Our interview with…Dr. Heiko Schinzer, member of the executive board at Administration Intelligence

SAP Business ByDesign helped model processes in seven days

IBIS Prof. Thome AG has been a pilot customer for the new on-demand solution, SAP Business ByDesign, since September 2007. What’s more, IBIS was SAP’s R&D partner for the new solution’s implementation tools. A research team at IBIS Labs recently tested the current Version 2.0, in order to make suggestions for improvement and to evaluate the performance scope for service enterprises. In collaboration with the software company Administration Intelligence (AI), IBIS experts conducted an evaluation project to check whether the solution meets AI’s requirements. The results were presented to numerous specialists at a workshop that was part of the 13th SAP-IBIS Conference in Wuerzburg. The goal of the project was to configure and model AI’s specific processes in SAP Business ByDesign.

What key insights did the SAP user organization glean from the project? Were the goals met? Dr. Andreas Hufgard, head of IBIS Labs, spoke about this with Dr. Heiko Schinzer, member of the executive board at AI.

IBIS: You used IBIS’s Situation Analysis to determine your starting situation prior to the workshop. How long did this take you?

Heiko Schinzer: It took me only three hours – two for the interview and to compile the relevant data. The Situation Analysis enabled us to outline the most important requirements, record our IT situation and plans, and identify our quantity structures. I was also able to furnish the IBIS team with our essential master data – such as the organizational and employee structure, the product portfolio and the price list – all within this brief time frame.

 
Diagram 1: Solution scope for AI with selection of business options for selling project-based services. Does the customer project have to be tracked via a sales order? Or can the customer invoice be generated after the project service has been rendered? Source: SAP Business ByDesign Version 2.0.

IBIS: What did you think of the requirements comparison – scoping – that we deployed via SAP Business ByDesign?

Heiko Schinzer: I thought it was good. Though the comparison took only an hour, it enabled us to define the scope of the solution and clear up several key business issues. The comparison gave me an exceptionally broad view of the functional and process-oriented capabilities of SAP Business ByDesign. And incidentally, I’m really sold on the solution’s business dimension. The workshop also taught me that the solution can go live very quickly, the standard version fulfills most requirements and the range of use can be scaled as needed.

IBIS: Was the expert demo helpful to you – SAP product specialists being on hand to assist?

Heiko Schinzer: A few questions had accumulated in my mind over the course of the workshop. During the expert demo, SAP experts not only offered very precise answers to my questions; they were also able to suggest concrete solutions and demonstrate these to me in the system. For example, I wanted to know whether we should use SAP Business ByDesign to model our ticket system for processing customer inquiries, or whether it would be better to link it via an interface. As it turns out, we can link it via an interface. But in that short space of time the SAP specialist wasn’t able to tell me what effort and cost this would involve.

IBIS: Did the first two workshop sessions leave you with a clear idea of how to implement the solution?

Heiko Schinzer: Yes. Fairly early on it became clear to me that we would need to implement the solution in two separate phases. The panel of experts on site also confirmed my assumption. The first phase included all applications that could be modeled in the standard version of the new SAP solution. And the second phase dealt with all areas to be modeled according to a different business concept or via an integration interface. In concrete terms, this meant in the first phase we were able to implement all areas from Opportunity Management to Financial Accounting seamlessly. In our case, this includes project business and project invoicing. By contrast, we had to leave the entire service area for the second phase.

 
Diagram 2: AI’s organizational structure modeled in SAP Business ByDesign. Source: SAP Business ByDesign Version 2.0.

IBIS: What did you think of the live demo of processes using your own company’s data?

Heiko Schinzer: I was extremely impressed by the live demo. It allowed me to view the entire process our data would pass through, step-by-step – from the initial customer contact all the way to customer invoicing. I was especially impressed by the options SAP Business ByDesign has for Project Management, integration into Cost Accounting and for Invoicing.

 
Diagram 3: From sales order with project reference to customer invoice. Process organization can be checked directly in the system on the basis of how document flows are depicted, and can be examined based on a real-life case scenario. Source: SAP Business ByDesign Version 2.0.

IBIS: Were you impressed with the new SAP solution’s content?

Heiko Schinzer: Yes, I was. It took us only seven days to implement the SAP solution so that it modeled our major requirements, was ready-to-use and operated reliably. Plus, I found the experts’ recommendations for trouble-free implementation both interesting and helpful.

IBIS: Are there some issues you think still need resolving?

Heiko Schinzer: I think enhancement solutions need to be developed to address the areas not yet included in SAP Business ByDesign’s standard version. It should be just as simple and reliable to integrate non-SAP solutions as to configure the standard solution. What’s more, it’s only natural to weigh the costs against potential gains before making any investment. It’s just the same when you consider deploying new software – whether it be licensed software or software as a service. This core issue remains unresolved.

IBIS: IBIS Labs will be sure to keep up on any new developments. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.