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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software from SAP

The SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application provides best-in-class functionality for marketing, sales, and service. By supporting customer-facing business processes across multiple interaction channels, SAP CRM enables organizations to focus on strategies for customer-driven growth and to differentiate themselves in the market by providing a superior customer experience.

With SAP CRM, you get the help you need to delight your customers, empower your teams, and grow your business.

SAP CRM has helped the best-run companies in more than 25 industries make the most of their relationships with customers. With SAP CRM, your organization can capitalize on customer insight, improve front-line efficiency and effectiveness, streamline critical business processes across customer touch points, and quickly adapt to changing business and customer needs.

SAP Training

We provide the following hands on SAP training, led by SAP industry leading instructors. You get access to the software (SAP ECC 6.0 IDES) and tools you need for real SAP experience. Take the first step to a rewarding career in the SAP industry, schedule your training today. Click the title for more details.

SAP Technical Courses

All 101 level courses require no prior SAP training or experience. The 201 level courses require some prior SAP experience. An SAP course advisor can help you decide which of our SAP courses best fits your individual needs.

  • SAP Basis Administration Training - ADM 101
  • SAP Basis Advanced Training - ADM 201
  • SAP Introduction Security Training - SEC 101
  • SAP Advanced Security Training - SEC 201
  • SAP ABAP Developers - Beginners Training Outline - ABAP 101
  • SAP ABAP Developers - Intermediate Training Outline - ABAP 201
  • SAP Project Management Training Outline - SAPPM 101

SAP Functional Courses

SAP Functional courses require no prior SAP training or experience.

  • SAP BW/BI (NetWeaver Business Intelligence) - BWBI 101
  • SAP FICO Training - FICO 101
  • SAP HR (Human Resources) - SAPHR 101
  • SAP MM (Materials Management) - SAPMM 101
  • SAP PP (Production Planning) - SAPPP 101
  • SAP SD (Sales and Distribution) - SAPSD 101

SAP Introductory Training - SAP 101:

  • SAP training, hands on, instructor led.
  • Affordable and perfect for beginners.
  • Add SAP to your resume.
  • More about SAP 101

CUSTOMER REFERENCES

Colgate-Palmolive
Discover how this global provider of consumer products launched a major business planning project with support from SAP Trade Promotion Management, part of the SAP CRM application (PDF).

Cherry Corporation
For this U.S. -based maker of computer input devices, CRM software from SAP helped increase partner orders, reduce ordering-handling times, and optimize market performance (PDF).

Oki Data Americas
One of the leading color printer manufacturers in the United States, Oki Data Americas created a centralized system for opportunity and account management using SAP CRM. (PDF).

Wilson Tool
Examine how Wilson Tool, a leading producer of tooling systems for sheet metal manufacturers, leveraged the e-commerce functionality in SAP CRM to position itself for growth (PDF).

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software from SAP

The SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application provides best-in-class functionality for marketing, sales, and service. By supporting customer-facing business processes across multiple interaction channels, SAP CRM enables organizations to focus on strategies for customer-driven growth and to differentiate themselves in the market by providing a superior customer experience.

With SAP CRM, you get the help you need to delight your customers, empower your teams, and grow your business.

SAP CRM has helped the best-run companies in more than 25 industries make the most of their relationships with customers. With SAP CRM, your organization can capitalize on customer insight, improve front-line efficiency and effectiveness, streamline critical business processes across customer touch points, and quickly adapt to changing business and customer needs.

SAP Training

Do you want SAP training that will give you the true hands on experience that you can take directly from the classroom into the workplace? Our hands-on courses are conducted over the Internet from the comfort of your home or office with a live SAP Certified instructor. Your instructor will present your class through a combination of interactive video, audio, and web conferencing tools all on a live SAP system. In addition to the training, all of your sessions will be recorded so that you can go back and review them again later. Further benefits to our students include resume and job placement assistance as well as a full 30 days of additional access to our SAP training lab systems after the completion of your course for your continued learning.

What is SAP?


SAP, started in 1972 by five former IBM employees in Mannheim, Germany, states that it is the world's largest inter-enterprise software company and the world's fourth-largest independent software supplier, overall.

Ask your SAP questions at ITKnowledgeExchange.com

The original name for SAP was German: Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte, German for "Systems Applications and Products." The original SAP idea was to provide customers with the ability to interact with a common corporate database for a comprehensive range of applications. Gradually, the applications have been assembled and today many corporations, including IBM and Microsoft, are using SAP products to run their own businesses.

SAP applications, built around their latest R/3 system, provide the capability to manage financial, asset, and cost accounting, production operations and materials, personnel, plants, and archived documents. The R/3 system runs on a number of platforms including Windows 2000 and uses the client/server model. The latest version of R/3 includes a comprehensive Internet-enabled package.

SAP has recently recast its product offerings under a comprehensive Web interface, called mySAP.com, and added new e-business applications, including customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM).

As of January 2007, SAP, a publicly traded company, had over 38,4000 employees in over 50 countries, and more than 36,200 customers around the world. SAP is turning its attention to small- and-medium sized businesses (smb). A recent R/3 version was provided for IBM's AS/400 platform.

Interfaces

JDBC - The SAP MaxDB JDBC driver and the SAP MaxDB Java classes provide access to SAP MaxDB databases for Java programs.
See : SAP MaxDB Java Manual and JDBC Home at SUN.

ODBC - The SAP MaxDB ODBC driver provides access to SAP MaxDB databases via the ODBC interface, typically from C/C++ environments.
See: SAP MaxDB ODBC Manual and ODBC Programmers Reference at Microsoft.


PHP - The SAP MaxDB PHP extension provides access to SAP MaxDB databases using PHP scripts.
The SAP MaxDB PHP package is not part of the SAP MaxDB standard installation package. You can download it from the PECL repository for PHP extensions at http://pecl.php.net/package/maxdb.
See: SAP MaxDB PHP Manual

Perl - The SAP MaxDB Perl modules (DBD::MaxDB, SAP::DBTech::dbm and SAP::DBTech::loader) provide access to SAP MaxDB databases using Perl scripts.
The DBD::MaxDB module is not part of the SAP MaxDB standard installation package. You can download it from the CPAN repository for Perl modules at http://search.cpan.org/~maxdb/.
See: SAP MaxDB Perl Manual

Python - The SAP MaxDB Python modules (sdb.dbapi, sdb.sql, sdb.dbm and sdb.loader) provide access to SAP MaxDB databases using Python scripts.
See: SAP MaxDB Python Manual

ADO .Net - The SAP MaxDB ADO .Net interface provides access to SAP MaxDB databases using Microsoft’s .Net Framework.
See: SAP MaxDB ADO .NET Interface and SAP MaxDB .Net Framework documentations

WebDAV - The SAP MaxDB WebDAV servlet provides access to SAP MaxDB databases using the WebDAV protocol.
See: SAP MaxDB WebDAV documentation

SQLDBC - SQLDBC (SQL Database Connectivity) is a runtime library, which enables applications to execute SQL statements in SAP MaxDB databases.
See: SAP MaxDB SQLDBC Manual and SQLDBC API documentation

SAP MaxDB Components

SAP MaxDB is a relational database system. It provides all functions for creating, using, and managing SAP MaxDB databases.
The SAP MaxDB software comprises the database kernel, tools, and interfaces.

