in collaboration with

SAP Technical Upgrade Deployed

at Asian Paints
Capgemini combines global SAP expertise with local
client knowledge to ensure success

The Situation project plan for the upgrade was based on

Asian Paints sought to upgrade its current
SAP platform from R/3 4.7 to ECC 6.0.
Asian Paints was using a version of SAP
that was nearing the end of its life cycle.
An upgrade to a newer SAP release was
necessary if Asian Paints was to remain
fully supported. The enhancement would
help align the company with its future
business needs and save on maintenance
costs. Capgemini was selected to be the
delivery partner.
The Solution
In addition to the technical upgrade, the
scope of the project included applying all
required patches for the upgrade,
retrofitting all custom developments,
validating the upgrade, providing effective
support during user acceptance test and
go-live phases as well as the two-week
post-implementation
phase. The
a comprehensive checklist that included
system and application landscapes,
retrofitting strategy, test scripts and time
schedule.
The Result
Thanks to meticulous planning, all
systems were delivered ahead of schedule.
With the system installed, Asian Paints can
now leverage the functionality offered by
the latest SAP release. A single go-live was
executed by the team to ensure minimum
downtime and to maximize the
opportunity for quick wins. By carefully
minimizing development effort, Asian
Paints was able to maintain their
“business as usual”.

“ We had a
sincere team from
Capgemini committed
to the delivery of the project
on time and to budget. At various
stages of the project, team members
were candid about their expectations
from our team. At the same time, they were
open to changing their work styles based on
feedback from us in the interest of meeting
project timelines.
”
M. R. Parasuram,
Project Manager,
Asian Paints

How Asian Paints and
Capgemini Worked Together
Capgemini and Asian Paints worked
jointly to come up with the following
objectives for the project:
• provide the user community with a
state-of-the-art IT solution for
functional areas within agreed timelines
and at competitive cost
• enable the IT organization to deliver
several projects in parallel without the
need for increased internal resources or
time
• create a robust and flexible platform to
cope with future integration needs
• benefit from the latest technologies
available from SAP.
The project presented several key
challenges to any implementation partner.
Most importantly, there was no room for
failure. As Asian Paints enjoys an enviable
reputation as a trend setter in the domain
of information technology, impeccable
delivery was the only option. The
company was also on a very tight timeline,
one that required that downtime be kept
to an absolute minimum.
Management at Asian Paints recognized
that working with a partner on the
upgrade would add value and a fresh
perspective. Asian Paints carried out their
assessment taking both the hard facts and
the softer aspects into consideration and
eventually visited the Capgemini facilities
to talk to the team who would be
managing the project. The Asian Paints
technical team liked the collaborative
approach that Capgemini espoused and
sensed that there was a good cultural
match between the two companies. These
attributes, plus strong delivery credentials
on SAP projects on both a global and a
local level, were exactly what Asian Paints
was looking for in a partner.
The project team, consisting of persons
from both companies, developed a
meticulous and detailed plan for the
upgrade. Each step was fully identified,
Consumer Products Sector
analyzed and documented. When it came
time for internal testing, the team used
Capgemini’s testing expertise to create a
full repository of test cases covering all
scenarios and documenting all test runs.
As part of the delivery methodology, the
team framed acceptance criteria and
technical standards for both the Advanced
Business Application Programming (ABAP)
and the testing tracks. We also decided to
concurrently make the ABAP unicode
ready so that the system could support all
languages, allowing the company to easily
expand its business functionality going
forward. As part of the SAP administrative
activities (The Business Application
Software Integrated Solution – BASIS
track), we planned and carried out four
About Capgemini and the
Collaborative Business Experience™
Capgemini, one of the
world's foremost providers
of consulting, technology and
outsourcing services, enables its clients to
transform and perform through
technologies. Capgemini provides its
clients with insights and capabilities that
boost their freedom to achieve superior
results through a unique way of working,
the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM.
The Group relies on its global delivery
model called Rightshore®, which aims to
Capgemini India
Consumer Products
Industrial Chemicals
Technology Services
Advanced Development & Integration
In collaboration with
Asian Paints Ltd. headquartered in
Mumbai with group consolidated
annual revenues totaling Rs. 5463
crores (US$ 1.2 billion) is India’s largest
paint company in Asia. The company
Copyright ©2009 Capgemini. No part of this document may be modified, deleted or expanded by any process or means
without prior written permission from Capgemini. Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini.
the way we do it
mock upgrades. This approach helped to
analyze and identify possible show
stoppers well in advance of the actual
rollout, thus ensuring a smooth
implementation.
Capgemini used its DELIVER SAP project
management methodology for all aspects
of this project. As part of the process,
service delivery was reviewed and rated by
management at Asian Paints, who gave the
team very high OTACE (On Time and
At/Above Client Expectation) scores. They
consider the project a concrete example of
the One Team ethos and credit the spirit
of camaraderie engendered by the team as
a major factor in the success of the
project.
get the right balance of the best talent
from multiple locations, working as one
team to create and deliver the optimum
solution for clients. Present in more than
30 countries, Capgemini reported 2008
global revenues of EUR 8.7 billion and
employs over 90,000 people worldwide.
More information is available at:
www.capgemini.com
Approved by:
M. R. Parasuram, Project Manager
Asian Paints
Vijay Shanbhag, India MRD Sector Leader
Capgemini
has an enviable reputation in the
corporate world for professionalism,
fast-track growth, and customer-
centricity. Asian Paints has offices in 20
countries, and its 28 paint
manufacturing facilities service
consumers in over 65 countries.
For more information, please visit
www.asianpaints.com
MRD20090520_139