INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ERP SERVICES
We are a South African based SAP ERP Solutions, - Project and Programme Management, Shared Services, and Information and Communication Technology Services Group focussing:
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Business Case Development,
Integration Management,
Management Consulting,
Programme Management,
Project Management,
Quality Assurance,
SAP ERP Consulting,
SAP ERP Recruitment and Staffing,
Shared Services Consulting
Itello views the business case (business case development and business case measurement) as one of the most important deliverables of any project. A project or programme of change is most often undertaken to implement a key element of business strategy and must therefore be consistent with the overall business goals. After developing the business case we utilize the results as the foundation for various interventions to follow, namely: to create a compelling case for change, to build commitment, and to obtain investment approval.
It is important to note that the business case is refined and updated at important milestones throughout the project or programme lifecycle and is used to plan and manage the business change, realise the benefits, maintain stakeholder sponsorship and enable key management decisions to be taken. Itello uses a proven methodology and a set of templates that fast tracks the business case process in our business case consulting. It has been utilised with huge success within global business conglomerates.
Integration ManagementThe Itello integration management approach includes the processes that are required to ensure all the project's components are coordinated. This area includes the project plan development processes, project plan execution processes, and integrated change control processes.
Integration management plays a role in management of external and internal dependencies. This in turn supports the overall project or programme from a risk mitigation point of view.
The objectives of integration management include:-
Identification and management of dependencies between the project/s, programme and external initiatives /projects,
Management of an integration plan which highlights internal and external initiatives / projects,
Identification of programme related risks,
Support of the project/ programme management function,
Identification, assessment and resolution of integration risks and issues across all areas of the programme,
Overall management and facilitation of the testing process, and
Overall construction of a consolidated cutover plan and assistance in the facilitation of the actual cutover activities.
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Ongoing monitoring of project/ programme plans to determine potential integration risks and consider impacts of scope changes and other deviations on the overall programme,
Periodic liaison with key stakeholders around external initiatives and projects to monitor and manage dependencies to/from the project/ programme,
Conduct periodic and adhoc integration meetings as required to identify resolve integration issues, and
Conduct periodic quality reviews (and at critical milestones) of deliverables on a sample basis.
The Itello management consulting approach(which comprises strategy consulting and operations consulting stream) includes both the practice of assisting companies to improve performance through analysis of existing business problems and development of future plans, as well as to the industry composed of firms that specialize in this sort of consulting.
Management consulting involve the identification and cross-fertilization of best practices, analytical techniques, change management and coaching skills, technology implementations, strategy development, ERP Solutions or operational improvement. Often times consultants also rely on their outsider's perspective to provide unbiased recommendations. Consultants generally bring formal frameworks or methodologies to identify problems or suggest more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks.
The area in which we focus is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and refers to the applications used by large organizations to manage inventory, resources, and business processes across departments in the enterprise. ERP Solutions and ERP Services are the successor to MRP that brings into play all the business functions of an enterprise. The next generation after ERP is the Virtual Enterprise.
Itello approaches every IT project or programme using a proven methodology, regardless of size of company or length of project. Each project is conducted using Project Management Institute protocols that ensure completion is on time and on budget. The end result of a project is a transfer of knowledge to the client.
Closely allied to Project Management, Programme Management is defined as the coordinated management of a portfolio of projects in order to achieve a set of business objectives.
Programme Management can be used in organisations in a number of ways, which will include the following:-
To co-ordinate the management of a portfolio of projects that change organisations to achieve benefits that are of strategic importance.
To bring related projects together in order to manage their inter-dependencies. It enables a strategic view to be taken over a set of projects, aligning and co-ordinating them within a programme of business change in support of specific business strategies.
To provide the framework for implementing business strategies and initiatives, or large scale change, and help to organise, manage, accommodate and control these changes.
The creation of a structured framework for defining and implementing change within an organisation. The programme management framework covers organisation, processes, outputs and ways of thinking that focus on delivering new capabilities and benefits.
The programme management programme selects or commissions projects, providing the overall co-ordination, control and integration of the projects' delivery.
Programme Management includes the process of managing benefits from their initial identification and definition through to the eventual realisation and achievement of measurable improvements. The driver for a programme management programme is normally the ongoing viability and relevance of the programme's business case and the justification of benefit against costs.
