Vodafone Egypt: Reducing payroll errors By simplifying Payroll process with a localized Payroll system from SAP and ECS

Objectives

• Reduce payroll processing time from several days to 2 hours

• Reduce manual tasks and improve efficiencies by automating payroll processes

• Improve the current payroll system by implementing a localized one, based on the Egyptian labor law

• Deploy an integrated Human Resources and Payroll solution

• Avoid costly mistakes resulting from errors in payroll calculations

Key Challenges

• Multiple vendors trying to gather and maintain data for payroll processing

• Fragmented processes that makes the payroll process time consuming and error prone

• Lack of a localized payroll system to automatically comply with Egypt payroll rules

Implemented Solution

• Deployed SAP payroll system for more than 8000 employees within 4 months

• Integration with Vodafone POS for employee benefits to facilitate and automate payroll deduction

• Integration between Vodafone global HR system in UK and the new payroll system

Challenges

With expanding operations, Vodafone recognized the need for a stable more efficient payroll system to be integrated with their global SAP HCM system in UK. They took the decision to implement a localized SAP payroll system as they faced many difficulties when it comes to the end of each month, when they have to calculate wages and execute payroll run for over 8,000 employees. Each month, the process takes too long and requires too much effort. They have to gather all employee’s related information like overtime, performance bonuses, employee specialized installments and benefits and much more from the specialized departments. Afterwards, they manually perform calculations of taxes, insurance and all applicable deductions. They didn’t have an automated system to help them run the payroll smoothly, which made the process time-consuming, inefficient and error-prone. From here, the need for implementing a localized payroll system based on Egypt’s payroll regulations has arisen.

Implementation

Vodafone Egypt has partnered with ECS to improve the efficiency of HR and payroll processes, ECS team identified and analyzed all the requirements set by the HR and payroll department at Vodafone. Over 4 months period, ECS team has implemented the required solution. The implementation was delivered successfully within the agreed timescale and to budget

Results

Working closely with Vodafone staff, ECS consultants gathered the requirements and built them into the system. The team ensured that the data was cleansed for successful and seamless migration to the new system. As a result of the implementation, Vodafone has achieved positive business outcomes which provided efficiency and consistency in all HR and payroll processes. Before the implementation started, the HR team has set some KPIs to evaluate the success of the project, one of them was to reduce the time needed to process and run payroll from 12 days to 2 hours, this objective has been achieved and they are now able to run the payroll process for more than 8,000 employees, in just 30 minutes. The localized SAP payroll system has simplified and automated all calculations ensuring that they are complying with the Egyptian labor law including taxes and social insurance. The new system has increased productivity due to the elimination of data entry duplication and other non-value adding activities, they’re now having a single point of truth for all employee’s information that is critical for payroll as well as human resources.