Melbourne Catholic Schools positions itself to be AI ready through SAP ERP

Partners with Infosys on major SAP S/4HANA transformation.

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) has partnered with Infosys on a major ERP modernisation initiative across its network of about 300 schools to improve efficiency and provide a foundation for AI-driven tools.

Infosys will shift MACS’ core ERP systems to the cloud and deploy SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors for HR and employee management, tools for new identity and access management, and data management tools.

MACS is aiming to streamline admin and day-to-day operations, improve collaboration and communication through team-based communities and enable real-time data access.

Vicki Russell, CTO for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools said, “With a future-focused platform in place, we will be well-positioned to foster innovation, enhance collaboration, and deliver quality education at scale.”

Digital workspace to serve as central collaboration hub

A new digital workspace will be a single point of entry for the reimagined system, providing a persona-based portal with access for teachers, principals and back-office personnel based on their role.

Across the MACS network, this will enable better visibility of financials and budgeting and improved operational efficiency through shared service for back-office functions.

“Infosys will implement these solutions to help MACS transform its functions, improve efficiency, leverage best practice and focus on its core capability of teaching and learning excellence,” said Raja Shah, EVP and industry head, global markets, Infosys.

The new platform will provide principals and teachers with insights on staffing requirements, skills development, staff retention and a recruiting system to attract key talent. For teachers, it will support onboarding and managing their professional development.

“With a comprehensive relief management system, additional staff could be assigned where it is required. In today’s market, talent retention is key,” Shah said.

Paving the way for AI adoption

The new ERP platform improves master data management for accurate, real-time access and provides scalable infrastructure. Identity, access management and master data management will be enabled through Saviynt and Informatica SaaS solutions.

AI capabilities are at the core of the ERP platform, which paves the way for MACS to adopt generative AI applications geared towards educational outcomes. Infosys will oversee the adoption and governance of use cases across the schools.

“Infosys will leverage relevant AI capabilities, whether it’s for out-of-the-box AI capabilities such as cash application, base AI for ‘how to’ queries or advanced AI such as conversational and transaction processing,” Shah said.

A clean core approach underpins the cloud-based S/4HANA platform, with strict controls for customisation and allowing for periodic feedback from end-user customers and collaboration with partners.

“Any potential customisations beyond this will be implemented by Infosys with robust in-app, side-by-side extensibility framework without impacting the core,” Shah told CRN Australia.

Dealing with large-scale change management

The wide-ranging transformation project requires a strong change management component.

Infosys will engage with school leaders across the MACS network through production, evaluation, program planning and delivery phases.

Data migration will be a major component, with diverse systems across the number of schools a key challenge to be managed to ensure a successful deployment.

To enable smooth adoption, Infosys aims to rollout the solution in waves providing time to learn, adopt and expand.

“Infosys has a roadmap to address this and is one of the reasons we adopted the wave-based approach,” Shah ended.