1.SAP CRM at NextiraOne
NextiraOne is a leading European provider and expert in communications solutions and services. It serves over 60,000 customers through direct sales and support services in 17 European countries. It designs, installs, maintains, and supports communications solutions for businesses, ranging from voice, data, and video transmission to mobility, security, and applications.
Currently, the SAP system is used in two European countries: France and Germany. The solution covers almost all business processes, including CRM.
The project brought together dozens of specialists from various fields of SAP and business from Poland, France, and Germany and aimed to expand current business processes, including the expansion and optimization of SAP CRM functionality and preparation of the system for rollout to other European countries. SI-Consulting consultants were engaged as experts for all sub-projects related to SAP CRM and integration with external systems.
The scope of the project included:
- sales process management
- implementation project management
- planning, optimization, and reporting of employee work in sales and service
- recording customer requests in the Customer Service Center
- further handling of requests by employees, including automatic monitoring in accordance with the SLA terms and conditions set out in the contract
- human resources management with integration with MS Outlook and SMS for more efficient support of technical staff in the field
internal Help Desk support.
Customer Service Center
Customer service time within the Contact Center (CC) – primarily the agent's acceptance of a request and its forwarding to the service department – is an extremely important aspect affecting the satisfaction of customers to whom the company provides services.
As part of the project to optimize and implement new SAP CRM functionalities at NextiraOne, particular attention was paid to improving and increasing the efficiency of Contact Center agents using the Interaction Center WebClient tool. Thanks to the flexibility of this tool, it was possible to meet many user expectations regarding the method of creating tickets and the presentation of customer information and associated transaction data. In addition, the use of the TREX indexing and search mechanism has accelerated the search for information within the CC.
As a result of the optimization, the number of bottlenecks that had previously existed in the work of CC agents was reduced – the average time for creating a ticket in the system was significantly accelerated and the agent's access to all the information they needed at the right moment during the subsequent steps of the process was improved.
Implementation of Solution Manager
In order to streamline the change management process in the area of SAP systems, NextiraOne implemented a service management solution using the SAP Solution Manager system.
As part of the project, a process for managing service requests, changes, and development projects was implemented based on the ITIL methodology. The handling of these processes was integrated with the transport management system of each of the supported SAP systems (CRM, ECC, BW, XI, Solution Manager). Thanks to the integration with the transport system, change management has been streamlined at the level of both individual service requests and the entire project and system version.
As a result of the implementation, a single, consistent tool for managing service requests, changes, and transports has been made available. This has made it possible to dispense with the additional change management tools previously used and has improved communication between all project participants.
The implementation of Solution Manager streamlined the transport management process, reduced the time needed to implement changes, and reduced the number of errors that occurred during their implementation.
Integration with SolveDirect
As part of its service offering expansion, NextiraOne decided to provide its customers with a relatively simple option to integrate their service systems with the SAP system used by NextiraOne to handle service requests.
To this end, the SolveDirect platform was used as an intermediary layer between the SAP system and customer systems, with SolveDirect being a specialized platform for service system integration.
The implementation involved the integration of the SAP CRM system with the SolveDirect platform via the SAP XI system and the SOAP protocol. As part of the implementation, a uniform service request standard and supported messages were defined, and full integration between the CRM system and the SolveDirect platform was ensured. Flexible adaptation of the mechanism to different customer needs and systems was ensured at the SolveDirect platform level.
The implementation simplified and streamlined the communication infrastructure between the SAP system and customer systems. Basing the mechanism on the SolveDirect platform accelerated integration with customer systems and eliminated the need for changes on the SAP side. In addition, the use of the SolveDirect platform made it possible to provide customers with a customized web portal, available within SolveDirect, for creating and tracking service requests.
