Chevron, Award, Shared Services

Chevron’s Winning Shared Services Strategy - Planning and Communication

Secrets to Success
Chevron's Winning Shared Services Strategy: Planning and Communication

HROA Europe recognized the outstanding contributions of the European HR transformation industry’s leading organizations at an awards ceremony held at HRO World Europe Conference™ in November 2007. The Awards recognize and reward the achievements of some of Europe’s most innovative and dedicated HR transformation industry leaders, suppliers, and practitioners.

2007’s Shared Services Project of the Year Award went to Chevron. The use of highly detailed communications plans to help create momentum and support a complex Shared Services development program at Chevron was just one of the factors that won the company the award.

Chevron had several clear goals for its Shared Services project:

• migrating personnel data from different legacy systems in every country onto one ERP (SAP) system
• implementing self-service functionality
• establishing an internal Shared Service Center
• transferring UK payroll to a new system and outsourcing all payroll administration.
   

Judges were impressed both by the strength of the company’s ambition and also the thoroughness of its planning and attention to detail. For example, Chevron’s Change and Customer Relationship Management Program includes service standard agreements with agreed turnaround times and accuracy rates plus a commitment to regular feedback through an annual online survey, monthly reviews with embedded HR groups and monthly employee and manager phone surveys.

What drives Chevron’s success? We asked them just that.

HROA: Chevron established clear goals for its shared services project. To what do you attribute your success in meeting those goals?

Chevron: Using our Project Management Process to our advantage, setting clear goals and direction for the team.  We regularly reviewed the scope of our project and engaged with our stakeholders to feedback progress. Decisions needed to be ratified by our Decision Review Board (a key group of senior personnel, with a vested interest in making the project a success) which ensured that we had fully researched issues, potential delays, and any changes to the agreed process before recommending any changes. Regular team meetings ensured that the project team were up to date and on board at all times. 

HROA: What have been the greatest challenges you’ve met in the development/operations of your shared services project, and how have you overcome them (or how are you addressing them)?

Chevron: The greatest challenge is definitely in terms of change management, which is an ongoing process. We have an intensive multi-media approach, and rather than waiting for the customer or business to come to us, we regularly seek their feedback in a variety of ways: we invite ourselves to meetings to stimulate discussion and solicit feedback; conduct an annual online customer satisfaction survey; and solicit feedback via informal telephone surveys on a fortnightly basis. We also market ourselves and the self-service functionality that we introduced via emails and with posters which have been diarised in a communications calendar.

HROA: What has been the biggest surprise in your shared services project?

Chevron: Upon conducting a look back session at the close of our project a surprising comment was that although our stakeholders felt we had an effective communication strategy we could've communicated and engaged them more. We have taken this on board and have ensured that in our latest project (introducing four more business units in Europe to our ERP platform) we have facilitated a support network for all of our stakeholders by arranging a face to face meeting for them, and the project team, at kick-off and at regular intervals throughout the project; an even more intense program than in previous projects.

HROA: Do you have any advice for colleagues at other companies that are establishing or operating shared services projects?  

Chevron: Never underestimate the impact that a thorough change management and communication plan will have, no matter the size of the project. Getting your stakeholders onboard early in your project and keeping them informed of decisions as they're made will provide immeasurable benefit once you go-live.