Find out what Pierre Lefloch, project manager and SAP Concur consultant at Arago, has to say behind the scenes of a project to implement the Concur Invoice solution for a UK-based customer. From the genesis of the requirement to the management of the change, discover how tailor-made support, business expertise and a relationship of trust enabled us to meet the challenges of a structuring, international project.
I'm Pierre Lefloch, project manager and also consultant on the Travel & Expense side, notably on dedicated implementations on the SAP Concur solution. It's been 5 years now, and I joined in January 2020.
It's a customer based in the UK, so in England, with whom we started last year in April 2024. They chose to implement the SAP Concur Invoice solution, which handles global invoicing and purchase orders.
They were in the midst of rethinking their management, both business and technical, because at the time, they were still using internalized management in their Oracle - JDE tool, in which they had very little visibility of business needs. What's more, it didn't fully meet their expectations, particularly in terms of user experience and response to business needs.
A major challenge identified by this customer was their difficulty in bringing projects of all types to fruition. Implementation was systematically driven by technical and IT teams, relegating business teams to a secondary role. One of the key challenges of our intervention was therefore to rebalance this dynamic, by giving business teams a role alongside IT teams.
Their choice followed an extensive pre-sales process, during which we demonstrated the solution's ability to meet their needs, and reassured them of our technical and functional expertise.
The choice of solution was key. In fact, they chose SAP Concur, notably for the user experience, but also because in the UK market, the SAP Concur Invoice solution is very widespread and popular. This was a logical choice on their part.
Arago was chosen as our partner on the basis of the quality of our support and the relevance of our answers, both in technical and functional terms. Our in-depth expertise of the market and of the SAP Concur solution, in particular the Invoice module, was a real asset. Few players today are in a position to offer a complete implementation of SAP Concur Invoice, which reinforced our differentiating positioning with the customer.
Initially, the relationship aspect was very important, particularly in terms of building customer confidence and reassuring them of our expertise. Our teams were on hand throughout the project to assist with technical, business and process issues.
We also had the opportunity to meet all the teams in charge of integrations, accounting, finance and account payable.
As this project was part of an international roll-out, from the outset we exchanged views with sponsors located in different parts of the world: Asia, Europe and the United States. The aim was not only to understand their expectations, but also to actively involve them in the project. These exchanges enabled us to set up effective internal communications and encourage buy-in from the various entities.
Our weekly meetings and the monitoring of project progress via relevant KPIs also contributed to the success of this project.
One of the main challenges was the internal perception of the projects, which were often marked by failures. The arrival of the Concur Invoice solution therefore raised many questions. It was crucial to explain what was at stake, and to demonstrate how this project could succeed where others had failed.
Discussions with the various entities enabled us to understand their needs, expectations and existing systems. This individualized approach was very well received and encouraged buy-in.
Although the workload was underestimated at the outset, the time invested in support and the quality of the answers provided largely contributed to the success of the project, which lasted almost a year.
Among the key moments of the project, the design phase was decisive. It enabled us to fully understand the customer's needs and to co-write the specifications with them. This close collaboration - supported by weekly meetings - facilitated the appropriation of business terms, whether Concur's vocabulary or their own tools, such as JDE or Oracle. A gap analysis was also carried out to clarify impacts.
A prototype was made available to them in a sandbox environment,allowing them to test the solution in practice, right from the design stage. This reassured them of the solution's intended target.
A second important milestone was the testing phase. Several iterations were carried out to validate that all business scenarios had been tested, in particular the exchange flows between their internal systems, notably the finance systems, and their ERP, Oracle.
These two phases of design and testing, although intense, were essential to ensure complete alignment with the customer's expectations and the success of the project.
The project began by harmonizing their business processes. The previous tool contained numerous data entry zones that were poorly understood by users, who filled in fields without knowing their purpose. Taking the time to analyze the existing system enabled us to eliminate these unnecessary or poorly understood practices, and avoid reproducing them in the new solution. This complete overhaul was a real optimization lever.
In addition, the implementation of the Concur solution has enabled us to streamline the entire process, from the creation of the purchase order to the posting of the invoice. The automated workflow - from the generation of the purchase order, through its dispatch to the supplier, then via a character recognition system, the entry of the invoice into Concur while automatically verifying its consistency with the initial purchase order, right up to its integration into the Oracle ERP system - has ensured greater data consistency and more efficient, reliable supplier invoice management.
Project management played a central role in the success of the assignment. Regular exchanges with the project manager and the person in charge of project management assistance (PMA) were essential.
One of the major advantages was the presence of a dedicated Concur expert, assigned for a year to support the customer. Trained progressively throughout the project, he effectively relayed information internally, facilitating adoption of the solution and playing a key role in change management. He also acted as a privileged point of contact, capable of filtering and escalating needs in a clear manner.
This core group - project manager, project management consultant, Concur expert and our team - established a relationship of trust and close collaboration, which were decisive in bringing the project to a successful conclusion.
A key piece of advice would be to include a real scoping phase upstream of the project. This would enable us to clarify, with the customer, the entire existing process - in particular invoice management - and identify any sticking points or areas of uncertainty, even before selecting a solution.
At the outset, it is often difficult for customers to describe their end-to-end operations precisely. This scoping stage is therefore crucial in defining the scope, anticipating risks and preventing any grey areas from slowing down the project later on.
It's an approach that we systematically encourage and suggest, as it provides real leverage to guarantee smooth, successful implementation.
We're always in touch with the customer. We've covered part of their business process today. They have expectations for other possible phases, with other waves that may come, still based on the Concur solution.
Discussions are underway to assess the opportunity of a new deployment phase to cover business processes not included in the first wave. Some of these processes, still managed in in-house systems such as JDE, could eventually be integrated into the SAP Concur solution to reinforce global harmonization.
Thanks to a rigorous approach, strong team commitment and close collaboration between the customer, SAP Concur and Arago, this project was able to transform a complex organization into a fluid, controlled process. Far from stopping there, this success opens the way to new phases of evolution.