Zamtel Overview:

Zamtel is the leading telecom in Zambia. The company provides a modern Internet service through Zamtel On-line, founded in 1997, including digital subscriber lines (DSL) and wireless access. Zamtel provides fixed lines, mobile, internet and other value adding services for your business and personal needs, all designed to let you live life today.

Business Pain Areas

The Client (Zamtel), a leading Telecom Service provider in Kenya (Zambia), wanted to upgrade its Oracle Application from 11i to R12 to streamline various business processes. The challenge here was to ensure minimum downtime, as all transactions were processed on Client's production system and even a day's delay could have led to huge financial losses.

• Dhanush InfoTech team identified the extent of customizations and interfaces required and provided solution to the Client in ensuring minimum cutover time for the final upgrade which was completed with minimal down time. The upgrade enabled the client to improve the service quality and reduce the total maintenance cost.
• The current application infrastructure failed to track & monitor numerous business process documents generated on a daily basis (Item Tracking, Fixed Asset Depreciation, Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Invoices, and Bond Documents etc.)
• The current application infrastructure didn't facilitate report generation in custom formats.
• Enormous manual work leading to inconsistent and inaccurate information flow and deliverables.

Key Benefits

It upgraded existing system and leveraged functionalities in the newer version while extending the solution. The solution accelerated the firm's monthly financial close by two days while giving the company granular and actionable knowledge of gains and losses across business units, resulting in huge annual savings.

We worked with the Zamtel team to meet all deliverables & goals with minimal customizations to their Oracle Applications. At the conclusion of the upgrade phases, we provided formal training sessions on new features for each module upgraded. In addition, our consultants acted as mentors to the Zamtel staff throughout the project, ensuring that a proper knowledge transfer occurred for Zamtel to independently manage, and maintain the Oracle E-business Suite Applications and environment.

Overview

J.J. Richards & Sons Pty Ltd is an Australian owned and operated family business with over 75 years' experience in the waste management industry. The Company has grown to be Australia's largest privately owned waste management company through its philosophy of safety, reliability and excellence in customer service.

Business Pain Areas

• Present Vendors payment Reconciliation system and Fuel Management are developed in legacy system
• No Multi-site access
• standalone Database
• Limited extensibility and scalability of the application
• Present functionality is not able to support present business operations
• Limited Reports

Key Benefits

• Web based Application
• Central database that enables to access information from multisite
• Extensive reports
• Enhanced functionality
• Scalable and Robust Architecture

Overview

GM Poles Pty Ltd is a privately owned and operated Australian Company specializing in fabricated steel columns for use in lighting, signage, communication and surveillance applications.

GM Poles Pty Ltd, with its International Quality Assurance status to AS/NZS ISO 9001:2000 and partnership with its suppliers and subcontractors, provides the security and manufacturing ability far beyond any other specialized pole manufacturing facility in Australia.

GM Poles Engineering experience and capabilities are unmatched in the Australian pole manufacturing industry. Our engineering team comprises mechanical, structural and civil engineers and an industrial designer.

Customer Requirements

GM Poles requirement was to reengineer the existing access based application to web application and add enhanced features

• Reengineering access application to web application
• Introduce basic scheduling process for production department
• Implement purchasing module
• Migrate Masters and Open transactions
• Integrate the Financial data with AX Financials
• Implement efficient processes that will help to improve customer service, operational efficiency and reduce costs of ongoing operations
• Provide up-to-date product status through an improved stock turnover

Customer Pain Areas

• Slow, unstable and unable to handle the increasing load of business
• Constant problems with Access application
• Record Duplications
• Unable to add enhanced features
• High operational costs
• Inventory Management

Dhanush Solution Overview

Technology Used: Microsoft .Net , Microsoft SQL Server
Product: Gmpoles Enterprise Management System

Modules Implemented:

• Admin – User & Roles Setup
• Inventory – Inventory related masters, Inventory Updates, Inventory Adjustments – Positive, Negative & Standard Cost Adjustments
• Sales – Customer related Masters, Quotes, Jobs, Invoicing, Receiving Payments
• Purchasing – Supplier related Masters, Orders, Receipts, Recording Invoices
• Scheduling – Basic Level

