Business Process Review, Re-engineering & Mapping for ERP Selection

The Client

The Company started its journey in the year 1995 with the establishment of a small unit manufacturing of BOPP tapes in Sharjah – U.A.E. Over the years, the Company expanded its portfolio of products while establishing its presence around the Globe including the Middle East, Far East, Southeast Asia, Africa and CIS countries, Latin & South America and Europe through Strategic Partnerships and Joint Ventures in these regions. The Company has its head office in Sharjah with three manufacturing plants established in the Emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah – U.A.E. A fourth plant is under construction in Sharjah area to cater to the needs of can manufacturing and design printing.

The Challenge

For almost two and a half decades, the Company has been managing its operations without a defined Policy and/or Standard Operating Procedures. Management was aware of many internal control weaknesses existent and had made many attempts to mitigate the same using the internal team, without success. Affility Consulting was identified to study the Business Processes covering all functions, identify the control weaknesses, document the same, recommend best practices and prepare an RFI for the purpose of selecting an ERP solution. The biggest challenge faced during the project is to educate and train the employees in implementing the change in business process aligned to Best Practices.

The Solution

The solution recommended was to review the entire Business Process covering the department/functions listed in the adjacent table. The key task was to identify the GAP’s in the AS-IS processes in comparison to the Best Practices, discuss the same with the stakeholders and the Management and get the concurrence. With the immense support of the Management, we were able to ensure the stakeholders are aware of the GAP’s and they took necessary steps to bridge the GAP’s aligning their areas of functions with the Best Practices. In order to ease the effort in managing the day-to-day operations manually, the Management took the initiative to implement an ERP solution integrating all the functions for enhanced reporting and analytics for better decision making.

The Approach

We approached the engagement with an open view to listen and understand the current processes covering the entire functions of the Company. We engaged with the key stakeholders of the company through continuous interview sessions, site visits and observing their day-to-day operations. We were able to understand and assess the challenges and GAP’s in the Business Processes through these sessions. Once documented and reviewed, we went back to the stakeholders to discuss in detail the process changes that needs to be implemented for aligning them to the Best Practices. With their recommendations and comments, we were able to get the concurrence from the stakeholders and the Management.

The Result

With continuous engagement with the stakeholders and Management, we were able to deliver what was promised, a re-engineered Business process aligned to the Best Practices. Clear visibility in the Delegation of Authority, Segregation of Duties, Accountability and Reporting Structures. A detailed RFI document for the purpose of evaluating the Best-fit ERP solution for the Company. The Management could save a lot of effort, time and money in the ERP project as implementation was completed in time without a hassle. The ERP implementation partner could map the Business Processes in the solution very easily, since the Company’s business processes were aligned with the Best Practices that came with the ERP.