Implementing SAP Concur in the U.K.

Challenge

A global automotive company had been trying for several years to implement SAP Concur Expense at its U.K. headquarters. After putting the project on hold for more than a year, the company decided to re-engage and move forward with the implementation. However, it faced the following challenges:

• The majority of its internal team comprised new members with no SAP Concur implementation experience;
• Its system was partially built with unclear requirements; and
• It now needed to use a new integration feature between SAP Concur Expense and SAP ERP called SAP ICS.

Approach: Think + Do

Acquis was initially brought in to help only with the integration effort between SAP Concur Expense and SAP ERP using SAP ICS. We worked closely with the client’s project and IT teams to document the technical landscape and requirements needed to set up and connect SAP ICS correctly.

As part of the broader implementation project team, Acquis provided strategic advice regarding the system’s configuration and its supporting processes, based on industry best practices and our vast experience implementing SAP Concur. The client quickly recognised Acquis’s value and expertise, and requested Acquis to become its official SAP Concur Expense implementation partner.

Acquis took control of the project, and continued to provide strategic advisory and project management services to internal cross-functional teams and external vendors. Acquis managed the end-to-end implementation process, resulting in a successful system launch.

Results

After just over a year from restarting the project, the client went live with SAP Concur Expense successfully (including SAP ICS), with minimal issues across a large organisation. Key reasons for the success include:

• Acquis ensured the SAP Concur configuration was more relevant for the market and more user-friendly for the employees. This was achieved by ensuring the client’s requirements were complete and correct for the U.K. market, and by leveraging Acquis’s collective experience of best practices in the industry and market;
• Acquis provided oversight of the cross-functional teams and external vendors, which made it easier for the client project manager to focus team efforts on the right tasks;
• The Acquis project manager created a well-defined cutover plan tailored to the client’s needs, which enabled an efficient and effective deployment process and production roll out.