  • Installation
  • Management
  • Analysis
  • Command Line Tools
  • Interfaces

Installation

Installation Manager - Installation Manager is used for installing and upgrading the SAP MaxDB software and SAP MaxDB databases.
See: Using the Installation Manager

Management

Database Studio - Database Studio is the tool for managing SAP MaxDB databases. It can be used on all operating systems supported by the database system. It integrates administration, SQL, synchronization, and loader functions.
See: Database Studio documentation

Analysis

Database Analyzer - Database Analyzer is the tool for analyzing the performance of SAP MaxDB databases.
See: Database Analyzer documentation

Command Line Tools

Database Manager CLI - Database Manager CLI is the command line client of Database Manager, which is a tool for administering databases. You can use Database Manager CLI interactively or import commands from a file and execute them in the background. Database Manager CLI has script interfaces for Java, Perl, and Python.
See: Database Manager CLI documentation

SQLCLI - SQLCLI is used for data manipulation in SAP MaxDB databases. You can use this tool for entering and executing SQL statements, executing database procedures and querying information. You can use SQLCLI interactively or import commands from a file and execute them in the background.
See: SQLCLI doumentation

Loader - Loader is used for importing data and the database catalog into a SAP MaxDB database or exporting them from a SAP MaxDB database.

About SAP MaxDB


SAP MaxDB is the database management system developed and supported by SAP AG. It has its focus on the requirements of SAP customers and SAP applications and can be used as a less expensive alternative to databases from other vendors for your own or third-party applications as well. It is a competitive database management system for medium to large server configurations and also a convincing offering for a desktop or laptop database management system, as SAP MaxDB is very easy

The key benefits of SAP MaxDB are its many built-in self-administering features. SAP MaxDB is available for the most prominent operating system/hardware platforms Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Unix.

Today more than 13,000 SAP customers run SAP MaxDB and SAP liveCache installations, proving SAP MaxDB's reliability, scalability and availability for configurations of all sizes. SAP MaxDB is also widely used within SAP, for example for the Service Marketplace, the documentation development in Knowledge Warehouse, and also SDN runs on SAP MaxDB. SDN currently is one of the largest SAP NetWeaver Portal implementation with far more than 1,000,000 named users, and it runs on SAP MaxDB and Linux-x64.

SAP liveCache technology is an object-based enhancement of the SAP MaxDB database system and was developed to manage complex objects (e.g. in logistic solutions like SAP SCM/APO).

For solutions of this type, large volumes of data must be permanently available. Unlike SAP MaxDB, a SAP liveCache instance keeps all data that the system needs to access in memory. It provides data structures and methods for high speed processing of networks, as for example Available-to-Promise (ATP) and Production-Planning-and-Control (PPS).

SAP liveCache is patented SAP technology. It can only be used with SAP applications.

Saving Lives with Software

With the Future Public Security Center, SAP has opened its third living lab – and ushered in a new era in research into civil protection and emergency response.

Henning Kagermann, Co-CEO of SAP, officially opened the company’s third living lab on November 19, 2008 in Darmstadt, Germany. The living labs are research laboratories that give SAP researchers, partners, and future users the opportunity to work together and experiment with new technologies – resulting in groundbreaking innovations being developed faster.

Throughout Europe, there are more than 50 such labs, two of which are operated by SAP: the Future Factory in Dresden, Germany, and the Future Retail Center in Regensdorf, Switzerland.

Living lab for public security

With public security, the new living lab in Darmstadt addresses a highly topical and sensitive subject for IT research. Experts are predicting a global increase in disasters and crises – in terms of both frequency and intensity. Beyond the existing portfolio, these research activities are designed to ensure that long-term requirements are incorporated into the solutions of tomorrow.

“We are pleased that SAP is dedicating such a living lab to the topic of public security,” said Andreas Storm, parliamentary secretary of state at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, at the opening ceremony. “Security and technology hold great potential and opportunities for Germany,” he explained, and referred to the tsunami early warning system, which was developed with considerable German assistance after the devastating flood disaster in Asia and recently commenced operation. Storm described SAP’s Future Public Security Center as “another project of excellence.”

SoKNOS project connects emergency services

SAP has been conducting research into public security for some years now, using existing software solutions as a basis. The Future Public Security Center will start by focusing on the SoKNOS project, a security research program of the German federal government set up in 2007, which investigates service-oriented architectures supporting networks of public security. The project is led by SAP and involves partners from industry and research, as well as stakeholders from the fire and police departments. By 2009, the project will come up with an IT-based platform to improve cooperation and cross-organizational collaboration between police, fire, and emergency departments, government agencies, and other organizations in the event of a crisis.

“In an emergency, you need to get an overview of the situation very quickly,” Kagermann said. “All the available data must be brought together and the relevant experts connected – and that’s only possible with state-of-the-art information technology.” As the global leader in enterprise application software, he added, SAP can contribute decades of experience in standardizing processes, as well as being the number one innovator in service-oriented software architecture that enables different IT infrastructures to be connected. He added that, with the expertise from ongoing customer projects, SAP is a natural partner for continuing to improve public security though IT.

But this connectivity is still a great challenge for emergency services coping with disasters, as was shown when the first results from the SoKNOS project were presented by project lead Thomas Ziegert from SAP Research together with Sabina Kaczmarek, head of research projects at the Berlin fire department, and Benno Fritzen, chief fire officer at the Münster fire department.

They simulated the activities in the control room using the flooding of the German city of Cologne as an example, demonstrating how a modern IT infrastructure can help people decide on the best action to take – fast and with sound information. Whereas fire departments today still use magnetic boards, SAP’s living lab boasts a huge touch screen, which clearly provides all the latest information about the event.

Living lab actively engages stakeholders

The presentation also made plain that the living lab concept lends itself to the topic of civil protection. The subsequent users do not test finished prototypes, but rather they can actively influence prototype development right from the start of the project. In other words, end users become equal partners in research. This is an important aspect, especially with security-critical applications.

Fire and police departments, other emergency services, and hospitals already run software solutions for resource planning. However, the data is often not reconciled between the organizations. Sabina Kaczmarek from the Berlin fire department explained that flooding, for example, is often accompanied by a deluge of information – and someone has to first sift through it all to identify what is essential and quickly provide all the required services. Today, this is usually done manually, with the help of telephone and e-mail. One of the aims of the SoKNOS project is to use semantic technologies and innovative user interfaces to achieve greater automation and ease of use.

“I am convinced that the results of our research will help protect and save lives,” said Thomas Ziegert. In total, almost 70 employees are working on the two-and-a-half-year project, 30 of whom come from SAP. Darmstadt is a hub of multimedia and communication expertise, as well as a renowned location for human-computer interaction. In addition to SAP Research and the newly unveiled living lab, the city’s Technical University plays a key role.

Partnering for Success

Today, over 10,000 partner companies play a significant role in further expanding SAP’s portfolio. The Global Partner Operations & Services team supports them on matters such as integration, certification, services, solutions, and partner programs.

How do I access the portal? Where can I buy the software licenses I need?

The employees of the Global Partner Operations & Services (GPOS) team can quickly answer such questions. Even trickier queries about services, certification, and products are no problem for them, says GPOS Senior Vice President Jörg Jung: “Our employees really know what they’re doing.” And if they cannot answer a question themselves, they know who to turn to in the SAP organization because they are based in the same places as the product experts – at SAP locations all over the world.

