Bangalore, India —
THE CLIENT
Name: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Industry:Automotive and farm equipment
SAP Products deployed: mySAP HR
When Mahindra & Mahindra implemented mySAP HR solutions recently, it was no green horn in IT implementation. On the contrary, it had crossed many milestones. In 1998, the company achieved the ‘SAP Star Customer Award’. In 1998-99, it earned the distinction of being the largest SAP sites on Windows NT platform in the world. Thus the choice of SAP for HR was but a logical and foregone conclusion. “It freed the HR personnel to take on development and strategic functions,” according to the company spokesperson.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is the flagship company of the Rs. 6200 crore Mahindra Group, which has a significant presence in key sectors of the Indian economy. A consistently high performer, M&M is one of the most respected companies in the country.
Set up in 1945 to make general-purpose utility vehicles for the Indian market, M&M soon branched out into manufacturing agricultural tractors and light commercial vehicles (LCVs). The company later expanded its operations from automobiles and tractors to secure a significant presence in many more important sectors, including Hospitality, Trade and Financial Services, Automotive Components, Information Technology, Telecom and Infrastructure Development. Each of these are operated as distinct entities, while the core activities of manufacturing utility and light commercial vehicles and agricultural tractors remaining with the flagship company.
The company’s outstanding manufacturing and engineering skills has helped it to constantly innovate and launch new products in the market, the most recent being the highly successful Bolero and Scorpio brands of utility vehicles and the Arjun brand of agricultural tractors.
At the core of the company’s growth philosophy has been its belief in people. The company has sought to reward and retain the best talent in the industry and is respected for its progressive labour management practices.
SITUATION PRIOR TO IMPLEMENTATION
Prior to implementation of SAP, HR data was stored with basic software like MS-Office or Access. There was little control on human errors as there were no mechanisms to validate data. Information was stored in islands in various forms and files and analytical processing of information was almost impossible. HR professionals spent more time on searching data, filing records and rectifying errors than contributing in any meaningful way to business strategy.
MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE
Among the challenges facing the HR department was the need to align HR objectives with the company’s strategic goals, integrate operations with processes of other departments and deliver services in multiple locations. In the fast paced challenging environment, the HR department had to be equipped with the right data and right information. Clearly, an integrated solution was the need of the hour.
REASONS FOR CHOOSING mySAP
M & M had already implemented SAP R/3 in the areas of Logistics and Financial Accounting. Therefore, it was but logical to select mySAP HR for overall integration of back end applications. When compared to other applications, SAP also provided a single integrated solution for alignment of all HR processes and activities. An additional advantage was that all HR reports could be generated from Business Warehouse that had already been implemented by the company.
COMPONENTS OF mySAP IMPLEMENTED
In the first phase, Organisational Management, Recruitment, Personnel Administration and Personnel Development have been implemented. In this phase, the scope of the PD module covers only the Appraisal Model and ratings.
PROJECT TIMELINE
The project started on January 8, 2003 and went live on June 17, 2003
BENEFITS, IMPROVEMENTS, ACHIEVED GOALS
According to M & M, mySAP implementation generally matched the systems offerings with user expectations. Overall, the company achieved standardised and re-engineered processes across various business units along with a comprehensive reporting mechanism. This has resulted in the saving of both time and effort, freeing the HR personnel to take on more development and strategic activities.
More specifically, mySAP HR has helped evolve a unique token number system to identify each employee in the system taking out multiplicity and duplicity prevalent in the system earlier. Data on personnel is more easily available, reliable and can be accessed on line. Staffing decisions are easier and have improved. There is a company-wide integration of the HR function. Search for prospective candidates, both internally and externally, has become more focused on the basis of specified parameters.
Going further, it has now become possible for the company to have a clear recruitment strategy with the support of a strong databank of all job applicants. According to the company spokesperson, “In today’s business environment, HR professionals are expected to do more with less. SAP will enable them to shift from the traditional and more administrative role to that of strategic partners in growth.”
