Case Studies | Metamorphosis

Improving the management of SAP support costs

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:54:40 -0600

Metamorphosis provided Cost Management expertise to determine the current and future costs of supporting SAP for a leading construction company.

Client: The client is a growth oriented leader in the North American construction business with annual revenues in the billions.

Situation: To prepare to support a large SAP implementation, the IT leadership team wanted to identify improvements to key IT processes, implement a SAP centric organizational model, and better understand the current and future operating costs for supporting SAP.

Approach: Working through a leading Western Canadian consulting firm, Metamorphosis provided an Cost Management specialist and Project Manager to work collaboratively with the client’s IT leadership team on IT Operations Assessment project over a period of 3 months. The project approach included developing an assessment of the current state, design and costing of the future state organizational model, process maturity improvement plans, and a final executive report of recommendations and roadmaps.

Strategic analysis and improved management of a $150M global IT spend

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:21:40 -0700

Metamorphosis worked with the global IT leadership team of a large oil and gas company to develop a strategic Cost Model of $150M in IT service costs.

Client: The client is a growth-focused global energy leader based in Calgary with world-wide operations.

Situation: The CIO was looking for a new approach to engage the business in more strategic conversations about the costs of IT services.

Approach: Using Metamorphosis’ Cost Mapping tool, framework and expertise, $150M in IT operating and capital costs was modelled and benchmarked for three global divisions in a series of projects from late 2010 to late 2011. Working remotely, a comprehensive cost model was developed within two to three months for each division. Metamorphosis then facilitated the development of cost management action plans while spending a week on-site with the IT leadership team in each location. The Cost Models were constructed to align with the client's benchmarking service provider, and a comprehensive benchmarking exercise was completed in less than half the time normally required. Finally, the Cost Model was transitioned to the client for ongoing sustainment.

Improving leadership capabilities for a $3B/year energy marketer

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:57:32 -0600

Metamorphosis designed and conducted a year long leadership development program that exceeded participant’s expectations and is positioning the client to achieve their growth agenda.

Client: Our client is a global energy generator and power marketer with world-wide operations and revenues of $3B.

Situation: The VP of Energy Trading requested Metamorphosis design and conduct a one year development program for 16 managers that would significantly improve their leadership effectiveness and position the group for a sustained period of growth.

Approach: Through consultations with the VP, Metamorphosis defined a targeted set of skills and practices to develop, organized into 5 themes: Sensing, Initiating, Coordinating, Emotions, and Teams. Each theme was studied for two months, during which concepts were introduced in readings and training sessions, followed by study group discussions, one-on-one coaching by Metamorphosis, and application in real work situations.

Results: Participants felt the program exceeded any previous leadership training they had experienced and recommended it be continued and expanded. The program addressed certain critical topics, such as listening and empathy, that were missing in other programs. The use of study groups, coaching, and real work application over an extended period of time helped build real, practical, and sustainable leadership capabilities.

Building a case for increased application support funding for a large Public Service IT group

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:37:41 -0600

Metamorphosis established a clearly defined model of support activities and set a baseline of service costs that allowed the Application Support team for a large public sector organization to build a case for change to address funding shortfalls.

Client: Our client, an IT application support team in a large public sector organization, supports a portfolio of more than 500 applications for over 25 business unit clients.

Situation: Our client had growing concerns about funding shortfalls for new applications coming into production and increasing the demand for support services. At the same time, very little capacity was being gained from decommissioning applications and there was a freeze on budgets. They requested our assistance to build a model of support costs to use in assessing the impact of changing demand for application support down to the business unit level, and to develop a strategy to address the funding gaps.

Approach: Working with the client's team, we established a clear baseline of support costs using our activity-based visual Cost Mapping methodology. Using the cost model enabled the Application Support team to estimate clearly the net impact of changes in support demand over a three year period. To consistently estimate future support costs, a model was developed and piloted using existing application data. The cost analysis and support estimating model provided the evidence to make recommendations for funding changes. The recommendations were presented to the Executive Steering Committee for review and approval.

Improving management of outsourced supply chain system costs for a national retailer

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:34:40 -0600

Metamorphosis worked with a national retailer to better understand the true cost of support for a key business application and strengthen its position to re-negotiate an enterprise IT outsourcing contract.

Client: The client is a fast growing national clothing retailer with operations across Canada.

Situation: In the past two years this national retailer had experienced rapid growth, outsourced all its IT operations, and implemented an enterprise-wide system. Alarmed at difficulties reconciling invoices to the services contract and an strained relationship with the outsourcer, the VP of IT asked Metamorphosis to assist with developing a baseline of IT support costs for the new supply chain system.

