DANIEL PFEFFER | CONSULTANT IT HR

KEI-OLIVER GIRAUD | RETAIL TRAINING MANAGER

Harmonized training processes from the cloud

SAP SuccessFactors means far greater transparency and efficiency in personnel development processes

40INSIGHTS | TTS FORUM 2018

A premium fashion house is using the SAP SuccessFactors

cloud solution to harmonize global training processes

for more than 14,000 staff members, making the leap from

manually updated Excel lists to a state-of-the-art digital

knowledge platform in the space of nine months.

A global training program run by

HUGO BOSS University already placed

the fashion and lifestyle company in

good stead, with staff completing

training in 2,500 classroom-based and

40,000 online courses each year. All

the same, although everything looked

great on the face of it, there was a huge

amount of administrative work going

on behind the scenes. The Learning

Management System (LMS) was out of

date, the training organization was

cumbersome and processes were sup-

ported by Lotus Notes, Outlook, Excel

and home-made applications – all in

all, the sheer volume of incoherent

processes meant a lot of work and

errors. The demand for training was

being met directly by three different

departments, but also by the subsidi-

aries.

The aim was clear – to create efficient,

standardized processes, put in place

a technology that can take care of

everything and give staff more re-

sponsibility for planning and imple-

menting their own training in the

spirit of user empowerment.

From kick-off to live operation in nine monthsAs a cloud solution that can be used to

replace old systems and digitalize, har-

monize and transparently map train-

ing and reporting processes, SAP Suc-

cessFactors was an obvious choice. tts

was picked as the implementation

partner and a joint kick-off meeting

was held to analyze system and train-

ing requirements. The first step in

preparing for the global rollout was to

pilot all the e-learning functionalities

using SAP SuccessFactors. The focus

in this phase was on system perfor-

mance and user acceptance. Based on

the excellent performance of the cloud

solution and positive user feedback,

HUGO BOSS rolled out the LMS across

the group just a few weeks after the

pilot phase. In 2018, all employees

worldwide were able to access a stand-

ardized digital training catalog with

just a few clicks.

User empowerment – more transparency, efficiency and autonomyAnother goal that was achieved was

giving users more control over their

training, as staff can now create their

own customized training plan. A his-

tory listing completed training com-

ponents also ensures transparency.

Meanwhile, integrated links to exter-

nal content such as TED Talks and

Rosetta Stone provide access to a more

diverse range of learning resources.

What’s more, if staff lodge a request

for training but no dates are available

as yet, the system sends them a push

notification as soon as the relevant

BEST PRACTICE | HUGO BOSS

“Based on the excellent performance of the cloud solution and positive

user feedback, we rolled out the LMS across the group just a few weeks

after the pilot phase.”

INSIGHTS | TTS FORUM 2018

training has been scheduled. Managers

can use a cockpit to access dashboards

and reports that help them man age

their staff members’ training. Last, but

by no means least, the system has sig-

nificantly reduced the administrative

outlay for administrators, trainers and

the HR department. Kei-Oliver Giraud,

Retail Training Manager at HUGO

BOSS, has seen costs for support drop:

“Thanks to the collaboration with tts

we have been able to build up a huge

amount of know-how in-house. As a

result, we are only going to need sup-

port every now and again in the future.”

Planning in advance for data protection and location-based learningLarge companies with a decentralized

structure should involve their data

protection officers and the works

council in HR transformation projects

right from the start. HUGO BOSS min-

imized any risks in advance by sepa-

rating its HR and Retail systems, with

only HR staff able to access user data.

“The complex authorization concept

was developed in cooperation with tts,

who checked every report against re-

quirements,” explains Daniel Pfeffer,

Consultant IT HR at the fashion house.

And what about the future?SAP SuccessFactors provides the tech-

nical platform required for mobile and

location-based learning. The training

courses can already be accessed in

HUGO BOSS stores on a PC or an iPad,

although performance depends on

local bandwidth.

BEST PRACTICE | HUGO BOSS

Facts & Figures

• 14,000 employees worldwide,

7,600 of whom work in stores

• 2,500 classroom-based

and 40,000 online training

courses per year

• Sales (2017): 2.7 billion euros

• In addition to the LMS project,

the company established a

dedicated “New Work” project

group to focus on digitaliza-

tion in the workplace

“Thanks to the collaboration with tts we have been able to build up a

huge amount of know-how in-house. As a result, we are only going to

need support every now and again in the future.”

42INSIGHTS | TTS FORUM 2018