1. Introduction
2. What types of systems-building methods and tools did ConAgra use for building its system? Bring scenario examples.
3. What steps did ConAgra take to make sure the My Recipe was successful?
4. What were the benefits of the new system? How did it change operational activities and decision making at ConAgra ? How successful was this system solution?
5. Conclusion
6. References with DOI and URL.

2 ConAgra Case.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 0 X File Edit View Window Help Home Tools ConAgra Case.pdf x ? Sign In Cover (1 of 3) + 100% Y Share ConAgra's Recipe for a Better Human Resources System Zoom in (Ctri+Plus) Search 'Redact' CASE STUDY Export PDF Do you have Chef Boyardee Ravioli or Orville That all changed in 2013 when the company Redenbacher popcorn in your pantry or Healthy decided to retire most of its existing HR systems and Edit PDF Choice or Banquet chicken nuggets in your freezer? implement a comprehensive talent management sys- If so, you're one of the 99 percent of U.S. households tem that was integrated with its on-premises core HR that use ConAgra food products. ConAgra Foods Inc., system. The talent management system consisted of Lo Create PDF headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is one of North integrated modules that ran on a cloud-based plat- America's largest food companies, providing quick, form. ConAgra called the project to build the new tal- convenient meals, tasty treats, and snacks with brands ent management system "My Recipe." such as Libbys, Banquet, LaChoy, Hunts, Healthy A major objective of My Recipe was to store and Choice, and Blue Bonnet. Thirty-two of ConAgra's share all workforce data in a single central, inte- brands account for more than $100 million in annual grated cloud-based system. Another was to reduce No Internet Connection retail sales. data redundancies, complexity, and operational effi- ConAgra relies on 33,000 employees to ensure ciencies by centralizing the data so they appeared to The features in this area require that supermarket and grocery shelves are stocked be coming from one source. Another was to provide Internet connectivity. Please with its products, and management considers its user-friendly tools and processes that made it easier connect your computer to the human resources to be an essential ingredient for for managers and employees to have meaningful Internet and try again. its success. Like many forward-looking companies, conversations about performance and career growth. ConAgra recognizes the importance of human Another requirement was the ability to provide a Try Again resources to overall corporate success and the ability snapshot of ConAgra's current talent pool and show of the firm to have the right people in place as it pur- how it was developing to meet future business sues its business strategy. Technology is expected to needs. Such a system was expected to better engage Comment play an even larger role going forward in helping the employees and managers, provide more useful company recruit, retain, develop, and manage the data to HR staff, improve talent management, and workers it needs. increase productivity. Until recently, ConAgra did not have the right Create, edit and sign PDF After a thorough vendor evaluation process, forms & agreements technology in place to obtain maximum value from ConAgra narrowed the search to three vendors and the talents and expertise of its salaried and hourly then selected SuccessFactors. SuccessFactors is an employees. It had a core system for basic human SAP-owned global provider of cloud-based software Start Free Trial resources (HR) functions, but it also had disparate for human capital management. Its human capital silned custome for HD functions such ne employee management annlication quite features a learning v pen EM 1:07 AM 7/30/20202 ConAgra Case.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 0 X File Edit View Window Help Home Tools ConAgra Case.pdf x ? Sign In X Cover (1 of 3) + 100% Share employees. It had a core system for basic human SAP-owned global provider of cloud-based software resources (HR) functions, but it also had disparate for human capital management. Its human capital siloed systems for HR functions such as employee management application suite features a learning Search 'Redact compensation, development, recruiting, succes- management system (LMS), performance manage- sion planning, and talent review. These systems ment, recruiting software, applicant tracking soft- Export PDF produced fragmented information and could not ware, succession planning, talent management, support companywide views of the employee or and HR analytics along with social business and human resources processes. Some of these systems collaboration tools to help organizations maximize Edit PDF were based on commercial business software prod- employee growth and performance. Management ucts, and others were homegrown. These systems believed SuccessFactors was superior because it Lo Create PDF worked well but only up to a point because they provided an easy-to-use and customizable user inter- were not integrated. That meant that data from face that would support employee and management one system could not be combined easily with data self-service using the system. SuccessFactors also from another for more insightful reporting and tal- integrated with other SAP products and third-party ent analysis or for obtaining a complete picture of products. employees. There was no central system to house ConAgra implemented My Recipe in three phases and manage the data so HR staff often had to extract over a 15-month period. During the first phase, com- No Internet Connection information from multiple systems and piece pleted in mid-2013, ConAgra upgraded the overall The features in this area require reports together manually. The company also had to user interface and implemented the SuccessFactors Internet connectivity. Please pay for multiple information systems teams to sup- Learning and Succession & Development mod connect your computer to the port these systems. ules. In phase two, completed in late 2013, the firm Internet and try again. Try Again Comment Chapter 13 Building Information Systems 551 implemented SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Analyt- customized, provide access to employee performance Create, edit and sign PDF forms & agreements ics, Workforce Planning, Recruiting Marketing, and and career data in a way that is easy to understand. Recruiting Management modules. In the final phase, Ease of use is further promoted by built-in remind- completed in mid-2014, ConAgra implemented a Suc- ers. For instance, a manager viewing an employee's Start Free Trial cessFactors Compensation module and an update objectives might be alerted that the employee has an to SuccessFactors Performance & Goals including upcoming talent review By centralizing employee v Demo WE 1:07 AM 7/30/20202 ConAgra Case.