Interview with the director of all-corporate services "Sibur" Marina Medvedeva

Marín Medvedev All-corporate services are provided by Service center of business of Sibur (TsOB) which I supervise. It is in Nizhny Novgorod, about 700 people work in it. In a different way such centers still call OTsO – the general or joint centers of service. In them the companies with branched structure usually centralize maintenance of the standard and often repeating transactions which can be performed from one geography for remote business units.

As a rule, the center specializes in transactions of accounting and tax accounting; employees perform accounting transaction entries in the information accounting systems. In OTsO of the next generation as Sibur, can have also a set of other services. Today in Sibur of their 17 types. Now, for example, within TsOB we complete the project of creation of personnel OTsO. He undertakes standard procedures of a design of employees and creation of packets of related documents, a design of holidays, release of orders on training of employees, etc.

From among big activities of our OTsO is the uniform settlement center, centralization of tender procedures, maintenance of contract activities, maintenance of business trips (centralized by business travel), maintaining reference books and others.

For example, if to speak about service of maintenance of business trips of employees, then uniform rules, standards were for this purpose created, corporate agreements are signed with a set of hotels, airlines. Now TsOB administers business trips of staff of almost all enterprises of Sibur.

Still from interesting, but can be, not "largest" - the center of transfers based on Sibur-TsOB. In TsOB two employees who administer work of subcontractors work and check quality of transfers. The largest all-corporate service implemented through the project is creation of an electronic document management system in group. I am a curator of this project; and on its end - the holder of the IT system. I will tell about it in more detail a bit later.

Marín Medvedev Accounting, for example, uses SAP and 1C. Now in Sibur the large-scale project on development of a system based on a SAP product proceeds. Employees of TsOBa work with SAP far off as a system "is unrolled" in DPC in Moscow. Service of tender procedures is conducted using the B2B portal based on the solution Oracle application server so far. Completion of the module SRM – a long horizon, but works in this direction go already now.

In turn, HR functions are conducted using the Boss Kadrovik system. At the same time requests to HR department – for example, for registration of the employee - the enterprises send not by e-mail, and through a uniform corporate information system. "Boss Kadrovik" is historically used in the company. It is possible that against the background of transition to a single platform of SAP in the future personnel processes will also be transferred to it.

Business trips are serviced using own solution for armoring of Time Aero from our provider – Aeroklub company. So far it is not integrated with corporate systems of Sibur, but in the long term we would like to integrate it with the Boss Kadrovik system from which orders on sending would "be tightened".

Marín Medvedev We welcome offers on simplification of business processes from employees, and as a result of such offers, there can be a need of making changes in systems. The change request which gets to the block of complex integration of information systems where it is considered is for this purpose made out. Colleagues closely interact with internal functional customers: - estimate a request priority, financial opportunities of its implementation, economic effects for the company in case of implementation of change and other parameters. The priority is given to requests which have the most critical character for business. Further this or that IT department under which authority a system is is responsible for implementation.

Marín Medvedev I can "filter" change requests which come on my linear function, and I can participate when case concerns change of some business process, to express opinion as far as such change is real what restrictions, etc. exist. Same concerns document flow processes as as told above, I am, in our corporate language, "owner" of a system.

Marín Medvedev The largest project is a SAP implementation. The staff of TsOB is involved in replication of a system on the enterprises, ensuring uninterrupted operation of functioning of processes of accounting, etc. For example, on January 1 one more platform of the company – Perm was connected to SAP.

Marín Medvedev In structure of Sibur now about 26 production sites. Five years ago, when the project began, all platforms worked with documents or on the separate systems, or on self-written, or at all processed documents manually. Need to integrate this separate practice and to transfer all to a uniform circuit of work with documents was the first premises. Also we had no uniform document forms for all enterprises. At start of a system we counted about 150 types of different documents.

The lack of uniform business processes in the range from emergence of this or that document before end of its lifecycle was one more premises which it is possible to call the investigation by the first.

