SAP software solutions help organisations in the public sector meet the rising demand for better government services, budgetary restraint, public safety, and accountability. With an overwhelming amount of data, manual processes are simply not efficient enough to manage fiscal stability and transparency in the public sector. 

The public sector needs to look forward, think digitally and develop citizen-centric programs with technologies that support omnichannel touchpoints, budget control and public finance management, strategic and operational procurement, and human experience management.

SAP for Public Sector solutions support public sector organisations by enabling:

• Improved quality of citizens’ lives
• Increased government trust
• Safe, sustainable communities
• Stewardship of taxpayers’ money
• Raised living standards for all

PRESSURE ON THE PUBLIC SECTOR TO DIGITALISE IS MOUNTING

The public sector has the dual responsibility to provide efficient and transparent services to citizens and help the economy thrive. Fundamentally, the success of public enterprises is measured by their ability to adapt and respond rapidly to the changing needs of society, while still remaining legally compliant. In the current digital economy, this means that public organisations need to provide consumer-grade services that focus on convenience, personalisation and data protection. 

In order to achieve this, public organisations need to enhance and extend next-generation processes with an intelligent Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform that can be continuously enhanced and extended with innovative services and applications built on emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), robotic process automation (RPA), blockchain, and analytics.

Part of an ERP implementation involves creating a data-driven culture to showcase the value of data-driven decision-making across an organisation. Through this process a renewed focus on employee experience is also crucial to empowering employees to be more efficient and productive in serving constituents.

The question: How will all of this be achieved? The answer: SAP S/4HANA

WHAT IS SAP S/4HANA?

SAP S/4HANA is a complete ERP system with built-in intelligent technologies, including AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. It helps companies adopt new business models, manage business change at speed, orchestrate internal and external resources, and use the predictive power of AI. Public sector organisations will benefit from tight, native integration between processes, industry depth, and a consistent in-memory data model.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATIONS IN A DIGITAL AGE

As mentioned, the public sector needs to prioritise citizen-centric programs with technologies that support omnichannel touchpoints, budget control and public finance management, strategic and operational procurement, and human experience management. SAP S/4 HANA provides all of these capabilities, and more, as discussed below.

CITIZEN-CENTRED SERVICES

With SAP S/4HANA, public sector organisations can simplify complex processes for the citizen by providing personalized, self-managed, secure online engagement. From the SAP Value Paper entitled “Transform Your Public Sector Organization into an Intelligent Enterprise”, the following end-to-end scenarios show how a SAP S/4HANA implementation can transform the public sector’s data ecosystem.

OMNICHANNEL TOUCH POINTS

Traditional scenario:

• Disparate applications – Web content management, contact centers, mobile apps, and so on – that do not allow companies to respond with agility to citizen demands
• Silos of data that create duplications for government and delays for the citizen
• Manual, disconnected processes that force citizens into bureaucratic service flows

After SAP implementation

• Services that are designed and delivered around the citizen, not the government
• Integrated platform that enables government to deliver end-to-end services across departments and agencies
• Consent-driven framework that helps ensure a 360-degree view of the constituent
• Consumer-grade digital self-services delivering predictive and personalized services and convenient access

Outcomes

• Improved constituent satisfaction
• Reduced service costs
• Better case outcomes
• Personalized services

LEVERAGE DATA AS AN ASSET

SAP S/4HANA enables a data-driven culture that is open and transparent – one that values evidence over intuition and is based on an organization-wide “single source of truth” that integrates interorganizational and external data. Protection of data and privacy is prioritised and services to citizens are improved.

BUDGET CONTROL AND PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGEMENT

Traditional scenario

• Plan departmental and business unit business priorities.
• Manually allocate budget against business priorities.
• Execute business priorities and capture spend against budget.
• Be unable to monitor budget spend in real time.
• Enable available budget and planned and actual spend.

After SAP implementation

• Define priorities using previous spend and outcomes (program, project progress, outcomes).
• Base budget planning and execution on both historical and predictive data.
• Link projects and programs to outcomes.
• Capture every source of spend, across each category, for one unified view.
• Use insights from data to find previously hidden costs and opportunities.
• Maintain budgets in real time.

Outcomes*

• 25%–50% Reduction in budgeting and forecasting costs
• 10% Increase in end-to-end process efficiency

*Benefits are based on results from early adopters of SAP S/4HANA or are conservative outside-in estimates of the benefits of moving from a traditional ERP system to enhanced SAP S/4HANA with line-of-business and cloud capabilities. As each enterprise is at a different level of maturity, our recommendation is that you work with SAP to determine the value proposition for your enterprise.

REIMAGINE BUSINESS PROCESSES AND MODELS

Laying a digital foundation for more efficient and agile processes enables organisations in the public sector to quickly respond when unforeseen disruptions occur. Through automating everyday tasks, public sector employees can focus more on the cases that require human engagement.

STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PROCUREMENT

Traditional scenario:

• Disparate and disconnected data sources, and inability to extract meaningful insights
• Manual and time-intensive supplier discovery and qualification process
• Inefficient bid management with RFx coordination through e-mails, limited buyer-supplier collaboration, and manual processing and analysis of supplier responses
• Manual authoring, longer cycle times, and high legal costs

After SAP implementation:

• Spend tracked in real time
• Access to supplier pool, with visibility into preferred, qualified, and compliant sources of supply
• Embedded capabilities to view additional supplier risk content (such as media incidents, country risk, and compliance)
• Comprehensive RFx management with reverse and forward-auction capabilities, enabling cost savings and faster sourcing
• Contract lifecycle management capabilities, including authoring, negotiation, execution, and digital signature

Outcomes

• Digitalization of processes that now means 0% paper usage for field service officers
• Reduction in request process times
• Easy Ability to retrieve and consolidate key figures and closings

ENABLE THE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE

When employees are engaged and equipped with the right tools, they are empowered to provide the best work they can. SAP S/4HANA helps public sector organisations to align employee skills with organization needs, reduce compliance risk, keep remote workers engaged and productive, track and manage employee health, assess workforce engagement and well-being, understand potential implications for culture, productivity, and the organization overall.

HUMAN EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT

Traditional scenario:

• Data held in multiple siloed systems, difficult to consolidate for analysis
• Managers and HR leaders forced to rely heavily on subjective experience
• Inconsistent, inefficient, and largely manual processes that add administrative burden and reduce employee engagement

After SAP implementation:

• Single point of entry into a structured, auditable process
• Fully integrated workforce across the entire organization
• Standardized and streamlined processes that are easy for end users to use while still complying with policies and procedures

Outcomes:

• Leverage intelligent insights to increase accuracy of headcount forecasts and improve cost controls
• Streamline HR processes to improve efficiency and compliance
• Digitalize the process and remove administrative burden to increase productivity and engagement

CONCLUSION

Incorporating SAP into your business and data management operations is a major milestone for any organization; one that is bound to significantly transform your business. Choosing an experienced and reliable SAP implementation partner, however, is tantamount to your success in realizing the full potential of SAP technologies. As SAP Gold Partners, MDS ap offers tailor-made SAP implementation services to accelerate the design, development and deployment of reliable, enterprise-wide database solutions for maximum return on your technology investment. We take it a step further by offering ongoing support and managed services, as well as training to empower your staff to harness the full power of SAP with great efficiency and ease.

Our SAP implementation process follows a set of best-practice workflows and business processes to build and optimize a unique SAP landscape to match your specific business requirements. Every step of the way, from initial project preparation to final go-live and support, we leverage our expertise and experience for a smooth, seamless and systematic implementation process.