ALCATEL-LUCENT

TelecommunicaTion GianT upGrades wiTh help from sap safeGuardinG

Quick facTs

The upgrade provides us with a stable version for the next three to four years. It moves us into the most advanced and promising service-oriented and Java-based architecture, which we will now explore in order to maximize the benefits from it.
Jean-Luc Henrie Vice president, application solutions alcatel-lucent

Company name: alcatel-lucent location: paris, france industry: Telecommunications products and services: communications solutions revenue: 17.8 billion employees: 77,000 web site: www.alcatel-lucent.com implementation partners: accenture ltd., sap consulting Challenges and Opportunities update a critical business management solution support the alignment of enterprise-wide processes Objectives perform a unicode conversion implement swift issue resolution provide timely access to specialist expertise enable project completion within the specified time frame minimize disruption to day-to-day operations SAP Solution and Services sap active Global support (sap aGs) organization sap safeguarding services Global delivery group of sap consulting sap erp application

Implementation Highlights achieved simultaneous switchover for 6,000 users in 30 countries completed upgrade on schedule in 7.5 months performed upgrade within the limited 4-day downtime window supported testing for 450 users across 170 business scenarios converted 1.8 terabytes of data in a multidisplay, multiprocessing (mdmp) database to unicode Why SAP fast access to specialist expertise Benefits responsive service, thanks to on-site presence of sap experts and optimal collaboration between teams swift issue resolution 6 fixes provided within 1 day short stabilization period all issues resolved within 2 weeks after the software went live rapid access to expertise within sap aGs 15% reduction in disk space used on servers faster and more-efficient processing due to performance gains of 20% to 30% Existing Environment sap r/3 software (functionality now found in the sap erp application) Third-Party Integration database: oracle hardware: hewlett-packard operating systems: hp-uX, linux

SAP Customer Success Story Telecommunications

following the merger of two telecommunication titans, paris-based alcatel-lucent became one of the biggest players in the telecommunications industry. with 77,000 employees in more than 130 countries, it offers a range of software, hardware, and services to carriers and enterprise customers worldwide, earning annual revenues of 17.8 billion.
in a wide-ranging program to align enterprise processes in order to unify and integrate key business activities in the new organization, a critical step was the upgrade of Blue planet the sap softwarebased enterprise resource planning (erp) solution in use prior to the merger. when the time came to upgrade this mission-critical tool, the company turned to sap safeguarding services to have access to experts when and where it was needed. This enabled a successful upgrade while minimizing disruption to the business. as the largest and most advanced erp solution within the new organization, alcatel-lucent chose Blue planet to be the foundation of a common solution to support activities across the newly merged organizations. following this decision, the company decided to upgrade to the latest version of sap erp. The existing software was no longer supported, explains Gilles imbs, project manager at alcatel-lucent. in addition, the new version of sap erp supports unicode, and this will make the solution much more scalable worldwide in the future.

running, staff in some countries would be unable to carry out basic operational functions with a significant impact on business. during the upgrade process, the perception of Blue planet among employees was a key consideration. its important that people feel they can rely on the solution, comments imbs. users understand that issues can sometimes arise but they dont understand if we dont resolve them quickly. in addition, alcatel-lucents external image was at stake. we produce software for our telecom devices, so we have to be efficient and responsive in administering our own solution infrastructure, says Jean-philippe dolle, erp solution manager at alcatel-lucent. The implementation team faced the additional pressure of an unmissable deadline. The switchover was scheduled for a period in between key financial disclosures, says dolle. if we missed the downtime window, the project would be delayed for months, as would future deployment across the newly merged company. failure simply wasnt an option. The experienced alcatel-lucent team, with a strong internal organization and

Pivotal Role
To manage business-critical functions across the company, alcatel-lucent relied heavily on Blue planet, an erp solution based on sap r/3 software (functionality now found in the sap erp application). each day, in 30 countries across europe as well as india, Brazil, and Venezuela staff use the solution to carry out core business activities, including general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales and distribution, invoicing, purchasing, and warehouse management.

