How AG Fueled Finance Transformation with RPA Automation: Customer Success Story

A UK-based upstream Oil & Gas company pursued digital transformation by automating SAP processes to enhance operational efficiency. Identifying substantial opportunities within their SAP framework, they aimed to streamline workflows through innovative RPA technologies.

Prior to partnering with AG, the company grappled with manual-intensive SAP operations, experiencing inefficiencies in Finance, Supply Chain management, and Maintenance processes. This resulted in delays, errors, and increased costs, prompting the need for scalable automation solutions to achieve transformational goals.

Leveraging AG’s SAP and RPA expertise, the company deployed tailored UiPath RPA solutions across Finance, Supply Chain, and Maintenance functions. This strategic implementation reduced manual effort, minimised errors, and accelerated task completion, driving significant operational efficiencies. The seamless integration of RPA technology positioned the company for scalability and future innovation.

Discover how AG’s proven SAP and RPA solutions can transform your organisation. Contact us today to explore our tailored automation approach and accelerate your journey towards enhanced operational efficiency and digital excellence.

Back in 2019 this leading UK based Upstream Oil & Gas Exploration & Production company had initiated a Digital Transformation programme but weren’t sure whether RPA would present opportunities for them, if they could make it work and where it could add value. They had been working with SAP specialists AG for some time and were beginning to explore where RPA could be leveraged in the SAP space.

A long-standing team member was leaving the business representing a ‘Key Man’ risk as this person was solely responsible for running a complex 85 step process for safety critical ‘Barrier Model’ reports taking +4 hrs to run each week. We suggested to pilot a bot and were able to get the bot up and running in a few weeks. In the following 2 years the bot has been running daily and has paid for itself many times over as well as adding extra value to the business. The ‘Barrier Model’ report pilot was a great example of how RPA could be exploited but the next challenge was how to identify and select other high impact Use Cases.

Through AG’s ‘Engage Model’ potential Use Cases are gathered, assessed and prioritised (by ROI or strategic importance) and then delivered with many new bots coming on stream each year.

The ‘Barrier Model’ report RPA pilot was the catalyst for what has become a huge success story with an extended pilot looking first looking at SAP Finance and subsequently a full review across the wider SAP landscape. “This is quite a typical CRAWL > WALK > RUN journey to start small and prove things out building infrastructure and confidence and then scaling up - including exploring complementary technologies such as Intelligent Forms, Workflows, OCR/IDP, etc” says Nick Champion, Director at AG “as experts in both SAP and RPA we are uniquely positioned to support the SAP community to realise the amazing potential waiting to be tapped from RPA”.

There is a drive to exploit the full potential of automation and through AG’s ‘Engage Model’ scores of potential Use Cases are gathered, assessed and prioritised with examples across SAP:

Finance (25+): Balance Sheet Rec’s, Auto Accruals, Treasury Loan Account Clearing, etc.
Supply Chain (10+): Material & Service Masters, GR > AP, PO Accruals & PO Closure, etc.
Maintenance (10+): Work Order Closure & various Reports, SES, Deferrals, etc.

The RPA investment has yielded great benefits with high impact Use Cases deployed across all areas of SAP including Finance, Supply Chain & Maintenance and with many more highly attractive Use Cases already in the pipeline. RPA is now firmly embedded in their culture and the business now has Use Cases. Santosh Sundar, RPA Technical Solution Lead at AG explains: “Our goal was to help exploit RPA’s true potential; by first identifying potential use cases, prioritising these and then directly automating ‘quick-win’ business cases. These use cases were then delivered using UiPath’s ground-breaking Hyper-Automation platform to help drive operational efficiency. The business believed in the strategic importance of pursuing an RPA initiative within their wider Digital Innovation program, but they were looking to turn their ideas into tangible results.”

Apart from the above, numerous ‘Key Man’ risks mitigated together with operational improvements (upgraded daily to weekly, etc).

Using UiPath RPA to automate various processes AG have helped to greatly improve the efficacy and timeliness of the Financial Close as well as various processes across Supply Chain and Maintenance. In so doing this initiative has enabled the business teams to significantly reduce workload at peak times, to minimise ‘Key Man’ risks, to reduce errors and affording more time to focus on greater value-add and strategic work.