Nine-week cutover

Achieved on a programme two years behind schedule 

10m+ records

Cleansed in two weeks

90%+ automation

Achieved across all data domains and processing stages

Define

A leading UK energy supplier was undertaking a major transformation of its operations, including the modernisation of core enterprise resource planning and warehouse management systems. Central to this was a strategic SAP S/4HANA programme, but its data migration workstream had fallen significantly behind, with delays and budget overspend accumulating over more than two years. 

Definia was engaged to assume full accountability for the programme’s data migration challenges across EMEA, covering all functional areas including RTR (record to report) and OTC (order to cash).

The root cause was clear: a set of holistic data challenges spanning both business and technology that needed urgent, pragmatic intervention. The programme had nine weeks to reach cutover. 

Design

Given the short timeframes and the significance of the challenges, Definia’s approach was pragmatic and rapid, identifying and implementing enhancements across programme team structure, governance, data design, load, integrations, automation, analytics and verification processes.

Key elements of the design included:

  • Revising programme team structure and interaction touchpoints across all processes, ensuring cross-flow dependencies were transparent and tracked 
  • Establishing effective data governance across the programme, covering business process management, data migration, data loads, design changes and defect management, with clear success criteria and metrics built in 
  • Reviewing and enhancing the full data migration lifecycle, from data mappings and migration dependencies through to pre and post-load checks, with dashboards built to support daily decision-making and status reporting 
  • Providing data engineering support to fully automate data cleansing and verification flows, which had previously been predominantly manual 
  • Leading data teams across multiple suppliers in the UK, India and Germany 

Deliver

The results were significant. Key outcomes included: 

  • A new programme data framework and target operating model defined and approved at executive committee level for EMEA adoption 
  • Cutover achieved within nine weeks on a programme that had been two years behind schedule 
  • Manual processes optimised to over 90% automation across all data domains and processing stages 
  • Over 10m records cleansed in two weeks — records that had not been addressed in over two years 
  • Full financial audit compliance achieved, addressing a c.£80m reconciliation deficiency 
  • Successful migration to SAP S/4HANA across all functions 
  • Data migration became controlled, repeatable, consistent and auditable across multiple functional workstreams and phased go-lives 
  • Programme EMEA go-live achieved 

By the time the UK trial concluded, the client had more than a modernised technology estate: it had the processes, the capability and the confidence to take its global rollout forward independently.

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