BHARAT PETROLEUM
DELIVERING ACTIONABLE INSIGHT
“When people saw the software in ac-
tion, they began to understand the
power of business analytics. They soon
realized that SAP NetWeaver BI is not
just about technology, but that it de-
livers real business value.”
K. B. Narayanan, General Manager,
ERP Competence Center,
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
SAP Customer Success Story
Oil and Gas
AND BUSINESS VALUE – FAST
QUICK FACTS
Company
• Name: Bharat Petroleum Corporation
Limited (BPCL)
• Location: Mumbai, India
• Industry: Oil and gas
• Products and services: Crude oil refining;
manufacture and retail of solvents,
petrochemicals, lubricants, and fuel
• Revenue: US$27.8 billion
• Employees: More than 14,000
• Web site: www.bharatpetroleum.com
• Implementation partner: SAP® Consulting
Challenges and Opportunities
• Enhance functionality across all areas
of the enterprise
• Enable faster, more efficient decision
making
• Provide employees with accurate,
up-to-date facts and figures
• Streamline reporting and analysis
• Optimize use of SAP NetWeaver®
Business Intelligence
(SAP NetWeaver BI), functionality that
is now known as the SAP NetWeaver
Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver
BW) component
Objectives
• Upgrade to the latest version of the
SAP for Oil & Gas (SAP for O&G) solution
portfolio
• Upgrade to the latest release of SAP
NetWeaver BI
SAP Solutions and Services
• SAP ERP application
• SAP for O&G
• SAP NetWeaver BW
• SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence
Accelerator software, functionality that is
now known as SAP NetWeaver Business
Warehouse Accelerator software
• SAP Consulting
Implementation Highlights
• Implemented new functionality and
performed upgrade smoothly and
successfully
• Expanded the adoption of SAP NetWeaver
BW across the enterprise
Why SAP
• Extensive existing SAP software−based
landscape
• Industry-specific functionality that is
critical for the BPCL value chain
• Total of 9 out of top 10 oil companies
leverage SAP software
• Good local presence in India
Benefits
• Better, more accurate decision making
• Faster, more efficient reporting and
analysis
• Enhanced access to business analytics
for more employees
• Increased sales generated by customer
loyalty card programs
Third-Party Integration
• Database: Oracle
• Hardware: Hewlett-Packard
• Operating system: HP-UX
Indian oil giant Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has Keeping Technology Up-to-Date
always been keen to ensure its IT delivers real business value. That Senior managers at BPCL decided it
means streamlining business processes and increasing efficiency was time to upgrade the core enter-
prise resource planning software to the
by keeping abreast of technology trends and implementing powerful latest version of SAP ERP and to further
solutions. Against this background, staff from BPCL’s own compe- extend functionality from SAP for O&G.
Their motivation? To streamline busi-
tence center introduced new functionality from the SAP for Oil & Gas ness processes by giving employees
(SAP for O&G) solution portfolio. What’s more, they transformed access to some of the most up-to-date
technology on the market. SAP for
the way SAP NetWeaver® Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI), O&G solutions provide industry-specific
functionality that is now known as the SAP NetWeaver Business support – from the extraction of raw
materials to refining to selling finished
Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) component, was deployed – goods. SAP for O&G helps BPCL man-
giving employees throughout the entire enterprise access to critical age the entire downstream hydrocarbon
value chain from the refining of crude
facts and figures. oil through to the transportation, distri-
bution, and sales of petroleum products.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, BPCL company’s success is a strong, stable,

came into being following nationaliza-
tion of Burmah Shell in 1976. It is the
country’s second-largest oil company
and was ranked on the 2008 Global
FORTUNE 500 list. BPCL specializes
in refining crude oil and in the manufac-
ture and retail of a wide range of petro-
leum products for both industrial and
domestic use. As an operator of retail
gas stations, convenience stores, and
liquefied petroleum gas distributors
throughout the country, it is a well-known,
high-visibility brand in India. The company
currently employs a workforce of over
14,000 and posted revenues of more
than US$27.8 billion in 2007.
Innovative Approach to Technology
Over the past decade, BPCL has seen
the business go from strength to strength.
And it is on course for more growth in
the years to come. Underpinning the
and state-of-the-art IT infrastructure –
based on SAP® software. “We made the
transition from our disparate legacy sys-
tems to SAP software almost 10 years
ago. And we haven’t looked back,” ex-
plains K. B. Narayanan, general manag-
er of the ERP competence center at
BPCL.
The initial project was a first in India:
rather than simply selecting a few func-
tions, BPCL opted for an innovative,
big-bang approach – introducing the full
scope of functionality available at the
time (and now found in the SAP ERP
application and SAP for O&G). This set
a precedent, and the company has con-
tinued to pioneer new technologies and
implementation strategies ever since.
For Narayanan, the company’s relation-
ship with SAP is an ongoing journey.
“We’ve come a long way since we set
out, but we’re not done yet,” he says.
“We made the transition from our
disparate legacy systems to SAP soft-
ware almost 10 years ago. And we
haven’t looked back.”
K. B. Narayanan, General Manager,
ERP Competence Center,
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
Around the same time, decision mak-
ers took a closer look at the way SAP
NetWeaver BI was being deployed.
The software had been installed some
years previously, and management felt
it was time to optimize and expand its
usage. SAP NetWeaver BI integrates
data from across the enterprise and
beyond. It provides employees with the
tools they need to retrieve vital facts
and figures and transform them into
valuable business insight – fast.
 “We’ve developed a strong, long-term partnership with SAP. And we defi-
nitely want to build on it. SAP software offers a tremendous opportunity
to innovate and find flexible solutions to specific business challenges. . . .
And we’re very excited about what the future holds.”

