SUCCESS STORY

E N T E R P R I S E I N F O R M A T I O N M A N A G E M E N T

Industry

Energy/Utilities

Customer

AMEC

Challenges

n Dispersed, diverse operationsn Global “Operational Excellence” initiative

solutIons

n OpenText MBPMn OpenText ProVision

BenefIts

n Improved corporate governance using repeatable business processes

n Reduced cycle timesn Enhanced control for escalation

and auditingn Ensured compliance with

corporate standards n Allowed green sustainability

assignment: global transformation for operational excellenceAMEC was undertaking a CEO-mandated, global “Operational Excellence” initiative to establish process efficiencies and cost savings across its enterprise. Twelve focus groups were formed to represent various aspects of its global operations, including an IT focus group that was tasked with intro-ducing Business Process Management (BPM) technology into the company. The goal of implementing BPM technology across AMEC was to ultimately achieve global transformation through the automa-tion of key business processes.

The company’s global IT group is geograph-ically dispersed with many diverse actions and operations. The IT focus group was tasked with working with individual business

energy Consultancy Company advances enterprise-Wide efficiencyAMEC enhances core business processes for cost reduction, productivity gains with OpenText solutions

units to build a business case and value proposition for the implementation of BPM technology—an exhaustive and very high-profile effort. Key stakeholders worked together to determine potential processes for automation to justify the investment. Workshops were held to brainstorm ideas on ways to improve efficiencies, identify the current set of critical processes, envi-sion what each automated and improved process would look like, and identify the benefits associated with automating each of the potential business processes with an emphasis on Return On Investment (ROI) and value to the business.

During this information gathering stage, AMEC also engaged with key analyst firms to get input on the market and better understand the key technology suppli-ers that needed to be included in the

AMEC (LSE: AMEC) is a focused supplier of high-value consultancy, engineering, and project management services to the world’s energy, power, and process

industries. With annual revenues of around $4.0 billion, AMEC designs, delivers, and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers. AMEC’s Natural Resources, Power and Process, and Earth and Environmental businesses employ over 23,000 people in more than 30 countries globally.

SUCCESS STORY

E N T E R P R I S E I N F O R M A T I O N M A N A G E M E N T

Request For Proposal (RFP). In addition, AMEC defined key criteria that would help in the selection of its shortlist of vendors. This list included criteria such as:

n How well aligned was the vendor with Microsoft® technology?

n Could the vendor support a global IT strategy with support and services?

n Was the vendor a top performer in all of the key analyst reports?

n What did the product roadmap look like and where was the company headed in terms of product strategy?

Six suppliers were selected for the short-list that consisted of vendors who met AMEC’s key criteria. Responses from the RFP were formally analyzed and reviewed through a very detailed scoring system developed by the team and the vendors were then put through various stages of the selection process—which ranged from written submissions to proof of concept builds to customer reference visits. Ultimately, the outcome was the selection of OpenText MBPM and OpenText ProVision— an integrated software platform that provides a full range of enterprise architec-ture, business process analysis, and busi-ness process management capabilities and had proven its ability to scale to large enterprises and global deployments.

This entire business case scenario outlined above took place over a six month period from April 2008 to September 2008.

unlimited automation for enterprise-wide processes OpenText worked closely with the AMEC team to build a robust business case that now forms the basis for the rollout plan and definition of the first processes to be deployed. Ultimately, the solution will be deployed globally for 18,000 users and enable the unlimited automation of enter-prise-wide processes.

The four processes that were selected for the detailed cost-benefit analysis in the business case were the first on the list for automation. The processes automated thus far include:

n Invoice approval: This UK-centric process includes only invoices that do not have a purchase order. The goal was to automate the old invoice approval process which had been predominantly handled manually and required a considerable amount of time and effort. The process is now automated in MBPM and integrated with its COINS financial management system. Now, when an invoice is registered in COINS of this particular type, it automatically triggers an MBPM process and electronically sends information from COINS into MBPM and goes to the relevant parties for approval.

