SAP platform rollouts are too complex for spreadsheets
A pharmaceutical company is undergoing a global SAP platform rollout, which is split by geography due to its size and complexity. After completing 90% of the SAP rollout in the Americas using spreadsheets, disjointed processes, messaging channels, and a weekly call, the Senior Director realized that to be successful with the rest of the rollout they needed better planning, orchestration, visualization, and communication capabilities than spreadsheets and calls could provide.
Cutover provided the ability to rehearse, manage communications, and more
The Senior Director came across Cutover through a Cutover partner. The company spent nine months planning the EMEA program in Cutover, pulling existing spreadsheet data onto the platform and building runbooks that were 3,000 to 4,000 lines long for the release, involving over 4,000 tasks and 200 people.
The first wave of this program, which is the largest and most complex and involved migrating a significant amount of data, is now complete. The EMEA program consists of three waves, and by the end of the final one everything will be live.
Where Cutover made the difference:
- The scale and complexity of the SAP program made following a spreadsheet of all the events incredibly difficult. The American phase of the program went over the scheduled time and they needed help from third parties to complete it. This made them realize they needed a tool that was especially suited to a program for this level of complexity.
- The team was able to do full and precise rehearsals. Over the course of four to five weeks they fully tested the entire plan from start to finish before going live. This helped them to better understand how the event would go and work out any potential problems ahead of the main event.
- The C-Suite were able to easily stay abreast of how the program was going via executive dashboards, and understand at a glance whether or not the program was on schedule and where delays were happening if it was not. They estimated that Cutover removed 90% of the manual communications required during orchestration to keep everyone informed.
- Cutover provided the ability to edit the plan live, where everyone could instantly see the changes that had been made and any adjustments to the critical path. Previously, those orchestrating the event would have had to edit and redistribute a spreadsheet to everyone involved.
- Cutover’s automatic audit trail and system of record helped the pharmaceutical company to evidence every single task involved in the program. Pharmaceutical companies are under a lot of scrutiny from regulators, so being able to evidence exactly what happened and when without additional effort was crucial.
The first stage of the SAP rollout was a success
Wave one of the EMEA project was a success, and now the company is gearing up for waves two and three in Cutover. They have also started planning and rehearsing the SAP rollout in Japan using Cutover.
Now that they are familiar with Cutover and the benefits it provides, they are also looking to use the platform for other use cases including supply chain manufacturing and releasing and testing systems that operate their chemical plants.
"Using Cutover we have total alignment, visibility and success in all objectives. We have full confidence that we will complete the program early. What else can we solve?!" Global Lead
