ERP Application Architect Lead

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands.

At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview

The ERP Testing Automation Lead will join a small team of business function process leads, IT domain leaders and the ERP vendor representatives known as the Program Initiation Team who will work together to take the first steps in this journey. The team will work closely together to achieve a set of the common objectives below ultimately leading to the initiation of the global program and the creation of all the articles needed to launch the project in 2025. This first, necessary step will ensure Ralph Lauren understands the key phases, impact, business resources and timeline required to begin the program. This is an opportunity to join one of the largest investments that the company will be making over the next decade, and we seek talent that is excited to help shape the future, being part of the journey and eventually taking this knowledge back into the business.

Purpose: The purpose of this role is to work within a small team to manage the creation of an automated testing strategy and plan to implement to support the new ERP solution within RL. The role will involve working with the small team and the preferred ERP vendor to achieve the objectives below with the primary focus being to define the strategy for automated testing of the NGT ERP solution and the associated edge systems and to create the plan to implement.

Program Initiation Team objectives:

• Create a detailed and documented understanding of the current RL IT AS-IS application environment across all 3 regions. This includes all objects in scope for transition on both an interim and permanent basis. These objects include but are not limited to interfaces, data, reporting, access, third party systems as well as RL ERP and Edge systems.
• Create a detailed and documented understanding of the current RL IT AS-IS infrastructure environment across all 3 regions. This includes all infrastructure objects in scope for transition on both an interim and permanent basis.
• Creation of an interim state framework that outlines how the RL systems will need to be set up during the period of transition to the TO-BE status.
• Agree how the current systems will be maintained during this interim state identifying when investment will be reduced so that the existing platforms move into a maintenance only status.
• Definition of the migration package, toolset, scope and approach that will allow for the continued roll out of the new platform over the forthcoming years facilitating a smooth transition of the company as it gradually transitions over.
• Finalize the scope of the TO-BE ERP system, agreeing where the functionality will reside (ERP versus EDGE) within which system. This will also include mapping out the dependencies on the edge systems within RL at both a data object and interface level.
• Finalize infrastructure and related security solutions to support the TO-BE ERP system.
• Define the operational requirements to ensure that the new platform meets the needs of the business to meet the RTO/RPO agreements and that all the necessary reporting, alerting etc is in line with RL standards. This includes items such as automation in areas of data archiving, scheduling, alerting etc.
• Define the integration strategy and approach along with the detailed to create a seamless transition which provides flexibility and agility to provide a competitive advantage to the business going forward.
• Create an automated testing strategy identifying the approach and tools that RL should adopt to speed up the acceptance of the systems, increasing the quality, reducing the time to introduce new changes, enabling volume testing to simulate peak workloads. This approach will accommodate both RL generated functional and vendor system releases.
• Create an application documentation repository containing all information for both the AS-IS environment and the TO-BE systems going forward. The intent will be to create detailed information in an approved tool or framework that will be used ongoing throughout the project and beyond.
• Create an overview of the approach for data migration, outlining the plan, ownership, roles and responsibilities and any tools required to perform the cutover from the existing ERP systems including the interim state.
• Identify the impact of the new NGT ERP system on the data analytics and reporting capabilities within RL. Identify how the new solution will best integrate into the data analytics domain and outline the impact on current reporting solutions and how to remediate.
• Design and implement with the partnership of the NGT ERP SI and Information Security a clear Cyber Security framework for the Hybrid cloud design based on NIS and CIS standards.
• Create and implement the transition to support documentation with the TO-BE ERP system with clear RACI matrix between RL Technology I&O, Security, Applications, and the TO-BE ERP system provider.

This role will define a strategy and approach to automate the testing of the new TO-BE solution. The scope will include the ERP systems and the immediate edge systems to enable a full acceptance test to be performed before any promotion of code to a production environment.

As the project starts, the creation of configuration or code needs to pass through a set of testing stages to verify its authenticity and durability. The testing of the solution is imperative to help support the ability of the business to adapt and move quickly. Therefore, this stream will define a solution that can be adapted to cover the various cycles of code / configuration build in accordance with RL standards for development.

The testing has to include existing functional and system capability, as well as incorporate new developments and be able to simulate volumes to stress test the environment that exceed peak business metrics. The testing has to include an ability to provide results quickly and allow overnight results for a full system test to take place. It must also include the immediate edge systems and the interim state framework. The tool must be able to extend to other platforms outside the ERP scope to enable a full testing capability across the application suite to be performed, replicating the business cycle.

To support rapid code deployment at RL, the product selection approach should take into account whether the ERP vendor has a leading tool suite the ERP vendor prefers or has an extendable tool suite. Alternatively, the approach can also consider whether an internal RL tool can be modified for this purpose.

The approach to automation should also consider how to extend into the requirements capture so that the process to convert into testing is agile and automated. In addition, the consideration of the interim state and migration packages must also be taken into account.

During the period of the NGT deployment there will be a significant period where the AS-IS environment and the TO-BE environment must co-exist together. The testing product must consider whether it needs to support this interim state as well as the recurring migration framework as the systems is rolled out on a regional basis.

The approach will be to work closely with the teams to identify what is required for this area and then map out options best aligned to the agreed strategy. Then define the plan and resources and ongoing team required to support this ongoing. The approach must support the ERP and the EDGE systems. This will also involve working closely with the ERP vendors.

Once the approach for the work packages has been agreed, identification of the level of effort and how the testing capability will be delivered is required. This will include the definition of roles and responsibilities ongoing within a new team.

Support will be provided to plan and collect the information, managing the data collected and enabling the lead to focus on the activities, rather than the repository of information and the details to create the plan.

The role will also ensure that there are formal processes in place with the business to accept their role within the new testing automated testing framework. The testing lead will also be seen as an evangelist for the program, helping to educate, raise awareness, grow confidence in those around them. They will become a focal point for the program and will generally help to raise the profile and understanding of the program within the company.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with all the IT, business, vendor teams to ensure a clear set of requirements is agreed for the testing of the NGT ERP and Edge systems. This will also consider the interim and migration package click apply for full job details