Deciding on the right strategy for change management is a paramount step when undertaking a tech transformation. With business elements to consider such as technical debt – the concept of the cost of future work required to fix a software solution that was created quickly and poorly – it’s no surprise that extensive business transformations gain a reputation of being tricky.
With all of its business processes running on SAP, Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company, has embarked on a Next-Gen Project – a transition to S4/ HANA, with the ambition for it to make an impact beyond a mere technical upgrade.
But faced with considerable project demands, how can leaders handle it all?
Explore related questions
“Someone in my team did an estimation that it would take us at least 20 years to finish the project if we were going with a test strategy. Then what about lift and shift? We could do that, it would be easier – but we’d miss out on so much,” Ingrid Marie Larsen Gaarder, delivery area lead for procurement in Equinor’s upgrade project, mused at the recent SAPinsider EMEA conference.
This is when Equinor, which is on its own grand-scale transition journey to renewables, recognized the clean core concept as a means to reduce technical depth as part of its upgrade.
“We were aiming to transform the way we work, the business processes, the technical landscape and the platforms,” Frank Stødle, lead developer and product owner for development and UX in the Equinor upgrade project, shared to an audience of SAP Insiders.
The project was set up to transform business processes and technical landscapes, with a focus on a clean core approach, something Stødle can see evolving: “I hadn’t heard anyone else use it outside of the SAP domain. But as time evolved, I think the whole clean core concept evolved into more of a philosophy going beyond software, also integrating data processes and operations.”
The interconnection between clean core and reduced technical debt also became part of the project’s foundation as “to me, clean core is a means to reduce technical depth if you do a 100 percent clean type of implementation, You will reduce the technical debt, [although] you will not eliminate it,” Stødle says.
Being presented with the opportunity to start afresh and get rid of the things that will prevent upgrades in the future, the Equinor team was faced with the question of how to make the most out of this opportunity.
Equinor’s Next-Gen ERP project
After the project adopted a hybrid agile methodology that allowed teams to strike a balance between structure and flexibility and formed functional teams to manage the project, Equinor faced some challenges with extensive custom code. Accordingly, it decided to standardize processes to fit SAP’s requirements.
Embarking on this journey of innovation, Larsen Gaarder shares that instead of “changing everything in SAP to fit their needs and overcomplicating the space, the team decided to change the process to fit the standard”.
Ultimately, the team focused on the implementation of the custom solution management system, built on SAP Fiori elements, tracking code quality via a three-star rating system, with ratings managed by lead developers.
With governance being an essential part of how the project was executed, the team introduced some tooling to support and streamline the governance process. “We created a website because I have an obsession with not hiding your guidelines, your governance and best practice in Word documents and team sites,” Stødle says.
Equinor opted for a nice-looking, searchable website where developers and all the teams can easily retrieve and use the guidelines. This website was built using a tool called MK docs, an open-source tool combined with GitHub and Markdown. “So that’s a small tip for you. Do not hide your governance where it will be really hard to find.”
Another important consideration the leaders took seriously to reach success was taking the time to build future teams to become a backbone after the project ended. Even after the majority of workers involved in the implementation had moved on, they worked to attract and retain some key people to keep things running smoothly after the official finish line, whilst also making sure their efforts were appreciated throughout the project.
At the time of writing, Equinor is about to go live with the SAP S/4HANA transition in January 2025, with ongoing efforts to manage remaining gaps and maintain system integrity.
Reflecting on their nearly-done and dusted transformation, the Equinor leaders demonstrated that even in seemingly complicated and multifaceted projects, by embracing the clean core philosophy, prioritizing reduced technical debt and fostering agile teamwork, they can optimize the results.
At the finish line, the team has not only modernized its ERP infrastructure but also positioned itself for long-term resilience and scalability. The project’s commitment to standardization, governance and building a sustainable team culture demonstrates that with the right vision and execution, even the most complex transitions can drive meaningful change – a guarantee of success, some would say.
