I was away from SCN for a while due to technical issues with my ISP. The last time I logged in, it was SDN and now this site just blew my brains out.

I have to hand it to the personnel behind the scenes who have done a marvellous job with the SCN website.

The whole idea to bring in gamification has changed the whole course of this community.

This is more like technology with a splash of fun.

Looking forward to more innovative ideas from the SCN team.

Regards,

Anish Oommen

Thats is my humble submission on how SCN has helped me to find the correct path to expand Solution Manager information trough my career as a SAP consultant since 2004, look at that short blog post and know an history about "how i meet your SCN" in 4 steps.

who i am

Near to 10 year is a large history with a lot of changes, someone goods and some-others don't really goods but help in anyway to focus on my career with SAP, is not my intention to expand that post with my all experience and skills in SAP so for that i will focus on the moment when i discover SCN , to get an overview with my SAP professional skills i can use a short overview: I start as a basis developer, working on different types of projects around 5 years in the develper world as i get the opportunity to focus on SAP Solution Manager until now when my primary goal at Seidor is to explain the benefits of that Solution to all our customers and manage different solman projects, ccoe, pcoe, runsap, etc...

"how i meet our SCN"

Thinking about it, i know SCN too late. My profile is created on May 13, 2009 but that is because i am a addict to each new internet service that i think that can be found interesting, on that date i create the account and i don't use it until December 29, 2010 when i found some doubts with my last friend of headaches Sap Solution Manager; thinking now about that post, maybe i know SCN forums trough reply signatures from AGS (active global support) on sap support message on our first PCOE experience setup in solution manager far away on 2009/2010. A lot of AGS experts that know me trough my support message sure that found that moment when i know SCN as a reprieve for my great insistence on found an answers in my support messages ( special mention to Paul Babierfor they patience and help), remember to use SCN always as a pre-requisite to find a solution on a OSS message that you are thinking to send it to SAP support, you will find message processors from AGS on that forums and there are a lot of possibilities that your question/problem was answered before on SCN forums.

what i get and progress

My progress on SCN forums is gradually as i learn how to use it, actually i have created only 48 different post (blogs/doc/questions) and participated on near 167 trying to help people on forum, is near 2012 when i start to use SCN more usually, to find information or creating new solution manager content and one of the causes that make me increase my activity is from gamification ( yes i was an old addict game player ) and my starting process trough different social networks, that increase of activate on SCN give to me a new relevance on other social networks like twitter, linked-in, etc...gently and without know it find that ROI that i use on that post title; that ROI become as knowing excellent people that work like me with Solution Manager, SCN bring to me the possibility to know and speak with people that i see on a lot of documents that i found for the setup of Solution Manager, and CNS give me the  choice to  help and share my knowledge with other people that star or fight with Solution Manager.That is a short explanation about my SCN progress and how SCN bring me to contact different SAP experts trough social networks like twitter and linked-in with Solution Manager experts thanks to SCN contributions.

current activity

My intention on SCN is helping as i can to questions that i know, Sharing useful information and content that i get trough my own experience in the way as i found time to correct translate it to English and format it decently, Collaborate with other people always in the correct ways and respecting others for get the value of a professional SAP Solution Manager Networking. It's really important the play of gamification that don't only give me the opportunity to found a progression trough SCN learning, as well as the options that know new content trough new missions (as SAP Lumira for example), with that last missions "data geek challengers" i get not only an option to get more points, i also found a Solution to a real problem to exploit SAP Solution Manager data for a customer need; for that i have to request SAP gamification team that continue with that functionality that no help us only to get more points as also give us the path to collaborate with other experts in different forums topics and new SAP Solutions. I know that i'm really new on SCN, but with only that last few years of continuous activity on SCN, I have the truth for see and evaluate the great ROI of that three words than can help you trough your SAP Solution Manager Career. What do you think that SCN can do for you if you use it on all your SAP career ? Know i see it and don't have the intention to stop to collaborate.

My own SCN rules

SCN means SAP Community Network, try to change the 2 first words to find your correct SAP professional network

• Share, first own mistake on my first SCN steps, SCN forums are not for only get an answer from experts, you will get more help from different member if you share content, share what you know if you expect to get help from others. rule number one on SCN,you will find more answers to your problems if you share more content than questions.

• Collaborate, second own mistake on SCN, you can fulfill the previous first rule for Sharing but you need to Collaborate, you can share a lot of content, information, documents, but if the quality of that information leak you will fail. Rule number two, Collaborate with other member helping them on problems, answering questions and cooperate if they need to find solutions will help you in the future.

• Networking. the last rule, SCN is a real huge of different forums topics, i know a different experts from SCN that have a lot of experiencing on different topics, but that people are like a super SAP heroes, thinking about it, I'm not a heroe , try to focus you on a few topics to get a more accurate Network, that will help you to find quickly the correct contact for your problems.

Last words,

Today, i know really well all the benefices that give us SCN , SCN is not only a forum, SCN is a collaboration point of a SAP worldwide Network that help me to find the correct answers and information about a topic ( SAP Solution Manager ) that on my country is currently a great Unknown. For that i tell / remember all my collage and new incorporation on Seidor the importance to has an own S user, and access to SAP forums. That have to be a must-to-do that are not apply on SAP customers and different partners. SCN is not a great opportunity to found information about SAP topics, is also a great tool to found excellent professionals and give you the correct path to expand you career in SAP. Now SCN is helping me to expand SAP Solution Manager benefices with my customers in Spain and cow-work with solman experts, you don't have to lost that opportunity in your SAP career.

I hope that new mission will inspire other to find more quickly than me that ROI from collaborate in SCN forums.

Great thank all for make that possible,

P.D. to many English words for my poor english skills, sorry for grammatical mistakes

Cheers,

Luis

How many people have you referred to SCN since you joined?

SCN Membership is free and the bigger the community is the more dynamic it becomes. Create and Manage Your Profile

Dear all!