Major partners such as IBM and Microsoft have enjoyed the benefits of all-round support for a long time. But how can SAP offer a comparable scalable service to the 10,000 other partners worldwide? Imran Khan, head of the Integration & Certification Center (ICC) for the Asia-Pacific region explains: “As an SAP-wide umbrella organization, GPOS ensures that our partners receive standardized programs globally, whether from the ICC, Partner Service Delivery, or the SAP PartnerEdge program.”

One-stop shop

“The greatest benefit that we can offer our partners on a mass scale is a one-stop shop for all questions, from the ordinary to the highly complicated. And the service is still personalized,” says Jung. “Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM don’t have anything like it.” GPOS offers its services in around 20 common languages; Chinese partners can communicate with SAP in their own language, for example.

The GPOS team works with partner companies to develop both individualized service plans and standardized training courses that are then offered to the entire SAP ecosystem as e-learning offerings. Partners can access the materials on a service portal, where they can also find information on such offerings as SAP Solution Manager. Standardized information is also published on topics that partners commonly ask about, from certification and validation to interfaces, business models, and contracts.

Strength in numbers

The Partner Network in Numbers

Approximately 10,000 partners have signed contracts with SAP or Business Objects, including 3,500 sales partners, 2,500 IT service providers, 600 software companies, 1,000 OEM partners, 1,000 retailers, and other small partner groups. Solutions from 1,700 software companies have been certified.

Being in the “club” has many advantages, as Bettina Spindler, responsible for the SAP Business ByDesign partners, explains: “Our ecosystem enables partners to access knowledge, new markets, and potential customers.” Moreover, partners can use the SAP infrastructure for advertising and sales campaigns and to obtain tools for integrating their software with SAP products. “System integrators can have their solutions tested by us,” says Alexandra Ulherr-McGhee of the ICC in Palo Alto, California. “This ensures the technical compatibility of their products.”

Partners pay for certification and, in return, receive a seal of quality. Every year, some 500 software solutions pass the ICC examination. Customers appreciate this effort because they know that they can rely on the solutions certified by SAP: They are quick and easy to implement and integrate with customers’ other systems, saving time and money.

A platform for everyone

The partner network enables SAP to meet cross-market requirements and develop niche solutions. “Our ecosystem strategy has two main purposes,” says Jung. “First, we can look after customers better, with higher value and at lower cost. Second, we work with customers and partners to drive co-innovation.”

GPOS wants to make it easier for other software vendors to access the SAP platform, which could reduce the investment that partners must make to work on the platform by more than 90 percent. This will enable smaller companies that only use one or two SAP tools to get involved, too. In addition, GPOS is designing a new end-to-end partner experience for maximum value generation.

“Our goal is for a further 1,000 software companies to work on our platform. Many start off small and grow with us,” explains Jung. “The platform really facilitates cooperation. The more vendors work on it, the more attractive it will be – and the better our products.”

SAP’s Partner Offerings

1. SAP PartnerEdge Program

  • Infrastructure for managing SAP contacts
  • Determination of technical requirements for cooperation
  • Provision of marketing materials: brochures, references, logos
  • Test and demo licenses for sales

2. Partner Service Delivery (PSD)

  • Service organization for supporting SAP partners worldwide
  • Locations: Brazil (responsible for Latin America and Iberia), Ireland (North America and Europe), India (Europe), China (Asia)

3. Integration & Certification Center (ICC)

  • Questions on integration
  • Development of certification plans for smaller software companies
  • Solutions currently certified: approximately 2,400

4. SAP Business ByDesign Solution Partner Management

  • Point of contact for partners wishing to expand SAP Business ByDesign
  • Next version already includes 15 additional partner solutions

Data Governance – the Key to Improved Data Quality

Study by the University of St. Gallen on corporate data quality management

With corporate master data management, data not only has to be maintained but also has to undergo quality inspection. This is where data governance comes in. A study by the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland confirms its benefit for strategy and operations.

The ability to access consistent, reliable, and up-to-date data at any time and from any place is crucial in today’s fast-paced business world. Solutions such as SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management (SAP NetWeaver MDM) are deployed to maintain data in master data management. SAP NetWeaver MDM consolidates, synchronizes, distributes, publishes, and manages master data from IT systems both within companies and with business partners across company boundaries.

This gives organizations a standardized view of all strategic data, enabling them to make informed decisions. The task of data governance is to specify roles and responsibilities and to define standards and guidelines for data quality management (DQM).

Better quality, lower costs

With a team led by Dr. Boris Otto, the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ) of the Institute of Information Management at the University of St. Gallen investigated corporate data management. Also involved in the study were the Institute of Information Systems of the University of Hamburg, Germany, headed by Prof. Stefan Voss, plus the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) and the SAP consulting unit SAP Business Transformation Consulting. Companies from different industries and of different sizes participated in the study.

And what did the team discover? Data governance combined with DQM results in better quality data. In addition to ensuring that business processes are aligned, DQM saves costs – because there are no more multiple entries and processes do not have to be repeated (for example, in the search for data). Nevertheless, the benefit of data quality initiatives is seldom measured.

Roles and responsibilities

The main drivers for active DQM are the integration and harmonization of business processes. In practice, however, the topic is still largely overlooked. Only 17 percent of the companies surveyed have implemented data quality management measures. However, 75 percent of them plan to make greater investments in DQM initiatives in the next few years.

The responsibilities connected with DQM comprised a key focal point of the study. The team of experts and academics identified five roles with specific tasks:

  • Data quality committee: Responsible for data quality strategy. The committee defines DQM initiatives, plans their implementation, and reconciles DQM goals with corporate objectives.
  • Corporate data steward: Defines the key performance indicators and measurement methods for DQM and is responsible for quality standards, processes, and guidelines.
  • Specialist data steward: Implements the measures in user departments and business areas. Also defines data management, data maintenance processes, and business metadata.
  • Technical data steward: Implements authorization system; defines technical metadata and system architecture.
  • Sponsor: Is involved in defining a DQM strategy.

SAP NetWeaver MDM helps companies to execute the many data governance tasks.

Functions of SAP NetWeaver MDM for data governance

  • Defines clear rules for tables, fields, and properties in the databases
  • Ensures data quality with many functions
  • Simple mapping of data administration using a role model
  • Simple development of workflows for efficient business processes and compliance

BPM Can Add Two Percentage Points to

the Operating Margin

Business process management (BPM) has become a hot topic for many companies. Why? Because BPM systems do not just map the individual requirements of an organization in a way that is integrated, economical, and easy to manage – they also improve communication between the user department and IT. Professor Ayelt Komus explains to SAP.info just how much BPM is being put into practice in today’s business environment.

Professor Ayelt Komus

Ayelt Komus is Professor of Business Requirements Analysis and Business Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences in Koblenz, Germany, and is a renowned BPM expert. In 2007, he managed a survey in which 500 companies were polled about BPM – which revealed some interesting results, particularly for accountants: Companies that make a concerted effort to deploy BPM have an operating margin of between six and eight percent, an average of two percentage points more than their non-BPM competitors.

Professor Komus, to what extent is business process management part of everyday life in the business world?

