This weeks feature for Women making SAP happen, is with Jackie Elias, Programme Delivery Lead at Seqirus...

If you asked someone to tell you 10 things about me, this is what they will most likely say?

Jackie: 

• Has a reputation for getting things done 
• Is tough but fair and makes people accountable for their deliverables 
• Partners well with key stakeholders, external vendors and senior leadership 
• Has the hard conversations that others find difficult to have and delivers to her promise 
• Is passionate about her job and cares about her teams well being 
• Provides formality, structure and governance across her Programmes and challenges her team to improve ways of working on a daily basis 
• Enjoys implementing large, complex ERP Projects like SAP 
• Is respected by her peers and team members for incisive leadership and pragmatic decision making 
• Has a good sense of timing to balance delivery quality with a harmonious fun workplace environment 
• Is committed to work-life balance in the challenging world of complex ERP delivery 

Tell us about your current role? 

I am currently the Delivery Lead for a Global Programme in the Pharmaceutical industry. The Project Management team and I are accountable for delivering new infrastructure, applications and optimised business processes across the Organisation in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The Programme has completed over 100 Projects, delivering a newly hosted network and a number of green and brown field applications across a number of sites. 

In addition to my delivery role, I am also responsible for reporting to the Global Steering Committee chaired by the President of the Organisation and sponsored by the Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Manufacturing. 

What inspired you to have a career in SAP? 

 have had a lot of exposure to business transformation Projects leading up to the start of my SAP career and this experience has allowed me to translate the system changes through a business lens. 

I was inspired to continue working in SAP Projects to support and partner with key business stakeholders so they have a better understanding of the business process changes introduced by SAP implementations. 

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date? 

I started my project career as a Business Analyst, documenting business requirements and processes from the target operating model all the way to level 4 and 5 business processes. As a customer of IT, I spent a lot of time delivering the IT solution on behalf of the business. This exposure gave me a better appreciation of the IT industry and the in depth work that was required to deliver new solutions and processes across an organisation. 

I transitioned into IT not long after my business BA role as an IT systems analyst and had exposure to key areas like enterprise architecture, systems design and technical design. I then moved into Project Management completing Six Sigma and Prince 2 certification before moving into larger Projects. 

I have managed a variety of Projects across infrastructure and applications - from office relocations / fit outs, data centre uplifts to application implementations (ERPs, best of breed solutions and cloud solutions). I moved into my first SAP Project in 2012 commencing the delivery of a Global Template for a pharmaceutical company. This Project delivered new business processes and interfaces to key peripheral systems that were business critical and also other key manufacturing systems like Siemens and MES. When this implementation was completed, I commenced a sourcing exercise for a Global transport company taking them through an RFI / RFP process before providing a business case with cost benefit, ROI and TCO assessment. This led to finalising the selection of a System Integrator, ERP and payroll platform. 



I commenced a new leadership role with another pharmaceutical company as a site integration lead supporting the deployment of Projects to the Asia Pacific region and then moved into a Global Delivery role supporting the implementation of 3 Waves of the Programme. We delivered projects that optimised business processes across the Organisation in the Northern Hemisphere sites and we are due to complete the last wave of Programme in the Southern Hemisphere in October 2019. 

How can SAP Master Data Governance improve ERP master data? 

In my experience, SAP Master Data Governance enables customers to centrally manage and maintain their data source and encourages businesses to standardise their data models. These standards, if applied effectively, can support the delivery of data migration by simplifying master data conventions. It also allows key business streams to align their data cleansing plans to the new standards to gain efficiencies in data migration plans. Other key benefits also include; a common data set, aligned reporting and integrated processes support e.g.: S&OP. 

How can I use the V-Model with SAP Product Lifecycle Management? 

Working in the pharmaceutical industry, I am continually looking for better ways to manage the validation package across my Programmes. Although I have not used this feature directly, I understand that leveraging the SAP Product Lifecycle Management enables businesses to trace requirements, design and test management work packages. The capability this feature provides would provide strong evidence for future audits and this is important to any highly regulated environment because it provides additional evidence to support the delivery of the V-Model.



Working in the pharmaceutical industry, I am continually looking for better ways to manage the validation package across my Programmes.

What order-to-cash cycle controls in SAP ensure compliance? 

Most of the functional consultants I work with look for controls in SAP, so they have an opportunity to review and report on inaccuracies and conflicts. The top 3 order-to-cash cycle controls I would recommend are;

Security roles with minimal or no segregation of duties. 

SAP and BI reports to maintain compliance.

Adding an automatic process to follow up outstanding customer payments.

What is the best thing about working in SAP? 

The SAP Projects I have worked on have been large and complex transformation Projects and due to the intensity on delivering these Projects, they typically bring people together. I have had strong and long standing friendships on these projects and they have left a positive mark on my life. 



The best thing about working on SAP projects is the self-learning and team learning that is developed naturally through the lifecycle of the project. Coaching and developing my team is also an important part of working on SAP Projects and seeing a project and team evolve to successful outcomes. 

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP? 

SAP projects introduce you to a completely new world. You will learn a lot about a very controlled system. You will learn about global and local processes and you will have a better appreciation for the change management activities relating to SAP implementations. Most SAP Projects have a bumpy ride and it is how you manage yourself and the teams around you that people remember. Be calm and try and have a laugh. People will remember that most. 



Lastly, and most importantly - show commitment, ensure quality of work, work as ONE team, create a high performing culture, create opportunity for high performers and make a difference 

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity? 

There is a huge market for SAP projects – not only in Australia, but also in most parts of the world. I believe recruiters can succeed if they partner with local and global vendors more effectively. There is a huge opportunity to leverage their social media platforms to invite people from all walks of life (e.g. university graduates, offshore talent with potential and young entrepreneurs).