Approach: Metamorphosis provided expertise in IT cost management and outsourcing to develop a Cost Map for supporting the supply chain application. Working closely with the client’s and outsourcer’s teams, Metamorphosis reviewed services contract, change requests, monthly invoices, project documentation, support team structure and interviewed key stakeholders. A detailed cost model for application and infrastructure support for the supply chain application was developed and validated with the outsourcer and client. A final set of findings, recommendations and a go-forward road-map to assist with contract renegotiations were provided to the client.

Equitably allocating IT costs at TransAlta

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:22:01 -0600

Metamorphosis enabled TransAlta, a leading energy generator and marketer, to have more constructive, strategic conversations with the business about IT service costs.

Client: TransAlta is the largest independent power generation and wholesale energy marketing company in North America. With output of over 8000 megawatts and 50 power plants, TransAlta has annual revenues in excess of $3B.

Situation: TransAlta wanted to more equitably allocate IT costs to each business unit based on the real consumption of IT applications and services. The Information Technology department provides application, help-desk and infrastructure services and support to all of TransAlta’s facilities across North America.

Approach: Metamorphosis implemented a Cost Map cost model that enabled the TransAlta Information Technology department to improve the way service costs were described and to improve the equitable allocation of costs to each business unit. The scope of the cost model comprised functions and services and involved working with eight IT Managers and a Director over an initial four-month period. The client is now self-supporting using the Cost Map methodology and tools.

Improving IT cost management and benchmarking for TransCanada

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:32:35 -0600

Metamorphosis worked with TransCanada to improve the management of IT costs and provide a reliable, efficient process to do periodic benchmark comparisons.

Client: TransCanada is a leading pipeline and energy company with over 3,500 employees, $30B in assets and $2.6B in operating income. The Information Systems group supports TransCanada’s business lines across North America.

Situation: TransCanada wanted to establish a baseline cost of service model for the entire Information Systems department in order to manage costs and provide a reliable, efficient process to do periodic benchmark comparisons.

Approach: Metamorphosis worked with TransCanada’s Information Services Leadership team to develop a detailed understanding of all IT costs. A Cost Map covering enterprise services, applications services, voice services and desktop systems was rapidly produced through a series of highly effective workshops facilitated by Metamorphosis.

Results: The Cost Map was applied in a wide variety of situations. When the full cost of several activities became apparent, discussions began about options for optimizing the costs, and actions were identified and implemented to reduce the costs. The Cost Map was also used in several outsourcing studies and comparisons. Several projects that were looking for credible cost savings for business cases used values from the Cost Map. Subsequently, the Cost Map was adopted as the official source of cost information for determining the operating cost impacts of projects.

Program management and facilitation of AESO's wind integration initiative

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:15:37 -0600

Metamorphosis provided critical program management and facilitation expertise to support a complex multi-disciplinary wind integration initiative.

Client: The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) is responsible for the safe, reliable and economic planning and operation of Alberta’s competitive wholesale electricity market.

Situation: The Operations and Reliability Group had an ambitious plan to integrate further wind generation into the Alberta energy market. The VP and his program team recognized they needed additional assistance to keep the iniatitive moving forward and meet the expectations of stakeholders.

Approach: Metamorphosis provided an experienced program manager to guide and mentor the client's team, as well as a senior advisor to assist with the completion of the wind power forecasting RFP. Metamorphosis worked closely with the AESO’s Wind Integration Program Director, many departments, external market stakeholders and industry associations. A collaborative and facilitative approach was taken to leverage the skills and capabilities of the entire group, thus developing alignment and commitment across the organization on the next phase of wind integration efforts.

Re-positioning IT as a 'business within a business' at ENMAX

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:22:01 -0600

Metamorphosis assisted ENMAX to develop an IT Cost Model that supported IT re-positioning itself as a “business within a business”.

Client: ENMAX Corporation is an energy distribution, supply and service company, wholly owned by The City of Calgary. ENMAX has shareholder's equity of $1.5B and net earnings of $141.8 million.

Situation: ENMAX Information Technology is a shared service organization. They were looking for a more effective way to show the costs of their services and respond to concerns from their CEO.

Approach: Metamorphosis worked with the ENMAX IT Leadership team to develop a comprehensive cost model for all IT services and assets. The Cost Map of Information Technology Services included workstations, network services, servers, DBA Services, application services and storage. Five ENMAX IT Managers and a Cost Analyst, working side-by-side with Metamorphosis’ consultants, progressively refined a very robust model over a period of months.