When it comes to implementing BPM, most companies have taken small steps. It is the exception rather than the rule for new departments to be set up or companies to undergo radical process-oriented redefinition.

In general, BPM is interpreted and put into practice in very different ways, and this can be largely attributed to the industry and the size of the company.

Large enterprises and the midmarket generally have the same motives for targeted process management – standardizing workflows, increasing quality, and improving process efficiency. With large enterprises, creating standardized methods as the basis for authentic process management plays an important role. In contrast, the midmarket is constantly looking for a compromise between continuity, methodology, and immediate results. The direct benefit is what’s most important to small businesses and midsize companies.

I am currently working on an online BPM check, which takes the different target systems into account and offers advice about which measures are relevant for different constellations.

Are there any regional differences in terms of BPM?

I think that all companies with professional global strategies have come to understand the necessity and potential of BPM. In English-speaking economies, BPM has been pursued consistently and with great commitment for a long time now.

In German-speaking countries, many companies value procedures that comply with methods. Another factor is that SAP solutions are very common in this part of the world. Their great connectivity naturally encourages organizations to systematically explore integrated business processes.

How can software support business process management?

The idea of an all-encompassing optimized value chain is not new – and was already realized by ERP software such as SAP R/2 and SAP R/3. With their high integration capabilities, these solutions heralded the end of the era in which IT systems were functionally separate. But back then, users often had to decide whether they should run the processes as envisaged by the system or whether they should develop their own modifications. And with the second option, you could negate the advantages of using standard solutions.

The concept of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and new BPM systems now give users much greater scope for making decisions – but they are also spoilt for choice. SOA can potentially make companies more competitive through individual process design, provided that the business processes are managed competently and actively.

It is possible to measure BPM?

What companies are ultimately interested in, of course, is the answer to the questions: What improvements do BPM measures bring about? How good is the output with limited input – in terms of cost, time, and quality?

If input and output are difficult to gauge, as is the case with creativity or customer focus, maturity models are used. For example: How precisely can a company predict the delivery date?

But we must be careful. If you take a hacksaw to your processes and aim for maturity across the board, you’re bound to fail. Companies must analyze precisely what the requirements are for each of the processes, based on size, industry, and strategy.

Thanks to ERP software and BPM systems, many companies now have access to relevant data from transactional processes. This can be used for controlling and monitoring.

You are the author of the book “Wikimanagement.” What can BPM learn from social software and wiki management?

In our book, we investigate the factors that make social software systems like Wikipedia, Xing, and YouTube so powerful. Innovative technology plays only a minor role. The decisive success factor is the common vision – for instance, Wikipedia’s desire to make knowledge available to everyone.

Interestingly, the control and quality management mechanisms are so strong that the people involved aren’t hampered in their commitment and creativity.

But integrating a wiki management philosophy into existing BPM structures presupposes that employees get actively involved, in other words, the company has a bottom-up approach to BPM. And, of course, this must harmonize with the corporate goals.

I think it could be feasible if done in small steps, so that certain restricted areas could systematically try out the approach using trial and error, in much the same way as an article on Wikipedia is constantly under development.

And what Wikipedia has done is most encouraging: Instead of the much predicted chaos, the quality of most of the information is comparable with the content of classic encyclopedias.

Let’s have a look into that crystal ball: What does the future hold for BPM?

The fundamental conflict between functional – or resource – efficiency and process efficiency might level off in a few places, partly as a result of modern IT systems. But the conflict will still be there.

Due to the degree of freedom enabled by SOA and modern BPM solutions, companies will be able to organize their business processes even more flexibly. Above all, the direct linking of design, modeling, the transactional system, and controlling will be important.

When we look at putting successful mechanisms from social software in place in BPM, we are still at an early stage. Currently, there are a few tentative moves to integrate technologies such as wikis, networks, blogs, and so on. But that’s just a small part of the identifiable potential. Marked improvements will be seen where the social software philosophy becomes an integral part of process management, in other words, where it touches the employees who get the work done.

Professor Ayelt Komus

Ayelt Komus is Professor of Business Requirements Analysis and Business Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences in Koblenz, Germany. His academic research, which combines theory and practice, investigates how companies can improve their process design using modern information technology and process-oriented networking, and thus become more competitive. He is also involved with the BPM network for German-speaking countries and is the author of the book “Wikimanagement.”

More Orders in the Same Time

Mail-order company Rudolf Ostermann streamlines operations with SAP ERP

Greater efficiency, faster deliveries, more satisfied customers: These are the goals of Rudolf Ostermann GmbH, one of Europe’s largest mail-order carpentry suppliers. To achieve these, the company is now using SAP ERP and SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM), implemented together with Steeb Anwendungssysteme GmbH.

Headquartered in Bocholt, Germany, the company’s customer service includes 24 hour delivery, stocks of over 12,000 products as well as bespoke deliveries for even the smallest orders.

With subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Italy, and France, Ostermann is opening up more and more international markets. However, the internal IT structures were no longer able to map the more complex business processes adequately and so the company looked for a software solution that could

  • manage multiple subsidiaries
  • handle multiple languages
  • facilitate master data maintenance
  • support customer communication
  • improve customer service.

Ostermann has found all this in SAP ERP. Together with SAP subsidiary Steeb Anwendungssysteme, the company has implemented the integrated, internationally standardized application in just five months. The implementation package consisted of the pre-configured Steeb Fix ERP package and Steeb Fix CIC (Customer Interaction Center).

Everything in one system

Midmarket Award for Ostermann

After reaching the finals in 2007, Ostermann was honored as a finalist in the “Großen Preis des Mittelstandes” (Major Prize for the Midmarket) award in 2008. This accolade is granted to companies in Germany for: outstanding overall development, creation and safeguarding of jobs and positions for trainees, innovation, commitment to the local region, service, and customer proximity.

“We faced three major challenges during the implementation project. First, we wanted our employees to start working with the new SAP ERP solution quickly. Second, we had to reconcile our business processes, which were already complex, with the standardized SAP processes. And third, we wanted to further optimize our order inflow,” says Johannes Teriete of the consultancy TERIETE IT-Beratung and external project manager at Ostermann.

The SAP applications for accounting and controlling, incoming orders, ordering and materials planning, packing, warehousing and picking as well as delivery and shipping are now available to roughly 200 users. From the customer call to order entry through packing and shipping – every step of the process is carried out on the same medium in the same system. All cross-company business processes are mapped electronically. SAP ERP is used in all subsidiaries.

Clear overview of customer data through a central cockpit

Telesales are the cornerstone of sales and marketing at Ostermann. This is why Steeb’s partner Cycos also installed a new Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) solution, connected directly to the SAP system, during the SAP ERP implementation. This computer telephony integration provides the basis for fast telephone sales. The solution based on this is the Customer Interaction Center, a component of SAP CRM.

Acting as a central cockpit for all employees in the sales department, it ensures that all the relevant master data, such as address, bank, or payment details, is displayed on the screen each time a customer calls. This means that all customer information is available at a single click and can be further processed.

Before the conversion to SAP, each order had to be post-processed in different systems. Because this is no longer necessary, employees can take considerably more orders in the same amount of time. In addition, incoming orders are processed much faster.

“The new integrated SAP solution increases our transparency and efficiency. We have established the necessary IT structure for further profitable growth both in Germany and in the rest of Europe,” says Dagmar Daxenberger, managing director of Ostermann.

