Top Ten Questions about SAP cFolders

1. WHAT IS CFOLDERS?

cFolders (Collaboration Folders) is the SAP web-based application for collaborative sharing of information. cFolders is part of a suite of applications powered by SAP® NetWeaver™ that integrate project management, knowledge management and resource management in collaborative inter-enterprise and intra-enterprise environments.

2. WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE USE OF CFOLDERS?

Organizations, their partners and suppliers from any industry and of any size with requirements to work in distributed design and manufacturing teams in a collaborative web based environment.

3. WHAT ARE CFOLDERS’ MAIN CAPABILITIES?

cFolders enables the sharing of documents and product information with members of various virtual teams that are either part of your enterprise or trading partners e.g., customers and suppliers. cFolders is typically setup outside of the enterprise firewall and accessed via web browser. It is integrated to SAP ECC, SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), SAP Knowledge Management and SAP NetWeaver™ cRooms (collaboration rooms). Virtual teams can access, view online, subscribe for changes, and redline documents and product information. Partners and suppliers can interact with cFolders in predefined collaborative or competitive scenarios.

4. HOW EASY IS IT FOR OCCASIONAL USERS TO EXECUTE THEIR WORK USING CFOLDERS?

cFolders is an easy-to-use, intuitive, Web-based application. Its Web Browser user interface requires minimum training for occasional users.

5. MUST CFOLDERS AND CPROJECTS BE DEPLOYED TOGETHER?

No, cFolders can be implemented by itself or integrated with SAP ECC. cProjects is a tool that enables project planning, scheduling, resources management and costing across internal and external partners. If a company has such requirements, then cProjects and cFolders can be implemented together.

6. CAN CFOLDERS BE DEPLOYED WITHOUT ANY OTHER SAP SOLUTIONS INSTALLED?

Yes! cFolders can be deployed stand alone – no other SAP solutions are required. However, SAP customers can take advantage of the SAP business suite as an integrated solution by using cFolders with SAP PLM (ECC), SAP cProjects, and SAP SRM.

7. CAN CUSTOMERS IMPLEMENT CFOLDERS AS THE FIRST STEP IN A COMPREHENSIVE PLM IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP?

Yes! You can start with a cFolders implementation and then build out comprehensive SAP PLM applications in a phase-based approach.

8. WHAT ARE THE TECHNICAL PREREQUISITES TO USE CFOLDERS IN A STAND-ALONE MODE?

cFolders is installed as an add-on to SAP NetWeaver 2004s or higher which can be installed on a Windows or Unix based system.

9. WHAT IS THE EFFORT TO IMPLEMENT CFOLDERS?

There are many factors that influence the implementation effort and duration. Project experience illustrates that cFolders can be implemented in as few as 60 days.

10. HOW CAN CUSTOMERS UNDERSTAND IF CFOLDERS CAPABILITIES MEET THEIR REQUIREMENTS?

LeverX conducts a workshop for SAP customers to investigate their requirements for collaborative sharing of information and recommend potential scenarios for cFolders deployment. Afterwards LeverX can define with the customer a cFolders implementation plan to fit within their current SAP roadmap.