JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 21 June 2023 – The Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund of Eswatini has gone live with SAP’s flagship S/4HANA Private Cloud ERP in a rapid timeframe to enhance the organisation’s ability to process claims speedily and provide vital support to victims of motor vehicle accidents in the Kingdom.
Makhosi Magongo, Corporate Communications Manager at the Sincephetelo MVA Fund (The Fund), says: “Our Organisation’s reliance on outdated manual processes was hampering our ability to provide much-needed support to claimants. We sought a solution that would speed up the claims process, improve visibility over end-to-end claims processes, and provide a single source of the truth for all claims in our system. Despite not having had an ERP in place before, the implementation team’s focus on change management and outstanding support of our partners helped ensure we could build new capabilities and establish a firm foundation for our organisation.”
The Fund has a mandate to provide compensation for certain loss or damage caused unlawfully by means of motor vehicles and to cooperate with stakeholders in preventing road accidents. The Fund was established by an Act of Parliament under the Motor Vehicle Accidents Act No. 13 of 1991 as the instrument by which the Government of Eswatini compensates road accidents victims who have suffered bodily injuries or loss of support following the death of breadwinners. The Sincephetelo MVA Fund employs more than 100 staff supporting the entire Eswatini public sector.
Cloud, best practices accelerate adoption
The Organisation had no formal ERP solution in place, instead relying on standard accounting software to support its claims processing and disbursements. “We wanted an integrated ERP solution that could enhance our ability to deliver on our mandate and set out to develop an RFP to find a suitable solution and expert implementation partner to support our digital transformation initiative,” says Magongo.
The Fund found the correct mix with experienced SAP implementation partner Zimele Technologies. While The Fund initially wanted an on-premises solution, they took the bold step of embracing private cloud as this would better serve their business in the long term.
“We worked with the customer’s IT team to implement SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud and used RISE with SAP for a rapid implementation of several components, including finance, sourcing and procurement materials management, customer engagement and some Fiori reporting,” says Nomvuyo Mnyaka, Delivery Head Executive at Zimele Technologies. “To support the business’ core focus of claims management and cash disbursements, we implemented SAP Fioneer products and integrated these to the core ERP platform.”
The entire implementation will be completed on a very tight timeline, which depends on strong internal support and an aversion to costly and lengthy customisation. “Customer workshops and fit gap analyses were conducted in November, and the cloud environment was provisioned and set up end-December,” says Mnyaka. “The build and implementation from there was completed in under four months, with the final solution going live in mid-April, and currently testing and addressing any glitches before transition to support.”
To avoid delays, the implementation team settled on standard processes and reporting capabilities, leveraging SAP’s extensive best-practice modules.
Executive support enables successful change
Another major factor contributing to the quick implementation was the extensive support the project enjoyed throughout the organisation. A change management team was appointed, and the project was supported from the executive level, with the Chief Operations Officer as the main project sponsor.
As a government entity, the Sincephetelo MVA Fund is subject to comply with a range of government regulations. Magongo says the new system had to include powerful records management capabilities. “Claims can last for as long as a claimant is alive, so documents relating to each claim have to be stored indefinitely. Our new solution provides us with the records management functionality we need, allowing us to have a clear audit trail to all claims and ensuring information can be tracked, stored, and filed with 100% accuracy.”
Improved records management was especially important due to The Fund still supporting historic claims, hampering its ability to meet new claims as per its mandate. “This deployment has allowed us to clear our backlog and spend funds more wisely, ensuring that we can deliver on our mandate. Our new reporting capabilities also give our management team real-time insights for decision-making, reducing our reliance on manual processes and helping us to confidently improve our operations,” says Magongo.
Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director for Southern Africa at SAP, lauds the Sincephetelo MVA Fund’s vision supported by strong executive support. “This bold and ground-breaking project in the public sector is a showcase for how cloud, best-practices and expert guidance combine with outstanding change management support to deliver true digital transformation. Equipped with the power of SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud and supported by expert partners, the Sincephetelo MVA Fund has built a strong foundation that will enable it to deliver on its crucial mandate.”