Rudolf Ostermann GmbH

Ostermann is the largest European mail-order company for edgebands and fittings for the wood-working industry. Its key customers are joiners and carpenters. Since 1992, the company has increased its annual revenue on average by more than 15 percent. During the last four years, Ostermann increased its revenue by 76 percent to 67 million euros and created 86 additional jobs. The company now has 220 employees

Ciba remains competitive with SAP ERP

All regions now benefit from centralized and global business processes

In August a mammoth project is drawing to a successful close: In just under three and a half years, specialty chemicals manufacturer Ciba has implemented an extensive portfolio of SAP solutions to replace more than 100 enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems at its 80 locations and research centers in 20 countries. A project on this scale is rarely seen in the chemical industry, but Ciba had no alternative. To survive and grow in the fiercely competitive global market, the company had to harmonize business processes and operate more efficiently and transparently.

Implementation around the globe

On November 1, 2006, Terry Gorman, the manager of Project Enterprise, gave the order to deactivate the legacy systems at the Ciba locations in the United Kingdom and Italy. Austria, Germany, and Switzerland followed in May 2007, the Americas in November 2007, and the rest of EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) in April 2008. And since August, the remaining Ciba locations in the Asia-Pacific region have been live with the system. With the help of the SAP Active Global Support organization and its support options, such as SAP MaxAttention, the project team overcame every hurdle. Trainings conducted by the SAP Education experts were equally important in ensuring successful implementation.

Tough markets

Ciba

Ciba, based in Basel, Switzerland, manufactures specialty chemicals for a wide range of industries. At its 80 locations around the world, the company produces additives for products including paints, coatings for the automotive and other industries, and cosmetics. These additives ensure that cars retain their finish, plastics keep their elasticity, paper does not tear, water is clarified, and our skin is protected from UV rays. Some of the latest innovations from the Ciba laboratories include a laser marking system for packaging and conductive inks to print conductive structures onto any surface. With 13,000 employees, the group sells its products in 120 countries and generated revenues of approximately CHF 6.5 billion (approximately U.S. $6.2 billion) in 2007.

The specialty chemicals market is very tough. Emerging Asian competition, in particular, has put pressure on traditional companies like Ciba and reduced their profits. Rising prices of energy and raw materials, buying syndicates, and a mounting number of regulations have also squeezed margins. “We can only survive if we increase productivity, become leaner and more transparent, adapt our processes, and reduce costs,” explains Michael Löchle, former CIO and now Head of Group Services & Administration.

Improved collaboration

Bird's eye view of the Ciba plant

“We also had to improve collaboration between our locations,” he continues, adding that this had previously been the exception rather than the rule at Ciba. Each plant had ordered its own raw materials, the procedures for outbound goods deliveries had varied between locations, the finance department at the headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, had only found out how the various subsidiaries performed at a late stage, and the customers had to struggle with different ordering processes. “Now everyone works hand in hand,” says Helmut Prestel, managing director of the manufacturing plant in Lampertheim, Germany.

Other advantages of this global project quickly became evident: Managers in Basel soon had an overview of how the individual locations were performing; they knew what stock was being stored where, and could submit, for the first time, consolidated forecasts for sales, purchasing, and production. They were also able to comply with international regulations, such as the European Union’s REACH directive on chemicals.

Better decision making

“Above all, we now have a common technical platform and a single, transparent set of data,” says Brendan Cummins, now CEO of Ciba. This means that planning is more reliable. Moreover, the company can see in real time what effect a transaction has on financial results and is more responsive to changes in the market. “The in-depth business data analysis enables the executive board to make better strategic decisions,” says Cummins.

Full benefits after full connection

Löchle feels it is “especially vital to have control over logistics, from production planning and materials purchasing to sales and marketing, and reduce costs this way.” The SAP implementation, he continues, has enabled Ciba processes to meet these requirements – and there is still enormous potential for increases in efficiency and decreases in costs.

Project manager Gorman says Ciba will reap the full benefits of Project Enterprise after all its locations have been connected to the SAP system. Consequently, the company has started a work group to optimize business processes using the software


Starting August 2008, all of Ciba’s ERP systems will run on a central system in Basel based on IBM servers.

Ciba implemented virtualized IBM System p5 590 servers, using the High Availability Disaster Recovery (DR) function of IBM DB2 to provide hot standby of production systems. IBM Tivoli Storage Manager handles backups of the high-performance IBM System Storage DS8100 disk system, and Libelle BusinessShadow for SAP provides long-distance replication capabilities for the new DR site, about 100 kilometers away, in a different tectonic zone.

There are other partners on board, among them the Indian system integrator Satyam and the IT service provider Unisys.

The implementation of the SAP system is part of a large-scale program to drive growth and improve the company’s cost structure. In 2007 alone, the program resulted in cost savings of over CHF 95 million (approximately U.S. $92 million). Ciba also runs SAP ERP, SAP SCM (APO), SAP SRM, SAP PLM (including SAP Environment, Health & Safety), SAP GRC Global Trade Services, SAP GRC Access Control, SAP NetWeaver XI, SAP NetWeaver Portal, SAP Treasury and Risk Management, and SAP In-House Cash.

Flexible IT Infrastructure for Growing Companies

School satchel manufacturer Sternjakob opts for FlexFrame for SAP

“We don’t see IT as an end in itself. Rather, we aim to have a flexible IT infrastructure that enables us to adapt our central business processes to changing market conditions,” says Dieter Liebler, managing director of Alfred Sternjakob, headquartered in Frankenthal, Germany. No easy task for a midsize company. That’s why the world’s leading manufacturer of school satchels, bags, and high-quality luggage opted for FlexFrame for SAP, developed by Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

Günter Beres, head of IT at Sternjakob, runs his department with just three employees and an annual budget (not including new investments) of €450,000 to €500,000. The IT environment comprises a production and a test system. In day-to-day operations, employees access the production system, which is where the retailing system is located. If the production system is not available, the test system acts as a backup.

The entire supply chain is mapped using SAP software. Around 100 employees have an SAP work center and ensure that the business processes run smoothly.

Opting for a sustainable solution

In Germany alone, Sternjakob supplies 3,000 retailers, from stationery shops through major department store groups. To ensure that business continues to run without a hitch despite changing trade relations, Sternjakob migrated from SAP R/3 version 4.6C to the new software generation, SAP ERP. “During the upgrade, we also wanted to set the course for the upcoming implementation of SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence,” says Beres.

This would have meant substantial enhancements to the three-year-old IBM iSeries system previously used for SAP tasks. “We had two alternatives. We could either invest in a second iSeries system, uprate the memory area considerably – and possibly still be faced with a similar problem again in three years’ time. Or we could look for a highly flexible and future-proof solution that gives us optimal room for maneuver in the long term,” Beres explains.

Persuaded by functionality, usability, and price

FlexFrame for SAP
(Photo: Alfred Sternjakob)

FlexFrame for SAP by Fujitsu Siemens Computers won over the decision makers at Sternjakob with its comprehensive functions, ease of use, and reasonable administration costs. Beres admits that he was fascinated by the SAP-certified infrastructure solution, which dynamically assigns servers to SAP applications on demand, right from the start.