2. E-invoicing with SAP in the Impel Group
The activity scale, convenience and economic account inclined the Impel Group to implement the e-invoicing solution. SI-Consulting with its partner PWPW (Polish Security Printing Works) provided a solution allowing to service the e-invoice flow according to law. The implementation resulted in SAP ERP and Enterprise Portal integration. The signing module is in accordance with binding standards on the Polish market and it gives a possibility for a group document signing.
3. SAP implementation in Towarzystwo Edukacji Bankowej S.A. (Inc.)
Implementation carried out for the benefit of TEB S.A. (Inc.), WSB (Schools of Banking) Poznań, Wrocław, and Toruń. The following modules were implemented: SAP ERP: Finance (FI), Finance—Asset Accounting (FI-AA), Controlling (CO), Business Information Warehouse (BW), Sales and Distribution (SD), Human Resources (HR).
SI-Consulting team was responsible for the whole SAP BW implementation—from creating a concept, through environments configuration and data models installation, to designing and creating queries. In the Information Warehouse we focused mainly on Finance and Controlling. Moreover, a technical content was started up which support system administration and optimization. The reporting was built up on Query Designer and BEx Analyzer with Excel environment (SAP Business Explorer package). The project included also a series of workshops allowing for the knowledge transfer to the end users and administrators. As a result of the implementation, Teb S.A. gained the possibility to run cross-section analysis and to join financial data from numerous areas and sources in just one place.
4. SAP integration with Microsoft Excel in Signal Iduna
Selection of proper solutions for the clients’ needs is a key matter. As an example may serve a project carried out by SI-Consulting for Signal Iduna concerning advanced reporting based on Microsoft Excel. The solution allowed to combine reporting standards developed in the client’s departments with automatic download of the most up-to-date data from SAP system. At the same time, users received tools facilitating creation of further report using the most popular office application.
5. Electronic invoice circulation at TVP S.A.
In January 2009, SI-Consulting S.A. implemented and launched an “Electronic Purchase Invoice Circulation System” at Telewizja Polska S.A. This solution is fully integrated with the SAP system. The solution we have created is characterized by interface dualism. Its full functionality is available in the SAP ERP system as well as through a web browser.
6. Safety of SAP user in Signal Iduna
The aim of the project carried out by GRC team (Governance, Risk and Compliance) in Signal Iduna was to create a list of requirements that centrally maintained SAP system should comply with, in order to be used in the Polish branch of the company—Signal Iduna Polska. The prepared list was a reply to Polish legal articles resulting from the chosen (in system’s scope) articles from the hard law (Accountancy Act, Personal Data Protection Act) and the Standard of Good Practice.
The results will be verified by an external auditor looking into financial reports and a corporate auditor checking compliance with security requirements.
7. SAP BW implementation in PGNiG
Specialist from SI-Consulting took part in SAP BW implementation carried out by SAP Polska for PGNiG Group.
Our consultants worked in the company’s headquarters in Warsaw and 3 strategic companies: Karpacka Spółka Gazownictwa Sp. z o.o. (Ltd.), Pomorska Spółka Gazownictwa Sp. z o.o. (Ltd.), and Dolnośląska Spółka Gazownictwa Sp. z o.o. (Ltd.). Our consultants were responsible for creating over 100 reports from Finance (FI), Finance—Asset Accounting (FI-AA), and Controlling (CO), including balance, income statement, and Cashflow.
During carrying out our tasks, we actively participated in sharing knowledge with PGNiG Group employees in various locations in Poland. While implementing we used Query Designer and BEx Analyzer applications which are a part of SAP Business Explorer package.
8. SAP CRM development In NextiraOne
NextiraOne is a leading European expert in communications, which provides services to over 60.000 customers by means of direct sales and support services in 17 countries in Europe. SI-Consulting specialists were responsible for further development of existing business processes, optimization of existing SAP CRM functionalities, and roll-out preparations for further European countries. Currently, SAP CRM is used in two countries—France and Germany.
