Ingle’s Markets is a regional grocery chain with 26k+ employees that began in Asheville, North Carolina in 1963, founded by Robert Ingle.  Typically located in under-served rural markets, Ingle’s has expanded into Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.  The stores carry bakery, deli, and meat departments in addition to standard grocery as well as pharmacy and in many locations, fuel. 

The stores are supplied product by Ingle’s state of the art distribution center, located centrally and within 250 miles of all stores. In addition, Milkco, a wholly-owned subsidiary, supplies Ingle’s Markets with fresh dairy products and other beverages as well as selling their products to other entities.  In addition to name-brand products, Ingle’s Markets carries their own brand, Laura Lynn, named after Robert’s daughter, that is comparable or better in quality than name-brand products. 

Ingle’s Markets was using SAP Human Resources and Payroll as well as the Financial Modules, implemented approximately 10 years ago.  With the advent and advantages of cloud service offerings, moving from their client server platform to a faster, state-of-the-art database and system was determined to be necessary to support the planned growth and direction of the organization. 

In 2019, a new human resources, payroll and finance system was implemented in the cloud.  This provided the opportunity to evaluate, assess and re-design the systems to better support future growth initiatives.  AspireHR, Inc. worked with Ingle’s Markets to implement the following modules: 

• • SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central 

• • SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll 

• • SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting 

• • SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 

• • SAP SuccessFactors Learning 

In performing the initial evaluations, we reviewed existing system configuration, custom reports and procedures, as well as manual updates and procedures.  With the implementation, the direction was to move to a standardized and best practices model.  Through the course of the implementation, the teams worked together to create new processes, eliminate manual processes, and incorporate standard reporting to meet data needs.  

The first of the SuccessFactors modules went live late January of 2020 to align with the Financial system cut-over and month-end close process. Millions of records were loaded, including year-to-date results, over the course of the cut-over.  The system was successfully implemented, giving Ingle’s Markets the flexible platform on which to continue to provide state of the art solutions for their employees, positioning themselves for future modules to continue to support the needs of their employee population and the organization as a whole. 

Challenges

• • Need to modernize and move from client server platform to a faster, state-of-the art cloud-based solution was needed to accommodate planned growth and plans for the organization 

• • Manual and non-standardized processes with their current HR and financial systems 

• • Reporting challenges with their current HR and payroll applications 

• • Looking to improve learning completions for employee training