Station Casinos
Engagements: Project Remediation, Managed Services, Project Management, Professional Sourcing
The Story of Station Casinos
Executive Option was recruited by Station Casinos’ previous executive director of the financial system for an ERP implementation. Executive Option’s team first conducted an independent, system-agnostic discovery to determine which solution would best fit their needs. Once the Assessment was completed, Executive Option then oversaw the implementation and provided managed services after go-live.
The Challenge
Executive Option was chosen to build the rapport and trust needed across the organization to ensure a successful ERP implementation. Executive Option started with a Discovery-and-Needs-Assessment to be used to evaluate and select the solution.
The Needs Assessment was executed utilizing their signature change management methodology. At the time, the structure of the client’s organization was fragmented, with many departments and teams working in silos. Resulting in a lack of company-wide buy-in, lack of direction, and hindered communication.
Disparate operational processes of each of the twenty-seven properties created an aura of complexity to strategize a centralized operating model that optimized corporate visibility while catering to individual property operational needs.
Resistance from the outdated legacy system support team became a significant risk factor as job security became their priority. This scenario created another layer of complications/obstacles to information gathering, meeting scheduling, and cross-departmental collaboration.
In addition to maneuvering through the politics and complications of the organization, Executive Option worked with Station Casinos’ green IT team to create policies and protocols on how to manage projects.
During the project, several key decision-makers from the executive level left the company, and the arrival of new management complicated the ERP selection and implementation as it must be enhanced to meet new expectations. As the legacy system was still running, transitioning to a new ERP system while coordinating with new management was another challenge Executive Option faced and overcame.
The Execution
Despite resistance to change, Executive Option’s goal in this ERP project was to break barriers, create new best practices, initiate cross-department collaboration, and create a unified stakeholder community to ensure proper adoption of new technology, optimal day-to-day operation, overall project health, and revolutionary change management.
Through setting concrete and achievable objectives and facilitating cross-department collaboration, Executive Option built rapport and excellent relationships with executives and senior management in the organization, who were the main drivers of the project. Respect from executives, management, and the project team was quickly gained when the Executive Option team displayed a client-focused service attitude – going into a project relentlessly, aiming for best practices on behalf of the client, knowing the challenges ahead.
With the big picture and robust methodology in mind, along with support from C-Suite executives and senior management, Executive Option led a team of nearly 100 members, including consultants, internal staff, and managers, and navigated through the implementation of the selected ERP system with aspects that included financial reporting, ITGC SOX Compliance, training initiatives, multi-site collaboration and acclimation to the new products and user adoption across the board.