simplifying it overview

About Us

• We provide business and technical SAP consulting services & “add-on” products in the following areas:

Requisition to Pay – Enhancing SAP’s SRM & MM functionality Catalog Management – Enhancing SAP’s MDM Catalog and converting from other catalog tools (e.g., Requisite, CCM) User Interface – Enhancing the user experience with our new Adobe Flex based UI for SAP

• Each core team member has 15+ years business and technical experience with 10+ years SAP experience.

• We have added significant functionality to SAP’s MM module and SAP’s SRM system.

• We developed an SRM implementation that is being used as a BPO offering for a Fortune 100 company.

• We have been working with SAP’s MDM Catalog since Release 1.0 and worked directly with SAP on MDM2.0 development.

• We completed one of the largest Requisite to MDM conversion projects.

• We have completed 20+ Flex applications and have been working with Flex since its first release.

• We offer creative “out of the box” thinking… Our goal is to save you time & money by leveraging your existing investment whenever possible.

Requisition to Pay

Requisition to Pay – The Problem

Problem ResultTool usability issues Frustrated users

Additional time to process a request Unnecessary burden placed on purchasing organizations Increased training costs

Lack of functionality Manual, error prone workarounds Fragmented process (different systems to process different types of requests)

Manual communication with Suppliers Time delays Inaccurate & outdated information Time wasted communicating via phone or email Manual re-keying of information

Multiple procurement tools (front-end vs. back-end) Additional support costs Increased software licenses Increased maintenance fees

No on-line catalogs Manual methods (e.g., phone, email) to obtain pricing information Purchasing departments having to review/complete requests Orders being rejected due to inaccurate information “Maverick” spending

Companies continue to face many issues in the Req to Pay space.

Requisition to Pay – The Solution

We provide the following:

• Best in Class business “know how.”

• Direction on what tools (e.g., SRM, ECC, MDM, non-SAP) and processes make the most sense for your organization.

• Answers to your questions. For example, we have evaluated the following questions countless times:

Should you use SRM, ECC, Ariba, or Ketera? When should you use punch-out vs. internally host a catalog? Should you use SRM’s Classic, Extended Classic, or Standalone scenario? What will SRM provide you over R/3 or ECC How do you best use the strengths of SRM and ECC? How should you use a standard classification (e.g., UNSPSC)?

• Enhanced SAP SRM functionality

• Enhanced SAP MDM Catalog functionality

• New Adobe Flex Shopping UI

We provide a complete end-to-end Req to Pay solution!

Requisition to Pay – Enhanced SAP SRM

While SAP’s SRM is robust, we have significantly enhanced it to meet additional customer needs.

Functionality Simplifying-IT Native SAP

Enhanced General Ledger determination Yes No

Complex question/answer functionality Yes No

Enhanced PO splitting rules Yes No

Auto receiving Yes No

PO based recurring payment functionality Yes No

Tax calculations based on the current asset location

Yes No

Enhanced Returns functionality Yes No

Transaction based scenarios (e.g., lease, maintenance, software, standard) driven flow

Yes No

Enhanced Kitting functionality Yes No

Requisition to Pay – Enhanced SAP MDM Catalog

While SAP’s MDM Catalog is robust, we have significantly enhanced it to meet additional customer needs.

Functionality Simplifying-IT Native SAP

Enhanced kit grouping functionality Yes No

Automated lead time determination Yes No

Automated creation of Material Masters & Purchasing Information Records

Yes No

Pre-defined Work Flows Yes No

Pre-defined Validations Yes No

Automated mapping to internal categories Yes No

Duplicate data checking Yes No

Standard inbound/outbound catalog interfaces Yes No

Requisition to Pay – Enhanced Shopping UI

While SAP’s SRM UI is much better than ECC, many users still complain… we have enhanced the UI to allow Self Serve requesting.

UI Functionality Simplifying-IT Native SAPOn-line retail shopping type User Interface (Web 2.0)

Yes No

Presentation UI that can include enhanced MDM Catalog functions

Yes No

Drag/drop functionality Yes No

In-house Catalog is directly embedded into the shopping application (no punch-out required )

Yes No

Immediate screen refreshing vs. typical server calls

Yes No

Requisition to Pay – A UI Comparison

Simplified-IT UI SRM Shopping UI

• Uses MDM content (or other catalog sources) and presents in an “Amazon-type” user interface

• Easily customized to meet your needs • Can interact with SRM, R/3, MDM, or ECC• Uses Service Orientated Architecture• Allows shopping from catalog, non-catalog, and punch-out within a

single UI

Demo Link: http://simplifying-it.net/demos.html

http://simplifying-it.net/demos.html

Requisition to Pay – Is SRM Right for You?

• Each company has different business drivers and we can help determine if SRM is the right decision for you.

• For example, most customers look to SRM for the following reasons:

An easy to use self serve system. Buy-on-behalf of functionality. Ability to shop from supplier hosted catalogs. Ability to shop from internally hosted catalogs.

• The above items definitely sound like good reasons to go with SRM, but what if you could get all of the above using your existing R/3 or ECC system? We can show you how!

We can help you decide if SRM is right for you.

Requisition to Pay – Shopping in R/3 or ECC

The same UI we provide for SRM, can also be used directly within your R/3 or ECC system.

Requisition to Pay – Benefits We Provide

• More timely & accurate data.