Benefits to Customer

• A complete system for all departments of GM Poles
  • Sales
  • Accounts
  • Purchasing
  • Inventory
  • Production
  • Engineering
• An User friendly application that allows the Business Users to use the application with minimal navigations between screens, ease of adaption and increase in the overall productivity
• Up to date inventory levels at any given point of time
• Better Invoicing & Payment Receipts
• Introduction of purchasing module brought in more visibility with respect to the incoming stock, which helped in scheduling the jobs
• Basic scheduling that has been implemented gave clear visibility of each job and its status
• Integrated with AX Financials
• Reduced Operational Costs

Airtel Africa Overview

Airtel Africa is a subsidiary of Indian Telecommunications company Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries across Africa out of which around 8 countries are French speaking & 9 are English speaking. The company provides mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and also serves national and international long distance services to various carriers. In addition, it operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G and 3G depending upon country of operation. Airtel has over 200 million customers across its operations in various countries, including 50 million in Africa alone.

According to the company’s audited consolidated International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2012; the total revenues stand at $14.937 billion, up by 20 percent year-on-year (YOY).

Business Pain Areas

• Statutory and Management Reporting
  Dhanush consulting reviewed the current infrastructure for group reporting, which comprised of assessment of current data structure, identification of data sources and reporting requirements. Legal reporting management reporting was a challenge as it was a combination of data from 49 different entities.
  
  
• Financial Consolidation from 17 Operating Companies
  Financial data from 17 different Operating Companies (OpCos) and 32 BVs (joint ventures) was to be consolidated every month and reports were to be generated for IFRS and Management reporting. There were challenges in connectivity and the correctness of chart of account mapping from each location to the group reporting.
  
  
• Metadata Management
  Entity hierarchy was changing due to different holding patterns and new acquisitions. Similarly Account hierarchy was also changing due to addition and reclassification of accounts. Account mapping from local ERPs to Hyperion Chart of Accounts (COA) was a consistent challenge.

Dhanush’s Solution

With the business pain areas assessment and IT infrastructure landscape as an impetus Dhanush’s consulting team outlined an integrated system and process framework for Financial Consolidation and Legal/Management Reporting. Solution footprint highlights:

• Implementation of Oracle Hyperion Financial Management, Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management, Oracle Hyperion Smartview, and Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting Studio.
• Account mapping done between local ERPs to Hyperion COA at a single location using FDQM.
• Account hierarchy was developed as per the IFRS reporting standards to simplify the report generation for legal reporting.
• Process flow was developed for managing the financial close in a more controlled way.
• Minority interest calculations were automated by writing rules in the backend as per the business requirement.
• Intercompany transaction reports were generated to give clear and crisp information to the business on the Intercompany Partner (ICP) transactions.
• Reports were created using HFR rather than in excel with proper security for each user.
• Location was security was created to enable users see only their financials and not the group financials.

Key Benefits:

• Unified insights into financial results and close process status.
• Dhanush built a solution which provided outcome based modeling, in-process reviews (with comparisons across the enterprise), insights into bottlenecks and ability to do deeper root cause analysis.
• Dhanush’s implemented footprint ensured lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and highest Return on Investment (ROI).
• Airtel gained financial efficiency through effort reduction and resource collaboration across the enterprise.

Airtel Africa Overview

Airtel Africa is a subsidiary of Indian Telecommunications company Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries across Africa out of which around 8 countries are French speaking & 9 are English speaking. The company provides mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and also serves national and international long distance services to various carriers. In addition, it operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G and 3G depending upon country of operation. Airtel has over 200 million customers across its operations in various countries, including 50 million in Africa alone.

According to the company’s audited consolidated International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2012; the total revenues stand at $14.937 billion, up by 20 percent year-on-year (YOY).

Airtel Africa has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Keeping in view of the growing business needs, Airtel Africa Group felt the need for having a Unified Enterprise Solution across Africa.

Business Pain Areas

• Not having Unified Solution for effectively tracking the day to day business transactions with multi-lingual option
• Huge challenge in terms of Month-End period closing in each Operating Company to meet the Audit Compliance Requirements
• Change Management – Business users adapting to the new Business Application
• Business Processes not streamlined and not aligned to the Group Business Objectives
• Huge challenge in Network Connectivity and Bandwidth
• Lack of transparency and control in Business Operations in each OPCO

Business Benefits

After reviewing the current environment and deep analysis and review, Dhanush had recommended and subsequently Rolled-Out Oracle eBusiness Suite (covering the modules such as Finance, SCM and HCM) a Unified Solution across Africa Region.