First of all, I thank Jitendra Kumar Kansal who blog forwarded me through Blog It Forward - Jitendra Kansal. This is Jagathshree and I am writing my first blog ever  It is an honor that I have begun it in such a wonderful space and my thanks to SCN.

About myself:

Well, people usually find my name difficult to pronounce, so I am used to being called by different nick names ( Jag, Jagath, Jaggy etc., ). And as you can see that my blog already has so many smileys, I am a cheerful and a jovial person. After completing my schooling in different states in India, I completed B.Tech from Hindustan University, Chennai in 2012. I was waiting for my joining in an IT giant in 2012, when I got selected in Globalsoft Solutions, an SAP consultancy firm in Chennai. Thus, here I am, into the world of SAP and I consider myself very fortunate. Currently, I am working in CRM domain.

My mother India:

Though there are plenty of things to talk about my nation, some key facts are:

• The Balaji temple, Tirupathi, is the busiest pilgrimage centers in the world
• India has the most number of vegetarians in the world.
• 1961 census recognized 1652 individual mother tongues in India.

        According to the most recent census, 29 languages have more than a million native speakers,

        60 have more than 100,000, 122 have more than 10,000.

• Rakshabandan is a unique festival when a sister ties a rakhi or holy thread - a colorful band on her brother's wrist,

        while, through a gift, the brother vows to look after her .

• Cow is considered as a sacred animal and is worshiped.

My native - Chennai city:

Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu, the fourth most populous metropolitan city in India and 31st largest urban area in the world.

Some of the noted features:

1. Marina Beach:

A natural urban beach along the Bay of Bengal, Marina is the world's second longest of its kind.

People usually enjoy having hot snacks called 'Bhajji' here.

2. Kathipara Flyover:

It is a major landmark in Chennai and also the largest cloverleaf flyover in Asia.

3. Guindy National Park:

It is one of the few national parks situated inside a city

In response to questions posed by Jitendra Kumar Kansal

1. What makes me smile/laugh?

I smile the moment somebody does or when some one merely holds a camera in front of me

2. Had I not been in software, where would I have been?

In a school, wearing a saree and teaching Maths and English

3. What is the craziest thing that I would have done in my life?

I do not know if it is the craziest. But I still cherish this incident

When I was five years old, I had taken part in a fancy dress competition in school for annual day celebrations and I had chosen to be a doctor.

My parents had taught me a few lines to speak which I had rehearsed for days. That day, I boarded the stage and introduced myself boldly.

But suddenly, I started singing a devotional song on Lord Krishna, for no reason. The entire crowd began to laugh and I thought they were cheering me

Probably, that day proved that I would never be a doctor in my life though I still sing

Answers to a few general questions:

Who inspires me the most?

Any new thing that enters my life, motivates and inspires me !

What do I most enjoy in SCN?

I love the discussion forums and the blogs.

What, according to me, is the most fascinating invention/discovery?

I find air planes really fascinating and to me, they are one of the best inventions.

Blog Forward:

I would like to blog forward to

Tamilnesan G

Sara G

jeetendra choudhary

Krishnendu Laha

Swadini Sujanaranjan

I wish If you could answer to the following:

1. What energizes you when you feel dull or irritated ?

2. What is the most adventurous thing that you have done in your life?

3. If given a chance to show your creativity, in which specific field would you make an attempt?

4. (Optional) Which self help book would you suggest to read?

For any doubts regarding BIF, kindly visit Blog It Forward Community Challenge

Thanks for reading my blog. Being new to blog-writing, I would appreciate your valuable comments and feed-backs.

Keep smiling

The following table list the Moderators, Space Editors and Content strategists for all New SCN spaces.

For a list of SCN Wiki moderators, visithttps://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/x/Ki4

Hello SAP World!!

                             It has been quite some time for me in SAP BW/BI area. I work for an Automotive dealer. It is one of the biggest organization in Gulf. We have 65 various departments in our organization. IT dept is one of them. The treatment to an IT dept. in a non IT organization will be totally different. They treat IT dept as a back-end support only. BW has been implemented in Service dept alone.

                            We have something like, everyone has to give “Seminar” on our own topic on a rolling basis. We have various sub groups in our IT dept itself. One one fine day, my turn came. It was in Oct 2012. Initially, I was thinking just to take some general topic and finish this headache task. In the course of my dilemma, I realized to give Seminar on my own subject. My intention was to make everybody understand “What our BW Team does for this organization? “

I was thinking “Day & Night” about the effective delivery of my seminar.

                           I have started making my PPT with our company building picture and I have written “Enterprise Business Warehouse” over our building. The reason behind this, I wanted to show them BW can be implemented across the Organization which can show reports of all modules like SD, MM, HR, PP etc., I covered all major areas in terms of technically by giving instances about our other depts. It was like marketing SAP product to the other depts.

                            Finally the big day had come. I was fully prepared previous night, tried some mock drills about on “How to Start the seminar” etc., My only objective was to deliver “What all BW Can do for an Organization?” in an effective manner. I reached the auditorium first and I was standing on the stage with my hands shivering and feeling nervous inside. All the invitees have come and occupied their seats.

                            I have started my presentation with my “Company Building”. The people were surprised to see our company on a big screen and started paying attention to me. After passing some 15 Mins, I was thirsty like anything as I was giving presentation with a louder voice. I was in huge problem, but wanted to finish the seminar as per my expectations. Otherwise, all my dreams would go to drain. Then I picked up again and continued through my seminar and I forgot my thirsty problem. I finished my seminar before 15 mins of my scheduled 1 hour. I got couple of questions from the audience and I answered them confidently. I got huge response from all the invitees and they appreciated me.

                           Some of the best compliments were “Today, I came to know What is meant by SAP BW” , “There is so much in BW”, “You guys(BW Team) doing great job” etc.,

                           Finally, i say one thing. "If you can dream, you can achieve it"

Thanks for your patience to read my blog.

