S y s t e m L a n d s c a p e Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n ( S LT )

Largest data migration, harmonization, and consolidation in the companys history completed in just 12 months

Steel giant ArcelorMittal South Africa successfully merges five clients in three SAP systems during normal operations

David went down in history for successfully felling the giant, Goliath. But here in the present, in a world shaped by cooperation, the relatively small and nimble company cbs Corporate Business Solutions has helped the steel giant ArcelorMittal South Africa, a subsidiary of the global ArcelorMittal group, to achieve the largest harmonization and consolidation it has ever undertaken in its history of using SAP. The challenge? To merge no fewer than five clients in three systems into a single client. This enormous data migration project saw financial controlling standardized, structures in accounting and reporting aligned, and master data and system customizing harmonized. As a result, two systems were decommissioned and running costs and maintenance requirements were significantly reduced. And the stone in the sling of the SAP consultant? The cbs SHCFramework together with services provided by cbs.

cbs Merges Five Clients in Three SAP Systems During Normal Operations

ArcelorMittals Orbit Structures

Initial Situation
In mid-2009, ArcelorMittal South Africa made the decision to radically simplify its ERP landscape for South Africa and consolidate it into a single SAP platform. It was a landscape that had grown to include a large number of systems as a result acquisitions and the companys own legacy. High system maintenance costs, redundant systems and functions, extremely costly and laborious financial controlling mechanisms that struggled to provide transparency and comparability of key figures in heterogeneous accounting structures, various materials management and statistics systems. These are just some of the many inefficient IT issues that motivated ArcelorMittal South Africa to launch a transformation project on such an ambitious scale.

About Arcelor Mittal

ArcelorMittal South Africa, a subsidiary of the global ArcelorMittal group, which is a global leader in steel production in over 60 countries in the automotive, construction, household, and packaging sectors. The company has branch offices in 20 countries and on 4 continents. In 2010 it generated sales worth USD 78 billion and produced around 91 million tons of raw steel, which represents approximately 8% of global production. The steel producer is also listed on the stock exchanges in New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, and Luxembourg as well as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, and Valencia..

existing SAP company systems. Five SAP clients in three fully developed SAP steel productions systems, an HR system, and a treasury system were to be transferred to one system and one client. When the systems were being merged, leading system structures, master data, and reporting data would be standardized, harmonized, and consolidated. Accounting and reporting data would be standardized globally, controlling areas and operating concerns would be merged, charts of accounts, vendors, customers, and material master data would be harmonized, and customizing would be standardized.

A Major Challenge and a Major Test

A mega project of this order and magnitude represented unchartered territory for ArcelorMittal South Africa. It incorporated all business processes, the entire company organization, and all departments. The volume and heterogeneity of the data to be moved and transformed were immense. The company deemed the risks to be correspondingly high before the project began.

SAP System Merge with Standardization, Harmonization, and Consolidation

The size of the steel giant was reflected in the scale of the technical challenges associated with transforming the SAP system landscape with the aim of merging

cbs Corporate Business Solutions. The MATERNA Group Management Consultancy.

cbs Merges Five Clients in Three SAP Systems During Normal Operations

Customer Statements
Magda Boshoff, Manager, SAP CoE & Vereeniging ICT: Seeing the teamwork of all involved parties, especially Britehouse together with the cbs SHC Framework services finally ensured this project being successful. Everything was delivered within time and budget and this within a time period of 12 months. Sarel Emmerick, Senior Consultant SAP and OneSAP Project Manager at ArcelorMittal South Africa: When the idea for this consolidation and harmonization initiative was born, we were well aware of the benefits and of the sheer scale and complexity of this . cbs provided the ideal toolset (SHC Framework) to facilitate the process in a way that was understandable and usable by the project team. A real benchmark project, not only for our business, but any other large enterprises that face similar challenges. But the opportunities outweighed the risks. By merging systems and introducing standardized control structures, the company could achieve a dramatic and lasting reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO). Even just reducing the variety and complexity of systems would bring down consequential costs associated with operations, maintenance, and long lead times enough to make a difference to the companys bottom line.

Not least, as a pilot for the possible global consolidation of systems, the entire undertaking was one of the most important projects in the history of the ArcelorMittal group. First of all, the good news: After 12 months, including 2 months for the blue print phase, the new, unified landscape went live on the planned date in the form of a big bang adoption, on time, on budget, and with a minimum of fuss.

material masters, production orders, and accounting documents), and around 400 mapping objects (customer number, vendor number, controlling area, asset class, order type, and so on). The high-performance provided by the cbs SHC-Framework is also a big value to achive the desired downtime goals. It was a prerequisite to merge controlling areas and operating concerns, harmonize charts of accounts, master data (vendors, customers, and materials) and customizing settings, and migrate all application data across all SAP modules, including all historical data. cbs uses the cbs SHC-Framework related services as a strategic standardized solution for all types of technical transfomation requirements within the scope of SAP standardization, harmonization, and consolidation projects. The cbs SHC Framework services was the very reason why the steel giant awarded the contract to cbs via its local Business Partner Britehouse who provided application and strategy consulting within this giant project. Britehouse also ensured the harmonization of the entire SAP ERP repository using various best of breed tools and services. The cbs SHC-Framework also allows companies to take a business approach to technical transformation projects, including complex data migrations and restructuring measures like the ones undertaken at ArcelorMittal South Africa. Business logic can be applied to the structuring and organization of the implementation work. For example, a large share of the data to be handled can be divided up logically within the customer project teams involved according to business processes, functional areas, and individual business objects, and can be tested and cleansed of errors following the same business logic. This fosters additional security and transparency in the project and brings considerable advantages in terms of time and cost for the entire undertaking. This prospect was held up at the outset as a feature of what is clearly a cost-effective offering from cbs and Britehouse; a promise that was fulfilled entirely through the success of the project.

