Together with p78, Materna is building a modern HR/IT foundation for a fully digital employee lifecycle based on SAP SuccessFactors.
Materna is creating the foundation for a harmonised HR system landscape with Employee Central, Time Tracking, and EC Payroll
Company / Industry
Materna Information & Communications SE / IT Services, Digitalisation
Service Portfolio
Materna is a leading IT service provider supporting public- and private-sector organizations in their digital transformation. Its portfolio includes IT consulting, cloud solutions, SAP expertise, cybersecurity, and industry-specific applications – for example, in mobility and public services.
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Established HR processes, varying requirements across multiple legal entities, and the ambition to create a more seamless employee lifecycle led Materna to redesign its core HR processes and establish them within SAP SuccessFactors.
Together with p78, the HCM practice of cbs, as its implementation partner, Materna introduced key SAP SuccessFactors solutions, including Employee Central, Time Tracking, and Employee Central Payroll. The objective was to align HR master data, time management, and payroll processes within a unified, future-ready system and process landscape.
The successful go-live on 1 January 2026 marked not the end of the project, but the beginning of continuous improvement. Following go-live and hypercare, the focus has shifted to stabilising operations, implementing ongoing change requests, and strategically expanding the SAP SuccessFactors landscape with additional functionality.
Starting Point: Established Processes, Evolving Requirements
Materna set out to build a more sustainable and future-ready HR system landscape. The objective extended beyond implementing new software—it was about harmonising existing HR processes across multiple legal entities and translating them into a consistent, integrated system landscape.
The starting point was complex: different levels of process maturity, varying business requirements, and multiple stakeholders needed to be aligned within a shared target operating model.
A key focus of the project was to capture business requirements, structure them, and translate them into a scalable system design. As a result, the initiative quickly evolved into a harmonisation project that brought together business, technical, and organisational perspectives.
The Preliminary Study as a Shared Foundation
A key prerequisite for the implementation was the pre-study completed in advance. During this phase, Materna’s requirements were gathered, the existing process landscape was analysed, and initial gaps and opportunities for improvement were identified. This provided the project team with a shared understanding and a solid foundation for the implementation.
For Materna, this preparatory work proved especially valuable, as the implementation did not have to start from scratch. p78 already had a clear understanding of the organisation’s requirements, process specifics, and existing challenges. This enabled a smooth transition from analysis to implementation and allowed the project team to focus on delivering value from day one.
The Implementation: Employee Central, Time Tracking, and EC Payroll at the Core of the New HR Landscape
The implementation focused on SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking, and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll. Together, these solutions established the foundation for managing core HR processes, including HR master data, time management, and payroll, within the new HR system landscape.
Employee Central serves as the central system for HR master data, while SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking addresses the organisation’s time management requirements. SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll completes the landscape by providing integrated payroll capabilities. Together, these three solutions form the foundation on which Materna will continue to evolve its HR processes.
Implementing these solutions went hand in hand with harmonising business processes. Existing workflows were analysed, evaluated, and aligned with a common target operating model. Rather than transferring business requirements directly into the system, each requirement was first assessed, prioritised, and then either incorporated into the implementation or deferred to a later stage.
As a result, the project combined technical implementation with strategic process design. For Materna, this meant harmonising processes and systems in parallel while building an HR landscape that not only enabled a successful go-live but also provides a scalable foundation for future development.
Go-Live and Hypercare: Transitioning into Operations
The solution went live on 1 January 2026, marking a major milestone in the project. With the successful go-live, the new systems were transitioned into production, and the new HR landscape became the foundation for Materna’s day-to-day HR operations and future development.
The subsequent hypercare phase was designed to closely support the transition into live operations and ensure that any open issues were addressed in a structured manner. For Materna, this phase was an integral part of the overall project, helping to stabilise the new HR landscape in the operational environment following a successful go-live.
Once operations had been stabilised, the focus shifted to strengthening the solution further. This provided the foundation for capturing, prioritising, and implementing additional requirements. As a result, the project naturally evolved beyond the initial implementation into a phase of continuous optimisation and ongoing enhancement.
Working with p78: Experience That Made the Difference
The successful implementation of a new HR solution depends on choosing the right implementation partner. For Materna, it quickly became clear that a project of this strategic importance required an experienced partner with both methodological expertise and deep SAP SuccessFactors knowledge.
In addition to its implementation expertise, p78 already had a comprehensive understanding of Materna’s environment thanks to the joint discovery phase. The project team was familiar with the organisation’s requirements, process gaps, and key business considerations before implementation even began. This shared groundwork became an important foundation for the successful collaboration.
The partnership was built on clearly defined roles. Materna contributed in-depth knowledge of its business processes, requirements, and organisational structures, while p78 brought many years of experience in HR/IT transformation projects, certified SAP SuccessFactors expertise, and a proven implementation methodology. For a project that combined technical implementation with business process harmonisation, this complementary expertise proved to be a key success factor.
Results & Outlook: Building a Seamless Recruit-to-Retire Process, Step by Step
Materna’s HR transformation is designed to deliver more than short-term improvements. Instead of introducing isolated solutions, the organisation is pursuing a long-term strategy focused on creating a seamless and integrated employee lifecycle.
At the heart of this vision is a consistent and reliable data architecture. Bringing together HR data from across all group companies is a key prerequisite for achieving greater transparency and enabling informed decision-making across the entire Materna Group.
The newly implemented SAP SuccessFactors landscape provides the foundation for this journey. Employee Central, Time Tracking, and EC Payroll establish the core platform on which additional processes and modules can be built. Future developments will be guided by business needs and the evolving requirements of HR, administration, and employees.
With this foundation in place, Materna has taken an important step towards a seamless Recruit-to-Retire process—one that will continue to evolve and expand throughout the next phases of its HR transformation.