One for all

A new package, mySAP, from German-based software company SAP Solutions (SAP stands for Standards, Applications and Products) can do just that. It is not just another project management tool – it can be implemented into all aspects of a company's business, from procurement to human resources. And that is why housebuilders Wilcon and Taywood Homes are trusting their entire business operations to this software.

SAP Solutions describes mySAP as an "integrated e-business platform" which means it covers every aspect of IT you can imagine. There are four basic services mySAP provides: business-to-business marketplaces; personalised portals; e-business applications; and application hosting services.

Business-to-business marketplaces allows companies' IT systems to communicate with each other via the internet. This can be used as a project management tool and for tendering, auctioning and ordering over the internet. The latest technology such as 3D modelling can be also be accessed through SAP.

Designed for e-commerce

The personalised portals function gives individual users their own secure internet site. Here information from their company's IT system can be shared with external users, given secure access to the site.

E-business applications cover a wide range of internal services. They include: e-commerce services for buying and selling over the internet; supply chain management services so that all parts of the chain have information about inventory levels, orders, forecasts and production plans; and human capital management which automates personnel functions and financial links accounting systems with the ordering and tendering process.

Also available in e-business applications is the "business information warehouse", which collects internal and external information from a wide range of sources so that users can judge a firm's performance against what is happening in the sector.

Application hosting provides software applications for companies that do not have in-house IT expertise. SAP will install, operate and maintain as many or as little of a firm's IT systems as required.

Oliver Dennison is a consultant for Druid, the IT management company implementing mySAP in the UK. Druid specialises in engineering and construction. He says that it is not enough to just have an IT system, but that to get full value out of it, the whole organisational structure of a company has to be considered.

"When we go to a company to implement the mySAP system, we look at how that company interacts with the world and its organisational structure," he says. "The way business is done has changed, and so a company must change with it."

Dennison, formerly with Tarmac, stresses that mySAP is not a quick-fix IT system, but a detailed solution that will improve communication and create a culture change in construction. "There is so little communication between the different elements of the construction process. Even internally between regional offices, everybody is doing things a different way. MySAP can integrate all these systems so that everything only has to be inputted once. We can set up extranets or workgroups to improve communication across the supply chain."

MySAP can be customised for each user. Firms can pick and choose which elements they want. It can take up to four years to implement a system, depending on the size and structure of the company and the state of its IT systems. But six to 18 months is the most likely time frame. Druid recommends mySAP for larger companies – those with turnovers of £150m plus.

Dennison says that mySAP allows a firm to concentrate on its core business without having to worry about administrative and financial tasks. "We even encourage companies to think about contracting out services that aren't part of the core business, so they can concentrate on what they have expertise in." MySAP itself can provide external hosting of IT applications through its application hosting service.

Five-step plan

There are five stages in the implementation of mySAP: design; design realisation; managing the transition; go live; and support and improvement. The design stage involves a Druid consultant sitting down with a company and deciding which bits of mySAP will be relevant to the business, how the organisational structure can be improved and how mySAP will be integrated into that structure.

Design realisation puts these ideas into practice, and managing the transition irons out any teething troubles before the next stage, go live. After the system is in place, Druid provides four weeks of support.

But Dennison says the contact does not stop there – updates and improvements are always being made. "IT is moving very quickly, and SAP spends $2m a day on research and development to keep up with the pace of it. Once you have a mySAP system in place, it will be continually developed," he reassures.