Context
A 110-person Singapore commodity trading SME operated on three disconnected systems: a legacy SAP Business One install (mid-aged, no active support), a heroic spreadsheet that the trading desk used to track real-time margins, and an on-prem HR application from a local vendor whose support team had quietly dissolved.
Month-end close took 14 working days because finance had to manually reconcile transactions between SAP B1 and the spreadsheet, then re-enter approved entries into the HR system’s payroll module. The managing director had attempted a SAP S/4HANA upgrade two years prior; it stalled at 18 months and SGD 1.2M sunk cost without going live. He was reluctant to attempt another ERP project.
TWO TWO proposed Yonyou YonSuite — cloud-native SaaS, fixed scope, PSG-eligible. Finance + Supply Chain + CRM + HR modules, configured to the trading workflow, deployed in 10 weeks with audit-grade documentation supporting a PSG application that the customer would file directly.
What we did
Discovery (week 1)
Mapped the business process: trade execution → trade settlement → inventory recognition → margin posting → month-end close → consolidated reporting. Cataloged every spreadsheet, every report, every approval flow. Sat with the finance lead and the head trader for half a day each.
Blueprint (week 2)
Sized the YonSuite modules to the workflow: Finance (multi-currency, multi-entity, SG GAAP + IRAS GST), Supply Chain (commodity inventory with batch / lot tracking), CRM (counterparty + KYC), HR / iHR (SG MOM Employment Act compliance + payroll). Identified five custom extensions via the BIP low-code module — primarily for the trading-margin posting workflow and counterparty KYC checklist.
Configuration & customization (weeks 3-7)
YonSuite tenanted on Yonyou’s international SaaS region. Configured GL chart, dimensions, fiscal calendar, multi-currency setup. Built the 5 BIP extensions iteratively, demoing each Friday to the finance and trading leads. The trading desk’s spreadsheet logic — the margin calculator they trusted — became a BIP form with the same calculation fields they’d been using, but now writing directly to the YonSuite ledger.
Data migration & integration (weeks 6-8)
Historical financials migrated from SAP B1 (3 years of detail, 7 years of summary). Counterparty master from the HR system. Open trades migrated by hand with finance reviewing every record. Bank integration set up for AR / AP reconciliation. The legacy systems ran in parallel for the last 4 weeks of the project.
UAT (week 9)
Finance, trading, HR, and ops each ran their critical workflow end- to-end through YonSuite. Sign-off captured per workflow. Two defects found and patched on the same day each. The MD ran month-end close in UAT — it took half a day.
Go-live + hypercare (week 10)
Cutover over a weekend. TWO TWO on-site Monday – Friday for the hypercare week. Month-end close — the first live one — landed in 4 working days.
Audit-grade documentation throughout
Every milestone signed off in a format the IMDA PSG audit officer expects: scope statements, change records, evidence packages, sign- offs. The customer’s external auditor filed the PSG application directly using our documentation as application materials. 50% co-funding approved.
Results
- Month-end close: 14 days → 4 days at first live close
- 10 weeks kickoff to live, vs. 18 months of the prior failed attempt
- SGD 188K net implementation cost after 50% PSG co-funding on the qualifying scope
- Three legacy systems retired within 90 days post-go-live
- Trading desk spreadsheet preserved as a YonSuite BIP form — same logic, no data fragmentation
- First MAS-style audit trail on counterparty KYC the company has ever held
What we learned
The MD’s reluctance was reasonable — a previous failed ERP project is the strongest predictor of the next one failing. The cure was tight scope, fixed timeline, demo every Friday, and treating the trading desk’s spreadsheet not as an embarrassment to replace but as a documented requirement to absorb.
YonSuite’s BIP module did most of the customization work. Five forms, two API integrations to the trading platform, one custom report — no core-code changes — meant the customer keeps a clean upgrade path on YonSuite’s quarterly release cycle.
The PSG documentation discipline cost about half a person-week per sprint, but the customer’s application took an hour to assemble. The math worked out for everyone.