Ginger Luttrell recently posted a simple question on her LinkedIn profile “SAP Super User are Important. Do you Agree?” The answers were inspiring.

Below are extracted phrases from those comments. These phrases just begin to describe why SAP Super Users are so important. The intent of the list below is not to take a statement out of context, but to highlight the characteristics of a SAP Super User.

Please read the comments on LinkedIn.They are nothing less than awesome.

Super Users are important because they are…

• On the front line
• Liaisons between IT and business
• Span of influence
• Business value
• Critical connection
• Key
• Ambassadors
• Ensuring the effective and efficient use of SAP
• Talent pool
• Critical aspect to any application ecosystem within an organization
• An internal support system
• Alignment of technology with their business processes
• Essential
• Center of economic value for SAP deployments
• Critical in enabling workforce adoption
• Fill a critical gap
• Known for their responsiveness, their thoughtful insights to user issues, and their creative solution ideas.
• The real users of any SAP system
• Critical for any organization that is seriously invested in making technology work for their organization
• Critically important, vital, invaluable, passionate, intelligent, articulate, proactive, and so misunderstood
• The compass that guides us in how effective our system is at meeting our business needs.
• The first ones to speak up, because they care about success
• The future of the SAP system
• A “go-to” guy/gal sometimes and superusers are awesome resources for help and guidance
• Mission-critical

Understanding why a SAP installation needs Super Users begins with asking “what is a SAP Super User?”

A Super User is a “first responder” at the local level, where the action is. A SAP Super User is also a liaison between the technical staff and the user community that can be called upon to perform testing of new SAP versions. The Super User  must also be prepared to provide user training. In addition to that, and more, the Super User is often called upon by the executive management to make recommendations on subjects from processes and procedure to software acquisitions.

The Super User brings tremendous value to the business by keeping the SAP implementation running smoothly right at the core of the business. The SAP Super User provides that first line support, training and testing with real-world first-hand experience.

ASUG created an SAP Super User 101 Slideshare that expands the discussion by, among other things, describing the “villains” of the Super Users.

If you are developing a Super User program or leading an existing program, contact SAPinsight. SAPinsight is a community and a Super User conference dedicated to offering peer-to-peer networking, tools and training for the Super User.