The art of the possible

Hitachi Europe Ltd is operating shared services available to all the business groups in Europe, more of which are opting in to the model all the time. EPM is a relatively new concept described by Gartner as ?the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage an enterprise?s business performance.? In other words, it answers the CEO?s question, ?How is my business doing today?? and informs the question, ?What, if anything, should I do about it??

Most of the Hitachi Europe shared service IT applications are from SAP, built on the SAP NetWeaver platform, so the decision was made to deploy the latest versions of SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence and deliver EPM through the SAP Enterprise Portal. ?We were looking for an upwardly scalable starting point,? says Tjebbes, ?and where better to start than with some of the best technology around?? But the technology is so new that expertise is thin on the ground ? which is where Bluefin Solutions came in. Bluefin?s combination of SAP technical expertise and EPM business process skills is a rare commodity. ?Bluefin had been strongly recommended by another of their clients,? remarked Tjebbes. ?In addition to their strong track record, they clearly had expertise around an emerging technology which we would have struggled to find quickly elsewhere. Bluefin helped us to position EPM alongside other management reporting tools, such as the Balanced Scorecard ? they helped to demonstrate the art of the possible.?

The first step was to establish the scope of the project and set expectations with the business users. ?We were determined this would not become an open-ended feast,? says Tjebbes, ?so we were pleased that Bluefin were able to offer a fixed price and bill us on project milestones.? James Appleby, Chief Executive of Bluefin Solutions, says, ?Although the project was very hands-on and iterative, we knew we could work well with the Hitachi business sponsors and technicians, so we were confident about meeting all the expectations within the budget and timeframe we agreed.?

Prototyping and building the solution took three months, during which the project sponsors and senior users attended conference room demonstrations every two weeks. This approach was key to reinforcing local sponsorship, obtaining senior management buy-in and managing expectations. ?Effectively, we transferred ownership during the project, instead of at the end,? says Tjebbes. Hitachi?s senior executives were particularly pleased with the presentational quality of the solution. Bluefin developed the look and feel rapidly; working together with the senior business users they fully customised NetWeaver Portal into a visual cockpit, aimed at the CEO and his executive team. Data from multiple sources (both SAP and non-SAP) is visible in charts and tables ? and export to Excel is fully supported. NetWeaver Portal co-working (discussion forums, event promotion and document management) is fully integrated with the reporting capability and target/actual budget data entry is available using integrated planning.

To assist with the data aggregation process and role-based security levels required, Bluefin created the ?Hitachi in Europe hierarchy? to provide a standard group structure within SAP. This facilitates full ad hoc reporting within the scope of each individual user?s authority. To achieve all this within the timescales might have required a large team. ?Not so,? stated Appleby. ?We had two people engaged full time, supplemented by carefully planned additional specialist expertise including BASIS, Integration, User Experience, Portals and Knowledge Management. Our broad range of specialist expertise is key to our ability to deliver complex projects of this nature so quickly.?

Extending the EPM Footprint

According to Tjebbes, Bluefin and his team delivered and met all expectations. ?We?re in the early stages of the journey,? he says. ?We anticipate having a better understanding of group performance across Europe and the ability to take action and make recommendations for improvements. In the business, we plan, do, check and act ? and Enterprise Performance Management will help us plan and check much more effectively.?

Hitachi Europe Ltd wishes to extend the use of EPM to more business groups and functions. Tjebbes envisages benefits for specialist functions such as Marketing and Supply Chain Management. ?We?ve created a scenario from which we can grow the use of EPM,? he says. ?Bluefin Solutions helped us to achieve our business objective of establishing a platform for information-sharing and performance management ? and they helped us do that quickly and to budget.?