Global SAP Fieldglass rollout. In this episode of Implema Talks, Johan Söderström speaks with Lucas Gonçalves Araujo at Volvo Group about how they drive rollouts with a clear, logical methodology that works for both IT and the business. The core is a six-step plan with clear “gates,” a pre-study that normally takes 2 to 5 weeks, and a standard deliverable that ensures you evaluate a finished product and only deviate when necessary.
Johan Söderström describes Volvo as one of the larger European programs that went global early. Lucas Gonçalves Araujo is the Digital Product Area Owner for indirect purchasing applications at Volvo Group and is responsible for teams managing SAP Fieldglass and SAP Ariba.
A plan beats “we’re just going agile” when the business is involved. The business often works with dates and deadlines, not sprint concepts. Adapt your communication to the recipient.
A six-step methodology creates security and momentum. You move from decision and concept to pre-study, requirements, technical gate, test environment, and finally deployment.
The pre-study should be time-boxed. Volvo normally describes 2 to 5 weeks depending on complexity, emphasizing that the time is well invested since misses here risk the entire project.
Standard deliverables reduce friction. By documenting workflows, approvals, logic, and roles, you have a baseline. The pre-study then becomes about adopting the standard or justifying deviations.
The technical gate provides a new forecast. Once you can answer both “what” and “how,” you can re-estimate the remaining time with better precision.
Lucas pinpoints a classic challenge. IT can work agilely, but a Fieldglass implementation requires effort from Finance, HR, and Procurement on the business side. They often work with dates, times, and deadlines—not with sprints and increments. Therefore, you need to be able to translate agility into a setup that feels logical and predictable for more than just IT.
The key is to understand who you are talking to and communicate on their terms. At the same time, let the dates reflect internal sprint planning.
Lucas describes a logical chain that can be converted into a clear timeline, with requirements to pass each “gate.”
Agreeing to act
Align on the concept with management. Sufficient understanding to decide whether to move forward.
Pre-study. Evaluate feasibility and report back to management and the steering group.
Solving collected requirements
Technical gate. Now you know both what you want to achieve and how. You can re-estimate the remaining time.
Build test environment, test with the organization, deploy
Johan highlights the classic risk: feasibility studies tend to drag on. Lucas responds with a concrete range: 2 to 5 weeks, depending on the complexity of the organization.
The reasoning is clear. If the pre-study misses something essential, you risk discovering it only after everything is built. Then you have to go back and redo it, which is significantly more expensive than investing weeks early on.
A practical approach Volvo takes is to map out how Fieldglass works for them. They document workflows, approvals, logic, roles, and user flows in a comprehensive document they call their standard deliverable.
This changes the question in the pre-study. You don’t ask “how do you want to do it?” You show a standard and evaluate whether it fits, or if a deviation is necessary and why. Lucas describes it as coming with a product and evaluating that product.
Set a manageable timeline that the business can understand, even if you deliver agilely internally.
Define clear gates and what is required to pass them.
Time-box the pre-study and dare to invest the time. Aim for a range in weeks, not months.
Create a standard deliverable as a baseline. Make the pre-study a decision between the standard or a justified deviation.
Use a technical gate to re-estimate once the “how” is clear.
Communicate in dates, deadlines, and logical steps. Let those dates reflect internal sprint planning.
Volvo Group normally describes 2 to 5 weeks depending on complexity.
To turn the pre-study into a product evaluation against a clear baseline, and only deviate when there is a justified need.
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