UNICEF

SAP Customer Success Story
Public Sector
UNICEF’s mission is
UNICEF
to ensure the rights and
WORKING ON A GLOBAL SCALE TO HELP CHILDREN
well-being of children
throughout the world.
UNICEF – the United Nations Children’s Fund – has a unique
As part of an initiative to
mandate: to make the world fit for children. Funded primarily
improve its operational
by voluntary contributions, UNICEF manages programs in 245
field locations spread over 158 countries. The goal of these initia-
efficiency, the organiza-
tives is to improve children’s health, nutrition, education, and
tion is using SAP solu-
safety while providing protection for children who are at risk
tions to streamline core
from harm, abuse, and violence, including war and conflict.
processes in finance and
logistics.
A task this big requires not only substantial funding, but also a
high degree of operational efficiency. UNICEF’s Information
Technology Division, led by CIO Andre Spatz, is committed to
helping the organization realize its full potential. “Our goal is to
do the best possible job at improving the lives of children,” says
Spatz. “That’s why we have positioned IT as an enabler in terms
of operational excellence, of efficiency and effectiveness; and
from that perspective, IT has become mission critical.”
Responsible to its donors and sponsors, UNICEF produces a
steady stream of progress reports. “Yes, we’re an organization
entirely funded by voluntary contributions, and we also gener-
ate a lot of revenue from our greeting card sales,” says Spatz.
Of the organization’s 7,000 employees, approximately 84% work
in field locations, and communication between the field and
headquarters – whether at the transactional, informational, or
strategic level – is critically important. “We have to create and
maintain a world-class information network,” says Spatz, “a
nexus that handles programs, budgets, supply information,
and human resource data quickly and efficiently. In many ways,
children’s lives and welfare depend on how well we do this.”

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GLOBAL CHALLENGES
BUILDING AN IT BACKBONE
In the mid 1990s, UNICEF’s senior leadership launched a drive
Fixing these problems meant moving ahead on many fronts.
to enhance and streamline the agency. For the IT division, this
Over time, UNICEF’s IT group migrated to an Internet- and
meant finding ways to integrate and empower far-flung field
intranet-based network, worked with telecom providers to
offices – a task that seemed particularly daunting at the time.
enhance the communications structure, developed a standard-
Spatz puts it this way: “We had about 158 countries, which –
ized desktop environment for field offices, and in 1997, selected
through no fault of their own – acted like 158 separate organiza-
the SAP® R/3® solution to handle logistics and financials for
tions. Each had a stand-alone legacy system; there was no com-
headquarters facilities. UNICEF looked closely at all major ERP
providers before making a decision, but ultimately gave SAP the
nod after subjecting the SAP R/3 solution to a thorough cost/
“You don’t build a relationship on a
benefit analysis. UNICEF’s decision makers also looked favorably
quarter-by-quarter basis. SAP has
on SAP’s multicurrency, multicultural capabilities as well as the
really learned to listen to the CIOs,
company’s long-term strength and technology leadership.
to try to find out what the issues are
Equally important, Spatz and his team liked the way that SAP R/3
and to change things accordingly.”
could be adapted to the needs of both private and public sector
Andre Spatz, CIO – Information Technology Division, UNICEF
enterprises. “We concluded that SAP R/3 would be a very good
fit for UNICEF,” says Spatz. “SAP’s ability to help us manage pro-
mon desktop environment; and long-distance costs were so high
curement, product sales, marketing, and distribution in these
that most offices could only afford to dial in to headquarters once
areas was really a decisive factor.”
a week.” The connectivity problem was so severe that vital data
had to be printed out or saved to a diskette, then shipped via diplo-
The implementation team dealt with a number of challenges,
matic pouch to New York for entry into the central systems.
not least of which was intense scrutiny by the UN itself. Since
the SAP R/3 solution represented the first nonproprietary enter-
The situation at UNICEF’s headquarters facilities (New York,
prise system used within the UN family, UNICEF’s team worked
Geneva, and Copenhagen) wasn’t much better. There were more
in something of a fishbowl atmosphere. Despite this pressure,
than 100 legacy systems handling processes like logistics, finan-
UNICEF forged ahead, eventually replacing 110 legacy systems
cials, and human resources. Because it was so difficult to share
in the headquarters facilities alone. “Implementation was done
data, senior management had a hard time gaining an accurate
on time and on budget in 24 months,” says Spatz. “That was
picture of the organization’s fiscal status and staffing levels. Re-
quite an achievement – particularly because we had to continue
ports, when finally compiled, tended to be many months out of
doing our current jobs at the same time.”
date, while the information they contained was often inaccurate.

