BMAX & IPS Integration for JBS

Our team successfully integrated IPS & BMAX to transform master data creation for a food processing company.

Client

JBS is a global food processing company and one of the world’s leading protein processors, with more than 200,000 team members worldwide, over 300 production units, and export customers in more than 150 countries. As the largest global producer of beef, chicken, and leather products, the company operates at a significant scale across markets.

As the business scaled, JBS needed a more reliable and efficient way to manage material master data across multiple business units and regions.

Challenge

The process for requesting new materials in SAP was not integrated with SAP. It was heavily manual, creating a high operational burden and data quality risks for the Master Data Management team.

Key pain points included:

• Fragmented data collection channels: Material request data was collected and stored in various SharePoint sites and email templates across the globe. Requests came in different formats from different business units.
• Manual data entry into SAP: Master data specialists had to enter information from SharePoint manually and emails into SAP. The risk of human error was high, and some requests never made it into the Material Master.
• Low data quality and rework: Fields were filled out incorrectly, data was often missing, and formats were invalid. Business users lost time due to rework and back-and-forth clarification.
• Legacy, non-upgradable SharePoint platform: The main SharePoint solution was running on an outdated platform that could not be upgraded, increasing operational risk and limiting future improvements.
• Slow time-to-market for new materials: The legacy process was time-consuming and inefficient. New materials were needed as soon as possible to allow orders to be placed, but manual steps and scattered workflows delayed the creation and extension of materials.

JBS needed a centralized, SAP-native workflow that would standardize material requests, enforce data governance rules, and significantly reduce manual effort for both business users and the Material Master data team.

Solution

LeverX designed and implemented a solution that combined the LeverX Integrated Process Solution (IPS) with BOMS and Material Master Allocation Extension (BMAX) to automate and orchestrate material master workflows directly in SAP.

The solution was implemented within the customer’s existing ERP landscape and designed to support its future transition to SAP S/4HANA, ensuring continuity of material master processes as the core platform evolves.

Process automation with IPS

IPS was used as the workflow and approval engine, providing:

• A unified, ticket-based process for material request creation, review, and approval
• Configurable workflows for different business units, material types, and approval chains
• Real-time notifications to keep business stakeholders engaged in the process
• The ability for business users to add additional approvers as needed after a request is already in process

This turned a fragmented, email/SharePoint-based process into a structured, SAP-integrated workflow.

Rule-based Material Master creation with BMAX

BMAX executed the material master creation and extension process according to Master Data Governance (MDG) guidelines. It:

• Utilized rules defined by the Master Data Governance framework to drive how materials were created and extended.
• Applied 125 business rules, configured to cover different material types, plants, views, and business scenarios.
• Used 3 Material Master rule groups to route requests through the correct logic paths.
• Populated or extended data for 18 Material Master views, ensuring consistency and completeness.

Rule-based material creation eliminated manual, error-prone data entry and ensured that material master records followed standardized governance rules.

Governance and self-service for the business

To support long-term scalability and ownership on the business side, LeverX:

• Provided simple configuration tools that empowered business process owners to maintain and modify workflows post-deployment, including adding new business units, rules, and approval chains, reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Enabled the Material Master data team to focus on data governance and quality rather than manual processing of tickets and data entry.
• Created a single source of truth in SAP, with all request data, approvals, and material master updates managed directly within the SAP landscape.

Technology Stack

• Workflow orchestration: LeverX IPS
  IPS provided a configurable workflow engine for initiating, routing, reviewing, and approving material requests. It enabled ticket-based processing, real-time notifications, flexible approval chains, and centralized visibility into request status.
• Rule-based material automation: BOMS and BMAX
  BMAX executed material master creation and extension based on Master Data Governance rules. It applied 125 business rules organized into 3 rule groups to populate and extend 18 Material Master views, ensuring that materials were created consistently and in line with governance requirements. BOMS worked together with BMAX as part of the rule-based automation layer.
• Data and governance layer: SAP Material Master
  The central repository for all material-related data, where IPS and BMAX created and extended records. Governance rules and views were applied here to maintain high data quality and consistency across divisions and regions.

Results

By integrating IPS and BMAX and embedding the process into SAP, JBS achieved significant improvements in efficiency, data quality, and scalability:

• Drastically reduced processing time: The end-to-end material request and creation process, which previously could take up to two days, was reduced to less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
• Up to 90% time savings in the process: Automation of data population, rule-based material creation, and streamlined approvals delivered significant time savings compared to the legacy manual process.
• Single source of truth in SAP: All data and workflows were moved from legacy SharePoint sites and email chains into SAP, creating a single, consistent source of truth for material master data.
• Improved data quality and governance: The Material Master data team shifted focus from manual data entry to master data governance, improving overall data integrity and reducing errors and rework.
• Higher business engagement and transparency: Business users gained real-time visibility into ticket status, approvals, and progress on material creation, and could flexibly add approvers when needed. This increased ownership and reduced the number of lost or stalled requests.
• Scalability for growing demand: The solution supports approximately 62,000 new materials annually for this division, with the ability to scale further as the business grows and to roll out the process to additional divisions without heavy IT or consulting involvement.

LeverX helped JBS transform a fragmented, manual material request process into a streamlined, governed, and scalable SAP-integrated workflow powered by IPS and BMAX.