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Transformational ERP at global NGO may help save lives
Transformational ERP at
global NGO may help save lives
What does a global non-governmental organization (NGO) with a mission of promoting international peace and human rights do when its IT systems are no longer up to the task?
It looks for the right enterprise-wide solution to replace what's broken.
And, just as important, it looks for the right service provider to help ensure the project gets the proper balance of IT excellence and good old-fashioned business acumen.
Imagine, if you would, a global family of specialized peacekeeping, poverty-fighting, and human rights agencies co-located in world capitals around the globe—many with staff and volunteers serving in some of the most war-torn places on earth. They share the same passion, core values, and commitment to excellence. But their numbers—in the tens of thousands around the globe—often do a poor job of staying networked and bound together in ways that would make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Now imagine, if you would, that same organization strung together with information systems that were built around work processes that had first been put in place at the end of World War II—systems so antiquated that orders for food and blankets for needy refugees sometimes get lost in the electronic maze; processes so slow that it can literally take months to on-board a new hire when that employee was literally needed on the job yesterday; and financial recordkeeping severely compromised by end-of-life IT systems.
The challenge here is to replace those aging systems that patch together a hodgepodge of hundreds of applications—and without alienating the many stakeholders who depend on the organization daily, sometimes in matters of life and death.
In short, the organization needed help re-engineering its administrative and management functions through a comprehensive business transformation and change management platform.
"Those working at the client to make today's world a better place aren't working in a way they'd prefer to work. Instead, they're working in the way the systems are forcing them to work," says PwC principal Joe Rizzo, one of the PwC professionals leading the engagement. "The legacy systems have been wrapped around the business processes in place generations ago."
As a result, information is very compartmentalized. In some instances it's still on paper in ledgers or trapped within spreadsheets on people's personal hard drives. And most often, those who need the information can't access it when it would have the greatest impact.
After some serious scenario planning, the organization decided it needed a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system—a system that would bring people and their work processes together on a single, global platform and result in greater efficiency, transparency, and accountability. What the organization also needed was a consulting partner that would treat the work not only as a system change but also as a complete change in the way the organization does business.
The client turned to a combined international team of PwC professionals who, in collaboration with HP/EDS, one of the firm's alliance partners, went to work on a multi-year engagement designing and planning the replacement system—based on an SAP ECC - 6.0 platform—and thereby creating a blueprint that could then be followed for realization and deployment.
The new SAP-enabled system will comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards, thereby bringing the organization into compliance with the most current public-sector accounting practices while integrating hundreds of applications enterprise-wide, including those central to finance, human resources, supply chain, defense logistics, and central services.
On the accounting and finance front, the organization today is operating primarily on a cash basis. So, for example, if a complement of supplies is deployed into a war-torn country, there's an inadequate record of the transaction other than to record the cash that was spent acquiring the supplies. The client knows it needs to dramatically overhaul its entire service delivery and record-keeping process in order to move to an accrual-based accounting system.
By doing that, the organization also hopes to better componentize each portion of its management information system, thereby putting itself in a better position to measure and depreciate its IT investments over time.
The project itself is called Umoja, which is Swahili for "Unity". And as you might expect from a mission-driven NGO, both the initial win and the PwC-led team's ongoing success have had as much to do with understanding the client's humanitarian objectives as they've had to do with process and technology.
In fact, some members of the project team have certain very personal reasons for wanting to see the project succeed. One field logistics expert previously served in the client's peacekeeping operations. Another expert, this time in shared services, once personally benefited from the organization's assistance as a refugee.
"From the start, the project has been an effort driven by people and business process, not technology alone," says Suneet Dua, a PwC principal who's also part of the team leading the effort. "The difference with Umoja has been that it's being viewed as a people, process and technology project."
Dua continues: "When it comes to replacing the outdated processes, we're starting with the people who will be asked to use them. The client is also actively pursuing ways to involve those same people in building processes and procedures they will want to use, not just ones that will be forced upon them. What we've tried to do here is make sure that technology is simply the enabler and that it is the people and process focus that really counts—ultimately proving to be what makes the effort successful."
So far, the program's charter and business case have been very well received by the client's leadership, and the project is midway through the to-be-designed process. The key performance indicators and quantifiable benefit measures that PwC has helped develop are being used to promote the case for change around the world to the organization's members.
"Our team has made a significant impact thus far by closely linking the process re-design effort with the ERP capabilities while keeping a close eye on the massive change management needs of the employee population," says Rizzo.
Top of mind for the client—and for PwC and our alliance partners—is helping the organization carry out its mission in the world. A new IT central nervous system will make a big difference for a lot of people—not just for the client and its employees, but also for those who depend on the client for assistance.