Hi All,

Does scn community reputation(points and levels etc) helps in getting job or hikes in companies??

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Rakesh.

You may know Ravi Sankar Venna because he contributes not only in his area of technical expertise, but also around topics that resonate with many: career and certification. If you don’t, then I am happy to introduce him to you as our SCN Member of the Month for September 2013. Ravi has been on SCN for almost 10 years now and he has gathered a quite impressive following in the community. His content attracts praise and a lot of positive feedback, so much that he was thefirst person ever to get the SCN Thought Leader badge.

Ravi and I talked on a Friday morning – evening for his time. I was the last thing between him and a well-deserved weekend ;-) but it was clear to me that he felt honored at this new distinction. A lot of us liked to read his life story as related in hisBlog It Forward post, and his persistence and eagerness to learn are inspiring.

See Ravi in a video interview!

Ravi, can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, who you work for, and other things you would like to share with the community (hobbies, fun facts)?

I was born and raised in India and moved to the UK 5 years ago. I am a Management Accountant and Company Secretary by profession but then decided to move into SAP because of the great passion that I have developed about its great products from day one. I always love to learn new technologies and keep in touch with people in SAP.

My wife and I live in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and we have two lovely kids. I started my own consulting company called “ERP Experts UK Limited” and I am the director/consultant. Earlier, I worked with Logica (now part of CGI) for 9 years in the UK and in India. My latest assignment includes the successful implementation and post go-live support of SAP Asset Accounting for a Utilities Company in the UK. My current lifestyle is a typical consulting life, away from home for five days and enjoying weekends at home . I love travelling for work, seeing new places as well as meeting new people. I travelled five times to the Netherlands and a couple of times to Germany. My hobbies include theatre, acting, swimming (no longer), playing the flute, watching cricket and playing cricket with my kids on the weekends. Also, I love to type fast.

You mention “Tollywood” movies in your Blog It Forward post. What is it? I know Bollywood movies, but not “Tollywood”!

Ha ha ha… Good question. You are right; this is the doubt of many people. Bollywood is the biggest film fraternity in India. However, this is not the only “wood” in India, there are also other local language film fraternities called Tollywood (Telugu), Kollywood (Tamil) and Sandalwood (Kannada) etc. I do not even know how many “woods”exist in India. Every “wood” has famous heroes / actors and they have millions of fans across the globe. In India people are crazy about movies. Without doubt, India is the global leader in producing number of films. It was always exciting to see the movie of my favourite actor on the first day / first show in my childhood days.

Your SCN bio is a long list of SAP certifications; it made me dizzy to read it ;-) What would you like to share about certification that you have not done previously in your blogs on SCN? And pardon my ignorance, but I’d like to better understand the difference between being certified on a module or on a solution. Can you explain?

I did my first certification way back in 2003 on SAP Finance & Controlling (FICO 4.6), then did my SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) Certification in 2005 and SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) in 2006, SAP Solution Manager, SAP Security & SAP Financials (FI 6.0) in 2008 and SAP Business Foundation / Integration (SAP ERP 6.0 EHP5) in 2013. The last certification I did was in 2013, which is fairly easy if someone has fair knowledge about different modules.

Good question, if the Certification is based on a module then the knowledge is mainly restricted to that particular module, such as FI, CO, MM, SD, PM, PP, HR, QM and PS etc., whereas, the certifications based on solution would usually cut across the modules such as SAP Solution Manager, SAP Security, SAP GRC and SAP Business Foundation & Integration etc.

Looking at your LinkedIn profile, it seems that your background was business at first, and then you transitioned to a more technical role. Was that when you started your SAP career? Knowing how you are self-driven, I can well imagine how you pushed yourself to learn new things, but I would like you to share your journey with the community.

My corporate stint started way back in 1998 with ANZ Grindlays Bank in India. I joined them as an Industrial Trainee and they were one of the best foreign banks in India at that time. I then moved to Tata Chemicals in January 2000, part of Tata conglomerate, and joined their Internal Audit team. This is where I was introduced to SAP and being an internal audit professional, we had display access to all the modules. This gave me an additional opportunity to better understand the data flows between various modules. I should say I was much passionate about SAP from the first instance and ended up exploring the system a lot. Then I moved to Bharat Aluminium Company in April 2002, now part of Vedanta Group, listed in the London Stock Exchange. I was working in Finance and was a part of their core team member for SAP Implementation. This is where I had much privilege to interact with different consultants. Then I did my first certification in FICO and moved to Covansys in March 2004 for a shorter stint. Later, I moved to Logica in May 2008 and worked with them in India until February 2008, date when I moved to their UK Unit. Recently I started my own consulting venture and I am looking forward to more challenges. Something I am always proud to say is that whatever investment I made on SAP-related education is out of my own pocket, and it is already more than £50,000 L I have around 60 SAP books – see this picture:

When did you become a member of SCN and what brought you to this community?

I can see the exact date in my profile; it was December 13, 2004. I can go back and remember; that was during my first trip to Netherlands. I might have logged as any other enthusiast in SAP. I still remember SAP used to send colour pencils, water bottles, binoculars and other gifts with SAP emblem when we reached a particular milestone. I felt those gifts were so precious that I still have them. However, later they stopped sending them, as the people in the community have increased significantly.

How do you find the time to contribute on SCN?

It is always good to contribute at night… Just kidding. Joke aside, I still believe it is a factual statement, as most of the good time is available in the night time. Mostly after the tedious day work, I always enjoy to look at various posts / blogs in the evening until 11 p.m. Then again in the early morning I probably wake up with SCN. In my free time I always tend to read good stuff and answer some urgent issues on SCN. SAP Community Network is one of the sites that I visit on a daily (hourly!) basis. Particularly in 2009. I was very “addicted” and logged on even during the weekends to contribute.

It seems that most of your SCN blogs are related to career and certification, whereas you provide FI and other technical support in the discussion forums. Why is that?

