Johannesburg, 05 Jun 2014
In 2013, PPC decided to consolidate the SAP instances in its plants in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Britehouse SSD, in conjunction with SNP were awarded the contract for the project. Only three months were envisioned for this project.
The go-live was in February 2014. Due to the nature of the PPC business, it was necessary to use a consolidation approach that would have the least possible impact on the ongoing business operations.
The business called for the migration of all financial and master data as well as the last two years of transaction history for the plant in Zimbabwe. The data were to be transferred to the existing SAP landscape in South Africa. The two different currencies (Zimbabwean rollar and South African rand) also had to be taken into consideration for the financial data. Moreover, the business processes in Zimbabwe contrasted in several ways from those in South Africa (depending on the SAP functional module).
The solution
PPC chose SNP Transformation Backbone as its preferred solution. SNP Transformation Backbone is the world's first standard software that analyses changes in IT systems and delivers standardised implementation, essentially making manual programming work superfluous.
The software automatically identified the complexities of consolidation beforehand and suggested appropriate solutions to manage these challenges. Because the project teams worked closely together, the entire consolidation project was able to be successfully implemented on time and on budget despite the geographical distance between SNP and the local partner.
PPC supported by Britehouse SSD and SNP are now finalising planning activities for a possible second project using SNP Transformation Backbone. This project may start end June 2014.
Benefits
* Project achieved on time and on budget despite complex challenges
* Standardised software ensured that there was no manual programming
* Minimised impact on the business operations
* Successful collaboration between the project teams at PPC, Britehouse, and SNP throughout the entire project
About PPC
PPC is the leading cement producer in southern Africa. Nine cement manufacturing facilities and three milling plants in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Rwanda can produce around eight million tons of cement products each year. PPC also produces aggregates, metallurgical-grade lime, burnt dolomite and limestone.
For more information about PPC, please visit www.ppc.co.za.
For more information about Britehouse, please visit www.britehousessd.co.za.
For more information about SNP, please visit www.snp-ag.com