When Coca-Cola Southern & East Africa needed a human resources system, it turned to top SAP integration specialist Quartet Solutions for an answer.
Coca-Cola entered Africa in 1928, the first bottling plant and distribution plant being set up in Johannesburg. The company has been continually expanding in SA ever since. The Coca-Cola business system in SA employs approximately 10 000 people and for every one direct job created by the production and marketing of Coca-Cola products, an average of ten additional jobs are created in related industries.
Its head office in Parktown, Johannesburg has 370 users connected to the global network. Locally, Coca-Cola's existing human resources system was proving inadequate, requiring more sophisticated reporting and integration functionality and as a result the company went looking for alternatives.
When Quartet executives were approached for an answer, they first spent time understanding the business needs of the company, including process and logic analysis, and training requirements. Marketing Director at Quartet Paul Bouchier says that one of the ways in which Quartet adds value to customers is through proper business process analysis.
"When a business process needs evaluation, you have to ask two questions: Firstly is the process correct? And secondly, is the person involved in the process properly trained? Early on in the process, we were able to show Coca-Cola a business blueprint that would optimise their HR processes and ensure that the roll-out would be seamless."
After extensive discussions late in 2002, Coca-Cola chose SAP with the Human Resources module as proposed by Quartet. Backed by Coca-Cola's head office in Atlanta, Georgia - itself a keen user of SAP - the local office approved the blueprint and the project plan. The company has a roll-out policy for new systems which specifies four standard roll-outs per year - so it was important for the implementation to be completed quickly. Quartet managed to complete the implementation in less than two months, including full training and the generation of standard documentation and training material. Quartet also provides post-implementation support if necessary, although Bouchier says Coca-Cola won't require much support.
"The company has very knowledgeable super-users on their system and our training course was extremely comprehensive."
Divisional HR Information Strategy Manager at Coca-Cola Southern & East Africa Gary Townsend says the entire project was implemented on time and within budget, a rare occurrence for a SAP software installation.
"We cannot speak too highly of Quartet," he says. "It is a company with great skill and experience in all aspects of analysis, implementation and training that proved ideal for our installation of SAP."
Coca-Cola's experience with SAP will stand it in good stead when the company implements its worldwide portal for employee self-service. The concept which is rapidly becoming popular in large multinationals involves making a wide range of products and services available to employees through a global portal system, saving costs and encouraging staff to find better ways of doing their tasks. Global employee self-service is part of SAP's business suite.
Quartet has offices in SA, the US and UK but also serves clients in many other countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and recently North America. Sixty-five people are employed globally together with over 85 consulting contractors. The skills among this group of people vary from ERP consultants and trainers, education consultants and project managers, to skilled desktop developers and trainers.
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