Ruslan Aksyaitov: Each employee will receive benefit from implementation of a new HRM system

Ruslan Aksyaitov: Actually, though Mail.Ru this year is 15 years, Mail.Ru Group was formed by merge of several large companies, including Odnoklassniki, HeadHunter and others about three years ago. Naturally, after merge there was a need of unification of business processes, including financial functions. We long selected the new ERP platform, met IT directors of the Internet companies and telecom companies, considered all key systems of the class ERP, including solutions of Microsoft and 1C.

However as a result stopped on SAP ERP. The system of SAP attracted us with "severity". As creative company, the order in all formal questions which is able to provide SAP ERP is necessary for us. So, for example, 1C systems and Microsoft are "open field", designers where you can design necessary options; we, on the contrary, needed to lead to a uniform denominator accounting within 7 different legal entities. Last year we completed implementation of basic modules of financial accounting of SAP ERP, and implementation of the personnel HCM SAP ERP system started in October, 2012, and at the moment we completed the first stage of SAP implementation of HCM, transferred personnel records and payroll to a new system on all Russian legal persons.

By the way, having addressed the choice of a system of personnel records and payroll, we conducted a research of the market again and again stopped on the SAP solution. Among other things here professionalism and experience of SAP consultants not only in IBS company which became our partner in implementation, but also in other companies played a role.

TAdviser: What advantages are that the IBS company provided you the set-up solution?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: I see several advantages in use of the set-up solution at once. First, before implementation in Mail.Ru Group it was already approved in the Russian companies taking into account all specifics of the local legislation, the Russian mentality and accounting, HR and personnel document flow. Secondly, use of the set-up solution allowed to implement the project much quicker. For us terms were very critical: we planned transition to a new system since January 1, 2013, it was quite strict requirement from our HR specialists and accounting. Finally we managed to keep up with the high paces of the project: in February we paid the first salary calculated in HCM SAP ERP.

TAdviser: How many employees in Mail.Ru Group? How many offices are integrated by a new personnel system?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: Now we have about 3 thousand employees, but we constantly grow. In a new HRM system HR records and payroll are conducted on a centralized basis. So far a system integrates only the Russian offices: it is Moscow and branches which we have in Voronezh, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and still some other cities. At the second stage it is going to put into operation in a system foreign subsidiaries in Germany, Latvia, Israel and, perhaps, offices in other countries.

TAdviser: What features of the HR policy needed to be considered during automation?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: In fact, until we still faced automation of the HR policy, we unified issues of personnel document flow, office-work and payroll calculation. But the specifics, definitely, are also in these areas. In particular, in Mail.Ru Group many specialists are employed for single works or on outsourcing. Jobs are provided to such employees, but they are made out not as salaried employees, and under the civil contract. Respectively, of a month by a month amounts of works and compensation of such employees change. Earlier accounting of workers on an autorsing on each legal person was peculiar, now we unified office-work and registration of results of work of those who work on GPH.

TAdviser: What main stages of the HRM project and what of them are already complete?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: Now we speak only about the first stage which was completed in March, 2013: we passed to commercial operation of a system. Shortly we will pass to the second stage of implementation, and it for us is more interesting and more important as means work not only with a backend-system regarding accounting and personnel office-work, but also, in fact, with each employee of our company. Within the second stage the uniform corporate HR portal, access to which will be had by all employees of Mail.Ru Group, will be created (with differentiation of access rights to information, certainly).

And it is interesting that, conceiving such portal, we considered the requirements quite corresponding to a spirit of the age. However at a stage of the choice of the platform it became clear that even in the world of such corporate HR portals it is implemented not so many, not to mention the Russian market where very limited circle of the large companies, vendors (for example, SAP) and some system integrators can brag of their existence.

TAdviser: What as non-management employees will be able to work with it will the portal and be?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: We considered that our desire that each employee could come at any time on the portal, some comments are quite reasonable to look at the data, leave, but, it appears, not so everything is simple. Nobody showed such requirements to HR portals before so our task looks twice ambitious. It is supposed that at the employee on this portal all personnel business processes and even will be started more. It at least execution of requests for a holiday, business trips, sick leave notes and so on. Now the projectible number of the business processes connected with the portal, minimum, but, I think that gradually it will increase. My vision consists that, eventually, this HR portal should integrate in itself all needs of the worker which at it arise now, whether it be purchase of the IT equipment, document transfer in accounting and so on.

TAdviser: Sounds great. If your appetites increase whether you will cover such spheres as management of personnel potential, talents?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: Yes, ideally implementation of management of personnel potential will make the third stage of the project, but does not enter the set contractual commitments with the contractor yet. It is connected with the fact that start of the third stage will be possible only after a successful completion of the second stage. The third stage assumes not only and not just creation of an automated system, but also creation of a methodological basis without which nothing in this area can be made. So everything is good in its season.

TAdviser: During the project you managed what easily and what caused difficulties?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: It was easy to interact with the contractor, I will not dissemble because IBS had an experience of projects implementation in other companies, and they understood what we want. Difficulties as such were not. There were not unified data from old 1C-ov and other systems. I perfectly understood that it will be our main problem. It was necessary to prepare them and "fill in" in SAP. We managed to make it, and I hope that problems with them will not come to light further.

TAdviser: Whether you consider your project the innovation?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: For the big and slow companies the system output in commercial operation in 3 months, perhaps, would also be innovations, but for such company as Mail.Ru Group – no. I would tell that the project of a front line, difficult, not up to the end complete. When we finish it, it will not be an innovation – we expect achievement of a certain satisfaction, effect in the company more likely. Here more likely the novelty of approach to implementation takes place.

TAdviser: What in general result you expect?

Ruslan Aksyaitov: To completely complete the first stage delivery of the quarter reporting from SAP. The second result is practical benefits for employees: I hope that it will become convenient to them to work in SAP, and it is reached, by experience of my several projects, in about two-three months. The third – all employees after end of the second stage will have access to the portal so each employee will receive quite certain benefit, and, therefore, and all company in general.