Upgrade or re-implementation?

Due to the age of the legacy SAP system, performing a technical upgrade was considered to be risky because of the large gap between versions. Furthermore, Northern Rail wanted to use the opportunity to cleanse the configuration that had been inherited through various organisational changes since privatisation. To de-risk the situation and provide some benefits over and above a simple as-is re-implementation, Bluefin recommended cleansing and copying the current configuration to a new installation of mySAP ERP 2005. Enhanced financial reporting using SAP BI was also included for Northern Rail as part of its fixed price contract, which provides a strong foundation for any MIS programmes that may occur in future. This is delivered via SAP?s Enterprise Portal.

The project time frame for the re-implementation was aggressive. Indeed, Bluefin was the only organisation prepared to commit to delivering for the end of the year and with a fixed price contract. Bluefin?s functional consultants commenced work on 25th September 2006 and the new system went live on time for the new rail year on Monday 8th January 2007.

From this foundation, additional modules and extension sets can be added to create a personalised mySAP ERP 2005 system. This means clients can choose to utilise the most up-to-date SAP functionality such as Human Resources, eProcurement and Asset Management to enhance their systems.    

"Prior to this project I saw Bluefin as purely a BW provider,? commented Bill Adamson, SAP programme manager at Northern Rail. ?But their efforts in supporting the delivery of this upgrade have shown me that their skills are much broader than that. They showed great professionalism, determination and enthusiasm in helping Northern Rail deliver a very successful project in a very short timescale"

Northern Rail is one of the first mySAP ERP 2005 implementations in the UK, which puts the company in a strong position for the future. Even though the technology is leading edge, the decision is also a decision in favour of stability, because SAP has committed to ensuring no major new releases until at least 2010 (although, of course, enhancement packages will be deployed in that time).

?Working with Northern Rail has been a great experience?, says Dan Hawker, Director of Bluefin. ?I believe there are some compelling reasons why companies should choose Bluefin for mySAP ERP 2005, and I?m grateful to Northern Rail for allowing us to prove it. It demonstrates it is possible to work collaboratively to implement mySAP ERP 2005 in a way that is low-risk to customers and delivers benefits early. I look forward to working with Northern Rail in future to build on this initial success.?

Benefits

Bluefin provided Northern Rail with a stable solution on leading edge technology, implemented in a little over 3 months at a fixed price. The benefits include a system that is now in mainstream maintenance, 90% less customised objects, cleansed configuration and master data that makes the system simpler for users, and a powerful new BI system to provide a platform for future MIS programmes.

About Northern Rail Ltd

A newly formed joint venture company bringing together expert services management, successful operational skill sets, modern, efficient engineering practice and a proven track record of transport integration in an effective combination from parent organisations Serco Group and NedRailways.