ERP Application Architect, NGT

Position Overview

The ERP Application Architect will join a small team of business function process leads, IT domain leaders and the ERP vendor representatives known as the Program Initiation Team who will work together to take the first steps in this journey.

The team will work closely together to achieve a set of the common objectives below ultimately leading to the initiation of the global program and the creation of all the articles needed to launch the project in 2025.

This first, necessary step will ensure Ralph Lauren understands the key phases, impact, business resources and timeline required to begin the program.

This is an opportunity to join one of the largest investments that the company will be making over the next decade, and we seek talent that is excited to help shape the future, being part of the journey and eventually taking this knowledge back into the business.

The purpose of this role is to work within a small team to manage the creation of a plan to implement the new ERP solution into RL.

The role will involve working with the small team and the preferred ERP vendor to achieve the objectives below with the primary focus being to define how the NGT ERP TO-BE application will be configured and set up within RL and the existing ERP systems functionality accommodated within it.

In addition, the definition of an interim state and the migration package to support the gradual roll out is required from this role.

This role will have a responsibility in all the objectives that are outlined in the subsequent sub section.

This role will be primarily focused on delivering the necessary work packages associated with the objectives to stand up the new ERP into the RL landscape, and creating the necessary interim state whilst RL runs the two systems in parallel.

It will be the role of the lead to work with the other domain teams and business to define the approach on how we would leverage ERP to achieve the business goals and what areas would be better solved by an edge system.

Program Initiation Team objectives

a.Create a detailed and documented understanding of the current RL IT AS-IS application environment across all 3 regions.

This includes all objects in scope for transition on both an interim and permanent basis. These objects include but are not limited to interfaces, data, reporting, access, third party systems as well as RL ERP and Edge systems.

b.Create a detailed and documented understanding of the current RL IT AS-IS infrastructure environment across all 3 regions.

This includes all infrastructure objects in scope for transition on both an interim and permanent basis.

c.Creation of an interim state framework that outlines how the RL systems will need to be set up during the period of transition to the TO-BE status.

d.Agree how the current systems will be maintained during this interim state identifying when investment will be reduced so that the existing platforms move into a maintenance only status.

e.Definition of the migration package, toolset, scope and approach that will allow for the continued roll out of the new platform over the forthcoming years facilitating a smooth transition of the company as it gradually transitions over.

f.Finalize the scope of the TO-BE ERP system, agreeing where the functionality will reside (ERP versus EDGE) within which system.

This will also include mapping out the dependencies on the edge systems within RL at both a data object and interface level.

g.Finalize infrastructure and related security solutions to support the TO-BE ERP system.

h.Define the operational requirements to ensure that the new platform meets the needs of the business to meet the RTO / RPO agreements and that all the necessary reporting, alerting etc is in line with RL standards.

This includes items such as automation in areas of data archiving, scheduling, alerting etc.

i.Define the integration strategy and approach along with the detailed to create a seamless transition which provides flexibility and agility to provide a competitive advantage to the business going forward.

j.Create an automated testing strategy identifying the approach and tools that RL should adopt to speed up the acceptance of the systems, increasing the quality, reducing the time to introduce new changes, enabling volume testing to simulate peak workloads.

This approach will accommodate both RL generated functional and vendor system releases.

k.Create an application documentation repository containing all information for both the AS-IS environment and the TO-BE systems going forward.

The intent will be to create detailed information in an approved tool or framework that will be used ongoing throughout the project and beyond.

l.Create an overview of the approach for data migration, outlining the plan, ownership, roles and responsibilities and any tools required to perform the cutover from the existing ERP systems including the interim state.

m.Identify the impact of the new NGT ERP system on the data analytics and reporting capabilities within RL. Identify how the new solution will best integrate into the data analytics domain and outline the impact on current reporting solutions and how to remediate.

n.Design and implement with the partnership of the NGT ERP SI and Information Security a clear Cyber Security framework for the Hybrid cloud design based on NIS and CIS standards.

o.Create and implement the transition to support documentation with the TO-BE ERP system with clear RACI matrix between RL Technology I&O, Security, Applications, and the TO-BE ERP system provider.

The replacement of the 3 x ERP systems is the major objective of the program, enabling a transformation to a new operating model.

During the period of the NGT ERP deployment there will be a significant period where the AS-IS environment and the TO-BE environment must co-exist together.