Eliminating Risk
with Blue planet performing such a key role across the organization, it was critical that the upgrade took place smoothly and quickly, with as little disruption to day-to-day activities as possible. without the solution up and

We wanted to have direct access to SAP expertise both before and after going live. If any issues should arise, we needed to know we could solve them quickly SAP Safeguarding gave us that peace of mind.
Jean-Philippe Dolle, erp solution manager, alcatel-lucent

The speed of response by SAP Safeguarding and the reactivity of the team were key elements of the projects success and strengthened user confidence in the solution.
Gilles Imbs project manager alcatel-lucent

methodology, quickly recognized that the main risks to the project, including its immovable deadline, were primarily related to the technical aspects of the unicode conversion. To mitigate these risks and to minimize the possibility of disruption to operations and the adverse effect on the business that would entail alcatel-lucent turned to sap safeguarding. we wanted to have direct access to sap expertise both before and after going live, explains dolle. if any issues should arise, we needed to know we could solve them quickly sap safeguarding gave us that peace of mind. a technical quality manager from sap joined the implementation team, which was made up of alcatel-lucent iT staff as well as experts from accenture ltd. and sap consulting. Thanks to his physical presence on-site, the technical quality manager was able to liaise tightly between the implementation team and colleagues within the sap active Global support organization. This enabled fast and efficient access to specialist expertise during critical phases, which ensured that project milestones were reached on time.

you consider that we have over 1.8 terabytes in total, you understand what a huge task it was. we needed a contribution from specialists. alcatel-lucent and experts from sap consulting performed the data conversion jointly, using downtime optimization tools to reduce the duration of the process from 72 to just 17 hours. sap consulting and its global delivery organization provided great upgrade

detected six issues, says dolle. with sap safeguarding, we were able to resolve them within one day. during the user testing phase, conducted just prior to going live and involving 450 users across 170 business scenarios, rapid responses from sap safeguarding were critical as well. it was an enormous test group, and we could not afford to halt the process, imbs remarks. Thats where

For sure, if we have another big technical project like this one, we will involve SAP Safeguarding again. The team more than fulfilled our expectations.
Gilles Imbs, project manager, alcatel-lucent

experience, which helped us compress unicode conversion timelines significantly. The project team followed a template approach that, coupled with the remote delivery model from sap consulting, ensured on-time delivery with minimal disruption to our users, comments imbs.

the capacity for quick reaction within the teams was crucial. The speed of response by sap safeguarding and the reactivity of the team were key elements of the projects success and strengthened user confidence in the solution.

Swift Issue Resolution

The alcatel-lucent project team completed the upgrade to the latest version of sap erp in 7.5 months and on schedule, with all 6,000 users in 30 countries switched over simultaneously within an on-target downtime window of four days. according to dolle, swift issue resolution both before and after the switchover was key to this achievement. during the upgrade itself, we

Rapid Stabilization, Improved Performance

during the five-month testing phase, sap safeguarding helped the implementation team to address 750 open issues, almost all of which were resolved before the solution went live. This, in turn, ensured a short stabilization period following the switchover. The stabilization phase took only two weeks much shorter than my experience with past upgrade projects, confirms dolle.

Unicode Conversion
alcatel-lucent collaborated with sap to convert its existing data to conform to the unicode standard. Technically, its an extremely complex process, says imbs. every single byte of information needed to be modified. when

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with the new version of sap erp up and running quickly and on schedule, alcatel-lucent is already reaping the rewards. we have reduced disk space used on the servers by 15%, says imbs. we have also noted performance gains of between 20% and 30%, due to new hardware and the software upgrade, enabling users to work faster and more efficiently. The successful upgrade is paving the way for future worldwide deployment of the companys erp solution, thanks to increased performance, the unicode migration, and the availability of standard features that eliminate the need to write custom code. The upgrade provides us with a stable version for the next three to four years, sums up Jean-luc henrie, vice president of application solutions at alcatel-lucent. it moves us into the most advanced and promising service-oriented and Java-based architecture, which we will now explore in order to maximize the benefits from it.

Business Alignment
however, dolle stresses that some of the most significant benefits are still to come. Blue planet has a fundamental role to play in our process alignment, helping different parts of the company to work together as a unified enterprise, comments dolle. all european business units are plugged into the solution, and a migration of u.s. finance activities is in progress. over the long term, the plan is to move all global operations to the Blue planet solution. within a couple of years it will probably support almost all of alcatel-lucents business, confirms imbs. it will take some time, but the sap software will eventually help us align our enterprise-wide processes enabling us to be more efficient and competitive. as it works toward this goal, alcatellucent will continue to look to sap for support. for sure, if we have another big technical project like this one, we will involve sap safeguarding again, concludes imbs. The team more than fulfilled our expectations.

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