It is possible to note still that when work with documents was more manual process, the much bigger number of people in Sibur was engaged in support of documents. There were people who went with documents on floors for signing. With implementation of an electronic system we eliminated such atavisms.

The implemented module integrated in itself three big directions: administrative document flow, contractual document flow and end of lifecycle of documents using storage. Now it is enough to log into one system to see how there took place approval the agreement whether limits (powers) of agreement signature by the employee what powers it has in the power of attorney which, in turn, underwent earlier approval in the module of administrative document flow and where it was placed then on storage are broken. Full, closed loop. Before such information base did not exist. Besides, our IT system is integrated with all accounting systems of group, including SAP and 1C and also the systems of a class of Client-bank and some others.

The Documentum system at us is also integrated with the module BRMS (Business Rule management system) in which the matrix of powers on limits of staff of the company of the conclusion of transactions "is sewn up". With its help we in addition developed the system of authority delegation including at the enterprises of Sibur.

Marín Medvedev The project began in 2010, and we looked products at Oracle, Docsvision, Directum, 1C and other widespread systems which were then in the market. Initially we saw for ourselves some boxed solution which with the minimum completions can be replicated on the enterprises. Then we still not really understood that we have many specific requirements which will entail significant customization of the solution. Having analyzed all products, we stopped on EMS of Documentum as on the designer from whom it is possible to collect different elements on work with information. As a result based on this platform we with Croc company, the contractor on the project, built and implemented the used solution.

Marín Medvedev Tasks follow from premises. It is standardization of business processes, minimization and leaving from handwork where it is possible, document retrieval fall forward.

Marín Medvedev Initially we calculated that the number of users of a system will be about 4000 people. On process of the project and configuration change of the group the number of users reached 7,500 employees.

Marín Medvedev Difficulties were two plans. If to speak about technical aspect, then difficulties were when we did the integration solution for 1C and SAP. Still there was a complexity at a starting stage concerning management of expectations. We needed to correlate our wishes to systems capabilities with that price which should be paid for their implementation. Difficult it is possible to call also development of technical requirements to a system, and approval of this technical project. Essential difficulties at a stage of replication of a system at the enterprises in principle were not. Possibly from the fact that by the time of large-scale circulation already gained certain experience and set the correct speed.

Marín Medvedev What we were going to make, starting the project and that is now - it is the sky and the earth. On start we saw it as the project for management of documentation, and at that stage did not think of integration with 1C and SAP. SAP implementation at that time was not conducted yet. As a result in addition to integration with these systems the project pulled for itself some more adjacent projects: project of creation of the uniform directory of users (Active Directory), project of management of remote access to a system, uniform reference book by correspondents and others.

One more feature – dynamism of the project. It constantly imitated a situation: the requirements arising behind perimeter of the main project constantly forced a project team to look for quickly solutions under requirements of the current situation.

Marín Medvedev In general because at a system the simple and friendly interface, people get used to it quickly. Besides, on the first circulations we with colleagues from Croc provided intensive user training. Including, made the training rollers with self-testing elements. At those enterprises where still there was only a handwork with documents, system implementation was perceived with a bang. Where some system before Documentum implementation already stood, there accustoming went a little more difficult. At the same time, the principle of "gossip hotline" and when the first enterprises successfully passed to a system worked, at other enterprises process of accustoming went more simply.

Marín Medvedev We study a possibility of transition to completely paperless document flow both in group, and in an external circuit. It assumes implementation of the qualified electronic signature and data exchange in electronic form with partners. Here I mean exchange of both primary, and contractual documents. We assume to begin with buyers of products Sibur, further to cover purchases, and then – intra group agreements, external purchases.

This project so far on study stages, its terms is not recorded yet. I think, on terms it is the project for about one and a half-two years.

Marín Medvedev Now it is difficult to tell what will be and as far as OpenText will develop this platform. Anyway, I do not think that OpenText will throw this product because it is used by many companies. We are not going to refuse its use yet. On the contrary, now we upgraded to the new version systems based on Documentum.