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.