The UK’s College of Leeds is in search of a methods integrator to assist transfer its ERP system from an ageing SAP set up relationship again to 1999 onto the German vendor’s newest S/4HANA platform.
The establishment stated it needed emigrate away from its current SAP ECC6 atmosphere that has been in place from 1999.
“Since then, the atmosphere has been added to, extending SAP and increasing the methods supporting HR, Finance and Buying with different third-party choices. This has led to an atmosphere in want of simplification and systematisation,” it stated in a procurement notice.
“The college now needs to improve to SAP S/4 HANA (to make sure interoperability with present methods to be maintained) and transfer to a brand new working mannequin for enterprise assist providers which is suitable with the establishment’s current infrastructure.”
Myriad customizations, additions and extensions to set alarm bells ringing within the ears of skilled ERP professionals. Not solely does the technical complexity have to be understood, customers should additionally settle for new methods of working to become familiar with the brand new system. The mixed problem represents the rocky headland on which many an ERP migration voyage has foundered.
To remain afloat, the college is searching for an SI to assist with the migration to SAP S/4HANA software program as a service “to implement, combine and configure that resolution.”
The preliminary contract worth is round £11 million ($13.4 million) for implementation, with annual recurring prices of roughly £1.5 million to £2.5 million ($3 million), the discover stated.
Further documentation identified that the college’s present know-how resolution for finance and payroll, buying and HR, primarily based on ECC6, will see assist finish in 2025 “with extensions doubtless solely obtainable so far as 2027 after which at much-increased value.”
“A alternative Enterprise Useful resource Planning (ERP) resolution must be carried out upfront to make sure the College has continuity of operations… The College wants to modify from working variable non-standard, usually advanced processes with an undue reliance on guide exercise to business-led course of re-design to implement standardised, streamlined processes which can be technology-enabled,” it stated.
The college expects to nominate a provider by September with the preliminary contract lasting three years with choices to increase for 2 years. It stated throughout 2022 it had labored to create a “Goal Working Mannequin” for brand new processes overlaying finance, buying and HR.
Emigrate to S/4HANA, SAP stipulates a “clear core” method, which means there are minimal dependencies on the present ECC software program.
Prospects have been warned that cloud-based SaaS implementations mustn’t carry over any customization. In 2020, Oliver Betz, SVP head of product administration for SAP S/4HANA, told UK users the transition “requires standardization which must occur on the shopper aspect: they should agree on standardized processes. You can’t have these modifications that you just had within the on-premises world, that is not how the cloud works.”
In a blog published in December 2022, Gavin Beere, the college’s director of the company processes and methods program promised it might standardize enterprise processes, clear up information and make it simpler to transact, plan, forecast and report.
“It is no easy process. Earlier than arriving at Leeds, I led the same transformational programme at Yorkshire Water. Change on this scale is advanced. The staff is working onerous to grasp the methods and processes we at the moment use, the place we have to get to, and the way we get there,” he stated. ®
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