Cadbury Schweppes

Company: Access ConsultingCustomer: Cadbury SchweppesSubmitted by: Buffalo CommunicationsDate: Autumn 2000Cadbury Schweppes is a major global company, which manufactures, markets and distributes its branded beverages and confectionery products in almost 200 countries. Famous brands include Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Schweppes and Dr Pepper. The Group employs over 37,000 people world-wide, over 6,000 of whom are located in the UK.”As part of a truly global business, Cadbury Schweppes in the UK recognised that a global HR strategy is necessary in today’s market place to cater for a more mobile workforce, and elected to dispense with localised systems and processes in favour of a more standardised approach. Over recent years, business processes and supporting information systems have been completely overhauled with the objective of setting new standards internationally and integrating diverse legacy systems into regional enterprise networks.

There were a number of key issues, for example:Some of the companies within the group operated their own independent personnel and payroll systems, therefore a key objective was to replace localised systems with an integrated service centre providing a range of HR facilities, and improving employee administrationThe business was reliant on four legacy systems that had limited functionalityProcesses needed to be reengineered to identical standards across all four group companiesThe quality of management information generated from legacy systems was inadequate and more sophisticated reporting tools were needed for analysis purposesThe business sought to streamline its business processes and achieve cost savings in the administration of personnel recordsPayroll was to be integrated to facilitate more effective analysis of informationEach employee was to have a unique identification number so that they could be identified regardless of location or group companySAP was Cadbury Schweppes’ chosen replacement for its ageing personnel and payroll systems, which has already been installed in North America. In addition, an integrated SAP system was already in place for the financial and commercial operations at Cadbury Schweppes, so to maximise information transmission between applications, SAP was the chosen system for HR and payroll. “SAP works best on an enterprise scale,” commented Peter Waring, SAP Implementation Project Manager at Cadbury Schweppes, “because the applications ‘talk’ to one another, we are able to reconcile financial and personnel data more effectively, for example in the allocation of salaries and expenses against cost centres.”Cadbury Schweppes sought a partner with in-depth experience of HR and payroll, and a proven track record of delivery on time and within budget. Access Consulting matched the desired profile exactly and worked closely with Cadbury Schweppes to set up the business plans.

Peter Waring, Cadbury Schweppes’ SAP HR Project Manager said, “This early involvement by Access in setting budgets, resources and timescales meant that there was joint ownership right from the start, and a keen sense of shared purpose has emerged throughout the project.”A 20-month project was kicked-off to implement SAP HR throughout the UK businesses on a common basis, and business processes were harmonised in parallel where appropriate.Cadbury Schweppes is a dynamic business, and a number of events during the project lifecycle arose to challenge the project timetable, including some major organisational restructuring which altered the company infrastructure dramatically, and the re-negotiation of employee terms and conditions. “Adaptability is a key requirement from a partner in today’s business climate here change is the norm,” highlighted Peter Waring. Robert Loakes, Managing Director of Access Consulting, added, “We are extremely proud of our ability to provide a complete service to customers, from the strategic planning stage, to implementation, training and post-project support. Changes to the original project plan inevitably occur, but our role is to ensure they don’t affect the end result.

“The benefits to Cadbury Schweppes of the implementation project are numerous, and reflect the objectives of the global corporate strategy:

• A fully integrated solution now exists which provides a complete personnel and payroll service for all UK businesses and facilitates transmission and sharing of data
• Productivity is improved due to faster, smarter reporting
• Swift comparisons of data be made because processes for calculation have been standardised
• Reports can now be produced in a more user-friendly format, facilitating interpretation and analysis
• Manual administration has been reduced, cutting the time and cost associated with employee information administration
• Replacement of legacy systems means Cadbury Schweppes has a best-of-breed platform on which to build for the future
• The business benefit from a high degree of standardisation

Peter Waring commented the project had afforded an enormous learning experience, “Simply implementing new systems does not guarantee business benefits. These will only be realised if the implementation is sound, the users are well trained, the project delivers its financial commitments and there is comprehensive post-project support.”