Up, up and away

“It unleashed a tremendous amount of effectiveness rather than nervousness about implementing something new,” Kennedy says. “We got people intrigued about what more they could do as a result of an implementation, rather than worrying about their jobs or tasks.”

“A single version of the truth”
For the actual implementation of the SAP system, the company enlisted the help of Deloitte. For nearly a year, several Spin Master functional experts worked with a team from Deloitte and SAP representatives. Together, the group went through the SAP system, module by module, to link Spin Master’s business to the interface.

“We did a sign-off review, process by process, to make sure the business leaders and the company were comfortable with how their teams had structured the configuration,” Kennedy says.

The system had built-in conversion tools, which were able to funnel in the massive amounts of data from the old Excel files. Suppliers and vendors were given controlled access portals to the system, so they could have access to the same information, regardless of whether they used SAP.

Slowly, Spin Master brought everyone—all employees, all departments, all partners—onto the same platform. This gave everyone access to common information about virtually anything in the company’s supply chain. This “single version of the truth,” as Kennedy calls it, would form the foundation for the company’s future activity.

Going live
The system went live in February 2006.

The group took great pains to keep the implementation as simple—and finite—as possible. The project was to have clear start and end points. So committed was Spin Master to this goal that Deloitte and SAP were to be gone within 30 days of the system launch.

In the period immediately following go-live, the implementation team conducted daily updates with all users. If a concern came up, staff members were grouped together to sort through it.

“They were all part of the process,” Cleaver says. “Once we did that and got into it, it was so easy to see the benefits. They were very tangible for the hands-on people. Right away they identified it as a great success compared to what they used to have in their lives.”

In fact, the SAP system proved so popular that staff members started to suggest new and different ways to use it. As Cleaver explains, it became necessary to rein in this enthusiasm.

“It’s easy to think about what possibilities you have instead of making what you have in front of you work,” he says. “You start brainstorming about what you can do with the solution, and meanwhile the core business is not getting the right attention.”