“This really is a powerful solution that can be extended flexibly,” says Beres. “It’s made of components that can be individually combined – in our case the Linux operating system, SAP ERP, NetApp storage, and high-performance servers from Fujitsu Siemens Computers – and which are optimally aligned and coordinated.” The FlexFrame environment was installed by the partner company IS4IT, headquartered in Oberhaching near Munich, Germany.

To guarantee continuous operation, the complete upgrade to SAP ERP initially went ahead using the test and development system. The production system followed in the second step. Sales employees continue to access their trusty retail system, which now runs on a stable and sustainable platform that can be flexibly adapted to rapidly changing business requirements.

Other benefits of the FlexFrame solution include higher availability of the IT infrastructure and improved data security. Restore tests showed that, even if companies lose their entire IT infrastructure, they can work productively again within two days.

The course is set

Thanks to the secure and extensible basic infrastructure, Beres can concentrate on new ways of achieving greater process efficiency and customer satisfaction. Earlier this year, the application nodes were added to the system’s FlexFrame architecture, and the basis installation of the SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence component was completed.

As soon as the data is fully verified, a small group of users will be able to take advantage of business intelligence functions. In the medium term, Sternjakob plans to integrate SAP Customer Relationship Management and set up an SAP-based portal solution.

“We want to grow dynamically. The potential for savings, especially in administration costs, that we have through FlexFrame for SAP gives us the opportunity to expand by 20 to 30 percent, without having to hire more staff,” states managing director Dieter Liebler.

Flexible hardware system

FlexFrame for SAP enables SAP applications to be completely virtualized and decoupled from infrastructure resources. Instead of permanently assigned hardware and software, a pool of server and storage systems is used on demand by the applications. This enables each SAP service to run on each server in the FlexFrame network.

But not only the SAP software is located on a central storage system. The operating system (Linux or Solaris) is too, and can consequently be used by all servers. A control instance boots the operating system on the relevant server automatically through the network. Management software, the FlexFrame Autonomous Agent, ensures the high availability of mission-critical applications.

The result: a simplified SAP infrastructure, reduced operating costs, and flexible, highly scalable IT that adapts itself to changed requirements according to need.

Manfred Wolf wrote the Internal Audit Handbook

Internal Auditing

The role of internal auditors has grown more complex over the last years. So complex that Manfred Wolf, senior vice president of SAP’s GIAS (Global Internal Audit Services) decided to author a book about his experiences managing SAP’s internal audit function: The Internal Audit Handbook. Published in 2007, the book succinctly breaks down the framework of internal audits and builds awareness to the value of a well-run internal audit department inside today’s organizations. SAP.info spoke with Manfred about swapping jobs across the globe and communicating directly to the CEO.

Manfred, why is internal auditing important to SAP?

In today’s global marketplace everything regarding processes, organizational structures, internal controls, risk management and financials must comply with external regulations that correspond with internal policies. Here at SAP we have 20-25 global policies in place - our industry has strict guidelines and regulations that all approximately 51,000 employees at SAP must adhere to, making the internal auditing role vitally responsible. Henning Kagermann and the chairman of SAP’s Audit Committee have given our internal audit team full power to conduct internal audits throughout the entire organization to ensure compliance.

What is unique about the “SAP Internal Handbook”?

We have the most useful information, and the highest quality of information on this topic. If you look at the SAP roadmap it is very simple and effective: planning, preparation, reporting, and follow-up, that’s it. Between every phase you have a quality gate. The beauty of it really is its simplicity. Also, SAP’s historical data provides us with a unique breadth of information, policies, growth, and infrastructure to draw from.

What inspired you to write this book?

A couple of years ago, after we created the Global Internal Audit Services (GIAS) roadmap we realized it was necessary to document the internal audit process. After a short while it became apparent that it would make sense to put this in a format to be published. In the European and German markets there aren’t too many books available that discuss the intricacies and processes of internal audits. What we were really looking to do was establish a framework so that we can continue to develop our internal audit position for the future. The responsibilities of the internal auditor have changed, and will continue to change, but the nuts and bolts we wanted to get down on paper.

How do you maintain objectivity while assessing your own company?

The GIAS annual audit plan is derived primarily from risk assessments performed right down to the entity level - like the customer, departments, and products. On a quarterly basis we review the audit plan and the capacity of each of our auditors, as well as their availability to the organizational structure. During the audit engagements the SAP internal audit team has quality checks. Independent parties are assessing not only SAP’s work but also assessing the quality and the content of each internal auditor.

What makes up a successful IA strategy?

Primarily people. The first internal audit team consisted of eight people with a direct report to the former F&A manager of SAP. Today at SAP we are a global organization with more than 30 staff members with reporting lines from places such as the Americas, Europe, and Singapore. The ongoing task for the management team is to continue to look for qualified candidates. In terms of our people development, we have created a very transparent career path. Candidates, once selected, come in as an internal auditor, after two years we promote them to senior auditor and after one more year of successful audits he or she is promoted to global auditor. This departmental structure allows a global auditor in the U.S. to confidently discuss details with a global auditor in Singapore or Germany ensuring operational consistency.

Why is the internal auditing process more important today than it was, say, ten years ago?

The complexity of regulations originating from inside the company and expectations placed on managers and organizations regarding compliance has increased exponentially over previous years. This relates to the Sarbanes-Oxley and the increased awareness globally of white collar crime and corruption. Internal audits have become a necessity to ensure a reliable environment of internal control. Without them there is a potential loss of trust and confidence at the shareholder level that no company can afford. And perhaps without knowing it also customers are relying on the work of the internal auditors to assess product development, quality assurance and ensure the overall sustainable functionality of all SAP software.

What are the biggest mistakes organizations make when initializing an internal audit?

Probably, the biggest mistake companies make with Internal Audit Departments is that they are inappropriately organized. I have seen cases where the internal auditor is directly reporting to other Board members than the CFO or is auditing a department that they helped organize. Ideally, for the reason of independence and objectivity, the Chief Audit Executive reports directly to the CEO and/or the Chairman of the Audit Committee, which ties perfectly into the SAP culture.

Focus on SOA

SECUDE launches Secure Login version 5.0

The new version of SECUDE Secure Login – version 5.0 – is the only secure Single Sign-On (SSO) solution to support the entire SAP portfolio. Thanks to the scenario-based installation wizard, the new version can be implemented in a matter of minutes. What’s more, a new Web client has enabled the application for Linux and Mac OS X.

“Secure Login 5.0 considerably reduces the implementation time for SSO projects in the SAP environment,” says Heiner Kromer, CEO of SECUDE, which is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. “The modular structure of the solution enables companies to install secure SSO for SAP very quickly, and then extend the functions step-by-step – with no risk and minimum effort.”

With the new version 5.0 of Secure Login, SECUDE offers a solution to the problem of SSO software based on SAP logon tickets or Kerberos not being sufficiently secure. Such SSO software does not allow companies to use consistent methods for all SAP technologies. This makes it extremely difficult to react flexibly to new system requirements. For these reasons, many companies prefer open, standards-based solutions that enable them to remain independent from providers and thus operate more cost-efficiently.

