Succeed Quickly With SAP SuccessFactors

Moving big things to zero: this is Everllence's clear strategy. The Volkswagen subsidiary develops technical solutions for sustainable progress and prosperity. The Augsburg-based company is a leader in large diesel and gas engines for turbomachinery. It is also a pioneer in alternative drive technologies for the maritime energy transition and new technologies for the generation and storage of electrical energy. The company recently generated sales of four billion euros. Digitalization is an important driver for Everllence, which is why the company decided a year ago to prepare its own administrative and organizational processes for the future. Due to the extensive task landscape, human resources quickly came to the fore.

Globally networked HR platform

The main reasons for Everllence to reorganize its HR processes were the many administrative activities and the manual processing of tasks relating to leave requests, target meetings and training for employees, which involved a great deal of effort at the expense of strategic considerations and the staff support ratio. In addition, few HR services were bundled. The aim of the project was to set up a globally networked HR platform in order to standardize, harmonize, digitalize and automate classic HR processes relating to the employee life cycle in all countries.

At the same time, HR managers were to be relieved so that they could concentrate on value-adding tasks. In this context, it was important for Everllence to consider all components of a digital realignment - from processes and technologies to the organization and the targeted empowerment of employees. The HR system architecture chosen was the SuccessFactors cloud solution, which is continuously updated and fully digitally maps the employee lifecycle from recruitment to retirement. Everllence brought in MHP as a transformation partner for the implementation.

The management and IT consultancy won the tender with a holistic, integrated approach, a deep understanding of processes and technologies and the experience gained from a major reference project: the implementation of SAP SuccessFactors at automotive supplier Brose Fahrzeugteile, which involved the digitalization of the entire HR system for 30,000 employees at around 70 locations in 25 countries.

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"Early involvement in the change process and targeted training programs promote motivation and acceptance."

Markus Merkel,
Project manager,
MHP

Frameworks

The process at Everllence was to be similar to that at Brose. First, the 30-strong team of consultants and customers examined the existing company-specific processes. On this basis, they created a global template that would reduce the workload in HR and make processes more efficient. Only then was the focus placed on the introduction of the new system, SuccessFactors as standard software from the cloud. The components were the OpenText modules for storing, creating and managing digital employee data in a central location in compliance with the law, Ingentis for the area of people analytics and DocuSign/ProSign for the electronic signing of documents.

Markus Merkel, Project Manager at MHP: „It is crucial to lay the foundation for the technical implementation at an early stage by means of a well thought-out, global role and process design. This goes hand in hand with clearly defined roles and responsibilities as well as a model for subsequent collaboration.“ As an implementation method, the team chose „Fast to Success“, a preconfigured solution that can be started initially and makes the first successes visible after a short time. It also achieves a high level of user acceptance and satisfaction. MHP customized the standard in terms of role, process and technical design.

The configurations ensure that processes tailored to Everllence continue to run as desired with the new software. The HR IT landscape was also adapted. This included integrations with SAP HCM and Active Directory as well as a connection to IAS/IPS. Markus Merkel: „The consulting service is very important here. When it comes to integration, it is fundamentally important that all systems, such as an HCM system for payroll accounting, communicate with SuccessFactors. A smooth exchange of data and documents between different source systems must therefore be guaranteed.“

Taking employees with you

The biggest challenges in the project were in the areas of project management and prioritization, short-term training and enablement of employees and change management. Timetables, well thought-out concepts and intelligent project management via „change requests“ provided valuable support here. During the hypercare phase, particular emphasis was placed on familiarizing employees - from the CIO to key users - with the new processes and technologies.

The focus was on communication with stakeholders and a positive feedback culture in the form of info sessions for managers, training for HR managers and click instructions and explanatory videos for employees. A joint go-live event at the company's own museum in Augsburg rounded off the project - including lessons learned for all employees. Markus Merkel emphasizes: „Early involvement in the change process and targeted training opportunities promote motivation and acceptance - and ensure that the change is sustainable and transparent.“

Improved employee experience

MHP and Everllence implemented the full SuccessFactors Suite in Germany and Switzerland within a short period of 18 months. This is due not least to the agile development and implementation process. In an initial project phase, the Employee Central, Recruiting, Onboarding and Learning Management modules went live.

Everllence thus already benefited from the advantages of the transformation, while the Performance & Goals, Succession & Development and Compensation & Variable Pay modules followed in phase two. Due to its high relevance, the People Analytics Reporting module was also part of both project phases. The next step will be the global roll-out to other countries, with project completion planned for 2027.

Standardized, digital system

The modernization of HR structures and processes is already showing positive effects: There is now only one standardized, digital system that covers the entire employee lifecycle. Everything is organized via the app, from vacation requests and target meetings to further training. All information can be accessed quickly with just a few clicks and is visible at a glance. Paper and Excel lists are a thing of the past.

Thanks to global standards, processes are now significantly leaner, more harmonious and more efficient. The number of administrative activities has been significantly reduced. „Thanks to MHP's expertise and comprehensive know-how, we have achieved a very successful transformation in the HR area. Communication within and outside the team was always on an equal footing, which contributed significantly to the success,“ says Ingrid Rieken, CHRO Everllence, summarizing the project.

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