Emmi takes off with SAP SuccessFactors

Before Emmi switched to SuccessFactors, there was no standardized HCM system across the group for recording, administering and evaluating employee master data.

Talent management processes were still handled differently locally and without overarching IT support, even after the rapid international expansion of recent years. This rather individual process design was counterproductive in the long run.

The challenge was to harmonize HR processes and set up global master data management in order to establish sustainable talent management on this basis.

The comprehensive system solution from SAP is being introduced at Emmi under the name "HR Suite". In addition, employees from the specialist departments and line functions were to be integrated - across all locations in 13 countries.

SAP SuccessFactors software was chosen, with TTS as the implementation partner, because it meets Emmi's high requirements from a functional and technical perspective and offers comprehensive international coverage.

"With the group-wide switch to SAP ERP a few years ago, Emmi became aware of SuccessFactors, which was an "interesting option" at the time"

says Michael Lötscher, Head HR Excellence & Development at the Emmi Group.

After an attractive contract package was put together that also secured the cloud capability of the SAP ERP system, the implementation of SAP ERP and SuccessFactors could take place in parallel.

"We have never considered an on-premise solution. The old world is not very attractive for us and too costly to maintain. And if we go to the cloud, then completely."

Lötscher continues.

"I'm glad we decided to use this new technology."

The dairy processor's demanding HR strategy quickly led to the decision when it came to selecting the SAP SuccessFactors modules it needed: We need them all.

Only the mapping of all HR core functions offered the possibility to better control the processes and to achieve the following goals:

• The rollout of a globally leading HR master data system and the associated increase in transparency for managers, employees and HR
• International standardization and management of talent and training processes
• Administration and central control of trainings in a Learning Management System (LMS)
• the relocation of the technical infrastructure to the cloud

Recruit, manage and train

The project was launched in 2014 and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2018. First, the financial framework was set and the resources and legal conditions clarified. Then the management approved the relocation of the data from the company's own servers to the cloud.

With the go-live of the innovative Employee Central master data system for the approximately 3,000 employees in Switzerland, a key milestone of the project was reached in summer 2015 after just eight months.

Employee Central forms the data basis for the rollout of further SuccessFactors modules as well as for global HR reporting, which significantly increases transparency and management options in an internationally active company like Emmi.

As part of the rollout of Employee Central, among other things, an external payroll system was connected via an interface based on the middleware Dell Boomi.

Such "projects within projects" naturally exist in most implementations, for which sufficient time and resources must be planned. In 2015, the "Recruiting Management" and "Learning" modules were also introduced in Switzerland.

Following the successful launch in a pilot area at the beginning of 2016, Emmi will go live with the "Performance & Goals" module at national level by the end of the year, as well as creating the basis for integrated succession planning with the technical implementation of the "Succession Management" module, which will be applied from 2017.

The last module planned is the rollout of "Compensation Management".

Time and again, it is important to review the goals that have been set and to take employees along with them on their journey to a new talent management system.

"The technical implementation of modules is one side, but an even bigger issue is the processes behind them"

continues Lötscher, who is responsible for the project:

"They can be a hard and heavy lift for employees and an organization."

At international level, the Group is gradually rolling out Employee Central:

Following the successful rollout in Austria and the UK, Spain and Italy will soon follow, with the performance and succession modules to follow, so that all 5,300 employees in 13 countries will be connected to the system by the end of 2018. To this end, Emmi offers users of the "HR Suite" five system languages: German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.

On the Emmi side, a main project manager, one employee per module, and a technology expert are required for implementation. On average, the core team consists of three to four HR employees who take care of implementation and operation, process definition, testing, data upload, transfer to actual operation, and content creation via HR services.

Together with TTS, they drove the project forward and learned not to suppress their own ideas in a self-censoring manner, but to develop them together with TTS consultants.

"It's really a great collaboration"

Lötscher explains,

"the consultants can point to things that may not be possible now, but will be in a few months or a year. In addition, we continue to develop together and are willing to question what already exists. It's a key component of our success."

Emmi benefits from SuccessFactors in many areas: training processes are more transparent, performance can be better managed, and seamless reporting facilitates analyses. It has also become easier for employees to use.

Since all data is stored in a central system, precise access is possible. One click and you know how many employees are based in Austria or who works for HR in the UK. SuccessFactors is already perceived as a "huge help" in daily processes.

The example of recruiting clearly shows the enormous time savings: it is enough to click a button in Employee Central job management and you receive a pre-filled job posting.

Once a candidate has been found, the personnel data received with the application process can be transferred directly to the master data system. Processes thus become more efficient and effective.

"In the past, a variety of information was displayed on the screen to cover every eventuality"

says Lötscher.

"Today, we focus on the essentials, the screens are clearer and the processes run more efficiently. Of course, it sometimes takes patience and the system-based processes still have to settle in. But from my point of view, we are really on the right track."

Communicate added value

In Michael Lötscher's eyes, communication is the decisive factor for success during the project phases - both internally and externally. All those involved must continuously pull together. To do this, they must be convinced of the meaningfulness and the added value resulting from the project.

The all-important question is always: What's in it for me? Right from the start, managers from all areas at Emmi were carefully involved in the process and a convincing line of argument was built up with specific timetables and targets.

Only with added value in mind can the standardization of processes succeed and be supported by employees:

"Through the standardized HCM solution and the cooperation with TTS, we have started to rethink and adapt the HR processes concerned. With the innovative SAP SuccessFactors functionalities, we offer our 'internal customers' real added value with intuitive operation. Sometimes this simply requires a 'nudge' in the right direction."

Work changes

One of Emmi's experiences with SuccessFactors so far has been to overturn a preconception: after all, SuccessFactors was not introduced for downsizing, as some contemporaries mistakenly assume.

From Lötscher's point of view, the software system accounts for only 30 percent of the whole; the rest is management work. And the work is not getting less, it is changing. On the basis of SAP software, the Group sees itself in a position to realize its extraordinarily high standards of holistic HR work.

The added value behind this is clear: SuccessFactors makes Emmi more successful in the global world than before. Human Capital Management supports all HR-relevant topics from onboarding, recruiting, applicant management, goal & performance, succession planning, talent management, HR analytics to a learning management system.