SIBUR boasts one of the most advanced automation and technological infrastructures in Russian industry that enables the company to keep its production costs low. The key business processes at SIBUR are automated based on the SAP ERP platform. Migration of corporate data is an important element of the projects designed to help the company transition to the new platform.
This process entails verification and standardization of large amounts of information, which makes it one of the most complicated and labour-intensive components of ERP-systems deployment. Incomplete and low-quality data often prevent the system from being commissioned on schedule and operating without numerous errors and failures. This is why the SIBUR management has been treating data migration as a separate project since the moment the pilot solution was being launched. IBS was selected on the basis of a standard competitive bidding procedure to implement the task.
The projects would start with the IBS team analysing the data used at the production facilities, putting together recommendations on standardization and completion of information, and designing data migration templates meeting the system’s functional requirements. Next, the on-site specialists updated and downloaded data while the IBS representatives subjected said data to complex, multifaceted verification and subsequently uploaded them into the SAP. Data errors were fixed during the testing phase, which is why the actual migration projects were implemented effectively and efficiently without any complications.
“The IBS team examined the specificity of our corporate information and designed a data preparation concept for the data we planned to upload into the ERP system. Having downloaded historical data the contractor’s specialists analyzed them carefully on account of their completeness and integrity before uploading them into relevant systems. This approach helped reduce the timeframe for productive migration, ensure a seamless launch of the SAP ERP at the new enterprises and minimize the number of system errors by ensuring the accuracy and completeness of data”, – says Vladimir Chernykh, Head of the “Integration, Migration & Reference Data” division at SIBUR about his collaboration experience with the IBS team.
Alexander Sokolov, Head of the “Oil and Chemistry” division at IBS, explains: “Migration is an important and complex component when it comes to replication of ERP-solutions. Companies often treat it as a purely technical process of uploading the client’s data into the system. Those data, however, may be incomplete, inconsistent, and inaccurate. A system filled with such data operates with errors and glitches, while its deployment value for the business tends towards nil. Our team-members are highly qualified methodologists and technicians with a great deal of experience in preparation and migration of corporate data whose quality varies greatly. Our approach is such that we analyse corporate data carefully and exhaustively before we upload them into the system – this enables us to minimize the number of operation errors once the system is up and running”.
In 2015 – 2018, SIBUR, in collaboration with IBS, deployed the SAP ERP system at the managing company, “SIBUR Holding” JSC, the foreign trader, SIBUR International GmbH, the “Voronezhsintezkauchuk”, “Tomskneftekhim” and “SIBUR-Khimprom” enterprises, as well as at the “SIBUR-Kstovo”, “SIBUR-Neftekhim” and “SIBUR-TyumenGaz” facilities.
Over the course of the most recent productive migration project, the company uploaded more than 1.3 million records in all of the key SAP ERP segments: “Finance”, “Fixed Assets”, “Treasury”, “International Accounting Standards”, “Investment Management”, “Production Support”, “Production”, “General Reference Books”, “Sales and Logistics”, and “Technical Maintenance and Repairs”.
Alexey Yermolayev, Head of the “SAP-Based ERP System Deployment” project at SIBUR, notes: “Together we were able to ensure a clear algorithm for migration of large amounts of data. Our IBS partners were flexible and ensured effective communications throughout the project, especially during the winter holidays period known for its intensity. They enabled us to conclude the first month of operation within the new system without any delays and in compliance with the established timeframe”.
“We perform test migration beforehand using the full amount of data – this is how we identify potential errors, as well as train and establish effective communications with the SIBUR employees at the newly engaged facilities. It also helps us ensure that the subsequent productive migration occurs seamlessly, with minimal issues, and exactly on schedule – literally to the hour. We are grateful to SIBUR for the trust it has shown to us as a partner, as well as to the SIBUR Business Support Centre for the excellent quality of cooperation and effective coordination of the processes implemented at the client’s facilities”, – says Alexander Sokolov.
In 2018, SIBUR initiated, in collaboration with IBS, the third wave of the SAP ERP deployment at new facilities, including “ZapSibNefteKhim” – Russia’s largest petrochemical plant whose construction is underway in Tobolsk.