Press Release

Fission Consulting Conducts Full ERP IT Separation Assessment for Private Equity Holding

Aug 1, 2023

CHICAGO — Aug 1, 2023 — In preparation for a planned divestiture, a privately held company has enlisted Fission Consulting’s services to conduct a thorough assessment of their IT landscape, including budget and timeline estimates for the separation.

Fission Consulting led the assessment, encompassing the client’s physical infrastructure, JD Edwards ERP, and nearly 200 ancillary operational applications. 

An in-depth review of infrastructure diagrams and inventory documents, as well as an onsite assessment of the physical equipment was conducted by the Fission team.  The full IT landscape consisting of over 300 TB of data was analyzed for disentanglement challenges and alternative separation approaches plus security reviews and optimization opportunities.  The client was provided with recommendations for splitting the IT landscape where appropriate and replicating others as required to complete the physical separation.

Over 9,000 business units were reviewed in the production JD Edwards system and the Fission team proposed a plan to disentangle the data and configuration to meet the separation requirements.  The client was presented with options for a single-step full JDE separation vs. a multi-step legal/operational separation followed by physical separation of the supporting infrastructure.

The Fission applications and integrations team performed an audit of nearly 200 ancillary operational applications.  The applications were prioritized for go-live criticality and complexity, then numerous key data points were compiled for each application using Fission’s proven integrations methodology.  By identifying redundancies in functionality and licensing, the client will be able to reduce their total number of applications by 33%.

The assessment was particularly notable due to its distinct context. The private equity firm provided various structuring alternatives,, so the assessment team needed to provide flexible recommendations and plans that would be able to meet several scenarios and landscape end states.

Upon completion of the two-month assessment, the findings, recommendations, and budget estimates were delivered to the client executives in a live presentation.  A bundle of supporting documentation containing the details of the assessment and alternatives was provided to the client.

The client’s Senior Director of Information Systems stated that the assessment project “gave us the information and recommendations needed to be ready to execute on the separation when the time comes.  It also forced the clean up of existing landscape documentation and provided operational optimization that can help us immediately.”

This project will be followed by execution of the separation plans selected by the client and to be led by Fission. 

About Fission Consulting

Fission specializes in supporting businesses through complex IT transformation initiatives associated with mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. 

If your organization is looking to complete an IT carve-out, undergo data migration for an IT transformation, or establish an effective Program Management Office, Fission can provide the structure and experience to empower your organization to achieve strategic goals and deliver successful projects.

About Bolthouse Farms

For more than a century, Bolthouse Farms has been known as the innovation leader in growing and distributing carrots and high-quality, nutrient-dense branded products. Employing more than 2,200 people and headquartered in Bakersfield in California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, Bolthouse Farms is one of the largest carrot growers and distributors in the U.S. and the No. 1 premium refrigerated beverage brand in U.S. retail.* Guided by its purpose — Ingenuity Grows Good — the company also produces and sells super-premium juices, smoothies, café beverages, protein shakes, functional beverages and premium refrigerated dressings, all under the Bolthouse Farms® brand name. 

Media Contact:

Taylor Gaines
CommCentric Solutions (on behalf of Fission)
813-727-6871 | tgaines@commcentric.com