Future-proofing News UK's processes and systems with SAP Ariba
News UK is a multi-media subsidiary of News Corp that owns traditional print titles (The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times), and an expanding portfolio of radio and electronic media (Virgin Radio, talkSport).
As part of the SAP transformation programme at News UK, there were three phases of work to be delivered over a two year period:
- Release 1: SAP Ariba Source-to-Contract – Live in October 2023
- Release 2: SAP Ariba Guided Buying & SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce, Statement of Work and Profile Worker – Live in February 2024
- Release 3: SAP S/4 HANA, SAP Analytics Cloud and Datasphere – Due to go live in July 2025
Engagement summary
The objective of NUK&I's Project Sapphire is to take a transformational and greenfield approach to developing a new system that reduces manual workarounds, automates key processes, and minimises customisation. This approach aims to decrease dependency on bespoke solutions and ensure that NUK&I processes and systems are future-proof.
The first phase of the project focused on implementing a Source-to-Contract solution leveraging SAP Ariba solutions, covering areas such as Guided Sourcing and Contract Management. The second phase involved the implementation of SAP Ariba Guided Buying and the SAP Business Network Commerce Automation solutions to transform NUK&I’s procure-to-pay systems and processes.
By modernising NUK&I’s capabilities, these implementations have led to increased sourcing savings and enhance compliance procedures, the introduction of new processes, and the adoption of leading practices. The business aimed to deliver the benefits of Source-to-Contract (S2C) and Procure-to-Pay (P2P) ahead of a future S/4 transformation program.
Critical to the success of the programme was the collaborative ‘one team’ approach that both NUK&I and Deloitte brought together. Given the end-user nature of source-to-pay implementations and their direct impact on core business functions such as procurement, finance and accounts payable in particular, it was also pivotal that these business teams were engaged early on and brought along the journey alongside the programme team. The success of both SAP Ariba releases was made more rewarding through the comradery and relationships developed throughout.
News UK's SAP Ariba implementation has moved us significantly forward, driving automation and converting what were manual and onerous processes, in to fit for the future processes. Working in collaborative partnership with Deloitte, we have delivered a real and lasting impact for our business.
Hannah Spencer, Head of Finance for Systems Solutions, NewsUK
Business issues
NUK&I initiated a procurement transformation programme in May 2023 to simplify and standardise their sourcing, contract management, and procure-to pay functions using SAP Ariba. Before the transformation, they faced several challenges, including:
1. Lack of transparency and visibility in sourcing processes, resulting in missed cost savings opportunities.
2. Non-standardised workflows in contract management, leading to lengthy contract creation and execution timelines.
3. Manual and inefficient processes with multiple touchpoints, causing delays and increased labour requirements. Offline analysis and reconciliations were common across all processes.
4. Inconsistent and non-standard processes across different business units.
The transformation programme aimed to address these challenges and streamline the client's procurement and accounts payable operations, enabling them to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings, and process standardisation.
Engagement scope and approach
Deloitte proposed a phased rollout approach for the solution, beginning with the deployment of sourcing and contract management, followed by the implementation of the procure-to-pay solution. The driver behind this was to deliver some tangible benefits early by providing the NUK&I procurement team with a digital platform to launch and manage their sourcing activity and negotiate cost savings through simplified procurement processes and digital capabilities such as E-Auctions.
In addition, it was also an opportunity to deliver some business change and drive adoption earlier than the proposed S/4 HANA transformation coming as part of Release 3, which would reduce the impact on business users at a single point of time. The asset used was Deloitte’s own SAP Ariba pre-configured solution.
The project was divided into two releases:
> Release 1: This release included the implementation of SAP Ariba Sourcing and Contract Management modules.
> Release 2: This release encompassed the implementation of SAP Ariba Guided Buying and SAP Business Network Commerce Automation modules.
News UK achieved successful go-lives with SAP Ariba Sourcing and Contract Management modules in October 2023, followed by the seamless implementation of SAP Ariba Buying and SAP Business Network Commerce Automation modules in February 2024.
Value delivered and impact
Among several other benefits, NUK&I now operates with a single source of truth for master data in an integrated SAP Ariba environment for Sourcing, Contract Management and Purchasing. This integration has eliminated bottlenecks and inaccurate transactions, across the source-to-pay process.
Key features of these two successful releases include:
1. Delivery of a robust, integrated, and scalable solution based on industry-leading practices to 38 legal entities across the UK.
2. Integration of ServiceNow with Ariba Buying to cover technology-based purchases taking place in ServiceNow.
3. Successful migration of over 2500 legacy contracts to SAP Ariba Contract Management.
4. Standardisation of workflows, with templates created as a baseline for Sourcing (RFx/Auctions) and Contract Management (workspace).
5. Standardisation of the requisition approval process with a common Delegation of Authority policy across all 38 legal entities.
6. Successful migration of over 260 legacy purchase orders from SAP SRM to SAP Ariba Buying.
7. Provisioning of access controls from SAP GRC via the IAG cloud connector into SAP Ariba to provide all users with the appropriate permissions
8. Implementation of strong compliance, security, controls, reporting, and regulatory processes aligned with leading practices in the TMT industry, tailored to the client's specific business requirements.
More benefits
In addition to the benefits above, the client has recognised several advantages of the implementation in the six months that followed the respective release go-lives:
- An advanced user interface that was intuitive and user-friendly, requiring minimal training.
- PO adoption rate increases due to simplified processes and interfaces.
- Having had a searchable contracts database enabled easier management for business users.
- Simplified and efficient contract approval process through Docusign integration.
- Leveraging state of the art functionality such as e-auctions, which enabled 'real time' bidding and immediate cost savings on tenders, whilst also eliminating heavy admin burden of full tenders.
- Reduced burden on AP in invoice coding, due to auto-matching of POs.