"The ability to effectively deliver people and supplies to those in need around the world can change circumstances on the ground enormously," says Rizzo. "That ability can literally save lives. And we're so proud to be a part of something that can mean so much."
global NGO may help save lives
A world-wide promoter of peace and human rights seeks to transform its operations with a new information technology central nervous system
What does a global non-governmental organization (NGO) with a mission of promoting international peace and human rights do when its IT systems are no longer up to the task?
It looks for the right enterprise-wide solution to replace what's broken.
And, just as important, it looks for the right service provider to help ensure the project gets the proper balance of IT excellence and good old-fashioned business acumen.
Imagine, if you would, a global family of specialized peacekeeping, poverty-fighting, and human rights agencies co-located in world capitals around the globe—many with staff and volunteers serving in some of the most war-torn places on earth. They share the same passion, core values, and commitment to excellence. But their numbers—in the tens of thousands around the globe—often do a poor job of staying networked and bound together in ways that would make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Now imagine, if you would, that same organization strung together with information systems that were built around work processes that had first been put in place at the end of World War II—systems so antiquated that orders for food and blankets for needy refugees sometimes get lost in the electronic maze; processes so slow that it can literally take months to on-board a new hire when that employee was literally needed on the job yesterday; and financial recordkeeping severely compromised by end-of-life IT systems.
The challenge here is to replace those aging systems that patch together a hodgepodge of hundreds of applications—and without alienating the many stakeholders who depend on the organization daily, sometimes in matters of life and death.
In short, the organization needed help re-engineering its administrative and management functions through a comprehensive business transformation and change management platform.
"Those working at the client to make today's world a better place aren't working in a way they'd prefer to work. Instead, they're working in the way the systems are forcing them to work," says PwC principal Joe Rizzo, one of the PwC professionals leading the engagement. "The legacy systems have been wrapped around the business processes in place generations ago."
As a result, information is very compartmentalized. In some instances it's still on paper in ledgers or trapped within spreadsheets on people's personal hard drives. And most often, those who need the information can't access it when it would have the greatest impact.
After some serious scenario planning, the organization decided it needed a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system—a system that would bring people and their work processes together on a single, global platform and result in greater efficiency, transparency, and accountability. What the organization also needed was a consulting partner that would treat the work not only as a system change but also as a complete change in the way the organization does business.
The client turned to a combined international team of PwC professionals who, in collaboration with HP/EDS, one of the firm's alliance partners, went to work on a multi-year engagement designing and planning the replacement system—based on an SAP ECC - 6.0 platform—and thereby creating a blueprint that could then be followed for realization and deployment.
The new SAP-enabled system will comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards, thereby bringing the organization into compliance with the most current public-sector accounting practices while integrating hundreds of applications enterprise-wide, including those central to finance, human resources, supply chain, defense logistics, and central services.
On the accounting and finance front, the organization today is operating primarily on a cash basis. So, for example, if a complement of supplies is deployed into a war-torn country, there's an inadequate record of the transaction other than to record the cash that was spent acquiring the supplies. The client knows it needs to dramatically overhaul its entire service delivery and record-keeping process in order to move to an accrual-based accounting system.
By doing that, the organization also hopes to better componentize each portion of its management information system, thereby putting itself in a better position to measure and depreciate its IT investments over time.
The project itself is called Umoja, which is Swahili for "Unity". And as you might expect from a mission-driven NGO, both the initial win and the PwC-led team's ongoing success have had as much to do with understanding the client's humanitarian objectives as they've had to do with process and technology.
In fact, some members of the project team have certain very personal reasons for wanting to see the project succeed. One field logistics expert previously served in the client's peacekeeping operations. Another expert, this time in shared services, once personally benefited from the organization's assistance as a refugee.
"From the start, the project has been an effort driven by people and business process, not technology alone," says Suneet Dua, a PwC principal who's also part of the team leading the effort. "The difference with Umoja has been that it's being viewed as a people, process and technology project."
Dua continues: "When it comes to replacing the outdated processes, we're starting with the people who will be asked to use them. The client is also actively pursuing ways to involve those same people in building processes and procedures they will want to use, not just ones that will be forced upon them. What we've tried to do here is make sure that technology is simply the enabler and that it is the people and process focus that really counts—ultimately proving to be what makes the effort successful."
So far, the program's charter and business case have been very well received by the client's leadership, and the project is midway through the to-be-designed process. The key performance indicators and quantifiable benefit measures that PwC has helped develop are being used to promote the case for change around the world to the organization's members.
"Our team has made a significant impact thus far by closely linking the process re-design effort with the ERP capabilities while keeping a close eye on the massive change management needs of the employee population," says Rizzo.
Top of mind for the client—and for PwC and our alliance partners—is helping the organization carry out its mission in the world. A new IT central nervous system will make a big difference for a lot of people—not just for the client and its employees, but also for those who depend on the client for assistance.
"The ability to effectively deliver people and supplies to those in need around the world can change circumstances on the ground enormously," says Rizzo. "That ability can literally save lives. And we're so proud to be a part of something that can mean so much."
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