Under pressure to align organizational design with strategic imperatives, a European insurance group partnered with binder|consulting to create a future-proof global job architecture that not only reflected business needs but also enabled transparent benchmarking and informed workforce decisions.
- Insurance
- Industry
- EUR 50b+
- Annual Revenue
- 10,000
- Number of Employees
- 6 Months
- Project Duration
The Initial Situation
As the insurance group began implementing SAP SuccessFactors across the organization, it quickly became clear that a global job architecture including comprehensive employee job mapping was not optional — it was crucial for a successful deployment.
At the time, the organization lacked a standardized job structure that could provide the clarity and consistency required for effective system configuration. Without clearly defined job families, levels, and job descriptions, it would be difficult to leverage SuccessFactors' full capabilities or support strategic workforce planning and external benchmarking.
The company recognized that building a future-proof, globally applicable job architecture would not only enable a smooth SuccessFactors implementation but also establish the foundation for data-driven workforce decisions and organizational agility for years to come.
The Critical Challenges
The challenge was both ambitious and time-critical: to design a global job architecture and map approximately 10,000 employees across the organization — all while working with a small team of HR Business Partners and operating within a short time frame dictated by the SuccessFactors implementation schedule.
The new structure needed to establish consistency across all regions and functions while preserving operational flexibility. Beyond structural alignment, the job architecture had to enable external benchmarking, support workforce forecasting, provide leadership transparency, and — most critically — be ready on time to ensure a seamless SuccessFactors go-live.
How We Supported the Client
To meet the company’s strategic and operational requirements within the compressed timeline, binder|consulting implemented a focused, iterative methodology grounded in industry best practices.
The project began with the deployment of the COLMEIA Global Job Catalog and an insurance-specific standard job catalog which was ready for use within a cloud service after just two weeks. This provided a solid foundation for defining job families, jobs, and levels across the organization.
Working closely with the HR Business Partners, the team then moved into an iterative refinement process spanning eight weeks to create a preliminary job catalog and complete the first mapping round. From there, several refinement iterations followed over six months, with employee data updated three times to ensure accuracy and alignment with the company’s strategic objectives and operational conditions.
Throughout this process, the team prepared tailored leveling options for each employee and delivered a machine-made, accurate translation of the entire job catalog into two languages, ensuring global accessibility and consistency. Every decision was made with an eye toward flexibility, scalability, and strategic value — culminating in an optimized final Global Job Catalog that was fully validated and ready for SuccessFactors configuration.
The Impact Delivered
The project delivered a transformative result: a high-quality, future-proof global insurance job architecture that was fully adapted to the company’s business strategy and organizational structure.
Within six months, the team successfully mapped all 10,000 employees into the new framework, creating unprecedented transparency and consistency across the organization. Critically, the job architecture and job assignments were delivered on-time for the SuccessFactors go-live, ensuring seamless system configuration and maximum value from day one.
The resulting job catalog, compiled in two languages and established as a global repository, now serves as the backbone of the organization’s talent and workforce strategies as well as for the skill management introduced afterwards. With prepared leveling options per employee and full integration into SAP SuccessFactors, the company has unlocked new capabilities in workforce planning, external benchmarking, and strategic talent management — confident that the framework will continue to deliver value well into the future.
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