• Track on Day to Day Operations: The solution was a huge success as Airtel Operating companies were able to successfully and with ease perform & track day to day business transactions with a facility for multi lingual option.
• Month End period closing activities achieved within their base timeline prescribed by Airtel group and thereby ensuring Audit compliant.
• Change Management: Dhanush further provided user adaptation of Oracle ERP system. Intensive training was given to the Airtel business users at each Airtel Operating companies.
• Airtel Africa’s Business Processes were effectively streamlined and aligned to the proposed Group Business Objectives.
• The solution as a whole could handle the Network Connectivity & Bandwidth.
• The system was transparent and there was perfect control in Business Operations in each of Airtel’s Operating company
• Onshore/Offshore models: In addition to providing Dhanush’s support and maintenance, helped Airtel Operating companies to resolve and reduce number of Open support requests by having Onsite, Near shore and Offshore support teams.

Boeing Overview

Boeing is the world’s leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. Additionally, Boeing designs and manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defence systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems.

As a major service provider to NASA, Boeing operates the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The company also provides numerous military and commercial airline support services. Boeing has customers in more than 90 countries around the world and is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales.

Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 157,000 people across the United States and in 70 countries. This represents one of the most diverse, talented and innovative workforces anywhere. More than 90,000 of our people hold college degrees--including nearly 29,000 advanced degrees--in virtually every business and technical field from approximately 2,700 colleges and universities worldwide. Our enterprise also leverages the talents of hundreds of thousands more skilled people working for Boeing suppliers worldwide.

Boeing Requirements

• Application support during applicable business hours
• 24x7 on call Technical Services Support
• Onsite-offshore support model with 85% offshore leverage
• Standardize support processes
• Reduction in support costs with improved service levels

Key Benefits

• 24/7 System availability
• Stabilized production support process
• Improved Knowledge management systems
• Reduced System maintenance and Support cost
• Allowed customer to focus on strategic initiatives rather than managing legacy applications

Scope of Work:

Aviation Maintenance
Aviation Maintenance – Complex Maintenance Repair Overhaul – cMRO

Finance (BT)
Accounts Payable, Receivables, Cash Management, Fixed Assets, General Ledger, Time Collection (OTL)

Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain, Enterprise Asset Management, Contingent Worker

Project Management & Execution

Human Resources
Human Resource Management, Maintain Employee Position Data, Learning Management, Workflow Management

• Oracle eBusiness Suite functional consulting service across broad range of module and architecture review aspects and knowledge transfer.
  
  
• eBusiness System Administration, (Subject Matter Experts, Business) investigating issues/requests, develop understanding of system alerts and system roles & privilege, detail normal system admin activities (Refreshing in queue, help provide effective support to SMEs and key business users, streamline some of the standard support activities.
  
  
• Supply Chain Management and O & M – (Supply Chain, Enterprise Asset Management, and Contingent Worker process flows) develop knowledge transfer transition skills and attend trainings sessions (c MRO). Review implementation of cMRO project by following Oracle SR’s & testing. Provide Boeing primary support person for HMS support Project Management process flow. Analyze systems and support for SC and O & M.
  
  
• Aviation Maintenance (cMRO process flow) Assist Boeing team to implement this module including CEML is Identify support requirements knowledge transfer.
  
  
• Oracle Database Administration (DBA) work activities including application system administration and management (Oracle eBusiness Suite application system administration and management), backfilling, trouble shooting, architecture review across a range of versions 7, 8, 9, 10 including RAC.
  
  
• Oracle eBusiness development work, CEMLI (Customisation, Extension, Modifications, Localization, Interfaces) onsite and /or offsite capabilities.

Brand Energy Overview

Brand Energy is the leading diversified provider of specialty multi-craft services to the North American downstream energy infrastructure market. Its extensive portfolio of service offerings includes work access, specialty coatings, abrasive blasting, insulation, refractory, corrosion protection, weatherproofing and other related crafts. Brand operates in four key energy sectors: Refining, Canadian Oil Sands, Petrochemical and Power Generation.

