RGF Staffing successfully performs ‘open-heart surgery’ on its application landscape

Replace SAP with three systems 

A few years ago, RGF Staffing replaced its main application — one it used to manage all financial transactions relating to its temporary employment services — with Mysolution, a system specifically developed for the temporary employment sector on the basis of Microsoft Business Central. SAP was another core application at RGF: containing many custom solutions, it served as the company's Finance and HR system. IT Director Hetty Braam had a clear vision of what the new situation should look like. ‘We wanted to separate Finance and HR. On top of that, we were duplicating a huge number of tasks, as every single one of the financial transactions we were doing in Mysolution had to pass through SAP as well. I envisaged a best-of-breed landscape with Mysolution for our core business, AFAS for HR, and Microsoft Business Central for Finance. I also wanted to be able to access these applications though a central data warehouse that formed the basis for all our reporting.’ 

A hugely complex task 

RGF Staffing threw itself into the project full of confidence, but the task soon proved to be much more complex than initially thought. As Braam recalls it: ‘We managed to implement AFAS with a relative degree of success, but given the sheer complexity involved in untangling the custom solutions in SAP into separate Finance, HR, and temporary employment processes, we soon realized that we needed to bring on board external capacity and expertise.’ 

Hetty had a contact at Conclusion AFAS Solutions and asked him to cast a quick glance over the challenges she was facing, without obligation. ‘As we were talking through the issues, my contact said: “I think we should bring in expertise from elsewhere at Conclusion, as there’s a lot more going on here than just AFAS.”’  

One thing led to another, and a project team was formed with people from Conclusion MBS for the Finance element, Hot ITem Conclusion for the data warehouse and reporting, and AMIS Conclusion to build the integrations. ‘All of a sudden, we were surrounded by experts: every single one an architect who knew all the nuts and bolts of their particular area,’ Braam comments.  

Target architecture brought clarity 

In no time at all, Conclusion devised a target architecture that described in crystal clear terms where RGF Staffing stood to gain. And that's what really got the ball rolling, Braam explains. ‘That target architecture tipped the balance towards us deciding to go for it.’

It was an important tipping point, CIO Danny van Daal says, as 'it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we decided to delay the project a little while longer. Of course, we needed to bite the bullet at some point if we wanted to get more grip on our business, but things were ticking over just fine as they were.’ 

 In that type of situation, it takes genuine courage to prioritize the future. ‘To put it simply, the huge strides forward we'd be making in terms of efficiency and data-driven working methods were too good to ignore. The prospects were genuinely impressive,’ Van Daal comments. CFO Julian van der Meijden soon came round the plan too, for the exact same reason. 'We had a data environment that wasn't exactly solid, despite the fact that in the sector we’re in, you need to have your finger right on the pulse, and you need to be able to respond quickly. With that in mind, flexibility and real-time insight are truly indispensable.’

Ambitious deadline 

The project was launched on 1 April 2022, with a go-live date of 1 January 2023 as the target. According to Braam: ‘We were well aware this was an ambitious target, but the team all felt it was perfectly feasible. The financial gains if we did manage to go live by 1 January were simply too good to ignore — especially on the AFAS side. 

Even though the project covered all aspects of our business, it was split into different workflows: the HR element, the Finance element, the integrations, and the data warehouse. Doing so kept things manageable but, as practical experience soon proved, also exposed RGF to vulnerabilities. Van Daal explains: ‘There was a different division of Conclusion behind every workflow. We had some great minds working on all areas of the project — both on our side and through Conclusion — but we occasionally lost sight of the overall picture. The fact that not all workflows were proceeding at the same rate was part of the reason. We had spent a long time preparing for the AFAS element, so that team was making good progress. Finance, on the other hand, was lagging behind. Of course, you can only build the necessary integrations once you’ve worked out every last detail of all operational processes, so we ended really feeling the pressure in terms of time.’ 

Having spent 25 years working in IT, this didn’t exactly come as a surprise to Van Daal. ‘The main source of complexity was the huge number of stakeholders who weren’t normally all that closely connected in everyday life. On top of that, we needed to move from a single system with no end of custom solutions to three systems that had to remain within the standard. And that meant we didn’t just have an IT project on our hands — instead, we were delivering wholesale change. Sure, the changes we were making didn't affect a huge number of staff, and the Mysolution element largely remained the same. But even so, you still need to get everyone pulling in the same direction.’ 

Building interfaces while the clock was ticking 

Building the interfaces proved to be the trickiest task. There were several reasons for that, Van Daal recalls: ‘First of all, it only became clear at a fairly late stage what exactly the interfaces should look like, so we found ourselves under significant time pressure. On top of that, we started to realize that we and AMIS Conclusion weren’t on the same page in terms of expectations. We were used to a certain way of working with Conclusion AFAS Solutions and Conclusion MBS, but the team at AMIS Conclusion consists of an entirely different set of people, who had different arrangements with their clients. It was at that point we realized that Conclusion is not a single business with a single culture and a single set of working arrangements, but a collective of different businesses instead. Of course, that’s exactly what makes Conclusion so flexible and enables them to respond so quickly, but we didn’t take enough time to reflect on the tradeoffs this might involve.’ 

Problems are a fact of life: what matters in the end is how you overcome them. And that’s something that left a genuine impression on Van der Meijden: ‘At one point, we simply said “No matter what, we’re just going to get this project over the line together.” And that’s something the team really deserves credit for. Conclusion brought some great people to the project, but so did we. And Mysolutions too was delivered by someone with an impressive eye for detail.’ 

One person Van Daal explicitly singles out for praise is IT Director Hetty Braam: ‘She took charge of the project from our side, and she did a truly brilliant job. She always stayed right on top of everything, and ultimately, that’s what made the difference.’ 

Off life support 

In the end, SAP was switched off on 1 January 2023 to be replaced by AFAS, Microsoft Business Solutions and the data warehouse, bringing the operation to a successful conclusion. The only part with a few loose ends to tie up and problems to tackle was Microsoft Business Central, but even so, the majority were resolved within a month. As Braam puts it: ‘We knew in advance that we would need to keep the Finance element on life support a little while longer. We told ourselves beforehand that if we got Finance up and running without any hitches or workarounds, we’d be satisfied. And we managed to do exactly that.’ 

To Hot ITem Conclusion, the go-live of the data warehouse served as the starting signal for a follow-up project to start doing more with data. ‘After all, linking up your source systems to fill your data warehouse cannot be a goal in itself,’ Van Daal observes. In the end, we want to be able to respond more quickly by adopting a more data-driven way of working. The foundations to help us do so are in place. The basic reports and dashboards have been developed, and Excel has been phased out. But there’s so much more we can get out of our new setup. We’re not doing anything with AI yet, for example, so there are plenty of opportunities up for grabs in that area.’ 

Looking back, the trio are proud of what’s been achieved. Van der Meijden concludes: ‘It was a bumpy ride and we had to dig deep, but we’ve come out the other end in great shape. I’m proud of the fact everyone involved showed so much resilience. When the going got tough, we didn’t start pointing the finger at one another — instead, we lent each other a hand, and we pulled the project over the line as a team, leaving us genuinely fit to face the future in the end.’