Following merger and acquisitions activity organisations nearly always inherit different technology and people supporting. This was the case with two large European distribution businesses that had come together, along with three smaller organisations.

A legacy of different processes and multiple ERP platforms limited the scalability of the combined business. A business programme to rebrand brand and consolidate back-office functions required an equally ambitious consolidation of IT systems in short time-scales.

• Identify Differences in Processes, Systems, Policies and Data
• Standardise and Prioritise
• Develop and Test
• Implement (Go Live)

The end result of the consolidated system was to Oracle, this was the strategy of the group – based on existing usage and investment.

The Audit: Identify Differences in Processes, Systems, Policies and Data

Understand what is being completed by a business isn’t always essential, but it’s good practice to drive out inefficiency and improve productivity. However, when processes and systems needs to be consolidated between organisations it is essential. How does one organisation process invoices? Are payment terms aligned? Is warehouse allocation done in the same way? There are many process, policies and local practices – even in similar business they can be very different.

The first step in understanding the scale of consolidation is to understand what is currently being done – what, why and how?

This audit enabled the business to understand the differences between all organisations, and was able to take action to normalise business practice, or accept that differences would need to continue after consolidation of processes and systems.

Gray Blue managed a full end to end audit of all processes and systems for each business.

Process and Policy Decisions: Standardise and Prioritise

Consolidating to a single platform from multiple organisations is complex. Organisational politics is very much in play, and providing a structured, fair and logical approach is essential to reduce issues as much as possible. Work shops enabled department functions to work together to agree on standards, approach, communication and timescales.

The output also enabled the developers and migration teams to build a back log of the activity required, and enable agile development and testing to commence quickly, as changes to systems were identified.

Agile and Waterfall: Develop and Test

Major changes within any organisation that required the support of IT need to have timescales. Agile is a fantastic framework to engage the business and technical teams and evolve solutions quickly, however, it does not always meet the businesses requirement – who want more strict deadlines.

Timeboxing sprint cycles, and clear communication and engagement with the business stakeholders by Gray Blue enabled development and testing to be completed on-time to the agreed timescales.

Following merger and acquisitions activity organisations nearly always inherit different technology and people supporting. This was the case with two large European distribution businesses that had come together, along with three smaller organisations.

A legacy of different processes and multiple ERP platforms limited the scalability of the combined business. A business programme to rebrand brand and consolidate back-office functions required an equally ambitious consolidation of IT systems in short time-scales.

• Identify Differences in Processes, Systems, Policies and Data
• Standardise and Prioritise
• Develop and Test
• Implement (Go Live)

The end result of the consolidated system was to Oracle, this was the strategy of the group – based on existing usage and investment.

The Audit: Identify Differences in Processes, Systems, Policies and Data

Understand what is being completed by a business isn’t always essential, but it’s good practice to drive out inefficiency and improve productivity. However, when processes and systems needs to be consolidated between organisations it is essential. How does one organisation process invoices? Are payment terms aligned? Is warehouse allocation done in the same way? There are many process, policies and local practices – even in similar business they can be very different.

The first step in understanding the scale of consolidation is to understand what is currently being done – what, why and how?

This audit enabled the business to understand the differences between all organisations, and was able to take action to normalise business practice, or accept that differences would need to continue after consolidation of processes and systems.

Gray Blue managed a full end to end audit of all processes and systems for each business.

Process and Policy Decisions: Standardise and Prioritise

Consolidating to a single platform from multiple organisations is complex. Organisational politics is very much in play, and providing a structured, fair and logical approach is essential to reduce issues as much as possible. Work shops enabled department functions to work together to agree on standards, approach, communication and timescales.

The output also enabled the developers and migration teams to build a back log of the activity required, and enable agile development and testing to commence quickly, as changes to systems were identified.

Agile and Waterfall: Develop and Test

Major changes within any organisation that required the support of IT need to have timescales. Agile is a fantastic framework to engage the business and technical teams and evolve solutions quickly, however, it does not always meet the businesses requirement – who want more strict deadlines.

Timeboxing sprint cycles, and clear communication and engagement with the business stakeholders by Gray Blue enabled development and testing to be completed on-time to the agreed timescales.