About one year ago it was really different: I was contributing solely in the SAP Financials area and about 90% of my lifetime points came from that area as well as Security and other topics. Then last year I wrote my first blog in the SAP Certification area and got a very good response, which inspired me to write more blogs in the SAP career and certification area. Still, I believe that 70% of my total lifetime points are from these technical areas and 70:30 is still not a bad ratio! In 2009, I was the top contributor in the Financials area and I was overall top contributor on SDN. I was not much active from the mid of 2009 due to some other commitments. I still regret that I became inactive on SCN for quite some time, but, it is part of life and I need to move on. Currently, I am still active in the Financials forum, but not really desperate to answer all the questions. There are number of reasons:

a) The quality of the postings has come down (though substantial measures are taken to maintain the quality)

b) Most of the questions are already answered (maybe the time zone plays a role here)

c) The number of people has increased

d) The number of questions has decreased (maybe people search more before posting now?) and

e) I am personally not that happy with the new forums compared with the old SCN forums

Note from Laure: Here, I had to dig a little bit further, you see, being a community manager ;-) Ravi does enjoy the new SCN, its engaging features, the email notifications and the ability to connect with people, follow them, etc. But he misses the old forums where he could find “his stuff” quickly with one or two clicks.

On the number of open questions, I told him that pre-moderation is in place for new members and members with less activity in the community, and therefore all discussion posts are moderated before publication. It takes the moderators a long time and a lot of work to release everything, which is not an ideal situation given the urgency of certain questions. But the team is trying to change this and make an exception to pre-moderation: in the discussion forums everything would be posted right away without going through moderation. This requires development so stay tuned as we are working on it.

Which one of your blogs are you most proud of? And it doesn’t have to be the one with the most likes, comments and bookmarks ;-)

I strongly believe that every blog I wrote was done as part of a long thought process. It is always difficult for me to select a single blog, but I would like to give the top five blogs that I feel proud of and the reasons:

How to Approach and Pass a SAP Certification (I believe many people have benefitted from it)

Top 10 Myths about SAP Certification (Most acclaimed comments by critics)

How to transform yourself from a fresher to an expert SAP Consultant? (For giving me the Thought Leader badge)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by SAP Consultants (For its high level overview)

Top 10 inherent traits of true individual (For being close to my heart)

You were the first person on SCN to earn the Thought Leader badge. Did you notice when that happened a month ago? What does this achievement mean to you?

It was a sweet surprise when I received the Thought Leader badge with the wonderful 125 points. I thought other people might have achieved this. But, I only realized that I was the first person to receive this badge when you mentioned me in your blog Find out who is SCN Thought Leader! (a challenge) and it was a great surprise and more excitement than the real Thought Leader badge. The badge is always special for me, but I cannot praise you enough for investing your time in writing this blog to make it more exciting. This badge does not belong to me, but to the whole SAP Community Members. In this regard, I am dedicating this badge to all our community members.

Note from Laure: Wow, that must mean a lot to the community and your fans. That’s very kind of you to say that.

If a new member came to you and asked for your advice on how to be an active and respected member of SCN, what would you say?

“Never take success to your head and failure to your heart, treat both of them as your eyes”. I strongly believe that even 1,000 miles start with a single step. All the top contributors in this community started with few points on their board. It is their determination and commitment that distinguished them as top leaders in their areas. Trust your inner abilities to help people across the borders with selflessness.

Is there an SCN member you admire (OK… you can name a few)?

There are many great people on SCN whom I admire and it would be unfair on my part not to mention all their names. But, due to constraint on the space, I would like to mention a few:

Tammy Powlas (for unwavering commitment towards the community)

Jon Reed (for insightful knowledge and visionary thoughts on various subjects)

Susan Martin (for constant improvements in the SAP Education & Certification area)

Thomas Dulaney (for amazing contributions and career guidance)

Jarret Pazahanick (for being helpful in expanding my audience to a wider community)

Marssel Vilaca (for constant encouragement and finance contributions)

Ajay Maheswari (for highest contributions in the Financials Forum)

Chriag Shah, Jitendra Kumar Kansal, Midhun VP, Narasimhulu Konnipati, Muralibabu Nallamothu, Atif Farooq, Vinod Kumar, Kumud Singh (for their constant encouragement)

What technology recently had you most enthusiastic about?

SAP is changing their technologies at breathtaking speed. I am more enthusiastic about Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), SAP BusinessObjects (BOBJ) and SAP High Performance Analytics Appliance (SAP HANA). Being functional consultant, I am also interested in learning Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM).

Easy question: Mac/iOS or Windows? Or Android?

So far I am always on Windows. I always go to shops and get the feel of Apple notebooks, but I leave when I see the price tag! Next time, it seems that I should not look at the price tag at all when I decide to purchase a MacBook!

I use Android for my mobile. I started using Samsung Galaxy III and I am still enjoying its features. I hope to give a try for their next version Samsung Galaxy IV.

Are you on Twitter?

I am neither on Twitter nor Facebook. I compensate my missed time on Twitter and FB with SCN and Linkedin.

Every month, a member of the SAP Community Network is recognized for exemplary behavior: sharing knowledge with peers, being helpful and taking on additional tasks to support community engagement. See the list of previous SCN Members of the Month.

Every month, a member of the SAP Community Network is recognized for exemplary behavior: sharing knowledge with peers, being helpful and taking on additional tasks to support community engagement. See more details about the program in the announcement blog.

SAP Community Network is a gamified community where members can complete missions, earn points and badges. Badges represent certain achievements such as being onboarded, an active blogger, an influencer or thought leader, someone who shares knowledge via documents or in the discussions, etc.

This document lists all the SCN badges that are available for people to earn.

