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Ali Bin Ali Hospitality celebrates successful implementation of FORWARD

After going live with the Group’s ERP FORWARD project in February 2019, it was time for Ali Bin Ali Hospitality to celebrate the success implementation of the solution in the division.

On May 23, 2019, the ABA Hospitality team led by General Manager Mr. Philippe Tardieu, FORWARD Project Sponsor Mr. Mohamad Ebrik and members of the FORWARD PMO gathered to applaud the achievement.

Opening the event, Mr. Tardieu welcomed all and said: “We are very happy with the FORWARD solution and would like to thank our entire Finance team and the PMO team for making this possible. More modules will be added to the system soon, making the work process more efficient in the division. We are very positive about this new system.”

Mr Ebrik said, “Hospitality is one of the latest batches of the ERP project and we have reached here today because of everybody’s dedication and hard work. However, this is not the end. It is the start of a new journey to use the system to its full potential. There will be another few months of stabilization period to make sure all tools of the system are put to full use. It is important for the team to know the system really well so that they can extract, analyze and then provide feedback to the business to move forward.”

All members of the small team from ABA Hospitality who were involved in the FORWARD project gave their very best to make the transition a success. The simultaneous process of opening new restaurants, implementing a new solution and integrating it with the existing one was not an easy one. Recognizing this feat and acknowledging their contribution, the heroes from the division were also awarded at the event.

Ahmed Abdelbaki – Finance Manager, Gururajan – Accounts Supervisor, Irshad Hassan – Accounts Supervisor, and Razzak Hossain – Senior Accountant, were handed certificates by Mr.  Tardieu.

A banner designed like a food cart was set up in line with the theme ‘FORWARD – the new secret ingredient of change’. The team members placed jars, indicating the key ingredients of FORWARD, on the cart to complete the visual.

The FORWARD ERP application will mainly support the Finance and Procurement functions of the Hospitality division. The restaurant chains will be using the Micros system to handle Point of Sale (POS) services but it will be integrated with FORWARD.

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FORWARD e-HR Partner application goes live in KSA

Spreading its wings beyond Qatar, Ali Bin Ali (ABA) Holding’s FORWARD ERP project has gone live in two divisions of ABA Holding in KSA. FORWARD achieved this milestone on September 9, 2018 by branching out two e-HR partner modules – HR Core and Payroll – to Platinum Sands and Noon Al Momayaza. Both these divisions are part of the Company’s Luxury and Hospitality divisions, respectively.

 

The Go Live date for the Self-Service module of the same application will Go Live on October 1, 2018 after the completion of end-user training.

 

While the system will be centralized in Qatar, employees in KSA will be using the e-HR Partner employee self-service application and send in their leave and other requests through their accounts/profiles. Almost 200 staff members in KSA are now ready to use the FORWARD e-HR Partner application.

 

Similar to the transition phase of the e-HR Partner in Qatar, there will be a period of parallel run in KSA, too. As a step to cope with this change, the employees will continue with the traditional methods – running parallel to the new application. After a couple of months, the e-HR application will be completely functional and used by all KSA employees.

 

FORWARD’s journey in KSA started in September 2017 when the solution was agreed upon. Although done remotely, the FORWARD team – with support from the staff in

KSA – conducted a comprehensive collection of data sheets and security profiles. In April 2018, once all data were gathered, the Intrasoft team traveled to KSA for two weeks to conduct the User Acceptance Training (UAT).

 

The implementation process was not free of challenges mainly because of certain localizations imposed by KSA. To support them, the Oracle ERP upgrade was initiated by the FORWARD team in May 2018.

 

Another major hindrance was the prevailing political situation, which made mobility to and from KSA difficult. All communication, knowledge transfer and decisions had to be taken over Skype calls and emails, which sometimes slowed down processes.

 

However, the synergies between KSA staff & Team FORWARD ensured the team was able to rise above all odds and ABA’s e-HR Partner has successfully gone live at the first international location.

 

Speaking about the journey, Senior Manager ABA HR and FORWARD Functional Track Lead (FTL) Mr. Ajay Daniel John said: “The most challenging part of this implementation was definitely the physical distance. A lot of work had to be done virtually. This Go Live was only possible because of the constant communication and co-operation between the KSA staff, FORWARD team and the HR team in Qatar. We still have a long way to go in stabilizing the application, but it is a positive start and the parallel run period will help us identify and resolve issues, if any.”

FORWARD, ABA Holding’s most ambitious project is moving ahead slowly but steadily. It is gradually automating functions in all the divisions of the Company. The next few months will witness the ERP project Go Live in important divisions including International Agencies (IA), Prime Consumer Products (PCP) and Qcare.

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Ali Bin Ali Hospitality attains new heights, receives Food Safety Management System ISO 22000 certification

Adding another achievement to the Ali Bin Ali (ABA) Holding portfolio, the Ali Bin Ali Hospitality division has been awarded the Food Safety Management System ISO 22000 certification. With this, Ali Bin Ali Hospitality became one among the top hospitality companies in Qatar to receive the recognition.

 

The certificate was ceremoniously handed over on August 1, 2018 by Bureau Veritas Certification Qatar at a private event held at ABA Hospitality’s fine-dining restaurant, Em Sherif Qatar.

 

The award was handed over by the Chief Executive Officer of Bureau Veritas Qatar, Mr. Selim Kseib, to General Manager of ABA Hospitality Mr. Philippe Tardieu. 

 

Mr. Tardieu thanked his team for their efforts and said, “Ali Bin Ali Group is investing a lot in the hospitality industry. To support this growth, it was an essential part of our strategy to create a safe and quality foundation for our food business. We wanted to ensure our expansion with the best international practices. Food is pleasure for the senses but its quality is critical for our business reputation. ISO 22000 is the ultimate recognition of our standard. It not only validates and adds value to our efforts but also encourages us to seek excellence in our everyday operations.”

 

Mr. Kseib congratulated the Ali Bin Ali team and said; “It was a pleasure working with ABA Hospitality. I would like to compliment the team on achieving the ISO 22000 mark in less than six months. This is an achievement in itself. This coveted certification truly reflects the high level of commitment and leadership from Ali Bin Ali Hospitality to benchmark best international practices in Food Safety Management Systems. We take great pride in this association with ABA and truly see ABA as an esteemed strategic partner in promoting the culture of Excellence in the State of Qatar.”

 

ISO 22000 is a standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization dealing with food safety. This international standard specifies requirements for a food safety management system where an organization in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption. The certificate integrates the principles of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system and this makes ISO 22000 the highest form of accreditation in the industry.