When canvassing other SAP Business ByDesign customers one name stood out as a potential partner, and Oxford Economics invited Codestone to propose a possible solution roadmap. “We were cautious in our approach and needed evidence of their expertise,” explains Cerris-Jane Schenk, Finance Manager at Oxford Economics. “We gave them a number of examples of the challenges we were facing and were impressed by the response we received.”

Significant effort was expended on pre-contract engagement, covering a wide range of issues. “Codestone invested a lot of time in us before we committed to them. They demonstrated a deep understanding of what needed to be solved and how to help us move forward,” says Cerris.

Once fully engaged, a full review of the existing system was completed to understand what Oxford Economics was trying to achieve. A plan was then put in place to complete the project.

Whilst Oxford Economics was using SAP Business ByDesign to support day-to-day financials, contracts and customer invoicing, several areas needed more attention to extract the benefits available from full deployment of the solution. Codestone provided the resolution to some of the challenges Oxford Economics was facing, helping ensure the project reached the finish line.

The engagement has been centred around empowering Oxford Economics finance staff to also design and implement solutions themselves, and to train their own staff. “Reporting is improving significantly, with monthly and quarterly reporting expected to be standard across the organisation by the end of the year,” continues Cerris. “Codestone has helped us get to the point where we are now designing and deploying our own reports – a huge benefit for us.”

Revenue recognition has also been a challenge for Oxford Economics with the need for both subscription and consultancy business models. Codestone has identified solutions in SAP that provide the required visibility of hours worked for consultancy projects that span business entities and countries.

The international nature of the business requires bespoke invoice templates for each country. Getting this wrong would have tax implications for the organisation. As such, templates have now been designed to ensure local regulations are adhered to.

The journey towards maximum benefit realisation continues, with full deployment of SAP’s projects module, and integration of Salesforce CRM with SAP Business ByDesign.