The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) plans to implement Oracle’s E-Business Suite. As part of its privatization efforts, SWCC will initially utilize applications including Oracle Financials, Oracle Human Resources Management System (HRMS) and Oracle Procurement to streamline and integrate its business processes from 27 desalination plants and three separate IT sites into a single, online environment.
The impetus for SWCC’s Oracle project is to centralize financial management and create a supply chain foundation to connect its desalination plant production, maintenance and procurement operations to the organization’s Riyadh headquarters.
“SWCC has two key initiatives running in tandem — our privatization efforts, which will gain momentum over the next few years, as well as far-reaching growth targets, which include the construction of three more plants, each costing around $1 billion. In order to administer these programs professionally and according to a set timeline and budget, we need to run more like a private organization, with our core business processes managed centrally, and an increased focus on efficiency and the level of service we provide to suppliers and customers,” stated Loay Musalem, SWCC’s director of IT.
SWCC also expects that its new business infrastructure will address a number of challenges within the organization, including automating the inter-plant transfer process, better management and deployment of human resources, and integrating project expenditure with the overall procurement cycle.
“As Saudi Arabia’s population grows, the demand for a professionally-managed, efficient desalination organization also increases. With its new infrastructure in place, SWCC also has the ability to export its expertise to other markets and create a culture of customer service that will help it maintain market leadership should other utility companies enter the Saudi market at some juncture,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Dosary, MD, Oracle Saudi.
The Oracle implementation at the SWCC has already commenced, with Oracle partner Ernst&Young providing on-site consulting expertise. SWCC’s partnership with Oracle delivers a significant foothold for the software provider in the Middle East’s increasingly privatized utility sector.
