A quick client/server fix - Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group/ICS migrates Seattle Times from mainframe to client/server using fast implementation method - Company Business and Marketing

Communications News, June, 1997

The Seattle Times uses SAP R/3 to migrate its Finance Department from a mainframe environment to distributed computing in just under three months.

The Seattle Times figured it would take at least 120 days to migrate from a mainframe to client/server, but they "went live" in 88 days, thanks to some help from Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group/ICS.

"They told us about their fast implementation methodology and we (the Finance Department) went with it," says Laurie Stanton, financial accounting manager for the Times.

Fast implementation had multiple advantages. "The investment for the rapid implementation package was very attractively priced," says Camille DeSantis, project manager. "We also saved a lot of money because we didn't have to pay temporary help to cover for the people who would have had to move to the project during a longer implementation. And the rapid pace helped us sustain team and project momentum better than we could have over a long haul."

The project team consisted of three D&T CG/ICS consultants and three Times employees who completed the installation of SAP's client/server financial applications--Accounts Payable, General Ledger and Controlling, with Cost Center Accounting and Fixed Assets. Hardware and database legacy data conversion, interfaces to existing systems, and training were part of the project.

The ICS consultants used their Universal Portable Interface (UPI) to automatically build and manage data interfaces for SAP R/3. The quick data conversion provided by UPI was one of the reasons the implementation was accomplished in so little time, team members agree.

REALISTIC PLAN

Stanton says she was impressed that the consultants presented a realistic implementation plan and stuck to it. "They never tried to lead us down some path that we felt was inappropriate," she says.

Rapid knowledge transfer was another skill of the consulting group, and it helped The Seattle Times gain self-sufficiency quickly, says Stanton. "When they left, we were able to do our work without them being here and we understood what we were doing. They were good teachers."

Since the implementation focused on the financial department, anyone in the department who would be a day-to-day user of the R/3 system was trained by ICS as the system was being tested. It was an important component of the plan.

"The users were able to participate in testing during the implementation process," Stanton says. "The day we went live, they were using the system full-time."

As managers of other departments saw the real-time information R/3 could provide regarding their respective cost centers, they became enthusiastic, Stanton says.

"I guess it's the first time I've seen a group of people get excited about something the finance department could do for them," she says. "It was really something to see people so enthusiastic about the work we do and what we are providing to them--a tool that has real impact on their business day."

QUICK RESULTS

With R/3, the company spends less time reconciling data, individuals have quicker and easier access to information, and the reporting process is faster.

For example, a clerk enters an accounts payable invoice into the system, creating a document. That document automatically posts to the general ledger and updates cost center accounting information, so individuals can produce cost center reports at any time. For on-line analysis, users can look at the cost center information and drill down to the specific invoice and the line items of the invoice.

While R/3 provides end users with fast information, it also has helped the IS Department service customers better and respond to them faster.

THE FUTURE

The Seattle Times is planning to extend the functionality of R/3 to the rest of the company. "We think as people see what kinds of information they can have in front of them, the whole paper mentality will start to diminish," says Stanton.

"We were able to maintain our regular work practices during the project," she says. "Certain people were assigned to implement the system, and the rest of us were able to stay at our desks and keep everything else going. It was actually painless in the long run."