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Consumer and Retail SAP CRM SAP Fiori SAP Personas

How a North American bicycle distributor used Design Thinking to define its SAP Fiori CRM pilot

A North American Bicycle Parts Distributor Delivered 2017

A Design Thinking workshop cut weeks of guesswork by putting the right end users, architects, and functional experts in the same room, and delivered a tested Fiori prototype and a story backlog with point estimates before a single line of production code was written.

By the numbers

  • 3 days

    On-site workshop to tested prototype

  • 1 week

    From workshop close to backlog with point estimates

  • 0

    Production code written before problem was defined

Before

Prior Fiori attempts stalled by version issues

  • Internal developers had tried building Fiori apps and run into version compatibility problems.
  • No clear definition of the business problem or which screens the sales team actually needed.
  • No validated technology direction before committing to a full development effort.

After

Defined problem, tested prototype, ready backlog

  • Business problem defined through direct observation and a structured d.school design process.
  • A tested high-fidelity Fiori prototype and a technology recommendation in hand.
  • An implementation-ready story backlog with point estimates before any production code was written.

Built on

  • SAP Fiori
  • SAP Personas
  • SAP BUILD (prototyping)
  • Design Thinking (SAP / d.school method)

Why this matters

Design Thinking as a pre-build investment: one focused workshop replaced weeks of trial-and-error and gave a mid-size distributor a tested prototype and an actionable backlog before a single line of production code went in.

The challenge

The company distributes bicycle parts, components, and accessories to independent retailers across North America. Its internal developers had already tried building Fiori apps on their own and run into version compatibility problems that stalled the effort.

They wanted to start over with a defined approach, beginning with the business problem rather than the technology. The target was a CRM-focused Fiori pilot aimed at their sales team. Before committing to a full build, they needed to know what the right solution actually looked like, which screens mattered, how salespeople actually worked, and whether the answer was Fiori, SAP Personas, or some combination.

What we did

Mindset ran a fixed-fee Design Thinking Workshop on-site at the company's Bloomington, Minnesota headquarters, following the SAP and Stanford d.school method: understand, observe, interpret and define a point of view, ideate, prototype, and test.

The three-day workshop brought together the company's business end users, SAP technical architects, and functional experts alongside a Mindset SAP architect with deep Fiori and Personas experience. A one-week pre-workshop readiness phase preceded the sessions, covering a technical landscape review, a review of the sales team's workflows and documentation, and a readiness checklist to make sure participants arrived prepared.

Within roughly a week of the workshop closing, Mindset delivered a high-fidelity prototype, an initial product and story backlog, and point estimates the team could take directly into an implementation planning conversation.

The outcomes

The company left the workshop with a concrete definition of the business problem, grounded in direct observation of how salespeople worked. It had a clear position on the right solution technology, a tested prototype, a single high-fidelity design ready to carry into build, and a story backlog with point estimates.

By starting with Design Thinking before touching production code, the team avoided the version-compatibility trap it had run into before. The backlog was ready to review and prioritize before any development budget was committed.

If we built this today

Concept · not delivered scope

Start from the rep's real moment.

This is a forward-looking concept, not the scope we delivered on this engagement. It is the build we would reach for now, grounded in SAP that ships today.

This North American bicycle distributor ran a Design Thinking workshop to define a Fiori CRM Sales pilot around the daily reality of reps and customer service taking orders from independent shops, and that same order moment is exactly where a Joule agent can earn its keep.

The Joule agent

Sales Order Assist Agent

Reads the rep's open carts, account history, product availability, and pricing as an order comes together, then proposes the next line, a substitute when a part is short, or the right quantity break. The rep stays in control and approves before anything posts.

SAP S/4HANA Sales (SD), SAP CRM, SAP Fiori · PROPOSE · Order cycle time per rep and lines per order

The Fiori app

Manage Sales Orders (Joule-embedded)

The standard S/4HANA sales order app with Joule in the launchpad, so a rep can ask for an account's reorder pattern or run a stock check in plain language instead of clicking through screens. It is the kind of guided, low-friction app the workshop prototype was reaching for.

Embedded in the Fiori launchpad

The data product

Customer Intelligence

Grounds the agent in real account behavior, order frequency, product mix, and seasonality for each independent retailer, so its suggestions match how that shop actually buys. It pulls from governed S/4HANA and CRM data, no copy.

Intelligent Application on SAP Business Data Cloud

We would still mine the real order-taking process in SAP Signavio first, map the CRM and Fiori landscape in SAP LeanIX, and let MIND accelerators carry the prototype's intent from that workshop into a working build.

The Joule Agent Factory Process intelligence

What we built

  • Design Thinking Workshop

    A three-day on-site workshop using the SAP and Stanford d.school method, covering the full DT cycle from understanding end-user context through prototype and test.

    Full d.school cycle completed in three days on-site

  • Pre-workshop readiness package

    One-week preparatory phase covering technical landscape review, sales-workflow documentation review, and a readiness checklist so participants arrived ready to work.

    Participants prepared before day one

  • Tested Fiori prototype

    A high-fidelity prototype for the CRM Sales Fiori pilot built from ideation outputs and tested with end users during the workshop.

    Tested during the workshop, not after a full build

  • Technology direction recommendation

    A clear position on whether the solution should use Fiori, SAP Personas, or a combination, based on the technical landscape and what end users actually needed.

    Decision made before development began

  • Story backlog with point estimates

    An initial product and story backlog with point estimates, ready for the team to review and prioritize before entering a build phase.

    Implementation-ready backlog delivered within one week of the workshop