Estate Management Process Lead

The Estate Management Process Lead is the functional authority for the "Upstream Estate" operations within the SAP implementation program. This role bridges the gap between the physical reality of palm oil plantation management—ranging from Land Preparation and Nursery to Upkeep and Harvesting—and the digital ecosystem comprising SAP S/4HANA and specialized connected applications.

This role is responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the end-to-end process, ensuring that requirements for operational data, planning data are clearly communicated to the respective system owners, and to integrate seamlessly with SAP Project Systems (PS), Plant Maintenance (PM), Materials Management (MM) and Controlling (CO). The mandate is to ensure the solution delivers fit-for-purpose estate processes, accurate operational reporting, precise cost capture, and strict compliance with sustainability standards (EUDR/RSPO) at the source.

• Requirement Definition & RICEFW Validation: Drives the detailed requirements gathering workshops for Upstream operations. Validates the functional specifications and configuration designs produced by the SAP Functional Team (PM, PS, CO) to ensure they meet business needs. This includes validating RICEFW (Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements, Forms, Workflows) objects.
• Lifecycle Design: Ensures the SAP design accurately reflects the unique stages and operational requirements of the plantation lifecycle.

• Test Leadership (SIT & UAT): Leads the System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for the Estate Management stream. Defines comprehensive test scenarios that mirror actual plantation conditions.
• Defect Resolution: Triages functional defects identified during testing, distinguishing between configuration errors, data issues, or mobile integration failures, and coordinates with the technical teams to resolve them.

• Data Readiness: Supports the Data Migration team by defining data mapping and validation rules for critical upstream objects and verifying data quality after mock loads.
• Training & Change Support: Reviews and validates training materials to ensure they are operationally relevant for estate staff. Conducts "Train the Trainer" sessions.
• Post-Go-Live Support: Provides functional leadership during the Hypercare phase, resolving critical operational issues and ensuring stability in daily estate reporting and cost capturing.

• Connected Applications (Integration Requirements): Collaborates with the Connected Application leads to ensure that the functional requirements for SAP S/4HANA are clearly communicated and incorporated into connected app design. Ensures that the interface specifications accommodate the data needed for SAP PS, PM, and CO processing, and to support operational and management reporting.

• Sustainability Process Design: Ensures that EUDR (European Union Deforestation Regulation) compliance and RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) certification requirements are fully incorporated into the S/4HANA upstream process design.
• Data Integration for Compliance: Verifies that the necessary sustainability data points and traceability attributes are factored into the functional designs and interface definitions across the upstream landscape.

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, or a related field.

• SAP Exposure: Strong functional understanding of SAP PM (Plant Maintenance), SAP PS (Project Systems), familiarity with SAP CO (Cost Object controlling), SAP MM (Materials Management) is required.      Exposure of these modules in an agricultural context is a strong advantage.
• Industry Expertise: Experience in Plantation / Estate Management (specifically Oil Palm or similar perennials) is preferred.
• System Experience: Experience in designing, implementing, or supporting Plantation Management Systems (e.g., PMIS, or custom Estate solutions) is preferred
• Implementation Lifecycle: Experience managing the full implementation lifecycle, from Detailed Design and Testing (SIT/UAT) to Data Migration and Hypercare support.

• Process Architecture: Ability to visualize the flow of data from field applications, through the HR payroll engine, thru SAP PS, PM, CO, MM and settling into the SAP General Ledger.
• Operational Insight: Understanding of estate realities (e.g., how harvesting gangs are organized, how loose fruit is collected, how rainfall impacts fertilization schedules) to prevent "theoretical" designs that fail in the field.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Ability to translate estate operational needs into functional requirements for Application Leads and SAP Functional Consultants
• Sustainability Awareness: Knowledge of data requirements for EUDR and traceability workflows.