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Bill McEwan, Sobeys' president and CEO, has stated that the company is dropping its SAP(1) software after two years of problems that culminated this December with a massive five-day crash(2). As a consequence, Sobeys(3), which is the second largest grocery's chain in Canada, will take an after-tax charge of $49.9 million. The market reacted immediately to the news and Sobeys' stock fell 16.53 per cent to $19.70 on Thursday, January 25, 2001.

Referring to SAP software, McEwan has confirmed that

"we have come to the conclusion that what appeared to be growing pains with the implementation of enterprise-wide system are in fact systemic problems of a more serious nature... The bottom line is that SAP was not going to create a sustainable system solution for this organization."

So it took two years for McEwan to realize that SAP software was a complete disaster for its organization. He had no choice but write off all the assets related to SAP information technology initiative so that further losses would be minimized. But in Saskatchewan things are different; our leaders cannot recognize an asset from a hole in the ground(4) and therefore they keep writing off our poor children(5) and our Native people(6).

We have the Big Brains looking after the shareholders of this province; and instead to be truthful to our shareholders, the Big Brains continue to lie to them. And you know why? Because of our leadership's philosophy "Common problem, no problem."

Therefore, we continue to dig holes in the ground(7) in the name of globalization and advances in information technology. Saskatchewan Power has stated some years ago that SAP software used for its Delta project would cost $55.6 million and would produce $131.7 million in benefits.

Some years ago, the Land Titles office was experiencing a ballooning cost for its SAP software, from $20 million to $47.5 million, with the benefit of displacing some 140 employees.

Some years ago, Brian Rourke, fixed chair of the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO), after lying to its membership, purchased SAP payroll software at a cost of $4 million with the benefit of saving $38 million over a ten year period along with an immediate increase of processing fees for its membership.

In the meantime, we have come to know that SAP payroll was having problems in processing pay cheques for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and for the Saskatchewan Nurses.

I have a small question which is worth millions of dollars for our stepping down Premier Romanow(8) and Brian Rourke: How much shareholders money are you wasting into SAP and how far down are you going to dig into the ground?

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com

1. SAP is dedicated to helping companies, their employees, customers, and partners collaborate and succeed in this new "new economy" http://www.sap.com/

2. Software crash hits Sobeys hard, CBC Canada, January 25, 2001

3. Welcome to Sobeys Inc.

4. Our leaders can't recognize an asset from a hole in the ground, by Mario deSantis, December 2, 1999

5. Honourable Eric Cline has not balanced the budget yet, he forgot our school-children, by Mario deSantis, April 2, 2000

6. A Dramatic Scenario Of Saskatchewan Changing Demography: The Aboriginal People Are Our Forgotten People, by Mario deSantis, January 20, 2001

7. Health Reform in Saskatchewan: Digging Holes in the Ground, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, October 20, 1999

8. Premier Roy Romanow's Legacy: Nine Years of Lying! By Mario deSantis, January 24, 2001