JSE-listed CS Holdings has completed a business process re-engineering (BPR) exercise with Sentech, the common carrier for signal distribution in South Africa, that has resulted in a tight mapping between Sentech`s business operating model and its SAP R/3 implementation.
Sentech is an independent, fully commercial, state-owned enterprise, whose signal distribution network forms the backbone of broadcasting in Southern Africa. It owns and operates some 500 television transmitters, as well as FM, medium- and short-wave transmitters and satellite services. As such, Sentech offers a full array of signal distribution technologies and services in other radio communication fields such as radio paging and data broadcasting. The company also provides turnkey network design and establishment - including planning, coverage prediction, site construction and transmitter, mast and antenna installation - within and beyond the borders of South Africa.
Danie du Toit, MD of CS Holdings` Strategy Solutions division, says the division was contracted to assist Sentech in optimising its business operating model. Over a 10-week period, CS Holdings defined Sentech`s processes to map them optimally to SAP R/3.
"Sentech`s decision regarding its choice to implement additional SAP and customer relationship management (CRM) functionality to replace its legacy system was by no means clear-cut," says Du Toit. "Sentech needed freedom of choice when it came to the required functionality for CRM and plant maintenance. Our BPR exercise took both these factors into consideration and allowed Sentech to define business functionality before choosing a target system."
CS Holdings chose ARIS, from German software house IDS Scheer and distributed in South Africa by CCH Enterprise Solutions, to model the processes. Then, when Sentech chose SAP R/3 for CRM and plant maintenance, CS Holdings changed the user requirement specifications to be SAP-specific.
CS Holdings took Sentech through a number of facilitated workshops to help redefine the business processes. This process indicated which modules of SAP needed to map against Sentech`s business needs, and therefore which modules of SAP had to be tendered for. Once these had been selected, CS Holdings could link the business functionality from ARIS to the SAP reference models and roll it into a SAP blueprint, a first in South Africa.
"Too many ERP implementations have failed to add value," says Dur Toit. "Typically they have just replaced existing functionality, or, in many cases, they rushed their implementation for Y2K readiness. Now they`re battling to identify return on investment, but it`s because the ERP system`s functionality doesn`t support the optimal way to do business. To get the best out of an ERP system, the best approach is first to optimise the business operating models that need to be imbedded in the business system. This is what Sentech achieved by driving the implementation of its business system from a re-engineered process perspective."
Sentech has enjoyed many benefits, notes Du Toit. "We defined the best business solution for them, without having to be constrained by choice of technology. In such a scenario, IT can be an enabler rather than the constraint it so often becomes."
"The staff were involved throughout with change management," says Christa Marais, a project manager for CS Holdings` Strategy Solutions division. "We published the processes on Sentech`s intranet and invited comment, which improved overall user buy-in. The users wrote the process definitions and the ARIS models came to represent their knowledge of the business. Now everyone is working off a common view and common business definitions."
During the process, says Marais, CS Holdings and Sentech captured the business models, focused on bottlenecks, removed process redundancies and consolidated processes. "Just in the area of maintenance, we were able to reduce seven processes to one," she says. "ARIS has also improved integration of interfaces between functions in R/3, reducing mismatches between user requirements and delivery." Sentech IT manager Jasper Visser says Sentech expects reduced implementation time of the new modules "because we have re-engineered all the business processes and have a detailed R/3 blueprint in place".
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