Already a satisfied SAP customer, Westland Helicopters decided to upgrade its existing R/3 3.1I system to take advantage of the new functionality offered by SAP.com.

The technical upgrade was achieved quickly and efficiently using SAP Upgrade Solution Package, one of the growing range of Packaged Services from SAP UK Consulting and now Westland is ready to really fly!

Westland is one of the most famous and evocative names in British aviation history, having designed and manufactured aircraft at its Yeovil site since the First World War.

Today Westland Helicopters Limited is part of AgustaWestland, the second largest helicopter manufacturer in the world with a turnover of over $2 billion and a global workforce of around 10,000 people. A leading helicopter system prime contractor, the company designs, develops and builds civil and military aircraft and integrates their associated avionic and weapon systems. The Westland fleet of nearly 1,000 aircraft world-wide is supported across five continents with a total product support package including technical support and training, components and maintenance. And this entire operation is supported in turn by SAP.

The use of SAP Upgrade Solution was viewed as a comfort blanket to ensure that any issue would be resolved extremely quickly.

PROVIDING A LAUNCH PAD FOR THE FUTURE

To help it remain at the forefront of the global aeronautics industry, Westland wanted to be in a position to take advantage of new functionality such as Product Lifecycle Management, Enterprise Portals, Customer Relationship Management and Business Warehouse as it became available. The company therefore decided to upgrade the existing SAP R/3 3.1I system to 4.6C and implement the necessary hardware infrastructure to support the efficient operational running of the solution and provide a firm foundation for the future implementation of the new and improved functionality offered by SAP.com

The project scope was essentially technical in nature, with new functionality only being adopted where absolutely necessary or where business efficiency could be easily achieved.

The overriding concern was ensuring that Westland remained on a supported version of SAP software and could take advantage of new functionality in the future as and when it chose.

SAFE LANDING THE SAP UPGRADE SOLUTION PACKAGE

Westland had successfully used the SAP Remote Upgrade Service for previous upgrades, but the SAP Upgrade Solution Package was felt to be more appropriate for such a major project. Based on fixed deliverables, SAP Upgrade Solution Package is a fast and effective way of conducting a technical upgrade, utilising SAPs vast reservoir of technical experience and expertise. It also reduces down time and overall project time, particularly important in this case where time was the main challenge. The Westland upgrade needed to be completed within a six month window, ensuring that the finance and HR payroll activities were not compromised, minimising disruption to the business and supporting ongoing development activities which needed to be applied to the 3.1I production system.

The SAP Upgrade Solution Package included an SAP technical presence on site, working directly with Westlands in-house team throughout the upgrade activities across all the R/3 systems.

The close relationship fostered between the SAP and Westland teams facilitated effective knowledge transfer and ensured that the upgrade of the production system was achieved with no surprises. Any issues during each stage of the development and test systems upgrade were resolved in a timely manner.

The development and test system upgrades carried out in conjunction with SAP ensured that we could fine tune the down time for the production system and therefore assure the business that it would be without SAP for a limited duration.

READY FOR TAKE-OFF

The result was a smooth upgrade achieved on time and to budget. A stable system base and business continuity were maintained as important technical improvements were added, and pilot projects to introduce enhanced functionality can now begin to assess business benefits. Among the proposed projects are Enterprise Portals, Business Warehouse, Document Management System, Product Life Cycle Management and Customer Relationship Management.

Powered by SAP, Westland is now ready to really take off.

SOLUTION ELEMENTS

SAP Packaged Service: SAP Solution Upgrade Package
Software: SAP.com
Version: 4.6C SR2
Components: R/3 (FI/CO, SD, MM, PS, PP, QM, PM, CATS, WF, HR/PA/PD/PY), BBP
Partner: HP (servers only)

WHO TO CONTACT

For further information on the Westland Helicopters Limited implementation please contact Rob Giddings ( giddingr@whl.co.uk) 01935 702154

SAP Solution Upgrade Package, please contact Mark Williams ( mark.williams@sap.com) 0208 917 6789