K. B. Narayanan, General Manager, ERP Competence Center,

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

In-House Expertise
At BPCL’s ERP competence center,
certified experts test, implement, and
maintain the company’s extensive SAP
software−based environment. The
100-strong team has extensive experi-
ence and hands-on knowledge of SAP
products, which is extremely useful
“We are in frequent contact with
experts from SAP Consulting. They
are only a phone call away whenever
we need them. And we certainly
wouldn’t go anywhere else for advice.”
K. B. Narayanan, General Manager,
ERP Competence Center,
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
when supporting end-user queries and
issues. “Thanks to our highly skilled
resources, we were able to successfully
perform the upgrade and implement
software from SAP for O&G ourselves,”
says Narayanan. “However, we are in
frequent contact with experts from SAP
Consulting. They are only a phone call
away whenever we need them. And we
certainly wouldn’t go anywhere else for
advice.”
Parallel to the upgrade, competence
center staff went ahead with the task of
internally checking how SAP NetWeaver
BI was being used. “We were quite
surprised to find the component wasn’t
being leveraged to its full potential,” ex-
plains Narayanan. On the back of these
findings, a quick-action team was estab-
lished to explore ways to drive SAP
NetWeaver BI adoption across the
enterprise and enhance its business
value.
Facts and Figures for Everyone
In the past, SAP NetWeaver BI had
been predominantly leveraged by man-
agers from various regions and at com-
pany headquarters. But Narayanan’s
team discovered that middle manage-
ment and sales staff could also benefit
from having timely access to key perfor-
mance indicators. “Waiting for charts
and graphs to be passed down from
the head office often takes time,” says
Narayanan. “But our people in the field
need to see the relevant business met-
rics as soon as they’re available. It’s
not just top executives who make im-
portant decisions every day.” So the
team went about giving more employees
access to SAP NetWeaver BI. They
increased the number of user licenses
from 200 to 600 and demonstrated the
power of SAP NetWeaver BI in various
business contexts. What’s more, to
help ensure optimum performance, they
upgraded to the latest version of the
component.
As part of the initiative, decision makers
opted to integrate data from BPCL’s
customer loyalty card programs and
give sales managers at retail outlets
access to the software – a smart move,
as Narayanan explains: “Using the in-
sight gained using SAP NetWeaver BI,
our sales force developed strategies to
increase membership in the loyalty pro-
grams. This move has helped dramati-
cally increase the business generated
by the card schemes. In fact, at least
30% of the growth can be attributed to
SAP NetWeaver BI.”
And it’s not just sales force that bene-
fited from SAP NetWeaver BI: employ-
ees at all levels of the enterprise are
now using the powerful analytical com-
ponent. As a result, they have better
insight into vital business metrics. More-
over, decision making, reporting, and
analysis are now much faster. “When
people saw the software in action, they
began to understand the power of busi-
ness analytics. They soon realized that
SAP NetWeaver BI is not just about
technology, but that it delivers real busi-
ness value,” says a satisfied Narayanan.
Simpler, Smoother, Faster
With the volume of data and the number
of users constantly on the rise, BPCL
has decided to introduce SAP NetWeaver
Business Warehouse Accelerator (SAP
NetWeaver BW Accelerator) software.
This solution comprises state-of-the-art
SAP software and high-performance
servers from leading hardware vendors.
It leverages aggregation and compres-
sion technology to deliver more accurate
results even faster.
“User acceptance and satisfaction are
closely linked to the user experience,”
explains Narayanan. “By offering an
even swifter, smoother way of calling
up information, we can encourage more
people to use our business intelligence
software. And this, in turn, will help
streamline decision making, boost pro-
ductivity, and improve the way we do
business overall.”
 www.sap.com /contactsap

The Journey Continues

Once SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator

is up and running, BPCL expects to
increase the number of users to ap-
proximately 1,000 – making powerful
functionality and business analytics
available to an even broader employee
base. BPCL has invested considerable
time and effort in establishing a cutting-
edge IT infrastructure and specialist in-
house resources – and the organization
is reaping significant benefits. But the
story does not stop here: “We’ve de-
veloped a strong, long-term partnership
with SAP. And we definitely want to
build on it,” explains Narayanan. “SAP
software offers a tremendous opportu-
nity to innovate and find flexible solu-
tions to specific business challenges.
We’re keen to explore the possibilities
a service-oriented architecture can offer
BPCL. And we’re very excited about
what the future holds.”

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