Manage HR Data Through An Acquisition

The Challenge

In October 2016, Mouchel (a UK engineering organisation) was acquired from the Kier Group by WSP. As part of the deal, a Transitional Service Agreement (TSA) was put in place between Kier and WSP for the continuation of HR and Payroll shared services with the full transfer of these services taking place with effect from 1st July 2017.

At the time, Mouchel had its own HR team but with transactional and administrative HR provided by the Kier Shared Service team.

I was the only Mouchel representative to be asked to be part of the team working with both Kier and WSP shared service team management in integrating the HR, Payroll and Fleet functions ahead of the “live” date.

Project Delivered

I took an active part in regular project team calls to manage the integration of all shared service functions for Mouchel employees and systems, in particular for the HR and payroll functions from using Connect (a SAP based system) to Business World.

Even though I had not been working with Mouchel for very long ahead of this time, I had got to grips with the myriad of contract types, policies, payroll extras and so on. Plus the use and quirks of the Connect system had been a large part of the work I had already undertaken with Mouchel making me an integral part of the project team.

I was able to provide information and advice to the WSP shared service teams receiving Mouchel employee data, “translate” any complex queries between the two shared service teams, find answers to any discrepancies on the parallel payroll testing, and keep Mouchel senior leaders informed on the integration process.

Additionally, I worked with the Mouchel and WSP internal comms team and WSP HR team to engage all transferring Mouchel employees in checking their own data held after integration via the Business World ESS function. This included producing guidance notes on use of the system despite only using for the first time myself as part of this project team.

Outcome

Key outcomes of my area of the project were:

• Senior manager feedback that the HR elements of the integration was a huge success

• Payroll and associated systems changes happened on time and with no material impact on Mouchel staff

• The employee data checked post integration was able to be used by the senior HR team for EDI reporting