Visit your profile, reputation tab, "Missions" area to learn more about these missions:

- Requirements to complete the mission (hover over the mission card, click the gear button to see the flip side)

                         front side:                                                                                                             flip side:

- Who recently completed the mission

- How many points you get for completing the mission

Site-wide missions:

Space-specific missions:

Type of Mission	Space	Mission Name	Badge	Mission Description	Progression Mission?	Pre-requisite	Level Requirement?
Challenge	SAP Lumira	Accept the Data Geek Challenge		Accept the Data Geek Challenge. Click the gear to flip the tile and find out how.	Yes
Challenge	SAP Lumira	Share your Data Geek Knowledge		Share Your Data Geek Knowledge. Click the gear to flip the tile and find out how.	Yes	Accept the Data Geek Challenge
Challenge	SAP Lumira	Data Geek Squad		Member of the Data Geek Squad, submit your Data Geek Challenge entry.	Yes	Share Your Data Geek Knowledge
Campaign	About SCN	I Voted for the "Real Founder of SCN"		Vote for the best SCN Founder video via poll on SCN.	No

“Time is fun when you are having flies.” -- Kermit the Frog.

I’m surprised—amazed really—that the SAP Community Network (SCN) is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary already. Guess I’ve been too busy creating community to notice that 10 years have flown by.

Now that it’s starting to sink in, all that comes to mind is, “Wow.”

Here is my taped happy anniversary comment:

2003 when we opened the gates to SDN,as SCN was known back then, was a time where neither Tim O’Reilly had even coined the term Web 2.0 nor Shel Israel the term Social Media. Many of the elements that define the two terms we had implemented in 2003.

Out of the gate we came with blogging for all. Customers and Partners were able to blog next to SAP employees with the only difference being a little SAP flag next to employee’s names. That was the first seed of our great community. The proof is DJ Adams who was the first external developer blogger. That seed is still carrying fruit and seeding new engaged participants, as DJ this week was one of the presenters at the Teach Your Children SAP Mentor Monday sharing his experience as being part of the Young Rewired State (YRS). 

Isn’t Gamification all the rage right now? Well we introduced our point system in 2004. It was super cool, you could go down the list in every forum and see where you stand, even if you were number 193. Little healthy rivalries would develop between colleagues at companies on who would be first to be in the 100s. It was so successful, that our servers couldn't keep up and we had to switch off that feature, and I miss it. Introducing our point system was a total sorcerer's apprentice exercise, you introduce game elements and people will try to game the system. Be ready for whack a mole if you do so.

To celebrate the top contributors, we gave out t-shirts and man over the years we have given out quite some shirts. Here a little video that I made 2 years ago that tells the SCN T-Shirt history.

We stopped sending out shirts because logistically it was getting too much and even though we payed $40 to send a $10 T-Shirt to India it still often wouldn't reach its intended target. The final nail was a shirt not arriving and weeks later the local post delivery man wearing it on his route ;-) If only we had a picture of that post man wearing a 1/4K SDN Member shirt.

How did we come up with all these innovations?

We realized early on, that passion is what makes a community great.

What is the best way to boost the passion in a community?

Get them together face to face. In the Bay Area people back than started to experiment with Unconference Style events, so we created in similar fashion the SDN Meets Labs and invited everyone to come. We used a wiki to organize ourselves. We were very much doing it on the seats of our pants. Keith Elliott back then was managing the super successful SAP TechEds and I remember him saying to me: You know that you are now in the event business! And I thought oh no what have I got myself into?

But he was gracious to lend me the pros from his team Christina Miller and Linda Bortolus to help me run the first ones and I have not thanked them enough, as it would have ended in total disaster without them.

That is also where Thomas Jung for the first time presented his amazing SAP wisdom to an audience.

We also brought the element of community to SAP TechEd, by adding the SDN Clubhouse, Jeffrey Word was the father of that space. Remember before SDN TechEd was fully focused on their main purpose education. If you didn’t like a session and left, like a Zombie you would walk down the halls of the convention center as there wasn’t a place to go and hang out.

In the beginning that clubhouse wasn’t center stage as it is now. I will never forget Craig Cmehil face when arriving at SAP TechEd in Munich ready to engage and discovering “The SCN Clubhouse” tucked under a staircase.

This was the best picture I was able to take without prominently featuring the staircase.

It was also in Munich that we did SDN Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions that developed into the SAP Networking Lounges of today. We could only schedule them after Shay Agassi’s evening keynote  We had pretzels and beer waiting in the 4 corners of the convention center as there were the big theaters that hold up to 100 people.

We were able to convince Brian McKellar to drive down from Walldorf as BSP star power, but only very few participants stayed, I was really bummed, but also understood that people were not used to this concept and din’t want to hang around after 8pm.

But we did the best out of the sessions and ended up in the pub Linie 2 at the entry of the Munich U-Bahn and there the following, my favorite SDN/SCN pictures were taken mostly by DJ Adams.

For the life of it, I can't get these pictures nicely aligned :-(

Because we didn’t know it back then, but many of the future European SCN community giants are right there in these pictures. Some have moved on, but a

surprising number are still active. I leave it up to you to recognize all of them :-)

That my friend makes me super happy. If there is a picture that represents SCN to you, please share it in a comment or post a blog and link to it in a comment too.

P.S. While looking through past pictures and posts, I stumbled upon a video of a guest speaker at one of our events. For me it was an absolute highlight of our SAP Community Network path together and I totally forgot about it. Do you know whom I am talking about? It will be the subject of another post.

P.P.S. Hope you can join the family at any of the SAP TechEds for some musical fun: Calling All Musicians, Singers and Dancers at SAP TechEd

How to contribute in SCN?

Log on to your SCN account !!

Now you have decided to share one document with every one in SCN. Follow the procedure as below:

1. Click on "Create"

2. Ohhh, you want to share any document with us! Click on "Document" it is so easy.

3. (Thinking what to do next) --> Okkkk, you want to share something related to "SAP Net weaver", type this in Search Bar--> You will find all relevant topics as a search result. --> Select your appropriate topic.