Overall, AMEC has already achieved numerous benefits—including cost reduction, productivity improvements, paper reduction and green sustainability, and risk reduction and compliance.

n Engineering change management: This process resides within AMEC’s Natural Resources group. The process for managing design changes to AMEC solutions was a paper-based and labor-intensive process. The automation of this process is now helping with corporate governance by enabling the company to better adhere to its corporate policies, procedures, and regulatory compliance mandates by standardizing and enforcing repeatable and well-documented business processes. This process also supports AMEC’s Operational Excellence initiative by providing world-class operating systems and procedures.

n Travel management: This process was a non-standard process across AMEC UK that was manual, labor-intensive, and costly in terms of resource and materials. The goal was to implement an automated, streamlined, easy-to-use travel management process for all personnel to comply with in accordance with an agreed AMEC travel policy. Using MBPM, users can now initiate a request for travel and secure travel options and prices from the travel provider through the system, which then obtains the appropriate management authorization and automatically ensures compliance with the AMEC corporate travel guidelines.

SUCCESS STORY

www.opentext.com n bpm@opentext.comCopyright © 2012 Open Text Corporation. OpenText and Open Text are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Text Corporation. This list is not exhaustive. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. For more information, visit: http://www.opentext.com/2/global/site-copyright.html

n Employee onboarding and termination: This process is currently deployed in AMEC UK. MBPM replaced immense amounts of paper by automating numerous forms. Automation of this process not only increased efficiency, reduced costs, and increased productivity, but it also had the benefit of helping support AMEC’s green sustainability initiative by eliminating large volumes of paper.

n Tender review: This process was not part of the original list within the business case, but because of the ease of deployment and flexibility of the OpenText software, AMEC decided to concurrently address it in its initial projects. Tender review activities have now been automated in MBPM and implemented globally. This process manages all large projects being considered by AMEC and tracks critical items that must be evaluated and addressed before taking on a project. The automation replaced a very large Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet and has helped the company reduce it’s risk by making sure everything is handled on time and is carefully managed before agreeing to a new project.

Core efficiencies across the globeUsing MBPM, AMEC has been able to dramatically improve efficiency and produc-tivity in core areas of its business. By elimi-nating manual, labor-intensive processes and turning them into highly productive, automated processes, users now have real-time visibility into critical information.

By automating the UK invoice approval process, AMEC has been able to reduce the cycle time for each invoice to be approved

which means less time is spent chasing approvals and more time for employees to spend on core activities. Users now have a streamlined invoice approval process with improved visibility and better control from an escalation and audit perspective.

AMEC has enhanced service quality and reduced costs through the automation of the UK travel management process. Other benefits realized from this process include improved data quality, adherence to corpo-rate procedures, and faster approvals—all of which will enable the company to take advan-tage of early booking discounts for fares.

AMEC’s employee onboarding and termi-nation process has also realized important benefits including the improvement of data quality, process control, and communica-tion. Automation also ensures AMEC HR policies are followed, and provides the company with a more efficient new employ-ee onboarding process—ensuring new employees have the equipment and facili-ties required when they begin employment.

Overall, AMEC has already achieved numerous benefits—including cost reduc-tion, productivity improvements, paper reduction and green sustainability, and risk reduction and compliance.

Additional processes for automation are determined by the AMEC BPM Steering Group, or “Process Center of Excellence,” which is responsible for reviewing process improvement business cases, prioritizing projects, and planning the actions. AMEC is a role model for successfully building a busi-ness case and getting buy-in across a global enterprise to invest in BPM technology to support a large business transformation effort. The company has established OpenText software as a credible and critical part of its IT and business infrastructure and the foun-dation for realizing its strategic objective of operational excellence worldwide. n

AMEC has established OpenText software as a credible and critical part of its IT and business infrastructure and the foundation for realizing its strategic objective of operational excellence worldwide.

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