• Using our Accelerators significantly reduce implementation time, resources, and provide structure to the project.

• Our added functionality meets additional customer requirements and eliminates many manual activities.

• Our easy to use interface ensures rapid deployment, saves time creating transactions, and helps ensure adoption.

• Additional benefits using our SAP MM based solution include:

Eliminates the need for a different (e.g., SRM, Ariba) Shopping tool Leverages back-end code and business logic Leverages back-end system’s master data without synching Leverages back-end system’s transaction data without synching Leverages one source system for reporting Uses the back-end hardware and database

Our Solutions saves time, money, and help ensure satisfied users.

Catalog Management

Catalog Management – A Companywide Problem

Problem ResultPaper based catalogs Prone to error

Time wasted re-keying information

Multiple Catalog Tools Multiple systems to maintain Multiple systems to pay for Multiple systems to enter the same data into

No Central Catalog Tool No “system of truth” Same information being entered multiple times

Inflexible Authorizations Inability to segregate data by role Inability to segregate data by organizational unit Inability to segregate data by business function

Varying Business Rules Transactions fail when being sent to other systems Edits are performed post entry instead of immediately during the transaction

Duplicate Data Confusion as to which product to select Inferior performance

No Audit Trail Potential audit concerns when verifying information Difficult to troubleshoot issues resulting from changes

Companies are experiencing catalog problems and this is not just in the Procurement space.

SAP MDM Catalog – The Solution

• While it is true that SAP provides their MDM Catalog solution with SRM for Purchasing, we have thought “out of the box” and enhanced MDM to support other areas.

• Our Catalog solution allows the same Catalog tool to be used across the entire organization (e.g., Purchasing, Sales, Help Desk, E-Commerce).

In addition, we provide the following…

• Requisite to MDM Conversion Accelerators – Accelerators used to quickly convert from Requisite to the SAP MDM catalog.

• New Implementation Accelerators – Pre-defined Templates used to quickly implement the SAP MDM catalog.

• Additional Catalog Functionality – New functionality eliminates time consuming and error prone manual intervention.

• A World Class User Interface – Self Serve, intuitive UI using Adobe Flex that can be used for any catalog needs.

• Single UI Across All Catalogs – Our solution presents catalog information in a single UI across all catalogs including both internally hosted and supplier hosted (punch-out) catalogs.

A cross-organization catalog solution.

Catalog Management – The Complete Picture

Supplier 3

Supplier 2

Supplier 1

Sup

plie

r Net

wor

k

Other Systems

Enter /

Load

Data

Catalog Admin

Publish/Subscribe or

Real-time call

Real-time call

User

Different options available based on System capabilities & type of user.

Enhanced UI • Single UI across all catalogs • Uses back-end business logic • Drag/Drop• Browser independent• Touch screen• Instant screen refresh

Auto Create (e.g., Sales Order, Purch

Req)

Auto Create Mat’l Master & Info

Record

Direct Catalog Feed

SAP MDM Catalog (Central Repository)

• Automated validation• On-line business rules• WF approval for exceptions

Catalog Feed

Catalog Feed

User

Supplier Hosted (Punch-out)

CatalogsWeb Crawling

Catalog Management – Why SAP’s MDM?

MDM is a robust tool that can be used across the entire organization and provides the following...

• Single “Source of Truth” across the entire organization

• Ability to use the same MDM platform for other areas (e.g., customers, vendors)

• Business rules that can be established to catch problems in the process

• Flexible on-line approval rules

• Ability to easily define slices of data without duplicating catalog data

• Role-Based Authorization

• Easily customize (e.g., turn fields on/off, add new fields)

• A single repository that can be used to store all catalog attributes and data

• Provides a services architecture providing easy integration and eliminates data replication

• Native “out of the box” integration with SAP tools

• Automated Publish/Subscribe (including deltas)

• Support punch-out from a customer’s request system into the MDM catalog

• Global - 20+ languages supported

Catalog Management – MDM Comparison

How MDM stacks up against other catalog tools.

Requisite SAP’s CCM SAP’s MDMContent Collection 39% 67% 100%

Content Transformation 56% 44% 100%

Content Approval 90% 50% 100%

Views 100% 100% 100%

Publication 67% 83% 100%

Search Experience 87% 63% 100%

Administration 0% 86% 100%

Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003 Worksheet

Additional details comparing MDM to CCM and Requisite are included in the Excel File.

New SAP User Interface

New SAP User Interface

• Procurement is not the only area in which users struggle to complete a transaction in SAP due to usability issues.

• We have the answer. Our UI solution….

Provides an engaging world class UI that provides a workflow to support the way users work. Can be used to support virtually any area within SAP. Is easily changed to meet your specific needs. Provides additional functionality not natively supported within the SAP environment. Provides cross-system integration (“mash-up” functionality); taking information from many disparate systems and presenting to a user in a single common UI. Provides ready to use templates that can be easily changed to meet your specific business needs.

Engaging UI for SAP.

Improved SAP User Interface – Example

A Second UI Example… EH&S Incident Management.

EH&S App.

• Incident Mgt Application that can run on SAP R/3, ECC, or a non-SAP system.

• Hard to believe this UI is sitting on top of an SAP R/3 4.7 system.

Demo Link: http://simplifying-it.net/demos.html

http://simplifying-it.net/demos.html

Customer List

Partial list of customers our team has worked with.

simplifying it overview

Documents