The Right Technique and the Right Tools: M-cbs and cbs SHC-Framework Make the Difference
In fact, with its special little agile tool cbs SHC-Framework cbs was ideally equipped to be part of the giant project. The part allocated to cbs was the focus on Master- and Transactional data records as all of them should finally reside accordingly in the target system. After all, the exact purpose of this cbs software related service is the standardization, harmonization, and consolidation (S-H-C) of SAP multisystem landscapes, complex system structures, and large amounts of Master- and Transactional data. Whats more, because the transformation method is based on business objects, the software is particularly adept at handling disparate process configurations and heterogeneous data constellations. Which is why this little stone in Davids sling successfully managed to convert, harmonize, and transfer (migrate) billions of data records, 150 business objects (such as sales orders, deliveries,

cbs SHC-Framework Features and Added Value

SHC means Standardization, Harmonization and Consolidation.
As an integrated software relates cbs SHC Framework service offers comprehensive help with harmonization and migration projects as well as high performance for SLT requirements. The cbs SHC-Framework enables a business approach to projects: Projects, such as splitting and merging of systems, clients, and organizational units, as well as migrations to SAP, can be organized according to processes and objects, which improves quality and cuts the required time and effort. In addition, data conversions can be carried out with high performance directly by means of table updates. This means every type of project involving SAP restructuring or transferring data to SAP can be supported holistically using an integrated software tool (SHC: Standardization, Harmonization, Consolidation). SAP user companies can learn how to master, standardize (both methodically and technically), and considerably accelerate recurring SHC and SLT project activities in particular, all of which can lead to significant cost reductions.

Conversion and Multi-Migration to an Existing SAP System by a Deadline

ArcelorMittal South Africa and his consulting partner Britehouse adopted the business principle of process and phase

cbs Corporate Business Solutions. The MATERNA Group Management Consultancy.

cbs Merges Five Clients in Three SAP Systems During Normal Operations

orientation established in the SHC-Framework by applying the M-cbs approach to successful management, that is, by planning and comprehensively controlling the implementation tasks in the multi-migration project. In the event, Britehouse utilizing cbs SHC-Framework related services offered ArcelorMittal South Africa a project approach of unprecedented efficiency and cost effectiveness. Indeed, it was possible to relocate all units to an existing SAP client in the form of a big bang adoption, in other words, all on the same go-live date and within a 12-month time scale.

Im delighted that our cbs SHCFramework services passed this crucial test with flying colors.
J.T. cbs Project Manager, on the SHC-Framework

In any event, the mass migration, harmonization, and restructuring measures meant that an experienced expert team (Britehouse & cbs) with extensive knowledge of the field of System Landscape Transformation (SLT) was a must. The proven and transparent methodology together with the cbs SHC-Framework services for the technical implementation added up to a powerful argument for ArcelorMittal South Africa. ArcelorMittal South Africa wanted always be aware of the project steps, activities and status and did not want a black box implementation solution. The risk appeared to be too great and the desire to understand the procedure, configurations, and implementation and carry out the project as a joint customer and consulting team was too strong.

Project Perspectives at ArcelorMittal South Africa

ArcelorMittal South Africa has enjoyed great success, and the lesson for the future at the steel giant is clear: The project approach, methodology, technical system transformation in cooperation with the project partners have more than proven themselves. The pilot was a great success and provides a solid foundation for future consolidation tasks in the company using the same setup. A best practice on the cbs SHCFramework services is now available to the ArcelorMittal group worldwide.

This kind of business-critical implementation involving such vast amounts of data leaves no room for compromises. To meet these challenges, you need a standardized, highperformance tool that transforms structures and data of all kinds quickly, fully, and with no errors, ideally follows a business logic, is certified by auditors, and has a proven track record with other customers. In the case of Arcelor Mittal South Africa, we were talking about massive amounts of master data, trans-action data, open documents, and historical data to be converted and migrated.

Benefits
Dramatic, lasting reduction of TCO by merging master- and transactional data of all involved systems and using standardized structures to control the company. For example, standardized financial controlling makes comparisons and reporting much simpler. Harmonized master data and cleansing of duplicates makes it easier for user departments to handle business processes. Transferred and adopted transactional data ensures end user experience and great business value. Reducing the variety and complexity of systems had a significant bearing on consequential costs in terms of operations, maintenance, and lead times. Two systems were decommissioned completely. Pilot character of the project: Establish a best practice for other global system consolidation in the group. High cost effectiveness of the project: After 12 months, including 2 months for the blue print phase, the new landscape went live on the planned date in the form of a big bang adoption, on time and on budget.

Why cbs ?
For ArcelorMittal South Africa the decision to utilize the cbs SHC Framework services was not a difficult one. Strong reference projects, a recommendation from the strategic cbs on-site partner Britehouse, and finally a thorough examination of other methodical approaches led the decisionmakers to settle on cbs.

cbs Corporate Business Solutions. The MATERNA Group Management Consultancy. Phone +49 6221 3304-0 | contact@cbs-consulting.de | www.cbs-consulting.com