite the high level of complexity and dynamic framework conditions, a reliable training structure was established that was supported by all those involved.
- High level of satisfaction among participants
- Noticeably more security for internal trainers
- Very positive collaboration in the tandem model
- Stable implementation even in the event of staff shortages
Our trainers not only contributed methodological know-how, but above all years of practical SAP experience, which cannot be built up internally in this form in the short term.
Why it worked
In large transformation projects, the greatest risks do not arise during planning, but during implementation.
The combination of:
- experienced SAP trainers
- clear control
- and close cooperation with internal resources
stability was created exactly where it was most urgently needed.
Takeaway
When internal teams have to be set up under time pressure and large user groups have to be trained at the same time, the quality of the trainers determines the success of the project on a day-to-day basis.
In such situations, external expertise not only provides relief, but above all security, speed and quality in implementation.