Panaya

(Menlo Park, Calif., October 21, 2009) Panaya Inc., the SAP ERP lifecycle automation company (http://www.panayainc.com), announced today its new relief program for SAP customers challenged by SAP's Support Package Stack 16 (SPS 16). SAP Support Packages are released several times a year and contain thousands of corrections to the SAP ERP system. In a recent study (http://go.panayainc.com/SupportSurvey.html), SAP customers reported that they spend, on average, 73 person days implementing a single Support Package stack, a task many SAP customers undergo two to four times a year. The company estimates that this effort results in cumulative expenditure of over $4 Billion per year that could be utilized for a better purpose. In response, Panaya launched a relief program that will help SAP customers eliminate much of this effort. The program currently offers ERP 6.0 customers free information and advice how to implement Support Package 16 with minimal waste.

Background
SPS 16 contains 14,861 individual correction notes, representing an 80% increase over SPS 15, which had 8,237 notes. This in turn translates into increased effort and risk during implementation. Panaya ran its patent-pending analysis using a cloud-based virtual supercomputer and found that for over 90% of SAP customers, only 2% of the corrective notes will impact functions that are currently in production use. Since customers are currently unable to determine upfront which notes will impact their specific environment, they need to make substantial investment in comprehensive testing of the new Support Package.

"Given the estimated 100,000 SAP ERP system installations currently in production, multiplied by 73 days required to implement a single support package, we're talking about an investment of 7.3 million working days, several times a year. With the current economy, that seems like an awful waste," explained Amit Bendov, Panaya's Chief Marketing Officer. "The Panaya Relief Program allows SAP customers to benefit from the corrections introduced in SPS 16 while alleviating the need for extensive testing, custom code corrections, and down-time risks they would otherwise be facing."

Additional Findings about Support Package Stack 16
The following results are estimates that can help ERP 6.0 customers in preparing for SPS 16 implementations:

• The modules most impacted by SPS 16 are the Accounting Modules (28% of the notes), then the HR modules, the Industry Solution Modules and then the Logistic Modules.
• Less than 1% of the notes seem to introduce changes to the SAP NetWeaver components in the ERP 6.0 System.
• About 81% of the notes are code corrections; 13% are categorized as correction of legal function or legal changes.
• There are about 202 notes that relate to performance issues.

The Panaya Support Package Relief Program
The program will provide the following aids to SAP customers:

• For every new support package stack, Panaya will conduct its own analysis and will publish its findings as free information. For example: key impact areas, trends, and testing suggestions.
• Panaya offers SAP customers free use of its virtual supercomputer simulation to analyze the impact of the latest SAP Support Package Stack on their own system. Customers will get a summary report of their impact analysis at no charge. This offer is currently limited to the first 1,000 applicants that are currently using SAP ERP 6.0. Customers can sign up using this link: http://go.panayainc.com/SPReliefProgram.html
• Interested customers can get a detailed impact analysis report that includes a precise impact map and proposed test plan. The detailed report is available for a fee. Panaya will publish aggregate results and findings based on the analysis of the individual systems, so that more customers can save effort and reduce risk.

The relief program is available immediately and SAP ERP 6.0 customers can apply for their free summary analysis at http://go.panayainc.com/SPReliefProgram.html

About Panaya:
Panaya's Software-as-a-Service solutions enable companies that use SAP to save up to 50% of their application lifecycle costs and minimize the risks associated with system changes. Utilizing cloud-based simulation to analyze the impact of pending changes, Panaya automatically pinpoints which custom programs will break as a result of an upgrade or support package implementation. Panaya provides a complete solution for managing these changes, explaining how to fix the anticipated issues, suggesting the most efficient test plan, and calculating required project budget and resources.

For further information contact Susan Sullivan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 617-875-6256 or visit the Panaya web site at www.panayainc.com.

SAP is a registered trademark of SAP AG. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world.
The analysis and findings in this release are provided by Panaya Inc and are independent of and not affiliated with SAP AG.