4. Now you can see the screen where you can TYPE all relevant data.

5. Now it is your turn to SAVE and Publish.

6. What you say? Was it easy ?

Hello all,

Welcome to my Blog

First of all, i Big thanks to Ankita Chhabra invited me here to create my own blog on Blog It Forward - Ankita Chhabra and gave me a chance to Share about myself , my working style and my view towards work and People. This is quite smart way to explore and know about people's personal or can say technical aims and view.

***For those who want to be a part of Blog it Forward Challenge,enjoy it here.

So Here is something about me Let me start by my ....

Personal Introduction :

Childhood picture                     Recent Picture

As you all already know my name Still i am doing some thing duplicate task(SAP don't like to use duplicate data ) , Anyways my name is Chandra Shekhar Agarwal , looks so long to read and call, so people modify my name according to their convenience  like Chand , Shekhar , Mr. Agarwal, and most interesting Mr. Developer .

I belongs to India-->Rajasthan-->Alwar . Talking about my qualification, I am a Bachelor of Technology (B.tech) degree holder and Working with SLIB(SAP Labs India, Bangalore) as an ABAP Developer. I like to a part of SLI and enjoying working with SAP.

I joined SCN , like 1 year ago (Apr 20, 2012) that time i just made a account but from last 2 month i started using it a lot. Now a days its like i can't live without it.  

Oh yes, I like bike Racing too much and best time pass for me Listening to songs and a usual hobby everyone has in India Playing CRICKET.

one more thing i am interested in Photo editing also. As you can see some editing is there in my recent picture

Outstanding Facts of My Mother Land INDIA :

India is the largest democracy in the world.

Chess was invented in India.

The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.

The world’s largest road network is in India—over 1.9 million miles of roads cover the country.

India now has the largest population of English speakers in the world.

India has the largest movie industry in the world.

A commonly known, but not to be neglected India fact is that the number and concept of zero was invented and documented first by Indians.

The game of Snakes and Ladders also originated in India, with the lesson being of virtue vs. vices.

.

.

.

..... INDIA..... not ending list

Some Facts about my Native  :

I was born and brought up in Alwar,Rajasthan,India. The city of Alwar is known as The Tiger Gate of Rajasthan. Enclosed by the Aravallis, Alwar gives the appearance of being carved marvelously from rocks. Flourishing deciduous forests and lakes covers the hills. These forests and basins serve as a home to numerous species of birds as well as animals. Situated amongst such beauty, the city proves to be a delight to the eyes.

In alwar..

Sariska Tiger Reserve is an Indiannational park located in the Alwar district of the state of Rajasthan.

Haunted Bhangarh Fort : The Ghost Town of Rajasthan..

(Entry Restricted Before Sun rise and after Sunset)

As per a legend there was a black magic sorcerer who cursed the residents of the palace that they all would die an unnatural death and their spirits will stay there for centuries to haunt the castle for time immemorial.  This fort would really freak any living mortal. One can seldom find  a temporary household in the close periphery of this fort. Let us reveal you one more fact about this place. The village households found here are without roofs as there persists a popular belief and experience that the moment a rooftop is built on a house it collapses. This is said to be the most freaky place in India. Believe me it is also said that anybody who has been to this place after dusk never comes back ! 

Milk Cake..(dessert)

Alwar is famous for its Kalakand (Milk-Cake), a world famous dessert. This is a special desert made of Milk. Its demand from all over the world has given Alwar a special name on the map of world.

SAP Labs, MY Working Place .

As every one knows about SAP labs. Here i am sharing some images of my SLI..

This is time for me to answer the questions of Ankita..

1.If you could be a super hero (or are in your spare time) who would you be?

Ummm..Super Hero.. Nice Question Ankita, But there is no Super hero at all for me because i never saw anyone in real life who worked Like a Super Hero but if want to know about movies/Tv's super Hero then there was a TV serial You must remember SHAKTIMAN, I liked that very much. He always ready to help people he always follows the truth , Truthfulness was his motto. I would like to be a SAKTIMAN

What do you enjoy most in your work and why?

I enjoyed everything in my work, the people I worked with the environment I am working, my cubical everything. It was a friendly and fun atmosphere and I actually enjoyed going into work each morning. I also enjoyed that fact that the office tried to do community outreach with local organizations. And as I already told I am a developer so I tried to look into new ways to develop a task and that is a challenging and enjoyment for me. When we do the work with responsibility, accountability, honesty, sincerity, it is really an enjoyment. What one becomes out of such experiences is more important than what reward one gets.

Here is something you all will love it.

Cricket Cup we won in SAP

What is your professional life dream?

My Professional life dream, I want to present myself as a team.

Ravi Sankar Venna , I learned a lot of things from your blogs, i want to say thanks to you in my first Blog to sharing all blogs and master piece of knowledge in that.

Blog Forward:

I would like to blog forward to

Chandresh Bindal

Narasimha Rao

Rajesh Kanna S

Radhika Ponnaluru

I wish If you could answer to the following:

1.The dream job when I was kid :

2. If given a chance to show your creativity, in which specific field would you make an attempt?

3.What is your worst coding program ? The program you would like never to modify ... ?

4.What is the craziest thing you would have done in your life?

For any doubts regarding BIF, kindly visit Blog It Forward Community Challenge

Thanks a lot for reading my blog.I would appreciate your valuable comments and feed-backs.

Keep Smiling  , You have every right ...

Expert in anything was once a beginner....

Hi SCN,

I have a suggestion to improve SCN usage experience. There will be a beep sound(any type of sound) when any notification alerts comes on Facebook. Although we minimize the FB screen, we can still hear the sound and immediately we check it. Why can't the same concept be applied on our Communications in SCN?

Regards,

Suman

Hello Team,

My SCN ID is C5167763.

I am working as SAP partner(C user ID). Now i am leaving my company.

Please let me know how to change my registered mail id which will going to deactivated soon.

