SAP Implementation Gives the Forensic Science Service a Clearer Picture

The Situation

The Forensic Science Service (FSS) is the market leading supplier of forensic science services to police forces in England and Wales, as well as a source of training, consultancy, and scientific support for overseas and private sector customers. The business is currently a UK government-owned organisation run on wholly commercial principles in a competitive market.

Although having an established reputation and an impressive product range, FSS recognised that it couldn’t afford to rest on its laurels. With an impending government review on the horizon, the business wanted to ensure that key business processes could continue to support the delivery of high value services within a commercially-driven framework. In particular, FSS identified time recording and job costing as an area that could be improved to give better management information leading to more accurate and competitive pricing across multiple lines of business.

The Solution

With one of the largest groups of SAP consultants in the UK, Capgemini was ideally placed to work with FSS on an enhancement programme that would deliver new capabilities to the forensic organisation’s existing SAP system. Taking a highly collaborative approach, Capgemini developed a web-enabled time recording system that allow FSS to analyse its costs in order to determine product, customer and service order profitability.

This was the first phase of a longer-term relationship between the two organisations and was followed by a second SAP enhancement in response to the pressure to understand profitability and become more intimate with the financial processes.

The Result

An upgrade to the SAP infrastructure has delivered an enhanced Management Information reporting capability that is enabling FSS to better track, manage and report on its business.

The joint and highly collaborative FSS-Capgemini project team adopted Capgemini’s DeliverSAP project management approach to ensure that every phase of the implementation was delivered according to the schedule. SAP quality assured the solution following each key phase and SAP’s Solution Manager provided the repository for project documentation. The team also designed an effective project governance structure, based on the shared understanding of the importance of change leadership and risk management for this type of long-term programme.