Services Provided by Dhanush

Dhanush provided Application Management Services for Brand Energy. Dhanush designed the 3p frame work for Brand for efficient support services which constituted of:

Partnerships

• Technology partner
• Consulting & Service Providers
• Functional Expertise
• Assisting in Go-Live

Processes

• Knowledge Management
• Development Methodology
• Project Management
• Change Management
• Configuration Management
• Patching Management

People

• Industry Experience
• Intelligence and Creativity
• Integrity
• Learning Capability
• Adaptability

Key Benefits

• Consolidation of support and migration of applications to latest technologies resulting in huge productivity gains and reduction in billing leakages globally
• Reduced repeated issues with RCCA using user training and set-up changes
• Reduced number of redundant applications which were added as part of acquisitions
• Reduced Data warehouse jobs and outage time of applications
• Standardizations of the process and training of users ensuring the reduction in errors
• Reduced TCO on infrastructure and maintenance costs
• Capacity management through deployment of better and improved design model

Crown Beverages Overview

Crown Beverages Limited, a blue-chip Ugandan company, is the premium Carbonated Soft Drinks, CSD, Company in Uganda with an outstanding collection of strong healthy CSD brands and Water. The company features a top notch distribution network across the country delivering quality products to all our customers in Uganda and the neighboring countries.

The Company is focused on delighting customers and providing a buoyant return to stakeholders through continuous improvement of beverages, systems and service delivery. CBL has received accolade after accolade, most recently being honored as the fastest growing PEPSI franchise in the EMEA region.

Business Pain Areas

• CBL wanted to automate their overall distribution process
• CBL wanted to replace outdated financial management system with modern automated system for efficiency and accuracy
• Support high transaction volume inherent in the beverages industry with large orders delivered several times per week to distributors
• CBL wanted to streamline the HR functions and reduce operations overheads associated with it

Key Benefits

• Reduced overhead costs associated with core HR processes, including workflow, payroll and performance appraisals
• Dhanush’s proposed solution footprint minimized automated the distribution and HR business processes
• Dhanush’s implemented footprint ensured lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and highest Return on Investment (ROI)
• CBL gained financial efficiency through effort reduction and resource collaboration across the enterprise

Equity Bank Overview

Equity Bank is financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. With over 6.3 million accounts, accounting for over 57% of all bank accounts in Kenya, Equity Bank is the largest bank in the region in terms of its customer base and operates in Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda.

Business Pain Areas

• Personal costs accounted for a significant proportion of Equity Bank's gross expenditures, which could only be brought down by effectively controlling HR spending.
• Payroll processing was a tedious and time consuming task.
• Equity Bank wanted to automate purchasing and requisition process.
• The bank wanted to rationalize project management to prevent overspending.

Key Benefits

• Reduced overhead costs associated with core HR processes, including workflow, payroll and performance appraisals.
• Equity Bank gained greater control over staff churn to reduce manpower costs.
• Dhanush's proposed solution footprint minimized manual (data entry) tasks related to data entry, reconciliation, financial reports.
• Dhanush's implemented footprint ensured lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and highest Return on Investment (ROI).
• Equity Bank gained financial efficiency through effort reduction and resource collaboration across the enterprise.

Ezidebit Overview

Ezidebit is an Australian Financial Services Licensee and has service sponsorship agreements for the provision of direct debit and merchant payment services.

Dhanush Testing Services

Dhanush performed System and Performance testing for the modules encompassing, Fees and Billing functions of Ezidebit.

Testing Functions

• Period Close to Financial Reports
• Budget to Approval
• Supplier Invoice to Payment
• Sub ledger Journals to post
• Oracle Account Receivables gateway
• Oracle Account Payables Gateway
• Oracle general Ledger Gateway
• SOA Suite Integration testing

Key Benefits

• End-to-End business flow testing for process optimization
• Dhanush addressed business and IT risks at planned stages of testing life cycle ensuring that the system is "fit for user" for Ezidebit users
• Metrics based approach to assess and review process maturity ensured reduction in test case creation time by 30%.

Galana Oil Overview

Galana Oil Kenya Limited is a Kenya based oil company. Galana Oil Kenya Limited is committed to providing and distributing quality petroleum products to meet and exceed stakeholders' expectations through outstanding customer service delivery with great regard to the environment. Galana Oil Kenya has the vision of being the top oil marketer in Kenya.

Business Pain Areas

• Customer wanted to streamline Bond Management Process (Open T810 & corresponding T812)
• The current application infrastructure failed to track & monitor numerous business process documents generated on a daily basis (Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Invoices, Bond Documents etc.)
• The current application infrastructure didn't facilitate report generation in custom formats.
• Lack of insights in handling transit bonds and third part stocks.
• The existing IT infrastructure was integrated with Kenya Petroleum refineries limited for Crude refinement.
• Enormous manual work leading to inconsistent and inaccurate information flow and deliverables.

