SAP Enterprise Resource Planning Solution for the CSIRO

Supported by Oakton Business Process Consulting

The Challenge

With the objective to increase business efficiency and standardise its finance, human resource and project management functions, the CSIRO decided to implement the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

Identifying the necessity to document its finance and human resource processes, the CSIRO recognised the need for expertise which would ensure the success of their project. Oakton was engaged to deliver the business process to support the Business Enabling Technology Replacement project (BETR).

Oakton process analysts collaborated with the CSIRO to assess the SAP build against the CSIRO’s processes and requirements. Once the project went live, the analysts assisted CSIRO by providing user support.

The key challenge of the project was to understand the implications of the SAP solution on CSIRO’s business processes and to ensure that the solution was configured correctly to meet the business requirements. Another challenge was integrating SAP into the existing technology infrastructure.

The Solution

Following a competitive tender process, Oakton was selected for their strong business consulting skills and their demonstrable experience in business process design and business analysis.

Oakton’s business process analysts assisted CSIRO in two key areas:

• Documenting CSIRO’s finance and human resource processes at a high level; facilitating the creation of training documentation and enabling the CSIRO to confirm the SAP configuration;

• Providing support to the SAP users in the first 2 months after ‘go-live’.

The business processes prepared were relevant to CSIRO staff and assisted CSIRO to validate the SAP build in a way that gave management confidence.

Key Outcomes

A key success factor was that SAP and the standardized business processes went into production on the scheduled ‘go live’ date. CSIRO now has a platform to standardise its finance and human resource processes across its 17 divisions supplying the business with relevant, consistent and timely information.

The business process design skills of the Oakton business analysts combined with their sound knowledge of financial and human resource processes enabled them to maximise benefits and minimise risk.

Oakton were able to demonstrate a flexible approach to conducting the project by their ability to quickly switch from designing the business processes to providing user support once the SAP solution went live.

Working in conjunction with the CSIRO, Oakton helped to ensure the delivery of the BETR project was delivered on time and within budget.

The BETR project has enabled CSIRO to standardise its financial, human resource and research project management processes, supported by the SAP enterprise system.

The outcome of this project has provided the CSIRO with a solid foundation from which to reap greater business efficiencies, to improve the quality of its administrative data, and to enable better management information for decision makers.