Case Study: Strategic IT Programme Review and Programme Recovery

Sector: Property Management

Client: Sonata Group (Former County Estate Management Group and Solitaire Group plc post-merger)

Model: Direct Engagement

Headquarters: London

Operations: Eight offices across England

Headcount: Employed 1200+

Property Management

Background

After several groups of property management companies, comprising two business per group, merged a failed ERP implementation was causing significant issues and led to direct intervention from the private equity investors.

What We Did

We undertook the following:

  • reviewed the procurement process
  • reviewed the process and procedures capture pre-implementation
  • reviewed the business requirements and objectives
  • review the configuration of the ERP system

What We Delivered

We identified

  • that the procurement process was wholly lacking and identified a more appropriate solution.
  • that the process and procedures recorded only covered one two of the eight businesses, not all eight.
  • that the board-level requirements were considered, but not operational requirements when selecting the solutions.
  • significant issues with the ERP software

What Happened

Due to the significant failing of the software to deliver the enterprise needs of the organisation, we were able to create a C-level narrative that was able to position blame for the issues to date on the vendor.

The process for procuring, designing and implementing the ERP solution was then restarted with closer integration with internal stakeholders.

A refund under NDA from the vendor was secured, with the monies paying for appropriate resources to implement the ERP system properly.