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A producer of oil and natural gas with worldwide exploration activities sought a new, ambitious digital approach to operations, to overcome a number of business challenges:
Cost pressures stemming from oil price fluctuations.
A dependency on multiple systems and processes across operating locations.
Difficulty in running global operations at optimum efficiency due to each region’s reliance on different standards and technologies.
The client ultimately selected Accenture because of its industry knowledge, global delivery skills, cloud capabilities, and the Accenture Upstream Direct solution —a powerful tool built on the SAP HANA platform that provides detailed insights enabling business leaders to make better decisions and streamline their back-office operations.
The client and Accenture collaborated to deploy Accenture Upstream Direct—a cloud-based ERP system and a certified SAP Rapid Deployment Solution—on the SAP HANA platform, integrating four Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms to the new ERP system:
Ariba for procurement
SuccessFactors for talent and HR
sparesFinder for procurement and maintenance material master data
Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE for tax software
In addition to the use of the Accenture Upstream Direct template, the client and Accenture leveraged a number of key assets for success:
Accenture’s High Velocity HR solution
Off-premise SAP Hosting (which utilized a third-party provider to host the infrastructure)
A series of cutting-edge user interface and reporting tools such as Fiori, Lumira, and HANA Live, to provide considerable time and cost advantages
To help the client achieve a smooth transition to the new system and support its ongoing success, Accenture invited a subset of the client’s core business users into the project early on to involve them in key project activities and decisions to facilitate the client’s ownership of the solution.
Accenture provided personnel with deep industry and delivery experience—as well as its delivery centers in India and the Philippines to manage an aggressive timeline, costs, project scope, and deviations from plan. The client and Accenture successfully managed inconsistent data during the deployment, and developed a “Data SWAT” process to confirm the testing and go-live phases of the project would occur on ”cleansed” and complete data.
The client and Accenture successfully collaborated to accelerate the digital transformation of the client’s operations by implementing Accenture Upstream Direct in just 25 weeks. The new cloud-based ERP solution:
Allows the client to have real-time views into operations and profitability and greater accessibility through dashboards and mobile devices.
Is providing an IT platform that is more cost-effective, easier to manage, and scalable to help meet the needs of the growing business.
Has helped to streamline departments and realign personnel to better address the needs of the business.
Facilitates greater visibility into supplier spend and contracts.
Provides an integrated flow of data that makes the financial close process more accurate and efficient.
spanning the wellhead, supporting functions, regulatory reporting, and reports for executives—the client is now positioned to operate more efficiently. With Accenture’s help, the company can shift staff to areas that will make a difference over time, and obtain significant value from a new, world-class digital platform.