Implementation of a recently selected planning software system

In order to facilitate the implementation of a recently selected planning software system, processes would need to be harmonized and the overall level and maturity of the organization improved.

Assignment

A leading pharma company wanted to harmonize and standardize the level of S&OP knowledge and practices in the APAC region and bring the overall capability and maturity to a higher level.

The ambitions:

  • Design a ‘best practice’ S&OP process for one affiliate, as well as how that links to the regional S&OP, that will serve as a reference for all other affiliates
  • Implement this best practice process in one pilot affiliate in APAC region
  • Subsequently roll-out this best practice process to all other affiliates in APAC as well 

Another key element was to train the various teams involved, such as Commercial, Finance and Operations and bring them to the same level of understanding.

Project summary

The company is operating in the APAC region that consists for them of 20 markets ranging in development and maturity. As a result the level of S&OP knowledge and practices varied a lot among their APAC affiliates. This means there was lack of standardization of the processes and practices between the affiliates. In order to facilitate the implementation of a recently selected planning software system, processes would need to be harmonized and the overall level and maturity of the organization improved.

Our approach

BCI started with a training program to increase the overall level of understanding and alignment across various commercial, financial and operations functions. This consisted of:

  • Training for middle management and operational level
  • Combination of physical class room and online training
  • Mixture of concepts, group discussion and group case studies

Next the S&OP implementation in one affiliate was done in three steps:

1.       As-Is understanding and capture requirements

  • Map the current S&OP processes in detail
  • Map country specific differences
  • Interviews with key stakeholders to determine the requirements for the future S&OP process
  • Identify the right pilot affiliate

2.       Design To-Be best practice S&OP process

  • Prepare planning environment (cleanup master data, etc.)
  • Design standard integrated S&OP process
  • Design country specific adjustments (where needed)
  • Formalize the team that will drive the implementation

3.       Implement best practice process in pilot affiliate

  • Pilot run the new process for 3 monthly cycles
  • Review the new process and finalize implementation

Finally this pilot S&OP process was rolled-out across all other affiliates in the region

  • Finalize standard S&OP process based on lessons learned pilot
  • Customize S&OP process for each country
  • Implement S&OP country by country according to road map (mix of parallel and sequential)

Result

As a result:

  • Team of 20 plus middle managers and 40 plus operational level executives was trained on the concept of S&OP
  • Best practice S&OP process was designed, based on an accurate understanding of the current existing processes, and the various differences between the countries
  • Best practice process was implemented in a pilot affiliate first, to test the concept and set a reference for the organization
  • Implementation across the other countries as well, taking into account (where relevant) individual country differences