Client Side Support for a Swiss Manufacturing Company

Challenge

When a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing company started to deploy SAP Concur and new commercial card program globally at the same time, it encountered several challenges and looked to Acquis for guidance. The client asked Acquis to review critical project workstreams (SAP Concur implementation, credit card deployment, and travel management company [TMC] interfaces) to understand the status of each, and to define an optimal and efficient strategy.

Approach: Think + Do

Acquis assessed each workstream in detail to identify the main causes of delays and recommend the best path forward.

Based on the assessment, Acquis developed a comprehensive report on the overall project health, and recommended how best to achieve project objectives. The client asked Acquis to stay on as a project advisor and ensure continued success and adherence to the recommendations, as well as provide SAP Concur and corporate travel expertise to the various project teams (business, IT, SAP Concur, TMC, and credit card provider).

Results

Through the strong partnership among Acquis and the various teams involved on the project, the client successfully implemented SAP Concur, the new commercial card program, and the TMC interface on time to the first wave of countries.

Impressed by the results of the initial collaboration with Acquis, the client asked for help developing a strategy for the remaining countries in its global deployment plan. The strategy needed to consider several complexities, including multiple ERP platforms, various unique business unit needs, customized reporting, and a complex financial posting landscape. In addition, the client was trained on configuring SAP Concur and wanted to manage its own future implementations. This meant that Acquis needed to develop a scalable and sustainable approach tailored to the client’s current and future capabilities.

After developing the global deployment plan, the next steps were to:

1. Complete a thorough “health check” of the existing SAP Concur configuration, evaluating use of custom fields to ensure successful integration with the client’s complex ERP and financial posting landscape; and
2. Provide guidance on system best practices and ways to optimise configuration for a scalable and repeatable implementation across global markets.
   

Acquis assumed a client-side role throughout the global implementation, providing strategic advice on project challenges, helping with market requirements and configuration optimisation, performing complex configuration on behalf of the client (e.g., VAT/GST, fringe benefit tax, localisation file generation, custom travel allowance set up), and designing and developing additional region/country-specific Cognos business intelligence reports to meet statutory and compliance needs. Acquis also supported change management activities such as developing and delivering end user training materials.

As a result of Acquis’s strategic guidance and tactical support, the client successfully deployed SAP Concur to the in-scope EMEA, APAC, and LATAM markets. Acquis remains the client’s trusted advisor on corporate travel and SAP Concur topics.