The SSO solutions offered by SAP based on certificates meet extremely high security requirements, but are often very complex. This is where SECUDE Secure Login 5.0 comes into its own – by enabling companies to benefit from certificate technology simply and quickly. The product does not need a public-key infrastructure (PKI) and enables customers to use their existing infrastructure in an optimal manner. Tailored for use in SAP service-oriented architecture environments, SECUDE Secure Login version 5.0 guarantees smooth adaptation to changed company requirements

Adapter Integrates CMS into SAP NetWeaver Portal

An interview with Peter Klassen, product manager at Day Software

Integration of business-critical content and functions from the Web content management (WCM) solution Communiqué into SAP NetWeaver Portal – brought to you by Day Software and its SAP-certified CQ PortalAdapter. This software gives organizations an efficient, cost-effective way to standardize access to content from Communiqué WCM in their SAP portal solutions.

Four questions for Peter Klassen, product manager at Day Software

Mr. Klassen, what makes your PortalAdapter special?

The main feature of our integration solution is how it enables the Java Content Repository-based Communiqué WCM to complement SAP NetWeaver Portal. In its JCR API specification, Day Software has implemented an established industry standard for uniform access to content. Our reasons for doing so were clear: As the number of data repositories in use increases and the management of these resources begins to generate exorbitant costs, open IT standards independent of manufacturers are starting to make more and more sense.

Communiqué WCM and its integrated Content Repository Extreme (CRX) represent the first high-performance, commercial content repository that is 100-percent compatible with the JCR standard. With its range of connectors, Communiqué also enables both JCR-compliant access to external repositories and databases and uniform, centralized access to global company content of any kind. CQ PortalAdapter adds this potential to SAP’s portal solution, supplementing the business software it contains with content from Communiqué WCM.

Communiqué is a 100-percent Java-based and platform-independent content management solution (CMS). Its technology enables companies to standardize and manage business data, systems, applications, and processes over the Internet.

What specific elements does your solution offer companies?

Other than the cost efficiency based on the standardized content access I mentioned, companies benefit from role-based displays of CMS portal content in SAP’s unique portlets – called iViews – which enable organizations to reuse content. This in turn leads to efficient creation processes and easier content maintenance.

Generating and publishing CMS content from within SAP NetWeaver Portal is also an option. An authorized user now has the ability to create and maintain content without direct access to the CMS author environment, reducing the time and effort required to a minimum. Authentication is based on an SAP-compliant single sign-on solution, and in the standard configuration, an LDAP server handles general user management.

Other feature highlights of the PortalAdapter include the integration of multilingual support for Communiqué CMS and the option of using the comprehensive workflow functionality of Communiqué CMS in SAP NetWeaver Portal.

What customers are already using CQ PortalAdapter?

A customer in the steel industry – one who will be an excellent reference in the future – is currently in the go-live phase with the adapter. Since the adapter’s SAP certification, we’ve gained a number of interested parties from the insurance, telecommunications, and aviation industries.

Peter Klassen, product manager at Day Software

What are your plans for the future?

The access link between SAP NetWeaver Portal and JCR-compliant content repositories in a WCM context is now in place. Our focus is now on properly providing content assets – a term I can’t stress enough, given how many people don’t realize that content represents real value for their companies – in SAP NetWeaver Portal.

Here, we’re looking at managing and publishing multimedia content (digital assets), as well as Web 2.0-related topics like wikis, blogs, and calendars – content generated by collaboration. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for CQ PortalAdapter.

Day Software is a leading provider of content management, portal, and digital asset management software. Along with companies like EMC, IBM, and Sun, the Swiss company initiated and is driving the industry standard for content access, JSR 170, as well as its next generation, JSR 283.

The Highest Common Denominator

Rollout of ERP solutions in SMEs

Small and midsize enterprises are becoming increasingly globalized and need to adapt their IT to this global structure. They can achieve an internationally uniform software landscape by rolling out their ERP solution. Head of IT Kirsten Müller has already managed 15 such projects at the global Bruker Group. She advises other enterprises to carry out thorough preparation.

It is absolutely essential for global enterprises to clarify the status of the overall organization and individual locations in a straightforward way. Management often needs a consolidated balance sheet quickly showing all business key figures. Today, this balance sheet may need to show sales and order receipts from branches in the Czech Republic, Poland and China, while tomorrow a profit and loss calculation might be needed that consolidates all the relevant countries.

The fact is that the basic challenges facing organizations with international production and sales locations are very similar both for SMEs and for large enterprises with 150, 1,500 or 150,000 employees. Both large and midsize companies need to deal with different languages and cultures, currencies, time zones, intercompany processing, or transfer prices. They have to draw up individual financial statements according to local accounting rules, and also create consolidated interim and annual reports using international standards such as the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or US GAAP.

Without a suitable IT infrastructure, these tasks are extremely difficult, if not impossible. Enterprises need ERP solutions that are as standardized as possible and can be run centrally for all companies.

There are other factors particular to the SME environment that also need to be taken into consideration. For example, midsize manufacturing companies are often heterogeneous organizations. Comparatively large production plants, with their deep and broad business processes, exist alongside smaller units that perform sales and service tasks, and only have a limited amount of personnel and a flat organization. This heterogeneous structure needs to be mapped in full with a single solution.

Central standards, local "specialties"

The Bruker Group, a provider of analytical instruments for the areas of life science and materials research, can vouch for this through its own experiences. The group consists of a total of 50 companies with a midsize structure, each with between 80 and 200 employees. The main locations are in Switzerland, Germany, France, and the United States. "For us, it is important to have our own SME approach for end-to-end IT structures. Our aim is to harmonize the local needs of our production and sales companies across the world with the requirements of the Bruker head offices," explains Kirsten Müller, Head of IT at subsidiary company Bruker AXS, based in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Bruker therefore built up a global ERP system for the logistics processes based on All for Machine, an SAP Business All-in-One industry solution from SAP partner All for One. Previously, the group had implemented SAP-based processes for accounting step by step in the individual location. Kirsten Müller has so far been responsible for or assisted 15 of these rollouts.

One system for all

An international rollout project is not the same as a "normal" ERP implementation. It is far more complex and time-consuming to create a standardized data basis with which all the companies and locations can always "speak the same language." When the template is created, numerous requirements have to be taken into consideration and constantly compared to ensure that master data and numbering systems, for example, provide clearly assigned results in all companies and organizational units.

As a result, rollout projects cannot be done "on the side". IT expert Müller explains one important area of tension: "In an international ERP rollout, it is good on the one hand if uniform standards are defined centrally and implemented globally. On the other hand, however, local requirements and factors always have to be taken into consideration. It is impossible to take an ERP system configured for Germany and apply it one-to-one to the United States." Instead, she advises companies to "form the highest common denominator. All companies, all countries, all processes and ultimately all users should be taken into account in an enterprise-wide system."

For this, it is necessary to develop a template that takes account of the different requirements. This requires exact knowledge of business processes and local needs. Those responsible must therefore also be on site at the various locations, in order to correctly communicate the requirements of the head office on the one hand, and correctly evaluate the importance of local needs and business practices on the other. Personal communication and detailed template documentation are the keys to success.

Assistance for technical questions

In addition, the technical preparations need to be carried out before the rollout can take place. One big advantage here is the outsourcing of operation to an external computer center, because tasks such as the setup of long-distance connections (WAN) to connect up the individual locations or the setup and monitoring of development and test systems are often too much for the internal IT department to handle. Global operation of an SAP solution also usually requires 24-hour service desk support. As a result, operation of the global Bruker systems was transferred to the outsourcing service center of All for One from the implementation phase onwards. Kirsten Müller and her team are therefore able to concentrate on their core tasks and contribute their process expertise.

