The beginning of July was marked by a huge success for the company. The initial preparations for PCoE recertification were suspended. Why? We were granted the certificate without audit and long months of collecting the relevant documents. For the first time in history, SAP decided to reward the efforts of its best-prepared Partners and, like at university, “exempt them from the final exam”. We are among the top of the class!
PCoE – what is that?
PCoE (Partner Centre of Expertise) is the certification which allows us to continue providing SAP services. As a reseller, we need a certificate confirming that our activities are compliant with the highest SAP standards. In the traditional certification path, if a Partner does not pass the audit the first time, it is granted a trial period during which it must correct the found errors and shortcomings. If the Partner fails to do so, its licence is withdrawn and any sale under SAP is made impossible. “That is why I constantly educate and explain that efforts to get PCoE are of key importance. Report results of 100% confirm the quality of our services and ensure SAP support,” explains Paweł Pawełkiewicz, SAP BASIS Consultant at Hicron, responsible for the technical aspects of PCoE certification.
Pathway for the best ones
This year, SAP has distinguished the most trusted Partners. From 2012 until now, we have already passed five positive certifications (PCoE is granted once every two years) and we have always distinguished ourselves by perfect preparation. “Owing to the excellent results obtained so far, we did not have to provide other documents, analyses, fill in the check-list or carry out an audit to test our knowledge, skills and the level of services provided. We have received an important certification valid until 2022,” explains Elżbieta Bielecka, Service Contract Supervisor at Hicron.
However, in order to be recertified in an accelerated procedure, it was necessary to stand out with the excellent quality of services provided. Elżbieta Bielecka explains: “Such a shortened process of awarding PCoE was possible thanks to the flawless quarterly reports for which the BASIS team was responsible and which always remained at the green light level at Hicron”. What does ‘green light’ mean in this context?
Green lights for Hicron
The reasons for which Hicron deserved special treatment are given in more detail by Paweł Pawełkiewicz: “The new solution was prepared for Partners who have always finished their quarterly reports with a green light for many years, which is quite unique on a nation-wide scale”.
The QMR (Quality Measurement Report) checks issues such as the following:
- The number of consultants and certifications that SAP Partners need to have at their disposal;
- In most situations, at least two consultants are required, while Hicron has 82 in one case, and 26 in another, so we are far above these requirements. In other words – green light.
- meeting expectations as a SAP Partner;
- Out of tens of thousands of reports from Customers, we have the right to forward five of them to SAP per quarter. Hicron submitted four, but three met the requirements which allowed their exclusion from the statistics. What is more, one of them concerned a case in which an error was found in the software and SAP had to correct it. Owing to this, our success rate is 100%, that is a green light!
- Main software, i.e. SAP Solution Manager
- Each Partner has to make sure that the system to which all Customers are connected (200-300 systems in the case of Hicron) works well and is up to date in the version given by SAP. “It is interesting to note that only two Polish companies successfully passed the audit in 2018 the first time. We were one of them. The reason was the requirement concerning SAP Solution Manager, which had to be upgraded to the latest version, and since it was an extremely difficult procedure, many Partners could not handle it in the specified time,” Paweł Pawełkiewicz explains. Green light!
- Taking care of an open connection to SAP
- At any time of day or night, when the Customer reports a problem, for instance with production – there is certainty that the connection is open. Hicron takes care of this every day, and therefore we deserved the green light in this case also.
- EarlyWatch Alert reports
These reports measure the performance of the Customers’ systems, and errors are detected as early as at the initial stage. The reports come directly from the Solution Manager. All Customers of Hicron are served by this report, i.e. the company deserved the green light.
It is clear that we deserved the acceleration of the PCoE recertification procedure owing to reliable work and meticulous fulfilment of tasks. “Looking at individual points of the QMR report, we have got 100% everywhere and we do not deviate from this result from one quarter to another. This is highlighted each time during conversations with our SAP supervisor. It is incredibly rare on the Polish market,” Paweł Pawełkiewicz explains with pride.
This, however, does not diminish our joy in this success. “Receiving the certificate was a fantastic surprise, as we were not sure until the very end whether we would manage to enter the program of automatic recertification without taking part in the standard audit,” adds Elżbieta Bielecka.
PCoE is a requirement, but also a great image advantage. Since SAP has placed so much trust in Hicron as to release us from the standard certification process, we are revealed to be a Partner with whom it’s worth working. No wonder that the appreciation by SAP brings about an increase in the trust of Customers. Such success is worth working for!
At Hicron, we attach great importance to being as close to the client’s business as possible. Thanks to this, we not only propose tailored solutions, but also think long-term, always taking into account the good of long-term relationships. This approach flows through our DNA and is evident in the keynote.
We are Hicron. VisiON Architect. SolutiON Maker.