Results: The Cost Map summarizes all the true cost of IT services, with supporting details. It is used as input to the IT group’s performance dashboard measuring the cost of services charged to each strategic business unit. ENMAX IT is continuing to evolve its IT service model to align more closely with the needs of the business and position the IT group to operate as a “business within a business”.

Improving the estimating process for $400M of annual projects at Suncor

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:22:01 -0600

Metamorphosis worked with Suncor to design and implement a more consistent and streamlined estimating process for $400M of annual projects.

Client: Near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, Suncor recovers bitumen from oil sands and upgrades it to refinery-ready feedstock and diesel fuel.

Situation: The Sustaining Projects group within Suncor Oil Sands wanted to implement a consistent, effective estimating process that would improve the accuracy of estimates for the $400 million worth of projects they execute each year.

Approach: Metamorphosis facilitated a series of workshops with representatives of all the key roles involved in the estimating process for one of the Program teams. First, the ideal process for estimating was designed. Next roles, accountabilities, standards and implementation considerations were developed. Finally, the team developed implementation and risk mitigation plans.

Results: Within 6 weeks, all members of the Program team were enthusiastically committed to execute the new process, and to measure the compliance with the process. The Manager of Estimating adopted the resulting process as the initial standard to discuss with all the other Program teams. A relationship of trust was developed between the Estimating Function and the Program Team.

Streamlining project management and business planning for the United Way of Canada

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:22:01 -0600

Metamorphosis worked with the United Way of Canada to implement strategic improvements to its project management and business planning practices.

Client: The United Way of Canada works to improve lives and build community by engaging individuals and mobilizing collective action.

Situation: United Way of Canada wanted to improve their membership strategy, practices and approach. A strategic assessment had identified various shortcomings in accuracy of information, levels of support, and a need to update policies and procedures.

Approach: Metamorphosis facilitated a series of workshops with the program Executive Leader and Senior leaders responsible for member services from across Canada. Improvements were identified and subsequently implemented in the areas of engaging executive teams; relationship management, project management, business planning and outcome measurement practices; adoption of standard tools and templates; quarterly review and plan forward sessions; and meeting management.

Improving results for a oil sands operations group $40M project

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:16:20 -0600

Metamorphosis worked with an Oil Sands Operations group to improve the results achieved from a new $40M building centre project.

Client: The client is the Oil Sands business unit of an international oil and gas company with operations in the vicinity of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Situation: Rapid growth in the client’s Oil Sands operations had created a situation where finding space for people to work was difficult, expensive, and in some cases resulted in non-operating staff being located close to operating facilities. One of the steps taken to address the office crunch, improve safety, accommodate growth and enhance teamwork was the creation of a $40 million, 100,000 square foot business center located near Fort McMurray. The executive Sponsor for the business center project wanted to ensure a successful project by having the project team focus on results, rather than effort.

Approach: Metamorphosis participated as a member of the project team and introduced a results-based set of principles and tools that helped the team identify and manage the outcomes required by the project. The primary tool used was a Results Map, which is a graphical picture showing the outcomes for the project, who on the project team was accountable for each outcome, and how the outcomes were linked to each other and to the ultimate goals of the project. This diagram was used as the foundation for project team conversations at every stage of the project, from initiation through progress milestones and finally in the assessment of completion of the two year project.

How an improved relationship led to a successful implementation of a new maintenance process

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:05:25 -0600

Metamorphosis guided a large Oil Sands Plant Maintenance team to improve its working relationship with a key partner and improve a critical maintenance process.

Client: The client is major player in the Alberta Oil Sands with annual revenues in excess of $25 billion.

Situation: The Senior Vice President of Maintenance convinced the Planning Managers that they needed to urgently improve the quality and rigor of maintenance plans. As a result, the team undertook to design and implement a consistent process. However, the managers came to the realization that the relationships between all the process areas and with the supporting functions such as Procurement and Site Services were not at a level that supported an effective implementation of the process.

Approach: Metamorphosis was asked to design and facilitate Relationship Review workshops with the Planning and support staff that would make an immediate improvement in the performance of the relationships between the various areas and functions. Using the 0 to 10 Relationship Management framework, a series of six workshops were held covering all the staff from across the various planning areas and supporting functions. The participants identified the performance levels and types of past relationships, and agreed on the performance levels and types of relationships now required. The participants also generated and discussed a number of potential actions that would improve relationships and planning performance. The Planning Managers reviewed the results of the workshops and took action to implement the suggestions.