New Clicks Holdings has awarded Affinity Logic, the IT solutions arm of UCS, the contract to implement a suite of financial systems for its retail brands, based on the SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning suite. The retail brands within the New Clicks Group include Clicks, Discom, Musica, The Body Shop and CD Wherehouse.
According to Byron Hofmeyr, IT Leader SA at New Clicks, Affinity Logic was appointed because it had substantial experience in supporting SAP financial systems for a number of other retailers, so it was able to bring best practice retail knowledge and experience to the implementation.
He comments: "The rationale behind selecting a financial system based on SAP R/3 was to try to generate a real business benefit out of the finance function in order to make the function more effective."
Tony Nugent, business development director at Affinity, explains: "This roll-out is part of a broad, over-arching strategy within the group to replace most of the organisation`s application systems. The financial systems are one of the key components."
New Clicks is using SAP R/3 to drive the process change internally, combined with Affinity`s process knowledge.
Nugent states: "The implementation involves an overhaul of Clicks` financial systems and the related processes. Part of the brief relating to the implementation is to use it to upgrade the financial processes currently in use. During the execution of this project, our retail finance experts will adapt the best practice process templates provided by the SAP R/3 suite to better suit the retail environment."
In addition, Clicks has appointed a specific change manager to oversee the critical change management aspects in this process.
"A significant element within a retail financial system is the trade creditors, and payment of trade creditors, since these form the lifeblood of a retailer. The maintenance of relationships with suppliers is vital to the retailer`s survival and managing the trade creditors more effectively goes a long way to ensuring this," Nugent continues.
Other key objectives for New Clicks resulting from the deployment of the SAP R/3-based financial solution is to realise greater business efficiency due to more effective financial management as a result of the greater speed of information access and the flexibility of data analysis inherent in the solution. The efficiencies will also be realised from seemingly mundane tasks such as the ability to generate more flexible payment runs.
An additional benefit of SAP R/3 is that it can run on the IBM AS/400 hardware platform, which already runs many of New Clicks` other applications: "One of the key criteria to New Clicks was that SAP can run on a variety of platforms - so it fitted well as a solution into the overall architecture," states Nugent.
"The project structure is business-driven with Clicks providing a lot of business input while Affinity Logic supplies process and technology skills in support of the business input from Clicks."
The actual implementation of the financial systems commenced on 1 September and will continue through until the go live date on 1 March 2004.
Hofmeyr adds: "Affinity had a working prototype available for us within a four-week period, so we were very quickly able to view and evaluate a demonstrable business pilot. According to Nugent, the reason Affinity is able to effect such a rapid implementation, is due to the company`s detailed SAP knowledge combined with Affinity`s retail industry expertise.
Affinity, partnered by SAP Africa, won the deal through an RFP process against a large number of other contenders.
Hofmeyr concludes: "We were looking for a world-class financial solution, and it was key to us that our ultimate supplier recognise the significant competitive advantage that a financial system can add to a retailer`s business."
Share