Our company implemented LeverX Integrated Process Solution (IPS) to optimize SAP and business process management for the client.
Customer
A Fortune 100 manufacturing firm based in the midwest.
Challenge
The customer needed to enhance the handoff of product information from development to logistics, for both process and discrete manufacturing projects within their SAP system.
Solution
LeverX IPS was implemented to customize company workflows in SAP. The IPS solution was deployed within the key divisions that have the most robust process requirements: health care, industrial, and safety.
Products and Services
Project Goal
Initially, the client was utilizing the SAP Business Workflow engine directly, but the complexity of the engine proved to be a major deterrent to ongoing process tuning and development. Essentially, the customer was dealing with very rigid workflows and a one-size-fits-all approach.
Looking for a way to better control these business processes, our client turned to the IPS solution from LeverX.
Project Scope
Add agility to business process management
By enabling direct departmental user control over these day-to-day business processes and user adoption, IPS enables agile workflow and business process management throughout the SAP ERP Application.
A stronger value is provided to the client long term by meeting compliance objectives and at the same time, eliminating shadow systems and workarounds that users frequently create to supplement ERP based process management.
Scale IPS deployment across three divisions
This new IPS deployment needed to support both SAP DMS and SAP ECR/ECO-related processes within the traditional SAP GUI with robust and flexible workflow capabilities. The deployment was scaled across three key divisions that have the most robust process requirements: health care, industrial, and safety.
The initial workflow templates built within IPS are spanning several functional areas within SAP, including product change management and document management. An essential goal of the process was to allow individual sites and business groups to manage their own workflow templates. All functionality is now deployed through the primary SAP GUI, enabling these users to access workflow templates and rules through the primary interface of SAP, without needing to learn another interface or install additional client software.
Key Compliance And Control Features Implemented
- Bills of Material / BOMs are now required to be under change control
- Process Orders are required to only allow “Approved” recipes to be attached to the order (requires the use of ECR/ECO in SAP GUI)
- Workflow with digital signatures on approvals
- Agents assigned to approval tasks need to be identified according to material attributes, such as the product hierarchy code and plant
TOP SAP Company
Project Results
The initial SAP DMS & ECR/ECO workflow deployment was completed in May of 2016, with additional discussions ongoing about extending the capabilities to other departments and workflows. LeverX has delivered on highly accelerated project timeframes to ensure internal certification goals are met.
By leveraging a template-driven workflow design model, our client is now effectively managing their own business process workflows. Employee changes, process changes, and similar events are easily updated so the workflow within the system actually reflects the workflow being performed by employees within the organization. The elimination of shadow processes, the mini-workflows that employees develop outside of the main system, is a key factor in driving improved efficiency & transparency within the organization.