Defence is readying to migrate 100,000 personnel to a new performance management system based on SAP SuccessFactors as part of a mammoth ERP project.
The department had been attempting to deploy the SuccessFactors performance and goals module since 2022.
It has now migrated 3500 human resources staff and 30,000 Australian Public Service (APS) employees onto the system.
It is on track to migrate 100,000 Australian Defence Force personnel in October.
Speaking during SAP’s HR Connect in Sydney, Defence’s integrated release lead Jonathan Pepper said the department experienced two failed go-lives for the module in 2022 and 2023, and “had a really poor track record of actually achieving milestones”.
“When we set up the project, we made it very clear – and it was from the top [with] executive support – if we fail, maybe the project turns off,” said Pepper.
“We knew how serious this one was, and we knew it had to be achieved… The business was starting to get very tired of failed delivery.”
Defence brought in Accenture in June 2023, setting a 16-week target for the pilot’s launch and with the mantra of “no failure”.
According to Austender, Accenture signed an information technology consultation services contract with Defence in May 2023 for an initial $4.4 million.
The value of the two-year contract has since risen to $16 million.
Relentless and disciplined
To reduce the risk of another failure, Pepper’s team and Accenture made two significant changes to the scope, which saw a pilot released in November 2023.
The scope changes were to remove mobility and data integration.
“We said, ‘We’re not doing mobility as part of this little group’,” explained Pepper.
“A number of Defence members don’t actually have protective mobile devices, so trying to create a technical constraint is not really worth it.
“The second one was no integration. We decided for the pilot, which was 3500 non-uniformed members, we would not integrate our data sources. They were two fundamental scoping and design decisions that enabled that 16-week success.”
In addition, Defence took a “relentless and disciplined focus on delivery activity,” Pepper added.
Since the first deployments, the performance and goals system has seen 97,000 goals created and 6500 goals completed.
Broader ERP program to take five more years
Defence’s massive ERP program was first revealed in 2016, with work on the first migrations beginning in 2019.
Some 34 capabilities [pdf] are included in a third tranche of work that runs from 2025 onwards.
Seven of these come under human resources, including the core HR platform. Other capabilities include succession and development, learning, recruitment, workforce planning, workforce analytics and environmental health and safety.
According to Pepper, Defence will next implement SAP’s Employee Central and Learning Capabilities over the next 18 months.
It was reported by The Canberra Times last week that the ERP overhaul will now take five years longer to finish – pushed out to 2030 – with total costs of around $3.5 billion.
Defence has been working on the ERP migration to SAP S/4HANA since 2019 when it handed IBM a systems integration contract.
It was meant to be delivered by 2025 [pdf] and with an original budget of around a $1 billion.
Since January this year, the department has given ServiceNow over $62 million to assist with the delivery through its project portfolio management (PPM) solution.
This month, Defence also handed $51.7 million to E&Y for ‘change management’ related to the ERP project.
Only four capabilities have been fully delivered since the project started. The first rollout took place in November 2023 when Defence delivered two case management capabilities.