Hi people.
As I'm writing typing this post, it's currently 5:38PM on 31 March 2019, marking that the first quarter of 2019 is going to end.
Time flies and I know I keep saying the same thing over and over but, seriously, it feels like it's only been weeks since people celebrated New Year and here we are today, getting ready for April Mop tomorrow.
I hope life has been good for you who are reading this unuseful random post.
I spent the three months of 2019 not in Jakarta as usual. What's new, right? lol
I'm currently working on a project in Bandung but, most likely, my next project will let me stay around Jakarta on weekdays!
Oh, in case you're wondering why I keep travelling from town to town, I'm going to give a (hopefully) short explanation about it.
If you're not interested in it (or maybe you've known exactly WHY), you can skip this part.
If you're interested though,even though I'm not sure why you're interested, pardon me, I have posted some explanations 3 years ago in this post here so you might want to check it out.
If you're interested though,
My current job is SAP B1 Functional Consultant at PT. Sterling Tulus Cemerlang.
I worked as SAP R3 Material Management Internal Consultant from 2012 until 2014 before moving to my current company.
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| Click here to check my current company's website |
(by the way, this post is not sponsored by my company. Also not to promote it at all.
I just feel like writing about it on my blog, lol)
Okay, before continuing, perhaps you're wondering what SAP is.
SAP is basically an ERP software used to integrate the business processes in a company.
Let's say that you have these departments in your company: purchasing, sales, warehouse, finance, and accounting, Each of the departments manage their own data: the purchase orders, sales orders, deliveries, receiving goods, invoices, payments, and so on. They might use excel files to record the data or else but, that means, none of them is managed within the same database.
Basically, you might need to manually integrate them within a period to make sure everything is in line. ERP software helps a company to integrate those processes into a single system.
I'm not going to explain the difference between SAP R3 and B1, nor about the other brands of ERP software. Definitely not an expert in that and it might take a whole article to discuss about it.
What do I do as the SAP Consultant?
Consulting, of course, as the position name states.
I know about the software better than the SAP users, so I'm responsible to give them the solutions regarding the process within SAP. For example, they're so used to their old system but, when they're going to use SAP, they need to adjust everything.
Does it mean the users should follow how the system works? Or should the system should just follow how the company runs before?
I'd (personally) say that it's somewhere between those two.
Therefore being an SAP consultant requires analytical skills because I firmly believe that granting the users' wishes to have an easier process is not the best solution. Getting the best understanding of how the business runs and the workaround in SAP will definitely help the consultant to solve the issues because not all of the issues are system related.
If I must add, good interpersonal skills since a consultant will work in a team is also important. Adding to this point, being patient and witty can be really helpful!
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| Such a difficult question to answer |
Okay, back to the main topic.
At my current office, we have clients -- not limited to Jakarta area -- who want to use SAP so that's where things start.
After everything is agreed on, the business blueprint will start, continuing to internal testing and development, then I will have to train the users about how to use SAP and then they'll test how integrated the system will work for their business process, and Go Live -- meaning the company will use SAP for real business process.
One project might take 3-6 months (or even more) to finish, depending on the project scale and complexity. The team can consist of 2-4 (again, even more) persons, but mostly it will have 1 functional (like me, who focuses more into the functionality, hence its name) and 1 technical consultant who is responsible for the development and technical solution. We also have 1 project manager who will manage the activities related to the implementation project.
Where have I been for the past 5 years?
- April 2014 - January 2015: Jakarta
- February 2015 - April 2015: Cirebon
- May 2015 - January 2016: Surabaya
- February 2016 - October 2016: Cikarang
- November 2016 - June 2017: Jakarta
- July 2017 - October 2017: Cirebon
- November 2017 - January 2018: Jakarta
- February 2018 - October 2018: Surabaya
- October 2018 - April 2019: Bandung & Magelang
I also managed to have a short project as a partner with a German company during 2017, also visited Singapore weeks ago for blueprint discussion (marking my 6th visit to Singapore!).
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| I really enjoy the skyscape whenever I'm on a plane! |
"Aren't you tired of going out of the city most of the times?"
That's the most frequent question I get and my answer is always the same: not really.
Perhaps because I don't really like routine and I get bored easily, so I enjoy visiting new places and meeting new people from time to time. Sure it might be exhausting when I travel frequently -- like this current project where I should take a train on 5AM every Monday from Jakarta and train on 7PM every Friday from Bandung; each trip takes 3 hours 30 minutes, so I spend around 7 hours on a train every week.
I also have new stories and stuffs for my family whenever I return home anyway so, yeah, it might sound unlikely, but I do enjoy having business trips outside of Jakarta inside of in Jakarta, lol. Besides, if you don't know, I enjoy being alone trying to do new things alone a lot.
Do I love the job?
To be frank, I am not really a fan of IT stuff, and SAP is included in the list. I also prefer working alone most of the times so you can figure out the answer!
But if you ask me whether I enjoy working as a consultant who travels from one place to another, then the answer is yes, I enjoy it a lot.
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| Chanting it every day and night to myself |
So, that's about my work.
Now to my life.
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| Greetings from Thean Hou Temple, Malaysia |
I visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 18-21 January 2019!
Should share about it when I can work it out later soon! It's my second visit there since October 2013 -- posted about it here.
I also dyed my hair to red on the second week of January at Anata Salon Bandung. It should be purple but... let's not talk about it now. A long story to go.
I also read a lot of interesting mangas for the past months.
- Bungou Stray Dogs by Kafka Asagiri
- Naka no Hito Genome ~ Jikkyouchuu ~ by Osora
- An Uncomfortable Truth by EErun (very dark, but also very good!)
- Mizutama Honey Boy by Junko Ike
- Horimiya by HERO (very light and fun to read!)
Also watched some movies and TV series, currently watching The Guest (Korean). It's horror and no romance included (at least until episode 7). Watching it mostly on the train Jakarta-Bandung so it will take some more time for me to finish, lol.
Continue, I'm also listening to songs by Day6, a Korean band. Oh, yes, I actually really like Rock but, no, Day6 is not really a rock band, but I pretty like their songs!
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| Jae, the first one from left, is a fluent English speaker and I'm so happy to know it ;A; |
Let me see, what can I drop here again before ending the post today?
I'll have a short holiday with my Mom at the end of April as I promised her, then I'll take some days off and go somewhere else in mid of May for 10 days.
I guess that's all for now.
Hope you'll have a blessed second quarter of 2019 starting tomorrow!
See you on next post!
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| Taken at sanctuary walk to OHD Museum, Magelang |
