Industry-Specific SAP
Standard SAP Templates Are Only the Starting Point in Complex Industries
In Mining, Utilities, Construction, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Government and Education, SAP can’t stop at a “best practice” template. Compliance rules, asset hierarchies, service obligations and funding models all shape how your system must work in the real world – and if those last-mile requirements aren’t designed in from day one (including the right extensions), you pay for it later in rework, user resistance and audit findings.
Discovery Consulting delivers SAP in complex industries every day. We start from SAP’s standard and industry packages, then shape them with sector-specific design and extensions, led by people who understand your operating environment as well as your technology.
Complex Industries, Standard SAP Conversations
Too many SAP programmes still start – and end – with a template conversation:
- The same “best practice” slides, no matter who is in the room
- A standard design that quietly assumes a simple, lightly regulated business
- Consultants who talk process, but don’t recognise your asset, safety or funding realities
If you’ve ever asked a partner, “Have you actually done this in our industry?”, you already know the risk.
When industry nuance is treated as an afterthought instead of being designed into configuration and extensions:
- Regulatory and safety obligations end up bolted on late, not embedded from the start
- Critical processes are bent around the template, spawning spreadsheets and manual workarounds
- Users quietly revert to their own tools because the system doesn’t reflect how the industry really runs
- On paper the project might “go live”. In practice, you’re left with a brittle system and a frustrated organisation.
What Template-Only Delivery Really Costs
Using SAP’s standard content as a foundation makes sense. Treating it as the complete solution in complex industries does not – it carries real, compounding risk:
- Compliance gaps and audit findings when reporting, safety and accreditation requirements are treated as “edge cases”
- Operational disruption when plant, network or site operations are forced into processes that don’t fit
- Escalations and rework as teams discover late that core industry scenarios were never properly modelled
- Lost advantage as competitors apply industry-specific best practice and targeted extensions while you fight your own system
In high-stakes environments, “we’ll fix it after go-live” is not a safe strategy.
From Template-Only Delivery to Industry-Fit SAP – Key Outcomes
From Workarounds Around the Template to Industry-Fit Processes
Rather than forcing your organisation to live with whatever comes out of the box, we use SAP’s best-practice content as a baseline, then design around sector realities – from mine-to-port value chains and project-based construction work, to regulated utility networks, public-sector accountability, government programmes and education funding models. Extensions and integrations close the gaps the core cannot. That means fewer spreadsheets, fewer manual workarounds and far higher user adoption.
From Compliance Gaps to Confidence with Regulators and Auditors
When industry nuance isn’t designed in, regulatory, safety and reporting obligations become a patchwork of reports and point solutions. Our industry-specific designs and extensions embed compliance considerations early, reducing the risk of audit findings, regulator scrutiny and reputational damage. Your SAP platform supports your licence to operate, rather than undermining it.
From “Have You Done This Before?” to Proven Industry Track
The question that keeps many leaders awake is simple: has this partner actually delivered SAP in an environment like ours, using standard content plus the right extensions? Discovery answers that with dedicated industry leads and reference projects across asset-intensive and service-centric sectors. You work with people who speak your language and recognise the traps before you fall into them.
Explore How We Implement SAP in Your Industry
Below is a snapshot of how we think about SAP in each sector. Each industry has its own detailed page, with deeper examples of how we design and deliver programmes there.
Mining
- Multi-site operations with complex mine-to-port value chains
- Heavy focus on asset reliability, maintenance and shutdown planning
- Strict safety, environmental and reporting obligations across jurisdictions
Discovery has delivered SAP programmes in mining environments where asset-intensive operations, HSE compliance and production efficiency all compete for attention. We design SAP to support safe, predictable operations – not get in the way of them.
“A persons character is shown through their actions in life NOT where they sit on Sunday.”
― Navonne Johnsote
Manufacturing
- Intricate supply chains, production planning and quality control
- Integration between plant-floor systems and core SAP processes
- Margin pressure demanding tight cost and inventory visibility
We help manufacturers connect production, supply chain and finance in SAP so that plant operations, quality and commercial performance pull in the same direction.
Construction
- Project-based accounting, cost control and claims management
- Complex subcontractor, contractor and workforce arrangements
- Tight coordination between site activities and back-office processes
Our SAP delivery in construction environments focuses on job costing, project visibility and cash-flow clarity, so commercial teams and project managers are working from the same source of truth.
Utilities
- Network and asset management at scale, with strict regulatory oversight
- Service continuity expectations from customers and regulators
- Complex billing, metering and customer service operations
In Utilities, we design SAP around network assets, regulatory reporting and customer obligations. The goal is a platform that supports reliability, transparency and service commitments, not just internal efficiency.
Public Sector
- Funding and budgeting models tied to policy and electoral cycles
- Procurement, transparency and audit requirements under public scrutiny
- Service delivery expectations across multiple agencies and stakeholders
We work with public-sector organisations to implement SAP in ways that respect accountability, probity and value-for-money expectations, while still enabling modern, efficient service delivery.
Education
- Student, staff and funding models that cut across traditional “customer” views
- Timetabling, campus operations and student experience considerations
- Compliance with sector-specific reporting and accreditation requirements
Our SAP programmes in Education recognise that students, staff, assets and funding all intersect in unique ways. We focus on designs that support both institutional governance and day-to-day campus operations.
Government
- Central and state departments managing policy, programmes and budgets across electoral cycles
- Whole-of-government and cross-agency initiatives that depend on shared platforms and data
- Strong expectations on transparency, probity, security and public reporting
We work with government departments to implement SAP in ways that support cabinet and budget processes, strengthen procurement and financial controls, and enable whole-of-government reporting – while still giving individual portfolios enough flexibility to deliver on their specific mandates.
Cross-Industry Patterns We Reuse – Safely
Across asset-intensive and service-centric organisations, we see recurring patterns:
- Maintenance and asset lifecycle management
- Capital projects and portfolio management
- Workforce management in 24/7 or seasonal environments
- Complex billing and revenue recognition
- Service performance, incident and case management
Discovery codifies these into reusable designs, process patterns and accelerators that can be applied – with care – across industries. This pattern library reduces ambiguity, shortens design cycles and gives your programme a head start, without forcing you into someone else’s mould.
Why Discovery for SAP in Complex Industries?
- Industry-specific SAP focus – We deliberately concentrate on sectors where complexity is the norm, not the exception.
- Dedicated industry leads – Senior practitioners with real delivery experience in your sector, not generalists learning on the job.
- Proven implementation patterns – Designs and approaches refined across multiple programmes in Mining, Manufacturing, Construction, Utilities, Public Sector and Education.
- Comfort working alongside global companies – We can complement your existing global partner, bringing industry sharpness and local delivery pragmatism to a broader team.
You get a partner who understands both the technology and the political, regulatory and operational stakes of major SAP change.
Talk to an SAP Business Suite Lead in Your Industry
If you operate in Mining, Manufacturing, Construction, Utilities, Public Sector or Education, you already know that SAP change is not theoretical – it plays out in plants, networks, sites, classrooms and communities.
You can approach your next programme as a generic rollout and hope the template fits. Or you can work with a partner that designs SAP around the realities of your industry from day one.
The simplest next step is a short conversation with an SAP lead in your sector. Share a little about your landscape, your current programme and what you are trying to achieve, and we’ll respond with sector-relevant ideas – not generalities.