The information that will be obtained is normally analysed in a Programme Support Office that will enable the Programme Manager to:-
Identify, resource or prioritise conflicts as new projects are added to the programme by reviewing both existing and new project plans for conflicts of resource or timescales. Identify, manage and authorise requests for change after ensuring that an assessment of the impact of that change on other projects within the Programme takes place.
Manage the critical path within the Programme by monitoring the critical deliverables within the programme's projects and supporting the achievement of those milestones by the project managers.
Review regular project reports and act to resolve or escalate any concerns expressed by the project managers.
Wherever possible identify or forecast potential problems with milestone delivery.
Monitor over and under spend of various project budgets in conjunction with milestone achievement in order to avert potential problems.
Ensure the project managers compliance with the best practices of project management and the project practices of the organisation.
Ensure that a review of the project risk takes place. Remain aware of the need to assess the continuing validity and/or priority of any project.
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Comprehensive and clear overview of all the active projects.
Early identification (and consequent escalation and resolution) of issues.
Change authorisation together with impact assessment and control.
Early identification and/or forecasting of resource conflicts.
All project records held in one central repository.
Consistency of approach, management and reporting.
Clear responsibility for the function.
Cross fertilisation of ideas - the Programme Support Office becomes a central pool for information, which may include ideas on improved project management and methodology.
Project Management has provided:
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A clear project framework for achieving project specific goals and business goals.
An emphasis on phased development i.e. regular and measurable progress.
A systematic approach to resolving high-risk factors associated with an objective.
A focus on team thus inculcating the concept of teamwork and skill specialization - delegating tasks to team members selected for their skills that correspond to the requirements, leading to specialized input into the development process.
A built-in mechanism for assessing the feasibility of a proposed project - assessing requirements and matching available resources to those requirements.
A process for involving all concerned parties into project execution, ensuring that the end product perfectly matches the requirements and thus avoiding last minute glitches.
A measure for incorporating Quality Assurance within the project life cycle thus producing Quality Outputs.
The above list is by no means exhaustive, but it gives very accurate picture of what value add Effective Project Management can do to the business and its projects, and the importance of Effective Project Management Services.
To get a better understanding on what Project Management is, lets us now have a look at the various Objectives.
Project Management Objectives-
Coordinate the various interrelated processes of the project.
Ensure project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete successfully.
Ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget.
Ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
Ensure the most effective use of the people involved.
Promote effective communication between the team members and key stakeholders.
Ensure that project risks are identified, analyzed, and responded.
In practice, Project Management follows a Phased Approach for Project Execution and has a standard defined Project Life Cycle. Teamwork and Quality Assurance are few important inherent characteristics of successful Project Management.
Quality Management
Quality Assurance Reviews are conducted on all levels of a project/ programme organisation, and is executed by the following means:
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Self review
Team review
Project/ programme management team review
Optional external independent Quality Assurance review
The following are the primary principles of Quality Management System :
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The primary goal of the project/ programme is to assist in meeting (or preferably exceeding) Business expectations, and in eliminating surprises that could jeopardize the success of the project/ programme
A quality assurance process is established to ensure timely and cost-effective development of the key deliverables of the project/ programme implementation and effective conduct of the overall implementation
The Quality Management System or process is linked to the Risk Management process, since low levels of quality could imply risks to the project/ programme.
All execution aspects of the Quality Assurance strategy must be incorporated into all levels of project planning.
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Quality Planning
This involves identifying which quality standards are relevant to the various projects, and determining how to satisfy them. The Project/ programme manager identifies the quality standards and the compliance criteria, which the overall project/ programme performance and the deliverables must meet.
Quality Assurance
Evaluating overall programme performance on a regular basis will provide assurance that the programme is meeting the appropriate quality standards. The Consulting Quality Assurance Partner is responsible for the QA evaluations and is normally assisted, during the quality assurance process, by the customer Internal Audit team and the project/ programme manager.
Quality Control
This includes monitoring specific project results to determine whether they comply with quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate the causes of any unsatisfactory performance.
Our focus is on what we know best – Human Capital Management Solutions.
In today's knowledge-based economy, companies need to fully leverage their human capital to sustain a competitive position. This requires integrating employee processes and information with business processes and strategies to achieve optimal business results.
SAP R/3 ERP Human Capital Management (HCM) delivers a powerful solution that provides HR professionals, executives, and line managers, and companies of all sizes, and in all industries, with comprehensive functionality.
