Celanese CIO Karl Wachs’s OneSAP Project Time Line

PHASE 1: SELLING July 2001 to February 2002

Complexity: Low

Work: Convincing the Celanese board and independent business unit heads that rolling 13 (later, seven) ERP systems into one makes sense.

Team: 70 IT staffers and other project members involved, along with a small team of consultants.

Milestone: Board approval to move forward with a scoping project.

Result: In February 2002, Celanese board approves a scoping project to determine what the rollup will require in money, time, people and technology.

PHASE 2: SCOPING March to May 2002

Complexity: Low

Work: Canvass 120 business managers to determine project cost and complexity.

Team: 10 full-time employees, more than a dozen part-time, plus consultants.

Milestone: Board approval to create a OneSAP blueprint.

Result: Board commits 20 percent of the total budget needed for OneSAP

with the option to cancel the rest if the blueprint doesn’t pan out.

PHASE 3: BLUEPRINTING June to December 2002

Complexity: High

Work: Design and validation of the templates that make up the system.

Team: 70 employees working full-time along with 30 consultants.

Milestone: In December, the business process owners sign a document saying they stand behind the blueprint and OneSAP’s viability.

Result: Board commits budget to the rest of OneSAP project.

PHASE 4: TEMPLATE Design January to August 2003

Complexity: Medium

Work: Detailed design and construction of system; technically arduous but low-risk.

Team: The same team of 100 employees and consultants.

Milestone: System templates ready for production and deployment.

Result: OneSAP deployment begins.

PHASE 5: ROLLOUT September 2003 to March 2004

Complexity: High

Work: All-consuming but staggered: Different groups switch over to new system at different times.

Team: All 12,000 Celanese employees, plus some consultants.

Milestone: When the first user logs on successfully.

Result: Celanese is an integrated operating company. At press time, final rollout schedule was to be determined.

Source: Celanese