1.
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“It is imperative that process owners are
empowered to take core decisions for the
global template”
Global Templates
Key Design Components
Before embarking on a global implementation initiative there are several key aspects that
need to be carefully evaluated to ensure a successful global template creation and also to
achieve the anticipated value. These key aspects are based on organizational risk toler-ance,
scope of the implementation (sites, processes, and users), organizational structure
(centralized vs. decentralized) and finally, the extent of change management needed to
support the new system and processes.
This article looks at the following aspects to facilitate an efficient design of the global tem-plate:
a) Rollout Approach b) Gap Analysis Approach c) Versioning, and d) Commonality.
Vishal Sharma
Director

2.
“The global template must define the set of key business
processes that the organization desires to standardize, build
efficiencies around, and even create competitive advantages
from.”
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The rollout approach is a very important
variable in formalizing how the global
template will be built and implementa-tion
made operational. There are typical-ly
three models that are evaluated before
choosing the correct rollout approach for
each implementation: rollout by process-es/
functionality or operational unit/sites or
a hybrid approach (mix of processes and
sites).
In most of the global implementation cases,
the second consideration in the design
and enhancement of the global template
is how the gap analysis is conducted. The
global template must define the set of key
business processes that the organization
desires to standardize, build efficiencies
around, and even create competitive ad-vantages
from. A key objective here is to
keep these processes as close to “vanilla”
as possible from one operating unit to an-other.
The gap analysis should be geared
towards comparing the to-be requirements
or processes against the global process-es
(template). Based on this comparison,
gaps are identified and prioritized, keeping
in mind that each gap must be challenged
as it may result in deviation from the set
of global processes (template). Companies
should use this opportunity to standardize
the business processes as much as possi-ble
across the different operating units.
The third consideration in the global tem-plate
design is versioning. This helps de-fine
how the global template functionality
is built (providing “hooks” for localization)
and supported over time. Once the global
template is built, the suggested approach is
to break down requirements into quick fixes
(more frequent and “production stop” type
issues), service packs (fixes and new re-quirements
for global and local components
that are deployed 2-4 times a year). Then,
major releases, including key breakthrough
functionalities that are deployed once a year.
Finally, the last aspect that we will discuss as
it relates to the design of the global template
is commonality. Commonality defines what
parts of the global template are maintained
at a global level and what parts are permit-ted
for changes/retrofitting local business re-quirements.
The localization components have a direct
impact to project benefits and long-term
support costs as well. Typical localization
components comprise of local or fiscal re-quirements
e.g. taxes, local processes,
such as for example, Nota Fiscal in Brazil,
INTRASTAT reporting in EU and specific
customer-facing process requirements. In
most global templates based on the defi-nition
of commonality, controls are put into
place to ensure that the global components
are not changed at the local level and at
the same time provide “hooks” to build local
requirements into the global template
across master data, system customization
and global developments.
In addition to the aforementioned aspects of
the global template design there are other
considerations like change readiness, proj-ect
organization (on-site vs. remote), data
management model, and project organiza-tion,
which influence the global template
design. In the end, all successful global
implementations rely on organizational
support and the willingness to adopt the
new model of working.
Key Considerations:
- Obtain organizational buy-in for the
global template.
- Standardize when possible.
- Clarify global vs. local functionalities.
- Challenge changes to the global
processes.