Lessons learned from a global ERP implementation

Global ERP Implementation

Talk about a challengeâ¦ how about taking 400 systems, located in over 40 countries, multiple business segments, and 10 different languages, with the goal of creating common business processes running on a single instance of SAP and supported by a single global shared services center?

Thatâs exactly what a Peeriosity member company has managed to accomplish.

A recent webcast in the Peeriosity Shared Services Technology research area featured a presentation and discussion on global implementations. We all have our stories; the good, the bad, and usually an ugly thrown in, that we donât like to talk about much, but that we can learn from. Most organizations limit the risk of large-scale roll-outs by focusing on one of the three big levers at a time: Technology, Process, or Organization (e.g. move to shared services). Implementing any of these levers will usually yield good results. However, on this webcast, our feature company focused on all three levers and shared what they learned on the way to a successful global implementation.

The company had grown through a series of large acquisitions in different, but related, industry segments. Each of these acquired organizations had their own set of processes and systems and, in some instances, had multiple sets of each; the result of acquisitions as well as a highly de-centralized structure. The goal was to have a global design that ran on a common instance of SAP, but allowed for business segment and country specific requirements not covered by the base platform. All supported from a single global shared services center.

One of the key initial decisions to be made was which organization, internally, would lead this effort and ultimately support it â and from where. It was decided to create a captive shared services organization, located in the US. They would work with an experienced integrator while they simultaneously built the support team to phase out the integrator over time, except for use on country-specific requirements.

The webcast collaboration is now part of the Peeriosity archive that can be referenced online at any time, by members. The webcast concluded with a sharing of best practices and suggestions on how to implement them. A sample of learnings discussed includes:

Collaboration to identify best practices with other organizations before commencing Process Simplification Phase with end-users Training for roles, not tasks Avoid adapting the new design to the "old way" and "legacy systems" Additionally, the group talked about best practices on implementation principles, project and change management, as well as post-implementation support and governance.

The presenting companyâs results have been great and they have met all of the goals they set out to accomplish. They now run a single instance of SAP with common processes that allow for local differences, all supported out of an extremely efficient captive center located in the US.

This conversation continues in the Peeriosity Shared Services Technology Research Area through peer-to-peer connections, polls, discussion threads, webcasts, and shared documents.

Who are your peers and how are you collaborating with them?

Peeriosity members are invited to login to www.Peeriosity.com to join the discussion and connect with Peers. Membership is for practitioners only, with no consultant or vendors permitted. To find out if your company is already a member, or to get more information, contact us.

Lessons learned from a global ERP implementation

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