Key Benefits

• Customer's business processes were automated.
• The Bond Management Process was customized and integrated with Oracle EBS, enabling efficient and accurate information flow.
• Enablement of custom reports in alignment to the customer requirements.
• Automation of the key business functions like Crude Oil Procurement, Tracking resource & Asset performance resulted in better ROI for the customer.

Gulf Energy Overview

Gulf Energy is one the market leaders in energy sector in Kenya. Their portfolio includes:

• Oil Supply and Trading
• Oil Export and Transit
• Lubricant manufacturing

Business Pain Areas

• Customer wanted a centralized financial system
• Customer wanted to cut costs incurred in the procurement process
• OTS process was to be streamlined
• Collateral (Bonds) management process involving lot of financial transactions was inappropriate
• Sales order management wasn't standardized
• Inventory tracking, adjustment of stock entitlement was inappropriate

Key Benefits

• Substantial cost savings in procurement business function
• Customer achieved a more transparent view of daily operations
• Budget planning time reduced substantially
• Customers financial processes were standardized giving an end-to-end overview of cash flow in the organization
• Refinery process was automated

IFMIS Back Ground

This is a Government of Kenya initiative to re-engineer and automate the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS). IFMIS, which is a subsidiary of Ministry of Finance, is charged with the overall mandate of coordinating, implementation & overseeing the re-engineering and Automation of IFMIS.

Objectives of IFMIS are:

• Ensure effective integration of all financial management processes which include Budgeting, Procurement, Cash Management, Accounting and Audit & Reporting.
• Facilitate Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and integrate with the Pension, Public Debt Management & Payroll system.
• Enhance the provision of timely, accurate & quality financial services for value based economic growth.

Business Pain Areas

• Need for an integrated Financial Management System.
• The need for tailor made professional courses for the IFMIS users with focus on overall professional growth.
• Broadening the IFMIS users competency in terms of their skill set expansion based on their roles in the organization.
• Foster a learning culture, by providing frequent and regular professional training opportunities.

Key Benefits

• An integrated and automated Financial Management System which facilitated effective public financial management for value based economic growth.
• The custom made DATAMEdu training programs ensured overall growth of the IFMIS workforce, as the training programs emphasized not only on the role-based technical aspects but also soft skills improvement.
• DATAMEdu ensured future enablement of IFMIS in terms of training the workforce with the latest technologies in the market and also provided certification programs as and when necessary.
• DATAMEdu ensured that IFMIS Academy is self-sustainable in the coming years and emerges as the best academy within the Government of Kenya establishments.

Jamii Telecommunications Ltd. Overview

Jamii Telecommunications Ltd is a Kenyan company incorporated in 2004. JTL's offerings include Carriers Network Services, Internet Backbone Services, International Data and Voice Services, Satellite Solutions (SCPC, DVB, and VSAT), Broadcast Signal Distribution and Public Data Network services.

Business Pain Areas

• JTL wanted to manage costs associated with its projects and issue invoices in a timely manner for its customers.
• Maintain support for the company's CRM applications to facilitate field service support to customers.
• Ensure consistent system performance and expand functionality to meet the needs of company's field technicians and call center staff.

Key Benefits

• Streamlined business processes with centralized access to financial, project, procurement and customer relationship management (CRM) data.
• Consolidated call center operations, driving cost savings and streamlining customer service.
• JTL gained greater visibility into inventory, sales and marketing costs.
• Enhanced Project invoice accuracy by centralizing Projects information.

Nakumatt Overview

Nakumatt Holdings Ltd is East Africa's leading supermarket chain. As the largest retail market player in East Africa, Uganda and Rwanda, Nakumatt has 29 stores dealing in general retail merchandise. Nakumatt's store formats range from convenience stores, supermarkets to hypermarkets that showcase distinct world-class shopping floor layouts and amenities.

Business Pain Areas

• Provide up-to-date business information to improve administrative control and enable strategic decision-making.
• Replace a legacy financial application that required time-consuming manual data entry.
• Centralize and automate financial reporting across the chain and reduce the risk of accounting errors.
• In-coherent distribution processes across the chain
• Upgrade to R12 to leverage advanced functionality and eliminate redundant customization

Key Benefits

• Improved accuracy of data and invoices which shortened sales outstanding by 10 days and improved revenue and cash flow.
• Improved supplier payment turnaround and improved overall supplier satisfaction.
• Improved accuracy across Procure-to-Pay cycle.
• The application provided better visibility and control of inventory, reducing cost for product returns by 50%.
• Successfully demonstrated Upgrade to R12 leveraging improved functionality for process optimization