Steel giant Iscor is in the process of rolling out one of the largest SAP R/3 projects in Southern Africa, catering for approximately 2 500 users in Iscor Mining.
Valued at a total of R170 million, the project is managed by the business and AST ERP Solutions, a leading SA information technology company specialising in Enterprise Resource Planning and project management.
R/3 is an integrated suite of client/server applications from SAP AG in Germany, which includes information systems for manufacturing, distribution, order processing, accounting and human resources. The implementation of SAP R/3 at Iscor on such a vast scale and the increased capacity that comes with it, now places the South African Company firmly in contention as a major player in world markets.
"This has been a tremendously exciting project," says Pieter Boshoff, General Manager of AST ERP Solutions, a subsidiary company of Advanced Software Technologies (AST), which recently listed on the JSE. "This end-to-end `Big Bang` approach was quite a bold step, as it called for the simultaneous implementation of all major functional modules of SAP at specific sites in Iscor Mining."
"These modules included Finance, Costing, Project Systems, Sales and Distribution, Plant Maintenance, Quality Management, Materials Management, Service management, Production, Documentation Management Systems, Workflow and EIS. Limited Human Resources functionality was included.
Grootegeluk coal mine went "live" on 3 August 1998 for 500 users and the final user sign-off is expected by the end of November. When the second site went "live" at Sishen, Saldanha Harbour and at Iscor Headquarters simultaneously, over 190 users accessed the system on the first day to process transactions."
Boshoff continues, "The Iscor SAP implementation is based on the Iscor Mining Blueprint developed with the Grootegeluk implementation in Ellisras."
Yet another intriguing aspect of the project is that it involves what is arguably one of the most ambitious training programmes ever undertaken within a single company in South Africa. Over 700 users of the system at Sishen were selected to undergo an average of four training courses each within a four month period. As soon as they are proficient, they will go back and disseminate their new-found knowledge and expertise throughout Iscor.
"The lessons learned during the 18-month pilot project at Grootegeluk laid the groundwork for an almost problem-free implementation of SAP at Sishen by the SAPMINE-team," says André Dunne, programme manager, Iscor Mining SAP Project. "The experience and maturity of the users, widespread acceptance of the process by all personnel involved and the high level of management involvement enabled the project to be completed on time and within budget. "
As the rollout of the SAP R/3 implementations continue, the implementation team has evolved a unique new paradigm in rollout strategy. They have determined a strategy of working on more than one site at a time, by beginning work on a subsequent site when the current project has completed its detail design phase. In this way, teams within teams are formed creating productive synergies and specialised expertise can be used where it is needed more cost-effectively.
"In this way, more sites will be completed sooner, allowing us to reach our target on schedule and within budget," comments Ian Craig, Project Manager of AST ERP Solutions. "In the New Year we are completing our Human Resources implementation to cater for a payroll of 13 500 personnel, and in June 1999 we will be implementing SAP at the Thabazimbi Iron Ore Mine for 350 users."
Craig goes on, "The team will complete the Thabazimbi project within the next eight and half months, which means the Mine will be fully SAP capable well before the year 2000. It certainly seems that the risks inherent in opting for a Big Bang implementation have paid off. We started deriving benefits almost immediately."
Pieter Boshoff concludes, "All our systems have been integrated across different business areas. By maintaining the core skills and modules developed during these projects, which are mostly generic to all projects, together with AST`s best-of-breed products, AST ERP Solutions now has the capacity to manage projects with increasing speed and efficiency."
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