Background

Situation

The largest environmental services company in North America, specializing in soil excavation of non-destructive excavation services, concluded their existing legacy platform (sales, field ticketing, fleet management, procurement, finance & accounting, HR) – which would also require enhanced technology investment – was unable to support future growth plans.

A new common business platform was needed to address current pain points as well as provide scalability for their growth strategy. Additionally, the new technology investment had to support an optimized operations model – standardized and integrated platforms across its North American Operations – as well as enable its’ workforce to collaborate and make decisions based on current and actionable intelligence.

Scope of Work

Objectives

Oracle Cloud Fusion Suite (FIN, SCM, HCM, OFSC/Oracle Field Service Cloud, CRM, HSE, Taleo, OICS/Oracle Integration Cloud Services) was selected as the common business platform (CBP) through a laser-focused system selection process.

Solution blueprinting workshops transformed business processes / requirements into functional and system design specifications, and laid the groundwork for the solution architecture and an implementation plan with the appropriate sequencing / timing considerations. Opportunities for process optimization and automation were incorporated where appropriate.

The CBP required a disciplined implementation approach to ensure the technology and business aspects of the solution were delivered successfully …..

Critical Initiatives

Four Business Imperatives

Given project complexities (multiple internal/external teams, key activities occurring in parallel such as testing and training, mandatory Oracle quarterly patch updates, date fluctuations, etc.) both Agile and Microsoft Project were used co-jointly to manage project progress.

As the CBP impacted 2,000+ employees, Change Management was a critical program component. A layered training approach was used that combined instructor led on-site/off-site training, ‘at will’ hands-on online training and coaching/mentoring as needed. Training documentation was created in three different formats: 40+ Training Manuals (click by click, screen shots and process), 20+ Quick Reference Cards (major steps of a process including some screen shots), and 10+ Webinars.

Outcome

Success

The CBP was implemented over an 18 month timeframe and went live in two phases across North America (phase 1 – HCM, Taleo, OICS, phase 2 – FIN, SCM, OFSC, CRM, HSE). The implementation was considered a resounding success by the Board and the company. The Oracle Cloud Fusion Suite provided a range of benefits, encompassing those that were tangible (revenue increase and cost reduction) as well as some that were intangible (employee satisfaction, customer goodwill).
ENGAGEMENT DETAILS
SERVICE TYPE
Permanent CIO
INDUSTRY
Consumer Products Retail
OWNERSHIP
Private Equity Owned
FOCUS AREAS
Inventory Management · Sales Forecasting · Gross Margin Reporting · Workflow Solutions
KEY OUTCOMES
Accurate gross margin & backlog reporting
Inventory management solution implemented
Item attribute capture system deployed
Improved sales forecast accuracy
Workflow & project prioritization system live