SAP, Axon land $46.4 million deal with London Transport

Transport for London, the body responsible for the city’s transport system, and London Underground Ltd., have selected SAP AG and Axon PLC to implement a back-office system for finance, human resource and procurement services.

SAP will collaborate with its implementation and hosting partner Axon to integrate more than 30 back-office systems operated by TfL and LUL in a deal worth £29 million ($46.4 million), the Walldorf, Germany, business software company said Tuesday in a statement.

The technology that SAP and Axon will implement is based on mySAP.com software for finance, HR and procurement and will include SAP’s latest portal, e-business and transport components, according to the statement.

“One of TfL’s main criteria was to have an off-the-shelf solution,” said Simon Etherington, account manager for service industries at SAP UK Ltd. “They didn’t want to get into an environment where they have to tailor a lot of things.”

The project is primarily focused on back-office applications but could be extended to front-end services, according to Etherington. “TfL is looking at other parts of SAP as part of this project,” he said.

The first phase of the project is slated to go live in April, with the roll-out to be completed by November, Etherington said.

TfL is public-private initiative set up two years ago by London’s mayor Ken Livingstone to run the city’s vast transportation services, including buses, trains and taxis.

LUL, which runs London’s subway system, is to be integrated into TfL. It employs around 20,000 people.

Axon, in Egham, England, is a management and technology consultancy that designs, implements and supports business applications based on SAP technology.