Harmony Australasia is part of the broader Harmony Gold group, a recognised mining company with operations across multiple countries.
In the Australasian region, Harmony focuses on mining projects in both Australia and Papua New Guinea, supported by a diverse workforce and evolving operational needs.
The Challenge:
- An outdated HR system that lacked flexibility and modern features to support a regionally distributed workforce
- Fragmented and inefficient HR processes, limiting scalability and employee experience
- Missing functionality across the employee lifecycle, creating manual effort and inconsistency
- A need to modernise the HR platform, streamline processes, and improve engagement and service delivery
The Solution Provided by SMC
To address these challenges, Solution Minds Consulting (SMC) delivered a comprehensive, end-to-end engagement that guided Harmony through every phase of its HR transformation journey.
Analyse & Blueprint
- Rapid current-state analysis and pain point identification
- Defined future-state processes using SMC’s Good Practices Process Library
- Prioritised improvement opportunities and created a roadmap aligned with business readiness
- Defined HR requirements efficiently using SMC’s Requirements Library
Market Evaluation
- Conducted market research on solution fit, implementation costs, and duration
- Developed a 5-Year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model
- Performed vendor and partner assessments for shortlisted solutions
Select & Negotiate
- Rapid vendor shortlisting and evaluation using SMC’s SelectionCoach platform
- Guided Harmony through selection of a best-fit HR solution and implementation partner
- Supported commercial negotiations to secure favourable terms
- Empowered Harmony with clear ownership and confidence in their decisions
Plan, Prepare & Implementation
- Final solution: Oracle Cloud HCM
- Implementation partner: Mastek
- Scope: Full HR functions with integrations to existing enterprise systems
- Developed deployment plans, scope alignment, and a ±10% accurate project budget
- Positioned Harmony for wide adoption and long-term success
A Structured, Multi-Phase Transformation Approach
SMC applied a structured, multi-phase transformation approach. While early stages of the engagement were delivered under SMC’s previous phase naming, the work aligns to SMC’s current delivery model, reflecting the evolution of SMC’s methodology.
This approach considered people, process, technology, data, and AI.
Results and Achievements
- Confident selection of a Tier 1 HR platform tailored to organisational needs
- Commercially favourable implementation and licensing agreement
- High employee engagement and early adoption of new processes and tools
- Positive feedback showing strong readiness for change and satisfaction with SMC’s approach
Harmony was highly appreciative of SMC’s consistent support, clarity, and guidance from the initial blueprint through to go-live.
Chris and Jesse have been fabulous and made it a seamless process. My experience with SMC and various team members has been extremely positive and rewarding. They are very professional, well organised and offer great help and advice. The team at SMC have been exceptional in their work with Harmony on multiple projects. Their knowledge, expertise and ability to add so much value to our processes has resulted in our success. Chris, Jesse and Filip are exceptional and would highly recommend their services to any organisation looking for innovation, improvement and project management leadership.
Sandra Almeida
Group Human Resources Manager – SE Asia
Frequently Asked Questions
Harmony’s existing HR system was outdated, fragmented, and lacked modern capabilities to support a distributed workforce. Processes were inefficient and limited scalability, prompting the need for a modern, integrated platform.
SMC delivered a structured, end-to-end engagement – analysing current-state processes, defining future-state design, evaluating the market, guiding vendor selection, and planning implementation with clarity and confidence.
Harmony selected Oracle Cloud HCM as its new HR platform, implemented by Mastek, based on SMC’s independent market evaluation and commercial negotiation support.
Harmony achieved a confident selection of a Tier 1 HCM platform, high early adoption, positive employee engagement, and a commercially favourable implementation agreement.
SMC combines independent advisory, proven frameworks, and a people-focused methodology to ensure every transformation is strategic, well-governed, and positioned for lasting success.
Harmony continues to roll out Oracle Cloud HCM features, enhance functionality, and embed the platform across its operations – building on the foundation established through SMC’s advisory.