I am worried about whether i can continue with my same SCN profile after leaving my current company.

Please help me out.

Regards,

Surojit

SCN is a place to grow reputation and demonstrate topic expertise, with several programs in place to help you. The recent introduction of gamification opened new doors for you to shine, and our Reputation Program now includes points, levels, missions and badges to guide you throughout your community experience and reward quality contributions and special achievements.

Every year we run a contest to recognize SCN Topic Leaders. The purpose of the program is to recognize the most active experts in a certain topic. Prior to moving to our new platform in March 2012, we recognized top contributors in all of the points categories, listed their names in a blog, sent them a certificate of achievement and, if they attended, called them on stage at SAP TechEd for a live round of applause.

Because topic expertise is the key to your professional reputation as well as the heart of engagement and value on SCN, we will continue to recognize our SCN Topic Leaders. They are so important to the Community. However, the changes in the platform and addition of gamification necessitated modifications to this program, which I will explain here.

Changes in Topic Leader Recognition:

Last year was a transition period for this program. Since we migrated to the new platform in the middle of the Topic Leader contest period, for part of the year topic leaders posted against the old points categories, and for another part of the year, they posted against topics spaces. This year is the first time that all the contributions were made exclusively in the topic spaces on SCN.

In order to keep the Topic Leaders list meaningful, we decided that 3 names for each one of the 500+ spaces would be too many names, and it would include areas that have less activity. So we decided to include a new requirement for the Topic Leader recognition: Members participating in the contest need to have accrued at least 440 points during the contest period in their space of contribution in order to be considered for the recognition.

Members who got fewer points and are below the threshold will not be considered for the recognition. Their contributions and achievements continue to be recognized with points and badges for completed missions, and if they are among the top 10 contributors in a topic over the last 12 months, their name appears in the space leaderboards.

The table below summarizes the changes:

Summary:

To summarize, a Topic Leader in a category is someone who got more than 440 points in a topic space between August 1, 2012 and July 31, 2013, AND is among the top 3 contributors in that topic (SCN space). Please keep in mind that points in a sub-space do not roll up to the parent space, as reflected in the space leaderboards today.

For those who like programmatic explanations, here is the logic:

If time frame >= 2012-08-01T00:00:00-08:00 and time frame <= 2013-07-31T00:00:00-08:00 and space ID==XY and user Z.point_total >=440 points and user Z.contribution_ranking in (1,2,3) then user Z=SCN Topic Leader in space XY.

(Yeah, you’re right, I didn’t write that by myself…And feel free to suggest an improvement to this logic ;-))

The Topic Leaders will be announced in a blog post in about 1-2 weeks.

Teaser for SAP TechEd 2013

This year we are thinking about a couple of special achievements to recognize on stage this fall. These will be fun, meaningful, and supportive of good community behavior. We’ll give you more information as we get closer to the event. So stay tuned!

And as always, I am looking forward to hearing your feedback. Please note that as in the past years SCN Topic Leaders are not eligible to get a free pass to SAP TechEd.

It’s hard to believe that SCN turns 10 years old this year.  I joined the SCN Team in November 2006, and since then I have had a chance to experience and influence many of the changes and features you see today.  One of those features is the Career Center. It was four years ago on August 23, 2009 when Mark Yolton’s announced, Introducing the Career Center, Part of the SAP Community Network.

I can imagine that some of you reading this blog may have never even heard of the Career Center.  So, let me explain a little bit about the purpose of the Career Center, and then I will dive into the Career Center today.

Career Center 2009

The Career Center was originally conceived in 2008 where the business case was developed and socialized within SAP.  This established the project for execution and launch in 2009.  The main goals of the Career Center were to:

• Provide a SAP-centric job board hosted to connect SAP skilled talent with employers
• Increase activity and co-innovation levels within SAP Networks by connecting job seekers, partners and customers together
• Enable job seekers to showcase their skills in the rich, collaborative environment of the SAP Community Network

While this sounds good, you may ask yourself, “Why a job board?  Do we really need another one?”  This is certainly an understandable question, but the reality is that there is unmet market need. Other career sites tend to be either:

• Too broad and create too much clutter for employers (monster.com, careerbuilder.com, dice.com) or
• Too small to provide effective coverage and matching across geographies (sapcareers.com, sapjob.net, simplysap.com, sapaspirinlist.com)

Great!  So, what happened?  How was this service accepted by the community?  In just a few short months by the end of 2009 there were some very promising statistics:

• Signed up 427 Employers, 2,366 Job Seekers
• Over 170,000 Page Views and over 25,000 Job Views
• 1,249 Active resumes, 154 jobs posted

And there were some setbacks as well:

• Negative feedback from employers who have not been able to find any qualified candidates on the site
• Few local candidates in places where jobs are posted
• Complaints from users about the site being dated, missing functionality, lack of integration to SCN
• Furthermore, those other job boards don’t have the access to the SCN which allows employers to learn more about their applicants through community participation in blogs and forums.

Career Center 2013

So, let’s fast forward to today.  The Career Center is alive and well.  The vision and mission remain the same.  Let’s take a look at what we have learned.

The Economy

Although there was some success immediately following the 2009 launch, the effects of the 2009 economic downturn were coming into play.

“If IT jobs ever return to their 2008 levels, don't bet on it happening until 2012 at the earliest. The jobs needle will barely move next year...” – Foote Partners, LLC (Dec 4th, 2009)

This did impact the usage of the service early on, but we have seen growing demand throughout 2011 and 2012.

The Job Board Solution

The job board solution has matured significantly and includes social media feeds, geo-targeting, SEO tuning and candidate to job matching software.

Community complaints about a lack of integration to SCN has been somewhat addressed by the migration of SCN to the Jive platform.  This new community platform provides a consolidated view of blogs, discussions, and documents within the context of SAP Careers, and better overall integration with SAP systems.  Enhanced social sharing features also enable broader visibility of recruiters and job seekers.

