Launched in 2007, the SAP Quality Awards celebrate projects that meet SAP's 10 key quality principles, which range from understanding customers' business objectives and technical requirements to providing training and helping manage the impact of change. In 2010, 150 candidates in three categories—New Business Applications Implementation, Small and Midsize Enterprises Implementation and Large Enterprises Implementation—were in the running to receive awards in the EMEA region.
Already winner of the first ever SAP Quality Awards France, Veolia Environnement then presented Agora to a jury for the EMEA region made up of independent members, including the winner of the last award. The jury's choice of Veolia Environnement for a SAP EMEA Quality Award is yet another recognition of the company's quality program.
"The implementation of this Veolia Environnement project was underpinned throughout by excellent governance structures to manage the program and the impact of change; the company capitalized on some genuine quantitative advantages in a number of fields, while at the same time closely managing organizational changes," said José Duarte, President of SAP's EMEA and India region.
Since November 2006, when the common brand was introduced and Veolia Environnement's senior management decided to launch the Agora project, five phases have been carried out, ranging from setting the schedule to choosing the software and integrator, then implementing pilot systems. The key feature of the program is the implementation and deployment of the "core model," which is the common core of the application.
Now operational at the corporate and divisional levels (water, waste management, transportation, energy), the core model assures the common tasks of all the financial processes, management rules, organizational structures, roles and guidelines. It separates out the functions that must be adhered to by all users from the optional functions that meet the specific needs of the different business activities and geographical locations.
Agora is a tool for encouraging cross-division cooperation, and also helps harmonize processes and contacts between the different operating countries. It will support the Shared Services and reinforce internal control systems.
To see this project through, Veolia Environnement is being assisted by experts from Bearing Point, as project management assistant, and from IBM, which has the role of solution integrator.
The gold trophy in the SAP EMEA Quality Awards coincides with the end of the first phase of this comprehensive project, which currently covers 3,300 employees. It will gradually be extended to cover 20,000 users around the world.