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STREAMLINED PROCESSES
UNICEF also uses logistic solutions from SAP to manage the
Since going live in mid-1999, well before the Y2K deadline,
design, production, and distribution of its greeting card business.
UNICEF has realized a number of important benefits from the
Functions such as card sales, marketing, warehousing, and ful-
logistic and financial modules of SAP R/3. One area that has seen
fillment are more tightly integrated and automated, resulting
major streamlining is the preparation of financial data. Today
in better margins for the business unit responsible for card devel-
the time needed to generate financial statements has been
opment and sales. One example of a new-found efficiency is the
reduced by more than 50%; however, Spatz notes that “Time is
integration into SAP of the card artwork review; product man-
not the only issue; the quality of the data is vastly improved as
agers and salespeople can now make decisions based on images
well. Everybody in UNICEF now has an accurate view of our
that are displayed within the context of information about avail-
financial status, and we can do much more with our internal
ability of components and product cost estimates.
resources.”
The net result of these and other process improvements has been
Another example of process improvement is found in the area
the rationalization of human resources towards cost efficiency.
of logistics. Prior to implementing SAP R/3, it was difficult to en-
Liberated from doing repetitive administrative tasks, many staff
sure the timely delivery of supplies and equipment for program
members have been shifted to areas that support field projects
implementation and office use. Obtaining anything, from vehi-
more directly. CIO Spatz is justifiably proud of the improve-
ments. “Today our field offices are all part of a single global
family,” he says. “It’s much easier to share information on what
“Every dollar we spend on IT is a dollar
works, what doesn’t work; how to do things, how to train peo-
that might have been allocated to one
ple. Everybody in the organization is aware of UNICEF’s strategic
approach and identity. It’s a big cultural shift.”
of our programs. So we have to be very
sure that any investment in our systems
LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD
will ultimately make the world a better
UNICEF is currently working on a number of enhancements
place for children.”
to its existing SAP system; it recently went live with a migration
to the newly released SAP R/3 Enterprise solution. Spatz and his
Andre Spatz, CIO – Information Technology Division, UNICEF
team moved ahead with this upgrade for several reasons; not
only will SAP R/3 Enterprise make it easier to add new function-
cles to vaccines to paperclips, required entering data in multiple
ality, it also positions UNICEF for a future move toward a Web-
legacy applications. “Today that cycle time is measured not in
based, e-business environment. “SAP R/3 Enterprise allows us
weeks and months, but in days and hours,” reports Spatz. “The
to move forward on our own timetable,” says Spatz. “We can add
catalogues are on line, requests can be made via the system, and
value in incremental chunks without changing the entire
all the component processes are amalgamated.”
system each time. This has been a major issue for us.”

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www.sap.com /contactsap
PARTNERS FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
UNICEF is also exploring ways to improve the process of tracking
and managing grants – a key component of the agency’s fund-
UNICEF has made noteworthy progress toward the goal of achiev-
ing. In addition to general financial support, sponsors often ear-
ing operational excellence. Today, roughly 93% of all funding
mark additional contributions for specific health, education, or
goes directly to country programs, with only 7% allocated to
relief projects. UNICEF has found that keeping abreast of these
management and administration. CIO Spatz is quick to point out
grants is similar to managing sales – with end-to-end processes,
that his IT group has relied on many partners to help make this
including contract management, order status, progress reports,
great leap forward, but that SAP solutions have played a key role.
and even lead tracking. “Today these tasks are done manually
“The partnership between SAP and UNICEF begins with tech-
with legacy systems,” says Spatz, “but we want to integrate
nology, training, and support, but it ultimately depends on mu-
everything into our core system.” At present, UNICEF – along
tual understanding and communication,” he says. “Because we
with a handful of other SAP customers – is participating in a
rely on SAP to help manage our core systems, it’s very important
pilot program for SAP’s new Grants Management-Grantee mod-
that we understand where they’re heading, what the roadblocks
ule, sharing ideas on functionality and business requirements
are, what our role is, and where SAP can put its functionality to
with SAP developers and product managers. “It’s a two-way street,”
work for us. Right now, we’re finding a lot of areas where SAP
says Spatz, “We gain the ability to influence the development of the
can add value to what UNICEF does.”
grants management software, while SAP gains insight into how to
make this solution work for public sector clients.”
HR is another area in which SAP is working with UNICEF to help
the agency streamline processes and enhance operating efficien-
cy. UNICEF and SAP finalized an agreement to bring HR under
the SAP R/3 umbrella, adding new functionality in terms of ca-
reer development, compensation review, hiring practices, and
other processes, which will be tightly integrated with other areas
such as financials, controlling, and funds management.
50 066 434 (04/05)
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