OUTLOOK
Systems, Applications, and Products (SAP)— Case Analysis.
Note: This is an outlook piece on technology & Operations summarization case study on SAP Implementation in a Hospital. Feel free to share your thoughts.
FACTORS RELATING TO SAP IMPLEMENTATION SUCCESS — EMPLOYEE CENTRAL, PERFORMANCE & GOAL MGMT, LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, RECRUITMENT MGMT, ONBOARDING & OFFBOARDING, EMPLOYEE CENTRAL PAYROLL
SAP Success Factors is a cloud-based platform provided by SAP to manage Human Resources (HR) related operations in the organization. SAP Success Factors has many different components, and students can aim for one or multiple certifications.
- Employee Central: The center module, where all employee information is stored. To learn about the SuccessFactors, one needs to start from employee central, commonly referred to as SF-EC.
- Performance & Goal Management: The organization can recognize the top talent based on the goals assigned to the employees.
- Compensation/Bonus: Giving incentives to the workers based on their performance.
- Learning Management System: It is a cloud-based component that has all the learning-related activities. It can store all e-learning which a company has to offer, and it will also allow each employee to have a career plan and provide all necessary learning to enhance their knowledge and help the organization to close the skill gap.
- Recruitment Management: This module makes the recruitment process easier by providing the right tools.
- Onboarding & Offboarding.
- Employee Central Payroll (Billing issues related).
MAJOR CHALLENGES FACING ‘VALLE DEL LILI FOUNDATION’ (VLF )— LACK OF TECHNOLOGY, FEAR OF CHANGE, LAYOFFS, NEW BILLING SYSTEM, AND PHYSICIANS NOT EMPLOYED DIRECTLY BY VLF
There were several different personalities to consider in this case. Upper management was entirely behind this implementation and supported change management processes. Physicians were hesitant and resistant to change since they may have their billing systems in place. CEO Dr. Borrero was highly supportive of SAP implementation. VLF handled the communication of the implementation and change management well. Each department head ensured that their members fully understood the project itself and its purpose for the hospital. They worried that the implementation would change workflow at all levels and would not be the smoothest transition. Communicated that while SAP would eliminate some jobs, there would still be a strong demand for work at the hospital with the new changes. Related benefits such as access to MR anywhere at any time and the improved billing process. VLF installed computer labs with SAP modules available 24/7 to familiarize their staff with the new system.
DRIVING FORCE ARE CAUSES DUE TO LACK OF ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS DATA CENTRALIZATION, COMPUTERIZED PHYSICIAN ORDER ENTRY, AND ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING.
The VLF hospital began SAP implementation with ambitious goals to sustain their excellent health care services and patient safety centered environment. VLF provided well-integrated medical care round the clock and with the help of medical resources and staff at hand, earning them several awards to be the best hospital in Columbia based on clinical, administrative, and financial indicators.
While their motivation and procedures supported the company goals currently, the plans for expanding its services had put tremendous pressure on their existing processes.
The patient care delivery, a patient’s journey involves many medical specialists from different disciplines, to be engaged while the patient is admitted, referred for surgery, sent for recovery, and finally discharged. Hence the procedure requires close coordination between administrative and patient care personnel. The coordination between them is base on medical records, which include clinical systems, medicines, and supplies needed.
RESTRAINING FORCES — MAINTAINING STATUS QUO, EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOR AND RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
The most significant restraining forces for this change are:
- Resistance to change.
- Employee behaviors that may hinder the change process
- It takes many forms — for example, complaints, absenteeism, passive noncompliance, and others.
- Some concerned with change outcomes. Others are concerned with the change process.
POST-IMPLEMENTATION STAGE UNIQUE VLF IT PROJECT- MET PROJECT GOALS, HIRING COMPUNET CONSULTANT FULL TIME AND DISCONTINUED OF 24/7 HELPDESK SUPPORT
The project objectives meet where they manage to switched medical records (MR)from paper to electronic documents and all related clinical and administrative procedures. The project was practical, and VLF reported revenues of US$200 million in 2014, is ranked the best hospital in Latin America and the best in Colombia. The unique part is when they hired the same Compunet consultant they employed after six months of implementation. Also, the Helpdesk 24/7 support stop six months after implementation.
SUCCESS OF IMPLEMENTATIONS — SUSTAINED EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT AND OWNERSHIP OF IMPLEMENTATION, PROJECT TEAM COMPOSITION AND GOOD PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Sustained executive management support/contribution and their ownership of the implementation, project team composition, and excellent project management, especially about process design, testing, and training of the end-users, are the most critical factors that give rise to the success of SAP implementations in an organization.
ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AND IT/SOFTWARE ADAPTATION — RIGHT DECISIONS FOR VLF
When they first started, some of them were reluctant to change, because the workflow was different from the one they were used to, and change creates resistance; so there was disagreement while we adapted and made adjustments. However, over time, things began to ease as they learned more about the system because they all became more familiar with it, and this allowed them to resume an average workplace. Besides, the system’s performance improved significantly.
The Compunet consultant, who later joined VLF as manager of its new projects department, remembered this critical stage of the project when they had a good understanding of their processes and understood how the business operated. The agreement made it easy for them to communicate their needs, which is adaptable to what SAP offered.
Sometimes end users imagine many things they want to have, the consultant helps with advising the users if they wish to something highly customized. His advice to Valle del Lili Foundation (VLF) was to adapt to the best practices offered by SAP for different types of industry, and not try to adjust the software to the processes they already had. VLF made the right decision to change to SAP standards.
