Australia Post is in the early stages of scoping a modernisation of its SAP environment, which supports corporate functions including finance, HR, asset management and logistics.
Image credit: Australia Post/Facebook.
The postal service, which is a government business enterprise, is recruiting an initial three heads of technology to support the modernisation program, initially through a discovery and review process to determine how to approach the upgrade.
The intended upgrade path is a familiar one: from its present SAP environment based on ERP Central Component (ECC) 6.0 to S/4HANA.
Other government entities are similarly plotting their own migration pathways off ECC, which has its end-of-support date approaching in the coming years.
One of the three roles being recruited, a head of technology for corporate, foreshadows the complexity of the forthcoming modernisation, noting the need to “plan and manage the duality of modern and heritage platforms in parallel to maintain business continuity over the period of a change agenda”.
An Australia Post spokesperson told Digital Nation that the SAP modernisation comes under Australia Post’s broader Post26 strategy.
Post26 “guides decisions on the networks, skills, customer-experience and technology that will be necessary for Australia Post to play the role it does in Australian communities for decades to come,” the postal service notes. [pdf]
“Australia Post is simplifying and streamlining operations across all parts of its business as part of its Post26 strategy,” the spokesperson told Digital Nation.
“Technology is integral to the modernisation of our business.
“Like most large organisations, we are currently considering upgrades to our SAP solution, including a future transition to SAP S/4HANA.
“We will conduct a thorough review of business and customer needs to guide any future decisions around SAP upgrades, including software design, project scope and timelines.”
This work is likely to encompass design decisions, such as whether to try to unwind customisations in the ECC6.0 environment and run on a more out-of-the-box configuration of SAP.
Again, such discussions are common in ERP upgrade projects, as running non-customised versions makes future upgrades easier.
Australia Post’s spokesperson added that the three roles initially being recruited to work on the SAP modernisation “are broad in scope but are an exciting opportunity to build and shape transformation projects across SAP and the broader business.”