So, what’s next?

The talent recruitment market is changing, and SCN continues to be a leader for attracting SAP talent. Traditional job boards like Monster are moving into survival mode, and online communities are quickly becoming the effective talent discovery channel as they retain talent over the long term.  I certainly do not have a crystal ball that allows me to view the future, but I can tell you that demand is strong for community-driven recruiting, and SCN will continue to play a leading role.

Special thanks to Kuhan Milroy for helping with the historical content.

When you're working day-to-day, just living life and doing your best to make a positive impact on the people and the world around you, you don't always notice the big momentous decisions, actions, or pivots until they've come and gone, and you have a chance to reflect back on the little moments that mean so much in retrospect and in the grand scheme of life, work, career, family, friendships. 

As the SAP Community Network (SCN) turns 10-years-old, it's a perfect time to reflect. 

When I went to work at SAP 8 years ago in 2005 with the task to build up the still-new SDN into a strong community, I was excited and thrilled at the possibilities, but didn't then know what a transformational role it would play in my career and in my life.

Sure, SDN -- which evolved to include BPX, and BOC, and UAC, and then re-booted itself to SCN -- grew and morphed and achieved great success by many measures.

• It helped SAP customers to more efficiently and effectively implement, operate, and optimize SAP products and technologies. 
• Yes, it allowed individual members to learn, grow their careers, and shine on a big virtual stage. 
• Certainly, SAP benefitted from internal efficiencies, and emboldened advocates, and improved loyalties, and faster product/solution adoption in the market. 
• Of course, SAP partners gained access to ready-made markets, gained expertise, trained their people, found solutions, and built reputations for quality. 
• Yep, SAP TechEd added an extremely valuable in-person element to the virtual nature of the online community, in order to build stronger bonds between members, and to share in ways not possible online.
• The SAP EcoHub added a commerce capability to buy / sell / rate / review adjacent partner solutions.
• SAP's social media footprint on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Slideshare, and Google+ enabled greater reach and an immediacy not inherent in SCN blogs and discussions and wiki's and documents and videos. 
• The SAP.com website opened-up SCN to a different more business-y audience to broaden its awareness and heighten its impact. 

Those benefits to many constituents and stakeholders are well understood. 

For me, the greatest impact of SCN has been through the relationships it afforded me to form and build.  I've had the great pleasure of working with an extraordinary team of consummate professionals who helped build and run the community, with many supportive visionary colleagues across SAP, for some excellent bosses I've learned from, at an intriguing and successful company.  I've met literally thousands of interesting people who are members of the community, forged stronger ties with some of the most active top contributors and SAP Mentors, had the chance to proudly share our successes with envious colleagues at other companies, the media, analysts, and other firms. 

I know that SCN has changed many lives, because I've heard the stories from so many of you.  It's changed my life, too, for the better, and in so many ways. 

I am forever grateful to SAP and to SCN for affording me the opportunity for this adventure.  And I am especially thankful to you -- the SCN members and my team at SAP -- who were part of this journey with me. It's been a great pleasure to work and interact with you as colleagues on a journey of exploration, innovation, and value creation. 

And you know what's the best? ... the busier and more focused we were on creating value for each other, the more we gained tremendous value and benefits ourselves.  That spirit of altruism which focuses on helping others, but which then creates value for everyone involved, is the 'secret sauce' of SCN.  I'm proud to have been part of this with all of you!

Happy 10th birthday to the SAP Community Network!

Regards,

Mark Yolton

Namaste from India!!

I was blogged forward by Blog It Forward - Jitendra Kansal, Moshe Naveh, Matt Pollicove and a few other SCN friends. Link to Jitendra's BIF is here.. http://scn.sap.com/community/about/blog/2013/06/13/blog-it-forward--jitendra-kansal

This is unique and creative thought by Moshe Naveh and one can see the impact of One Thought!! No initiative could ever bring so many people from across geo close to each other as this

About Me:

My name is Ajay Maheshwari. I am a Sep 1981 born, in a small and quiet town of Andhra Pradesh, India called Rajahmundry. I owe my roots to Rajasthan and having born in a region which speaks a different language, I developed an interest towards languages (Indian Languages, to be more precise) ever since childhood. I can speak/understand upto 7 Indian languages

I am a commerce graduate and completed my CMA (erst while ICWA) along with my graduation in 2002. I stood at 3rd place all over India in ICWA finals, which fetched me a Job even without trying for it. This launched me into my 1st Job with Torrent Pharma in Ahmedabad, after which I worked with Wipro, IBM India and currently with Infosys in my 10 yrs of work experience

Started SAP consulting career in 2006 and became passionate after it, the passion which one can see on SCN.. In one line, I can say that SCN has made me what I am today!!

This is how I evolved

About my country:

I think, the name itself is enough to describe it .. "India", the name synonymous with spirituality, love, caring, hospitality and the warmth in relationships!!

About my hometown:

I am from a town called Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of river Godavari, one of the biggest rivers in India. The town used to boast of a Guinness world record for hosting 3 bridges on a single river. I am not sure if it still exists or not. One of the existing bridges is still the largest road-***-railway bridge in Asia

Here are some interesting facts about my town. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajahmundry

Why I chose SAP consulting career??

I chose SAP consulting career for two reasons - My love for travelling and seeing places and My love for learning various business processes. I will take a few lines to explain the later.

> I thought if I continue with a mfg company, I would learn only about the company I work for. Whereas if I choose the SAP consulting career, every 8-9 months I can learn about a new company, new industry, new business processes, etc. And moreover, it would help me fulfil my love for travelling.

> Working in a mfg company only tells you, for example, how does your company manage the sub-contracting process which other vendors do for them. But if you choose SAP consulting, you can understand both sides of the same coin. And after I chose SAP consulting career, I was fortunate enough to implement SAP in couple of the vendors of my 1st employer. So, that gave me and end-to-end knowledge which no other career choice would have given me