SAP S/4HANA delivers harmonization and optimization to PostNord

SAP S/4HANA delivers harmonization and optimization to PostNord

Business need

Migrating to stay ahead of the game
In 2021, PostNord faced an ERP platform that could not meet future demands for digitalization and optimization. Every year, the mail part of the business is getting smaller, while the parcel part is getting bigger, which means that PostNord is transforming into a parcel company. Altogether, this underscored the necessity of a next-generation S/4HANA platform to stay ahead of the game.

To support the migration project, PostNord turned to NTT DATA’s Conversion Factory. This hybrid model of local project managers and a dedicated team of migration experts based in India is a well-proven approach that ensures a cost-effective, fast, and seamless system migration.

Part of a bigger plan
The S/4HANA migration is part of PostNord’s overall strategy toward more efficient business processes: “In 2021, we created the Finance Vision program and a year later, one part evolved to a tech stream called Symphony, where we aim to update all the financial and IT processes that run through SAP. The migration to S/4HANA was the prerequisite for harmonizing and becoming more efficient,” explains Per Grinndal, Program Manager Symphony at PostNord. The technical migration started in March 2023 and went live in April 2024.

Solution

High degree of complexity
In the initial finance vision, PostNord decided on a brownfield approach to be able to reuse previous investments in the system. To start off right, NTT DATA’s first task was a SAP readiness check to analyze the technical processes, followed by a pre-analysis of the identified mandatory simplifications to ensure a common understanding.

With a customer base of 8 million, PostNord’s data landscape was complex and required extensive cleaning and archiving before the move. Also, numerous outdated interfaces, integrations, and non-SAP systems all fed data into SAP, further increasing the complexity.

“When we started the project, we were not aware of the complexity. But NTT DATA stepped up significantly to that need, which was a key success factor,” says Petra Wahlund, Head of IT SAP Finance & Purchasing at PostNord.

Extensive testing
Due to the complex environment, NTT DATA and PostNord decided to make two sandbox tests instead of one unlike most conversion projects. The tests pointed out essential upgrades and developments that needed to be done before moving into the actual development, saving the project valuable time.

“There was a lot of legacy in the system that had to be taken care of. The two sandboxes helped us tremendously, and I sometimes say that when it comes to system upgrades, we handed over the perfect storm to NTT DATA,” says Per Grinndal.

Outcomes

A smooth migration
The final integration was done in a cutover-weekend, and thanks to detailed planning and close collaboration throughout the project, the new system worked flawlessly. “When we went live, we had no critical incidents. As our CIO said, despite smaller hiccups, this was the smoothest go live he had ever been a part of – and it was quite a complex one,” says Per Grinndal.

Another key benefit was the fact that PostNord’s internal specialists had been involved in all phases of the project. “All our experts know the system – almost as well as they did before. That would not have been the case if we had taken in someone doing the full upgrade outside of the current line organizations,” says Petra Wahlund.

The foundation for optimization
With the new platform, PostNord has the foundation in place for their future optimization projects – so now the real fun begins. “In the next two years, we will harmonize and become more effective within our financial processes as well as the areas of fleet and engineering to boost cost-efficiency and realization of business benefits. And now, we have the platform to make it happen,” explains Per Grinndal.