White Fields, producer and distributor of white and brown mushrooms, has experienced great growth in recent years. As a result, the current mode of operation is no longer satisfactory. To support their planned growth, they chose S/4HANA Cloud, public edition. In this video, watch their story about this choice.
In just three months, we implement the new S/4HANA software within the organization. How we do this? For this, we would like to take you through our project approach. In October we started setting up the systems, starting in November we will train the users, to have the system ready for production in December. Going live is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2024. Ambitious, but achievable in our opinion.
In this blog, project leader Jan Tielemans takes you through the month of November.
November – training the users
November marked an essential phase in the implementation of S/4HANA Public Cloud at White Fields: the training of the employees who will be using S/4HANA.
In October, basic process systems were set up and users were able to gain hands-on experience in managing master data in S/4HANA. “In large projects, we always offer the users of the new system a training program. This often feels like a ‘must do’ to them, while it is one of the most important aspects of the project,” says Jan Tielemans.
“The White Fields organization decided to start up a small part of the processes in the production environment as early as November. This gave the opportunity to carry out part of the training really ‘on the job’. This ensures that what is trained is also immediately very recognizable for users. And we receive immediate feedback about what can work better in the new system in practical terms,” Jan continues. “For the users, it is an advantage to work from practice, because this does not bring work to a standstill.”
Because we wanted to implement quickly, in addition to training the users, November as a whole was a challenge, Jan explains: “Because we did not want to shut down the production process and related administrative tasks, we ran into problems that we had not initially considered. For example, it proved more cumbersome to translate the existing calculation schemes used by White Fields into the chart of accounts in S/4HANA. An invoice consists of several components. These components are all indicated by a number, such as raw material costs. White Fields works with an outside accounting firm for invoicing. So they also played a role in converting this. That created an additional communication channel that we didn’t consider beforehand. So all together, this took more time than we expected.”
What the next month looks like? “In December, the focus is on fine-tuning the production environment. The experience gained so far will be used to make master data available on the front end. Practical aspects such as defining articles will be optimized based on user knowledge and experience. There will also be a broader knowledge transfer to users in December. And we will implement applications on mobile devices to simplify registration on the shop floor.”
All these efforts are aimed at achieving a smooth full go live of S/4HANA Public Cloud on Jan. 1, 2024. In early January, we’ll update you on how the implementation went in December and whether we made it to Jan. 1!
Support planned growth like White Fields?
You look for ways to reduce risk and embrace change faster. You want to look ahead and you realize that you will have to achieve goals in a different way. That digitization is a must. With SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, you have everything you need to get your manufacturing company ready for the future and the “sky’s the limit. Do you dare to stand out?
Wondering if the system will be live in 3 months? Read how the final phase went: the system in use. Or would you like to know how it began? You can do that here: read how the first phase went here.