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 0 X File Edit View Window Help Home Tools ConAgra Case.pdf x ? Sign In Cover (2 of 3) O + 100% Share ulo. TUI Totallou, a manager viewing an employbus cessFactors Compensation module and an update objectives might be alerted that the employee has an to SuccessFactors Performance & Goals, including upcoming talent review. By centralizing employee Search 'Redact the functionality for performance rating calibration. data and making the data more easily available, the (Calibration is a process for gaining greater consis- company is able to see how each employee fits into tency in how performance evaluation ratings are to individual, team, and companywide plans involv- Export PDF delivered.) The new SuccessFactors system replaced ing performance, succession, and development. In eight legacy human resource systems, substantially other words, the system makes it possible for human Edit PDF reduced the amount of HR data stored in manual resources to operate more strategically and align files, and provided new tools for managers and ConAgra's workforce more precisely with the overall Lo Create PDF employees to obtain information and reports directly goals of the firm. from the system on their own. It was not easy to develop a fully integrated sys- The My Recipe team selected implementation tem with common companywide processes. ConAgra target dates that coincide with the time of year the had to spend considerable time identifying and specified processes were typically performed. For evaluating its existing processes and deciding which example, the rollout of the SuccessFactors Succession should be kept and which would need to be changed. & Development software was timed for when the The processes had to be mapped against the business No Internet Connection company conducted its annual talent review. Rolling processes supported by the SuccessFactors software. out the system in stages kept the project alive and It was important to know what each of ConAgra's The features in this area require processes would look like when the SuccessFactors Internet connectivity. Please relevant, and staff were able to easily understand how connect your computer to the one module built upon the next. The project time- system was implemented and the new system ran in Internet and try again. lines also facilitated adoption of the system because the cloud. users were exposed from early on to a one-stop shop Another challenge was dealing with analytics and for human resources and became increasingly inter- reporting. Reporting was difficult when ConAgra's Try Again ested in seeing the system completed. System log systems were fragmented because it was so difficult records show that the average HR user accesses some to assemble the required data from so many differ- aspect of the SuccessFactors solution about 100 times ent sources. When the company realized how much Comment per year. When ConAgra had fragmented HR sys- more useful and retrievable human resources data tems, there was never that amount of manager and the new system would produce, the project was redi- employee interactions with those systems. rected to pay more attention to reporting and ana- Create, edit and sign PDF Once fully implemented, My Recipe made it lytics and to make sure the system was designed to forms & agreements possible for ConAgra to capture, store and share deliver the data required for this purpose. succession planning, talent review, and other data ConAgra harnessed the expertise of Pricewa- Start Free Trial that were previously inaccessible and impossible to terhouseCoopers (PWC) consultants for the imple- share. It empowered employees to proactively track mentation. They were able to quickly learn about v pema 1:08 AM 7/30/20202 ConAgra Case.pdf - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 0 X File Edit View Window Help Home Tools ConAgra Case.pdf x ? Sign In Cover (2 of 3) + 100% Share share. It empowered employees to proactively track mentation. They were able to quickly learn about tasks, performance, career growth, and opportuni- ConAgra's needs and apply that knowledge along Search 'Redact ties on their own, and it standardized HR business with their expertise to the project. For example, PWC processes throughout the employee life cycle. The made themselves experts in ConAgra's compensation new system makes it possible for HR staff to focus on structure and used that knowledge to configure the Export PDF workforce planning issues instead of on tactical day- system accordingly. They also brought to bear their to-day employee management and recordkeeping. expertise in cloud systems projects. Edit PDF My Recipe also eliminated eight legacy HR systems How much has the new SuccessFactors system and their associated administrative burdens and helped ConAgra? According to KC Bradley, ConAgra's Lo Create PDF inefficiencies. Director of Talent Management, SuccessFactors has One of the new system improvements is the abil- helped take HR to the next level at her firm. The ity to link an employee's payroll records (which are system has helped facilitate conversations between processed in ConAgra's core HR system) to a tile on managers and employees and has armed manag- the SuccessFactors home screen, allowing employ- ers with information they can articulate to higher ees to view their payroll records directly from My management about how each employee contributes Recipe. Other home screen tiles, which can be easily to the organization's business goals and affects the No Internet Connection The features in this area require Internet connectivity. Please connect your computer to the Internet and try again. 552 Part Four Building and Managing Systems Try Again bottom line. Everyone is now able to see if the right problems? What was the business impact of people are in place throughout the organization. these problems? Comment Sources: Ken Murphy, "ConAgra Foods Fine-Tunes Recipe for 13-15 List and describe the information require- Enhanced HR," SAP Insider Profiles, October 1, 2015; www. ments of My Recipe. conagra.com, accessed February 21, 2016; www.successfactors. 13-16 What types of systems-building methods and Create, edit and sign PDF com, accessed February 21,2016; and "ConAgra Foods: Food Leader forms & agreements Finds Right Recipe to Drive Change Management with SuccessFac- tools did ConAgra use for building its system? tors Solutions, "SAP, 2015. 13-17 What steps did ConAgra take to make sure the My Recipe was successful? Start Free Trial CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 13-18 What were the benefits of the new system? 13-14 Analyze ConAgra's problems with its old sys- How did it change operational activities and v WE 1:08 AM 7/30/2020