Implementing SAP Concur in the Asia Pacific Region

Challenge

A global reinsurance company providing property and casualty (P&C) and life reinsurance solutions to its clients was working with a consulting firm to implement SAP Concur. The next phase in the company’s global deployment was to implement Concur in the Asia Pacific region. However, the client and the consulting firm had limited knowledge of local requirements in this region. As a result, the client decided to find a new partner to lead the end-to-end implementation, as well as provide client-side support. The initial consulting firm recommended Acquis due to Acquis’s extensive global experience with SAP Concur implementations.

Acquis worked with the initial consulting firm to better understand the current state and transition any current project knowledge. Acquis then worked with the client to deploy the system in a standardized fashion across all its markets in the Asia Pacific region. The client’s challenges included:

• A global team looking to streamline its involvement due to bandwidth issues;
• Lack of knowledge around local regulations in the Asia Pacific markets.

Approach: Think + Do

Acquis worked with the initial consulting firm to ensure any project tasks, as well as any previously used communications, training materials, and templates, were transitioned for continuity from the client’s perspective.

Acquis assigned a single resource to handle multiple project roles, including project manager, functional consultant, test lead, and change management lead. The Acquis resource:

• Led the overall project and provided strategic advice and project management services, resulting in a successful system launch;
• Traveled around Asia Pacific to meet with local teams and support cut-over activities, as well as to conduct training sessions for end-users and administrators;
• Developed change management, training, and testing strategies, including communication drafts, training materials, and testing scripts
• Assisted the client’s technical team to develop the necessary SAP ERP-to-SAP Concur data mappings using unique reference IDs and keys via SAP Integration with Concur Solution (SAP ICS); and
• Collaborated with various groups, including finance, IT, and training, to support cutover activities, including planning, testing, and change management, in preparation for the rollout.

Results

During the four-month implementation, Acquis expertly delivered all project tasks and oversight to the local teams, allowing the client’s global team time to focus on other business tasks – something that was not possible during previous roll outs.

Acquis provided valuable assistance to the client by offering best practices and technology solutions to handle local regulations and company requirements, such as how to manage multiple tax rates and codes within Concur, how to post expense entries into SAP in Chinese via mapping tables in SAP ICS, and most importantly, how to keep the configuration in sync with a global model approach.

Acquis ensured that the system configuration was relevant for the Asia Pacific markets and that the project completed on time. As a result, Acquis was asked to continue working on the next phase of the client’s global roll out.