The project gathers SAP specialists from Poland, France, and Germany and it includes sales and implementation processes management, planning, employees work optimization and reporting in sales and support areas and registration of clients’ queries in Customer Service Center. Moreover, processes concerned with queries service by the employees are initiated along with their automatic monitoring in the range of Service Level Agreement (SLA).
9. ABAP workshops for the Impel Group
SI-Consulting coaches performed for Impel Group programmer team a 6-month series of workshops from ABAP/4 software. The program covered almost all of the programming tools, software designing technologies in SAP, integration techniques, and data exchange.
The workshops were carries out solely by certified ABAP/4 consultants from SI-Consulting.
10. SAP CRM in the Impel Group
In 2009 SI-Consulting implemented SAP CRM system in the Impel Capital Group. To date it is the largest CRM system implementation in Poland due to the number of users— about 2000, as well as the range of functionality. Using SAP CRM, the Impel Group offers facility management, real estate services, security, payroll services, temporary work, clothes rental and service, laundry service, logistics, catering, and hosting services.
Using the implemented system they support widely understood service and marketing. Additionally, a multichannel Contact Center platform integrated with SAP CRM was initiated in the Impel Group. The Contact Center includes customer complaint service and information about offered services.
11. Implementation management in the Impel Group
The Impel Group Project required a methodical approach as one had to coordinate almost 70 simultaneously working consultants and about 300 members of the project team. In order to run the project fluently a multilevel management hierarchy (team, area, project) was created. The project was carried out according to ASAP implementation methodology which is in turn in accordance with PRINCE2 management methodology. As a result, the go-live took place without any complications in the scheduled time.
12. Conversion of accounts plan in EnergiaPro S.A. (Inc.)
In an attempt to meet the needs of EnergiaPro, during one week time we created and implemented a suitable SAP system program which accordingly to the Excise Tax Act records electric energy and calculates the Excise Tax. Additionally, at client’s request, the program may create a tax return statement or enter the tax payment in the SAP system.
With SnP we carried out an innovative on a Polish scale project of conversion of accounts plan for EnergiaPro. The main aim was to unify accounts plan in EnergiaPro S.A. during financial year by conversion the Wrocław branch accounts structure for the accounts structure of the company’s headquarters. To create a unified SAP system configuration we had to implement CO-PA module in Wrocław branch just as it is implemented in the headquarters. For the first time in Poland Technical Conversion Workbench (TCW) tool was used. It guaranteed that the process of technical conversion took only several hours which is a record-breaking result. The project allowed to create joined financial reports for Wrocław branch and the headquarters. Moreover, financial reports for individual economic units working within the same accounts plan could be mostly compared without the need of manual modification which proved to be time-saving.
Comprehensive project of accounts plan conversion with System Landscape Optimization (SLO) tools.
In EnergiaPro in July, there was a go-live for accounts plan updates and a change in recording of accounting operations so that they are in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS).
Due to a change in EnergiaPro accounting policy there had to follow a change in accounts plan in the year 2011. The changes started in 2010 but they were continued also in 2011. This resulted in a situation where a part of economic operations which took place in 2011 was still recorded on the “old” accounts.
EnergiaPro accounting team issued a query to SI-Consulting, asking whether it is possible to prepare basic financial reports (ledger’s turnover and accounts balance, financial statement, the profit and loss account) for 2011 but basing only on the new accounts (described in a company’s accounts plan as being in effect for the current financial year). The problem was that a lot of operations were recorded on the inactive ledger accounts. We took the challenge and we initiated a project of adjustment of the financial-accounting system to changed accounts plan and requirements concerning registration of some of the economic operations.
The Project was multidimensional and covered some of the financial-accounting areas such as:
- updating ledger accounts basic data
- changes in the configuration of capital asset evaluation and modification of ledger accounts assignment
- changes in FI configuration and settings of the system of new accounts
- operation of moving in 2010 the balances from the “old” accounts to the “new” accounts
- operation of moving the turnover for 2011 from the “old” accounts to the “new” accounts
- modification of data interfaces for basic capital assets and taking into account new dictionaries for additional requirements concerning classification and division of capital assets
- new capital assets report
The effect of our work was that in July 2011 one could generate a statutory financial statement from the SAP system. This statement included turnover only from the currently valid for EnergiaPro ledger accounts.
