Scottish & Newcastle Plc: SAP Human Capital Management Solution

Accenture’s industry experience, ability to handle complex international implementations, proven SAP expertise and Global Delivery Network made it a natural choice to help Scottish & Newcastle achieve high performance through the implementation of a standardized global HR solution based on SAP.

S&N is the sixth-largest beer brewer in the world. The 250-year-old Edinburgh, Scotland-based company, which was entirely UK-focussed at the turn of this century, is now the No. 1 brewer in Britain, France, Russia and India, with strong market positions across Europe and in high-growth Asian markets. S&N produces three of Europe’s top 10 brands (Baltika, Foster’s and Kronenbourg 1664) as well as several leading national and regional brands; is a leading US importer; and is also the world's largest cider maker. Listed on the FTSE 100, the leading index of shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange, Scottish & Newcastle has a market capitalization of almost £6 billion and posted 2006 profits of £452 million on revenue of £4.155 billion.

Over the past seven years, S&N grew rapidly to its current market position fueled primarily by acquisition of local businesses. The result was a complex organizational structure of subsidiaries mirrored by an equally complex set of human resources (HR) processes. As a result, HR processes were not uniform, and even basic information such as headcount was not easy to obtain. Scottish & Newcastle management recognized this as a problem and set about formulating a strategy to create a set of global HR processes that would align effectively with the group’s overall strategic goals. Accenture High Performance Business research confirms the validity of this approach, indicating that excellence in human resources is one of the cornerstones of sustained business success. After work to scope the process, S&N began to look for a consulting and implementation company to help it implement SAP ERP Human Capital Management, the human capital management module of SAP’s enterprise resource planning software. S&N was already using SAP as its technology and business platform.

S&N decided to team with Accenture based on our previous work with subsidiary Scottish Courage; our ability to handle complex, international implementations (including those in many of Scottish & Newcastle’s country markets); our strong track record in SAP implementations; and our global template approach.

Accenture and S&N fielded a strong joint team to deliver a comprehensive HR solution based on SAP that covered personal development, training and event management, organization management, and personnel administration. The solution includes reporting capabilities via SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence.

Accenture handled all aspects of project management and implementation, from design and build through to testing and deployment—drawing on our global pool of some 20,000 SAP professionals to design and develop 13 data interfaces (complete some 35 bespoke developments) and conduct 14 data migrations. The Accenture Delivery Methods for SAP, a suite of proven methodologies and templates, helped accelerate solution delivery.

Accenture helped S&N formulate an internal change management team that took responsibility for this important activity throughout the project. For example, project team training at the beginning of the project advised S&N on the recommended approach and provided a preliminary training-needs analysis.

Accenture and S&N completed the complex implementation after only 17 months, rolling out the solution to 12 countries. According to Craig Burnside, Group Projects Manager at Scottish & Newcastle, "Accenture’s experience and high level of functional knowledge was a significant factor in the success of the project."

Thanks to the solution, Scottish & Newcastle now has a uniform, global human resources platform that enables headcount and other reporting as required by the London Stock Exchange. Harmonized global processes and data enable more sophisticated talent management and will contribute to the company’s continued pursuit of high performance. Performance management will be rolled out across the company, supported by SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence, which makes it possible to create reports based on key performance indicators. Additionally, the new system provides for employee self service and further functionality to help S&N employees work more productively and add more value.

Norma Hogg, head of human resources IT at Scottish & Newcastle, confirms the contribution the new system will make: “Standardizing global HR practices supported by the right technology will help us to achieve our corporate strategic objectives of brand growth, total innovation and efficient operations. A common HR database is valuable to us, and vital for the business going forward.”