Novavax is a global biotechnology company. Specializing in developing innovative vaccines against some of our most serious infectious diseases, such as SARS, influenza, RSV, Ebola, and Covid-19. The Swedish subsidiary, Novavax AB, is based in Uppsala and is responsible for the company’s research, development, and production of saponin-based adjuvants.
During the pandemic, the demands on the Swedish operations to significantly increase production pace came into play. The American parent company was in the process of implementing the business system SAP S/4HANA. They wanted to simultaneously initiate a rollout project of the solution to the Swedish subsidiary. To bridge time differences and the need for on-site SAP expertise, Implema was contacted for help with the implementation.
Business Systems are Important for Life Science Companies.
For Life Science companies, operating in a highly regulated industry, the requirements for business systems are particularly high. Not least due to the many compliance requirements. For example, they must be able to guarantee traceability of incoming and outgoing deliveries down to batch and package level. They must also be able to handle expiration dates, batch classifications, audit trails, access control, as well as electronic signatures in various process steps.
Additionally, the entire Life Science industry is facing significant changes. New customer-centric business models mean increased collaboration within interconnected, platform-based ecosystems, where the business system plays a very important role.
A Project with Different Conditions
The project to implement SAP S/4HANA started in August 2021, in the midst of the Corona pandemic. Handling the specific challenges of implementing business systems for Life Science companies was no problem for Implema, which has extensive experience in this. However, there were other challenges.
From the beginning, it was clear to us that Novavax was a company in transformation, where the ongoing transition to commercial operations posed many challenges and placed new demands on collaboration between departments and companies. They previously lacked an overarching business system and needed help identifying business processes and how the different units would now need to collaborate to make this work in SAP. , says Katarina Sutrowitz, who was then Sales Director SAP at Implema.
Another challenge was, of course, that Novavax was experiencing significant growth at this time due to the ongoing pandemic. This naturally put enormous pressure on the business, not least on production and distribution, while we were also conducting a comprehensive change effort. , continues Katarina.
The project also had to take into account the complex SOX regulations (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), which apply to publicly traded companies in the USA. The regulations, introduced to protect investors, impose high demands on internal control and ensure that no one in the company has access to all information.
The project was carried out in close collaboration with the American consulting firm, so they also had to bridge different time zones and calendars in the work, something that, with a bit of juggling, went surprisingly well.
Success Factors in the Project
Despite the many challenges in the project, it was overall successful and met the requirements set by the business. Thanks to good preparations, it was a truly successful and drama-free Go-live. This is something that project manager Rolf Lundquist largely attributes to a very good collaboration between all parties:
There was an open atmosphere and a strong willingness to collaborate from the start. Everyone understood the need to stick to standard functionality, with few compromises, and to have a quality mindset at every step. This shared vision and willingness to pull in the same direction was a real key to the project’s success.
This was a project with three parties working closely together; Novavax, the American implementation partner, and Implema as the local partner. Implema acted both as a “customer” and a requirement setter on behalf of the Swedish operations.
This was a fun and exciting Life Science project where we on the “customer side” helped the Swedish company formulate its processes and set requirements against the parent company, to then receive and implement a solution in SAP S/4HANA that suits the Swedish operations.
Implema assisted here with project management, definition of new processes, solution modeling, acceptance testing, and troubleshooting. Additionally, they trained key users and developed user roles and training programs, as well as helped to develop and quality assure migration documentation and the development of a management model.
“We Couldn’t Have Done it without Implema.”
Novavax is equally satisfied with the collaboration and the final result.
In the situation we were in, with strong growth and high pressure on the business, it was especially important for us to have a local partner who is both an expert in SAP and has extensive experience in Life Science. I am convinced that the implementation of SAP is crucial for us to be the commercial company we are now, for both veterinary and human vaccines, says Novavax’s Swedish CEO Magnus Sävenhed, and concludes: We are extremely satisfied and couldn’t have done it without Implema.
