6 Generative AI ideas in IT Consulting

In this article, I list 6 cases in which generative AI can help you in your work as a consultant in the context of an ERP implementation project.

Introduction

Since a bit over a year, Chat GPT and generative AI are making their way in our personal and professional lives, I have seen on IT projects different relevant use cases of generative AI in IT consulting projects and wanted to share them here.

Keep in mind that generative AI helps you to START your deliverable, it cannot be its final version!

Project Charter

As a project manager or member of a Project Management Office team, you will be tasked with constantly coming up with templates of deliverables to be completed by your project team or by your own PMO team.

For example, one of the very first (if not the first) deliverables to be completed is a project charter. You can easily ask Chat GPT to generate a project charter for you. Would it be complete? Of course not, but 90% of the different sections that you would need in a charter would be there.

Writing software code

If your prompt is specific enough, you can fetch some useful information when you have to code some functionalities in a SAP project.

AI can lead you to look at the right tables, function modules, or badis.

Below, you can see the answer I got for asking the generation of the ABAP code required to generate an e-mail notification to a purchase requisition creator whenever there is a goods receipt in a certain plant. Knowing that there is a purchase requisition - purchase order - goods receipt document flow.

Writing a functional specification

This is the bread and butter of every functional consultant. With a functional specification, you apply your knowledge of the system to communicate to developers how you would like to answer a business requirement by writing detailed functional specifications.

While as a functional consultant, you should have the prior knowledge on what to write on it, AI can provide you with a proper structure that could be adapted depending on the type of functional specification: enhancement to a standard program, interface, data migration , form, etc.

Writing test plans

Testing is a crucial part of a project. Too many ERP implementations fail because the testing phase has not been properly executed.

From identifying the testing scenarios, writing the scenarios and preparing them in the system, there are many steps in which testing could fail.

AI can help you obtain the template of a structured test plan you can use for your SAP project.

Writing a cutover strategy document

All SAP implementation projects have a cutover plan. For the cutover plan to be agreed upon with all the relevant stakeholders, you need to have presented a proper cutover strategy.

Again, you can prompt AI to get a cutover strategy document structure that is relevant to your project, your client and your industry.

Writing a data migration plan

Data migration is a key part of every ERP implementation project.

While there might be no current AI tool who knows in detail what are the SAP objects to sequence in your migration, the key elements of your data migration plan can be gathered through a proper AI prompt.

And you, as an IT or ERP consultant, do you see any other use of generative AI that is relevant to you?