This will require detailed reporting to be maintained across the two platforms, allowing the business to perform its regular reporting as well as maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements.

In addition, the rollout of the new platform will be performed on a regional basis, probably cutting over by country; therefore, the migration to the new platform must be very carefully considered across all channels.

The migrating platforms will be a combination of the current SAP AFS system, the IP platform supporting retail in NA and EMEA and D365 in APAC.

Understanding how this will be managed is important to the success of the program.

Defining the impact on the current platforms and how the new ERP platform will manage this and creating and agreeing the strategy and then the detailed plan is a major deliverable from this role.

This role will work very closely with the RL IT application, business leads and vendor to define the approach for both of these areas.

Initially the role will focus on defining the current landscape, collecting all of the required information to describe the AS-IS environment.

This will be across all 3 regions and will focus on the ERP systems in each of those regions. Agreement must be drawn up with the other application lead to agree on scope, ensuring that D365, IP and SAP AFS are all being managed.

The strategy and plan must consider all aspects of the interim state and migration including reporting. Once the approach for all the work packages has been agreed, identification of the level of effort and then how the program will be delivered is required.

This will include the definition of roles and responsibilities of how the service will be delivered and maintained. Of criticality will be the need to ensure that the migration is performed in an expedited manner to ensure a smooth cutover across the channels.

Clarity about what and where data will reside in the new landscape is critical as well as how the system will be configured.

Working closely with the ERP vendor is crucial.

Support will be provided to plan and collect the information, managing the data collected and enabling the lead to focus on the activities, rather than the repository of information and the details to create the plan.

The role will also ensure that there are formal processes in place to sign off the data collected, with various gates being defined through the process to ensure that teams are bought into the approach.

The ERP application lead will also be seen as an evangelist for the program, helping to educate, raise awareness, grow confidence in those around them.

They will become a focal point for the program and will generally help to raise the profile and understanding of the program within the company.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Work with all the IT, business, vendor teams to ensure the scope is clearly understood and that there appears to be no gaps.
• Create a clear picture of the current AS-IS, documenting the data flows and dependencies and integration points for the current ERP systems by region.

Assignment of ownership for a specific ERP application (either SAP or D365) will be performed.

• Ensure that the ownership (business and IT) is clear within the ERP system of the various business functions and that there are assigned business owners for each of the functional areas.
• Work with the nominated business members of the project to identify and assign responsibility at a functional and data entity level where possible.
• Align the system functionality with the business process flows so that the project teams can create flows that ensure clarity of ownership, within the process and dependency.
• Identify and quantify the impact on the interim state identifying the impact on the period where the systems must run in parallel.

Outline the technical impact and create a plan to deliver the requirements at a high level to ensure that this can be undertaken as part of the program.

This also includes the necessary business verification and reporting required.

Identify and create the migration and final cut over plan from an ERP perspective, detailing the impact and create the subsequent budget and plan to meet the business needs.

This also includes the necessary business verification and reporting required.

Identify gaps in any of the respective process or technical areas in the TO-BE solution so that mitigation can be created (possibly at a later stage) to remedy.

This will entail working closely with the TO-BE vendor team.

Work with the vendor team to identify all customizations and extensions across the ERP (SAP or D365) systems, aligning this to the processes created and work with the vendor to then identify if there are gaps in the TO-BE state.

The intent is to highlight these to ensure that they can be referenced during the design phase.

• Prepare the various teams as much as possible for the upcoming mobilization. Use the engagement to educate, but also to listen and absorb and represent back the findings of the teams.
• Create an approach to testing that will enable an agile approach to developing and releasing new capabilities that encompasses the ERP systems to create a common method across the RL systems in scope.
• Working with the various teams develop the high level cut over approach by system by object by phase to include but not limited to :

oInventory

oFinancial management controls

oProduct migration

oRetail location

oMaster data

• Assist in identifying training needs to facilitate knowledge required by the teams.
• Develop and maintain individual and integrated project plans, including scope, objectives and milestones, deliverables, risks and issues.
• Agree an overall approach for the capturing of business requirements, documentation, testing criteria in an efficient manner that will allow for the a more agile approach to managing change going forward.
• Assist in defining the strategy for the development and support of the system ongoing.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

Technology and management experience needed. Ralph Lauren will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of the law, including any applicable fair chance laws.