eProcurement standardizes purchasing policy
Electronic procurement with added value
Roto Frank Fenster- und Türtechnologie GmbH has its headquarters in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart in Germany. However, the inspiration for the introduction of eProcurement at the globally active manufacturer of building hardware came from Kalsdorf in Austria. There, Claudia Kettl registered an increasing number of web store orders that needed to be processed more transparently and efficiently - and preferably in a single system! At the same time, the purchasing policy of both locations was standardized with the project.
"About two years ago, we set ourselves the goal of processing as many orders as possible in our SAP system," recalls the Kalsdorf central buyer. Above all, the increasing number of individual orders in more and more different web stores made it necessary to find "one solution for everyone and everything. In Kalsdorf production alone, 25 colleagues place orders. Previously, a requisition with the respective web store and product number was created in SAP and forwarded to Purchasing. "In purchasing, we then logged into the webshop mentioned, fetched the price from the webshop, and converted the requisition into an order."
Researched online, convinced offline
It was obvious that this process, with at least two web store visits and corresponding logins per order, offered potential for optimization. So Kettl researched online and found a very flexible partner in DIG GmbH, the Austrian expert for business digitization. After the first conversation, Kettl already knew all the possibilities and was certain: "I had the feeling right away that I was in the right place! Of course, end-to-end purchase-to-pay would have been the crown of digitization. But for us it was important to start with a relatively simple ordering system for production that we could then flexibly expand."
- simple ordering system as a start
- Flexible expansion possible at any time
Central buyer Claudia Kettl took the initiative for eProcurement at Roto Frank.
Highly efficient project management
Realizing optimization potential in an ideal way means improving inefficient processes and maintaining existing, good processes: "We were used to the releases in SAP. The purchasing groups were also created here, and that's where they remained," explains the Roto expert for strategic purchasing from Kalsdorf. To make this possible, the DIG.procure software queries the status of each order every 15 minutes. Once approved, it is sent to the supplier - either via EDI or as a PDF via e-mail. This solution was implemented in just under six months from the kick-off in October 2020 - despite the Christmas break. The system went live at the beginning of April 2021. And this despite the fact that the requirements increased in the course of the implementation: "It was important to us that only those account assignment elements are visible that relate to the specific order. This makes work easier and avoids errors." However, because SAP has a large number of account assignment elements, complicated selection criteria had to be defined as filters and replicated to the DIG platform. "Which elements we needed for each order was also not entirely clear to us at the beginning. This only became clear during the course of the project. But that was no problem for DIG's project management!"
Secure planning by SAP specialist
This fast and efficient implementation of subsequent requirements was made possible by the partnership with the Linz-based SAP service provider INFORMATICS, which has existed for around 20 years. "For DIG, we bring all our expertise in the development of interfaces. In this way, real business processes can be mapped away from any SAP standards," summarizes INFORMATICS founder Otto Kitzmüller. After about 50 joint projects, well-rehearsed processes are a significant advantage for customers like Roto. The early integration of INFORMATICS' experts into DIG's customer coordination guarantees clear definitions. And if necessary, these can be adapted very economically during the course of the project, because: "The people involved know each other and DIG knows exactly how our business logic works. In this way, we jointly save deadlines, coordination rounds, and thus time and money," Kitzmüller knows and emphasizes: "Of course, this also works in favor of budget adherence in the offer and the estimated time frame!"
- Proven partnership with SAP service provider
- Map real business processes
- Efficient processing saves time and money
Otto Kitzmüller brings with his company INFORMATICS the necessary SAP interface competence into the partnership with DIG.
Smooth project launch
After going live on April 7, 200 order items were already booked in the first month alone. Kettl is pleased about the successful project. Currently, 20 people in Kalsdorf, among others, are working with the system. "The offer consists of internal and external catalogs. At the start, we had ten catalogs connected - six content catalogs and four OCI stores. In this way, we wanted to avoid overloading the administration in the background, for example, if an article is not found, the ECLASS number is not correct, etc."
Based on the good experience and positive user feedback, the company now wants to expand quickly. "But we don't see that as a big hurdle, because the onboarding with Ms. Elias from DIG runs extremely comfortably!" Kettl is not only enthusiastic about the entire team from Linz, but also about the training sessions, for which she is responsible as an SAP key user: "Our colleagues are really happy with it. The system is simple and self-explanatory, and the time and cost savings are enormous." Accordingly, the user base is now being rapidly expanded - initially to include all 25 authorized orderers at the Kalsdorf plant.
Adaptations quickly implemented
Kettl is very satisfied with the course of the project: "DIG adjusted to our pace, which made the collaboration very harmonious." Opportunities for improvement that have become apparent since go-live are implemented quickly and accommodatingly. "Despite the intensive internal testing, for example, we overlooked the fact that we needed different control keys. Those were adjusted very quickly. In general, you always get answers to questions promptly."
Unified purchasing policy
At the Roto parent company's site in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart, the Austrian initiative was convincing from the outset: "Our Group Purchasing Manager Harald Böhm got on board right away and introduced DIG in Leinfelden in parallel as well." Roll-outs to other Roto sites are being planned. And in the process, the purchasing policy of the sites will also be standardized.
