Our client was a major consortium operating in the retail, finance, healthcare, leisure and entertainment sectors in several countries across the Middle East.

They were undergoing a business-wide transformation to update their legacy systems and engaged us to implement a new functionally-rich and fully integrated ERP platform.

Challenge

• The first phase of the transformation was to deliver the ERP for the retail, finance and HR & payroll departments
• The second phase was to roll out the ERP for the remainder of the businesses, including credit cards and healthcare
• To add to the challenge of this extremely large project were the operational complexities of 14 stakeholders spread across three sites, allied with significant cultural differences and very short timescales

Approach

• The ERP technology to be implemented was Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, supported by Darwin and Adrenalin. We integrated the legacy systems with this new software to allow a consistent approach across all Business Units, which would allow for best practice processes to be shared across the group
• We worked towards consolidating all current platforms to eliminate silo working and implement a retail platform that allowed for further growth. A particular priority was to build a centralised data centre hub with effective Disaster Recovery processes
• By integrating the HR & payroll system with the Dynamics AX system, the project reduced levels of manual transactions, implementing automated prompts and actions to allow teams to work more effectively. A new portal was created to enable staff to manage their own data including performance management, business feedback, annual leave applications, training and travel
• By adopting a new inventory management process, the finance department would achieve greater control and accountability. Flexible reporting processes would enable greater analysis and control across business units, reducing effort and improving visibility
• A new online budgeting system was also implemented to improve accuracy and speed budgeting approval, whilst staff costs relating to project budgets gave better control and reporting capability

Outcome

• This significant business transformation project successfully and smoothly integrated Dynamics AX across all business units and led to a dramatic improvement in efficiency.
• In addition to integrating the IT systems we ensured sustainable, lasting change by providing communications to Business Owners and Champions. We also ensured that all End Users were trained to a high level by providing quality Train the Trainer skills training