The main goal of maintaining one of the basic financial rules—the rule of continuity of data during a financial year—was accomplished. In August 2011 accounting team received a possibility to report and classify capital assets according to new criteria and requirements of new accounting policy.
13. RF in Cadbury
RF implementation in Cadbury is a compilation of multiple transactions supported by RF solutions and basing on bar codes of pallets’ labels into just one package. After scanning data from labels, confirming this operation (confirming data scanned from the supplier and confirming distribution in the warehouse), physical verification of the content and distribution in the warehouse (possibly quality control) the entire take-in process starts with all the required system documentation and manual printouts.
14. Electronic workflow system for purchase invoices in TVP S.A. (Inc.)
In January 2009, SI-Consulting S.A. implemented and launched the Electronic workflow system for purchase invoices in Telewizja Polska S.A. The solution is fully integrated with the SAP system. Moreover, the solution we created features a dual interface. The full functionality is accessible through the SAP ERP system and the Internet browser.
15. Shipment and Transport in Cadbury
The real shape of storing-loading area, the need to optimize its use, and to automate the individual steps, were the main reasons for creating a solution which allows to handle the complex process of taking in from production, loading, and shipment of materials. Just like in the Cadbury company, it requires monitoring a wide spectrum of activities by a person equipped in a RF terminal.
Optimal location of materials to a warehouse or for shipment, reorganization of supplies filling a warehouse, loading supported by optimization algorithm are not all of the positive aspects of this solution. The solution includes using values added such as communication with the system during which information concerning demand, preparation, and processed shipments are exchanged. Additionally, the automatic processing of required steps results in optimization of human resources and warehouse capacity capabilities.
16. Flow of invoices at Cadbury
Cadbury company with SI-Consulting specialists’ assistance (SI-Consulting was here a T-Systems contractor) implemented a solution allowing to scan, archive, multilevel approval and registration of purchase invoices. The basic assumptions of this functionality is creating an electronic metrics of the invoice which is available for authorized system users in further steps of invoice processing supported by Workflow notifications (also for the external users of e-mail). The process of step by step approval of purchase invoices allowed Cadbury to automate steps connected with previous documents’ verification (purchase orders, material documents of receipt of goods).
This solution makes an effort to meet common requirements concerning hierarchy of invoice approval. In fact, the solution increases the process’s speed and its compliance with business procedures present in the company.
17. Upgrade of SAP system in Cadbury
The change in SAP ERP version for an upgraded one always requires a unique approach when it comes to project managing. In the case of Cadbury systems’ upgrade, there was also the issue of simultaneous relocation of the system to a different platform abroad. For Cadbury the resource management and allocation to appropriate tasks had to be perfect. The project was supervised by Project Managers of all the interested parties. The relocation and upgrade ended as a huge success and time, budget, and resource limits were kept which is a proof of an excellent synchronisation.
18. British American Tobacco Polska suport
British American Tobacco (BAT) Polska is a member of the British American Tobacco Group—the most international of tobacco companies which sells its products on over 180 markets worldwide. The BAT Polska entrusted us with SAP system implementation in functionalities such as FI, CO, SD, MD, WF, and ABAP development works.
SI-Consulting supported BAT in restructuring and development of SAP system during migration of the SAP system’s local version to the version used in the corporation. Moreover, SI-Consulting prepared an entire reorganization of logistics (outsourcing for DHL) for the European environment and the production processes migration to Polish factories. Integration of SAP system with Lotus Notes was an interesting solution. This solution was used also in the implemented SAP Workflow solution transferring part of the process outside of SAP system which allowed the Lotus users to carry out their tasks. As a result the process included the appropriate circle of employees, making the solution universal and user-friendly.
