I’m a consultant and project manager specializing in strategy, operations, and SAP transformation, with 20 years of experience leading complex projects across industries.

Below you’ll find information on my consulting clients, recent updates, and blog posts.

I also run a few passion projects in writing, coding, and language learning. Feel free to explore those via the “Side Projects” section.

Recent news

2025
- I'm living in Bangkok at the moment and am currently available for remote contract work.
2024

Travels:
- I spent time in Tokyo, Bangkok, DaNang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong.
I wrote several blog posts and articles:
- Assessing operations: an in-depth guide to evaluating operations as part of transformation programs such as acquisitions integration or ERP implementation
- Information gathering: a look at the important process of gathering information which forms the basis for design work as part of many transformation programs
- Business/process frameworks: how to create a framework to help structure different aspects of transformation programs
- Scope creep: A brief post on managing scope creep
- Ansoff's grid: A look at this useful tool for strategic planning.
I expanded my knowledge in:
- The lastest on VBA, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I worked through the freeCodeCamp curriculum and FrontendMentor challenges.
- I created this website, with design structured in pure HTML and CSS. It utilises the 'static site generator' 11ty to automatically convert markdown-based articles/blog into web pages
Work
- In 2024 I worked with a global recruitment company on the assessment of the operations of potential acquisition targets (I started this in mid 2023)
2022 and 2023
- In 2021-23 I was living back in the Scottish highlands.
- I spent a year buying, restoring and selling classic cars, including a 1989 Renault Alpine GTA, 1985 Toyota Landcruiser HJ60, 1985 Toyota Celica Supra and 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
2020 to 2022
- I led the global design and pilot implementation of SAP S/4HANA Central Finance and CO-PA (margin analysis) for a multinational consumer goods company.

Featured posts

Centralised Business Services

by Alexander Roan on Jun 29, 2025

Business Services Organisations (BSOs) and Global Business Services (GBS) emerged in the late 1990s and have since played a central role in driving standardisation, harmonisation, and automation. By consolidating operations, they’ve helped multinationals achieve consistency across regions and deliver faster, more comparable reporting. This article takes a detailed look at how business services models work, evolve, and add value.
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SAP S4HANA Embedded Analytics for FInance - Apps, Architecture, and Implementation Tips

by Alexander Roan on Jun 12, 2025

Embedded analytics in SAP S/4HANA sounds like a BW in SAP, but it's not. It's a core capability that utilises HANA, the virtual data model and Fiori to blend analytics and transactions in real time. It's part of the core S/4HANA platform. In this post, I explain the architecture, key app types, and how to approach implementation with real examples from finance.
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Making sense of SAP finance - evolution of the data model

by Alexander Roan on Jun 3, 2025

The data model for finance has changed considerably from SAP R/3 to S/4HANA. These changes have provided some simplification while also making it easier to access data. Understanding the basics of the model can be useful. This article walks through the data model with a real life example.
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The leadership-project team gap

by Alex Roan on Mar 14, 2025

Succesful large scale transformation requires a handoff and ongoing collaboration between strategy and project delivery. This often involves senior teams working with project teams. This is a crucial part of the successful delivery of complex intiiatives such as SAP S/4HANA implementation or an acquisition integration.
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The chart of accounts, concept & design

by Alex Roan on Jun 25, 2020

The chart of account (CoA) is one of the most important structures in business. It reflects all the activities a business is involved in and it provides a foundation for the majority of financial and management reporting. Correct use of the chart of accounts can both simplify operations and improve decision making capability.
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SAP HANA and S/4HANA - A simple guide

by Alex Roan on Jun 3, 2020

Recent years have seen a resurgence in large organisations taking on major SAP upgrades with the relatively new SAP business suite 4 HANA (S/4HANA) collection of applications. But what exactly is HANA? and what is S/4HANA? How is implementing or upgrading to it different from the R/3 upgrades that were significant programs for many organizations over the last few decades?
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Improving the record to report process

by Alex Roan on May 18, 2020

Starting from business transactions such as the purchase of materials, payments to employees and sale of goods and services. Ending with reporting and decision making including the submission of detailed annual reports. The 'record to report' process (RtR) is a long, complex process that involves people from across the enterprise. Despite the critical nature of this process, it’s rare to find RtR clearly documented from start to finish. I've found that few finance employees can describe the complete process. In part, this is because the process touches core operational transactions (purchases, manufacturing, sales etc.). From another perspective, it's because certain parts of the process require a high level of expertise.
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