SAP R/3 ERP HCM combines strategic features with workforce analytics to clearly demonstrate HR's contribution to the bottom line. No other solution supports HR to the line management level to ensure that employee objectives are aligned with the company's strategic goals.
Every day, SAP R/3 ERP HCM helps over 9000 customers in more than 50 countries manage more than 54 million employees worldwide.
In South Africa today more and more companies are starting to implement SAP R/3 ERP HCM to simplify their employee and business processes. Both implementation and support in the SAP R/3 environment is extremely expensive. Consulting firms are currently taking advantage of this and due to the lack of SAP skills and knowledge are able to contract in consultants at cheaper rates and bill them out to SAP customers at much higher rates.
Due to the extremely high costs for SAP R/3 support, knowledge and skills, the need for quality service at reduced rates are becoming more and more visible in the market place. This need has motivated us to investigate various business options to assist companies to provide various support packages to them.
These services will be available to SAP customers at reduced rates as mentioned before but with an emphasis on the guaranteed high quality of service to be maintained throughout the support period. Quality support and assistance is normally one of the first deliverables that are compromised by consultant agencies as they continually exchange consultants during the life cycle of a project. This causes unnecessary delays in the project, as new consultants need to understand what was done and where to continue where the previous consultant left off. Quality support is an important aspect of consulting and we understand that in order for us to succeed we need to provide a high level of quality support to our prospective SAP customers at reduced rates.
Long term possibilities could include the hosting of small and medium companies where we would provide the necessary infrastructure for them to access via a web based interface i.e. The Internet. This will be another support package that will include the administration of their employee data, running their payroll, legal compliance, monthly reporting, and many other day-to-day functions that they wish to outsource to us. As the expense of hosting SAP customers will literally run into millions of Rands, it is only considered a future venture at this time.
We enable our SAP customers to:
Ensure a standardised and simplified SAP R/3 Human Capital Management (HCM) system. Improve and streamline certain HR business processes. Establish an adequate and efficient external support process in the event of system problems. Conserve cost with regard to on-going maintenance by establishing a service level agreement (SLA).
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ABAP and ADHOC Query
ABAP Development
Authorisation Management
Basis Administration
Compensation Management
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Leave Administration
Manager Self Service (MSS)
Master Data
Organisational Management
Payroll
Performance Management
Personnel Administration
Personnel Cost Planning
Personnel Development
Shift Planning
Succession Planning
Time Management
Training and Events Management
WebFlow / Workflow Administration
What is Shared Services?
A shared services centre is a business unit that performs administrative transactions for numerous divisions or subsidiaries of the same company, rather than having those transactions conducted in every division or subsidiary.
To reduce costs and improve non-core operations such as finance, human resource management, and IT, many organizations have turned to shared services.
By ending duplications of effort and streamlining business processes and information systems, shared services can generate enormous cost savings, on average to be approximately 20 percent. After years of successful implementations across a broad range of industries and geographies, the shared services center has become an accepted business model used by organizations to achieve tangible, long-lasting results. This is especially important in the growing global environment which is characterized by mergers, acquisitions, joint-ventures, downsizing and uncertainty.
The question is: What makes the Shared Services model so different and what will make it successful?
Our approach
We lead companies through the restructuring of support operations into a service-oriented business unit through a 3-step process
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Feasibility assessment,
Design,
Build, test and implement
We also assist in the optimisation of current or planned shared services units through:
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establishment of continuous improvement culture
developing high performance, customer-centric teams
establishing a roadmap for Highly Effective Shared Services through all the stages of maturity
providing executive performance coaching for Shared Services leaders
Finally we help Matured Shared Services to…
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Teach team members to identify and develop their own and the team's strengths
Measure and improve customer engagement
Evaluate and improve the performance system with KPI's that will add to the overall performance of the team
Establish and increase the overall impact of brand for the team
Improve SLA and SLA management processes that strengthens customer relationships
Benefits of a Shared Services function
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Significant cost reduction
Process improvement
Standarisation and consolidation
Improved controls
Improved cost visibility
What can be expected?
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Optimisation of the back office functions through benchmarking and metrics
Improved quality of back-office operations due to a focus on continuous improvement and creating a service-oriented culture
Shared Services Approach and Methodology
Our approach is based on the philosophy that Shared Services feasibility should be based on a balanced, integrated approach of process, people, technology and structure. Our approach derived from this experience is based on the need for integration.