Global Chemicals & Pharma Contract Manufacturing Organization (CMO) Revamps Organizational Information Structure
This client is a world-leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of specialty and custom chemicals, compounds and services for top pharmaceutical companies.
The Challenge
To accelerate strategic access to critical decision-making information locked up in the company’s complex SAP solution. Technology demands, culture and operation collectively created obstacles for all levels of management to obtain necessary information rapidly. The dysfunctional situation had spawned an underground culture of half-solutions, dead ends and work-arounds.
Facts
- SAP contains information supporting all three core divisions of the business: catalyst chemical, polymer chemical and fine chemical
- Time required to compose and execute SAP queries through the official system was in excess
of six months - Departments and workgroups obtained information by word of mouth and shared information through often random, poorly edited home-grown spreadsheet tools
Project Scope
Even though the limitations that drove the challenge arose from technology, we came to the solution as cultural and innovative. It was necessary to develop a pattern of knowledge for each division and compare them to see commonalities and differences. We created a group of client stakeholder advisors to provide input on information needs and usage as we assessed what information was necessary. Information would be automatically provided based upon research.
Added Value
As information needs, business process, and decision-making requirements took form, we shaped interactive information tools. Interactive executive dashboards, manager reports – all automatically updating from SAP, with easily editable features and refinements outside of the SAP query system time and constraints.
Results
The fundamental results were transformations in the business culture, the use of time and the approach to information. The information challenges and obstacles had created a culture of sloppiness and making do. Access to “Actual” and “Real” data was highly motivational to employees and executives alike who saw the project as a milestone.
Project Wins
“Business Intelligence project illustrates the power of technology to be an enabler or a disabler. The big enterprise system brought many benefits to the company on a strategic level, but it was an obstacle to managers and execs on a day to day level. This work served to reconcile that conflict and create a new business language translator -we got to work to find the information people really needed and work with technologists to find a way to get it to them easily.”
-Haig Armaghanian, CEO Haig Barrett