Moscow, Russia, June 25, 2010 – BearingPoint, an independent management and technology consulting firm, announced today its involvement as one of the key project partners in the SAP ERP-Based Business Standard Creation Project for Severstal.

The project objectives are to re-engineer business processes based on best industry practice, standardize processes, implement best practice in operational models and automate the optimized processes based on latest technology. The Business Standard project will speed up the financial reporting closure process and reduce costs through centralizing and automating several key business processes. An integrated system will allow Severstal to achieve a good balance between optimizing costs and the need to make long term investments in technology and innovations based on best practice. The project will cover seven segments of Severstal business and over 20 locations.

Within the Severstal Business Standard project BearingPoint is responsible for implementing the following business processes:

• Production management and Plant Maintenance and Repairs in the Mining Division 
• SAP CRM-based customer relationship management for Severstal sales subsidiaries included in the project scope 
• In the Finance functional area BearingPoint is responsible for Treasury Management, Investment Project and Program Management and Fixed Assets Management 
• Building the consolidation and analytical reporting system for all organizational units included in the project scope 
• Developing Master Data management strategy and procedures

BearingPoint is also responsible for organizational change management for the whole project including communication and new system user training coordination.
 
“The ERP implementation project will allow Severstal to review and increase the efficiency of its key business processes, from production, purchasing and sales to administration and corporate governance. This project will help us to bring together key business processes at Severstal, speed up the closure of the financial reporting process, reduce costs and significantly increase operational efficiency”, said Alexey Mordashov, Severstal CEO.

“The project goal is to make the cultural transformation by re-engineering key business processes based on our company’s values, - noted Yury Shekhovtsov, project director from Severstal. “The SAP ERP-Based Business Standard Creation Project is one of the key projects currently undertaken by Severstal.”

“The Business Standard project will enable Severstal to reorganize its key business processes and will significantly improve the company’s operational performance, reduce costs and centralize management. We are very pleased to work with the industry leader and hope that our project experience and industry knowledge will be useful to Severstal,” - noted Andrei Kriukov, project director from BearingPoint.

“The Mining and Metals industry is a priority industry for BearingPoint in Russia. This has been recognized by SAP awarding us with the Preferred Partner status for Metals and Mining,” - stated Natalia Krasnoperova, BearingPoint Russian practice leader.