Abroad, globally active companies can still work together with their IT service provider. Many SAP partners also offer services locally. In addition, the international network of united VARs (value added resellers) guarantees customers local support abroad. All for One, for example, currently works with more than 20 united VAR partners that offer services in 34 countries.

Focus on "soft factors"

In addition to technical issues, cultural aspects – or "soft factors" – are decisive in an ERP rollout. For example, a shake of the head in India is the equivalent of a "yes" – so misunderstandings can arise quickly. In addition, each country has its own peculiarities with regard to working speed, style, and method. It is important to know all this in order to plan projects realistically.

At Bruker, Kirsten Müller had good experiences with providing those involved in the subsidiary concerned with information at an early stage. "It was always beneficial to involve management and employees in the location with regard to the future changes. On the one hand, to convince them of the advantages of a new ERP system and standard processes, on the other to take account of their outlook, wherever it made sense to do so," stresses IT manager Müller. She is well aware that, "if too little time is spent on this, or local, cultural business practices are ignored, this can have negative consequences and delay the project."

IT on Tap

A fresh Start with SAP Business ByDesign

It was perfect timing: German mechatronics specialist Preh GmbH, a midsize company located in Bad Neustadt, Bavaria, was looking for a software product that would fit the needs of its subsidiary, PrehKeyTec GmbH. Its main requirements were that the product should be integrated, cost-effective, and flexible. And just then, SAP brought SAP Business ByDesign to market. Could this SME-centric, on-demand solution be a suitable model for the company’s future?

It is a familiar situation: You place your groceries on the conveyor belt and watch as the checkout assistant scans them or swiftly keys a price into the cash register. What looks so simple actually requires highly complex data-entry systems such as those manufactured by PrehKeyTec, a midsize enterprise located in Mellrichstadt, Bavaria.

A specialist automotive component supplier that is part of the Preh Group, PrehKeyTec became independent after a spin-off and needed a software solution of its own. It chose SAP Business ByDesign. Martin Limpert, head of IT at the Preh Group, explains: “We wanted a system that would support the independent status of our new subsidiary. SAP announced SAP Business ByDesign at exactly the time we were looking for a solution. Because Preh GmbH was already using SAP R/3 and we were pilot users of other SAP solutions, we knew that we could rely on our partners at SAP headquarters in Walldorf.”

The company was also looking for software that would map its process chain from order to shipment. Because it manufactures keyboards for custom developments and thus operates in a niche market, PrehKeyTec urgently needed an integrated IT system. “Each customer has different requirements, which must be quickly satisfied,” says Rolf Ilsemann, managing director of PrehKeyTec. Only an end-to-end IT system can meet these requirements, he adds, whether they be for specific colors, key sizes, or programmable functions.

Solution model for SMEs

In Limpert’s estimation, the fact that SAP Business ByDesign is an on-demand solution is a major point in its favor: “As a midsize enterprise, we need an IT system that we can operate without having to worry about set-up and administration. SAP Business ByDesign is rather like IT ‘on tap.’ If we can access a server at SAP Hosting instead of owning and maintaining our own hardware and software, then we already have a major cost argument in favor of SAP Business ByDesign.”

Currently, PrehKeyTec is using SAP functions for financial accounting, asset accounting, controlling, time management, materials management, purchasing, sales and distribution, production, warehouse managements, and shipping. The company is also planning to implement Electronic Data Interchange for orders and incoming invoices as part of a pilot project with SAP partner crossgate. Moreover, it is eagerly awaiting the enhancements announced for SAP Business ByDesign and will deploy them as soon as possible.

Just a few weeks after beginning live system operations, Limpert is convinced that his company has made the right decision. A few minor issues did, admittedly, arise during implementation; for example, a certain amount of rework was required in all the SAP Business ByDesign modules, and the forms did not initially match the company’s requirements completely. But Limpert sees these as nothing more than the teething troubles that every new system suffers. The crucial point, he says, is that SAP responds quickly to suggestions and criticisms and has resolved all the outstanding issues.

Guided transition

For the workforce at PrehKeyTec, the transition from SAP R/3 to SAP Business ByDesign was not entirely straightforward, because the two systems are operated in different ways. Staff who had worked on an SAP ECC 6.0 and BI 7.0 System until go-live on June 1, 2008, was in favor of a strategic development and of continuing to work on the same level. However, after arranging training for his colleagues shortly before go-live and involving them in tests on the new solution, Limpert can now report: “Our employees have transferred all of our product orders into SAP Business ByDesign. I have received confirmation from everywhere that they can now operate the system.”

This success, says Limpert, is due in large measure to the SAP developers from Walldorf, who traveled to Mellrichstadt to observe PrehKeyTec users in action and find out how they think and work. “We’d never come across a software vendor who sends programmers to the customer site before,” says Limpert. “But – let’s face it – that really is the only way of tailoring new solutions to the needs of future users.”

Meanwhile, the surest form of quality control is to watch users of PrehKeyTec products – the checkout assistants – at the supermarket and be amazed at how quickly they enter product prices. “If the checkout process is smooth and fast,” says Limpert, “then both we and SAP have done a good job.”

PrehKeyTec

PrehKeyTec, founded in 2004 and a 100 percent subsidiary of Preh GmbH, specializes in data-entry systems such as keyboards and touchscreens. The company employs a total workforce of 80 at its headquarters in Mellrichstadt, Germany, and at its sales offices in France (Cergy-Pontoise) and the United States (Lake Zurich, Illinois). With revenues of 17 million euros, PrehKeyTec recorded two-digit growth in 2007.

SAP Business ByDesign

SAP Business ByDesign is designed for SMEs with between 100 and 500 employees. This integrated solution covers the following application areas: financials, marketing, service, organization, human resources, internal and external logistics, manufacturing, project management, compliance with standards, and maximization of yield. Unlike other comparable products, SAP Business ByDesign software is hosted, which gives users access the functions they need via the Internet.

Reliable, Affordable, Transparent

New seal of quality for SAP Business One partner solutions

Partner solutions with industry-specific functions can now be designated “Enabled By SAP Business One.” To do so, they must be simple, affordable, and allow for rapid implementation, while meeting stringent quality standards.

SAP has extended its solution partner program for SAP Business One. It is now offering the “Enabled By SAP Business One” seal of quality to reliable microvertical solutions that offer improved visibility and efficiency and help customers to reduce their total cost of ownership. So far, 21 solutions from SAP partners have completed the first step in the “Enabled By” process. Three have already successfully completed the full certification process:

  • ProjectManagement (Maringo Computers, Germany)
  • variatec BX (variatec, Germany)
  • FourthShift Edition (SoftBrands, United States)

The “Enabled By SAP Business One” designation is granted to solutions on a per country basis to ensure compliance with local legal requirements and best practices. Furthermore, each partner solution must undergo thorough testing to ensure seamless integration and interoperability with SAP Business One.
Niels Stenfeldt, senior vice president for SAP Business One at SAP, is happy with the uptake of the designation so far: “Since we piloted the industry solution program in early 2008, we have seen a tremendous demand for such solutions around the world – from our solution partners, our resellers and especially from our customers.”

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