19. USP
The SAP implementation in USP covered all of the company’s business areas. Looking from the process angle on those areas, integrated SAP ERP management system is used for purchase, production process (including quality control), storage economy service, sales, accounting, and controlling.
The functional extent of the implementation was so vast that it is called in the specialist literature the big bang implementation strategy. The application modules implemented during that project were Finance (FI) with Asset Accounting (FI-AA), Controlling (CO), Sales and Distribution (SD), Materials Management (MM), Warehouse
Management (WM), Production Planning (PP), Quality Management (QM), and also management reporting system based on Business Information Warehouse (BW).
This was a major implementation and it was carried out in a remarkably short time—only 9 months from the first drafts till the go-live. The works started in March 2009 while the go-live took place in January 2010. During the following months the new system users support was carried out along with some optimizations within the implemented solutions. Sales and Distribution is one of the most crucial areas for a pharmaceutical company
focused on offering its clients not only the highest quality products but also the highest quality of sales processes.
USP is known for high standards of sales relations and maintaining the high quality of sales processes service during a transition from the “old” to the “new” system was one of the main goals of the implementation. What is more, additional requirements concerning the new processes service were specified. One of such requirements was the modification of information transfer between the consumers and the USP sales department. Previously, an efficient communication was possible using EDI between larger consumers and USP. The implementation allowed for EDI messages to be enriched. EDI implementation in USP improved also the range of GS1 standards. USP and SI-Consulting in a textbook fashion employed the possibilities of cooperation between business and so called standard setting organization.
USP as a producer in the pharmaceutical sector has to comply with very strict regulations of Pharmaceutical Law. All of the production and distribution processes, and their representations in the IT system, must fulfil GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) requirements; thus, the entire implementation process was carried out according to so called validation rules for the GMP requirements. The efficient harmonization of implementation was a result of the methodology used and the model V requirements (from GAMP 5 guide). The harmonization could run swiftly because of a high organizational culture of the ordering company (USP) and the fact that the Main Validation Plan for SAP ERP implementation was prepared and approved before hand.
A different implementation, on a smaller scale, of a less advanced version of ERP system was carried out a few
years ago in that company, but it has an impact on the efficiency of the current SAP implementation. The former validation also included the validation requirements; moreover, it was conducted by the same exterior specialists who took part in the implementation of the current SAP system.
The go-live took place in the scheduled time while the project was compl
eted by means of a complex budget which could not be exceeded. In the spring of 2010 during a periodic GIF (the Main Pharmaceutical Inspectorate) check-up in USP, also the IT area with SAP ERP system has successfully passed the audit.
The implementation project was carried out by both SAP and SI-Consulting.
20. SERWIS SAP for USP ZDROWIE
SI-Consulting provides support service for one of the most dynamically developing pharmaceutical companies on the Polish market—USP Zdrowie. The company is represented by such leading brands as APAP, Ibuprom, Gripex, Vigor, and Stoperan. The SAP system services in US Pharmacia, provided by SI-Consulting, in this particular case are bound up with Good Manufacturing Practice system for pharmaceutics requirements. Advanced SLA for these services was signed. The agreement includes SAP maintenance support and application users support. Decision about further servicing cooperation is a result of a successful SAP implementation in US Pharmacia.
The range of USP activities is enormous—from outsourcing to production, packing, distribution, sales and marketing. For this unquestionable leader of OTC sector on the Polish pharmaceutical market, we have performed a comprehensive SAP system implementation with a wide range of functionalities: Finance (FI), Asset Accounting (AA), Controlling (CO), Materials Management (MM), Sales and Distribution (SD), Business Information Warehouse (BW), (Production Planning) PP. On the SAP HCM implementation, our partner Gavdi Polska supported us. We also advised on the matter of system validation and took up ABAP development.
