Large European Automotive Manufacturer | Automotive

Introducing an FBT Implementation with new SAP components to a global automotive manufacturer.

Infotel’s Mission:

Our clients discussed with us the benefits of introducing a strategic series of steps to enhance their finance and purchasing landscape. A leading factor in this was ensuring a smooth migration to the European system, as well as ECC and PI integration.

In assessing that a Financial Breakthrough (FBT) Implementation with new SAP components would be the most efficient way to meet their goals, we would need to set up multiple PI environments or E2E, UAT and Integration Testing.

Paired with a complex working landscape and aggressive timeline to adhere to, we knew the work we’d been tasked with producing had to be of our usual excellent standard and delivered without delay.

Our client :

Our long-standing client is a multinational automobile manufacturer with a strong global presence in the automotive industry. Known for producing a wide range of vehicles, including cars, trucks, and SUVs, it has earned a reputation for innovation, reliability, and engineering excellence. The brand is also recognised for its pioneering efforts in electric vehicles, with a flagship electric model among the best-selling EVs worldwide.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

  • The Infotel UK team developed a successful technical infrastructure covering design, development, execution and of course, the planning of the project.
  • The project was managed with an impressive zero variance from its original roadmap, with no deviations from the original schedule, budget, scope, or quality metrics. This demonstrates that the project remained on track in every aspect, adhering precisely to the planned parameters.
  • The result of innovative work applied to this project resulted in a better infrastructure with a higher security compliance – all delivered within the agreed upon Go-Live date.

THE CHALLENGE

  • Though this work was assigned to us by a client we’ve had the pleasure of supporting for many years, a key factor to consider was that one SAP system would have to play hosts to multiple production clients. This meant that choosing the right SAP module for each step of the process needed to be discussed, considered and documented thoroughly.
  • As our client has factories and workspaces across the globe that would benefit from this implementation, timelines for 3 geographies (South Africa, Russia and Europe) had to be consolidated into one landscape. A crucial element was ensuring connectivity to offshore support, and the control of the transport movement to various systems had to be considered at all times.
  • Timelines were also particularly challenging in this instance. As we pride our work as being as efficient and innovative as possible, our team was dedicated well ahead of schedule to allow for thorough QA and Testing.

THE SOLUTION

  • We identified a Solutions Footprint built upon the following Modules & Components: ECC6.0, EhP5 (FI, CO, MM & SD) and PI 7.0.
  • We proposed a unique migration methodology designed specifically for this project to reduce business disruption, migration timelines and production downtime.
  • The Project Team successfully provided Design Client & Transport Strategies, as well as providing clear and concise System & Client copies.

The collaboration we achieved, along with the excellence of the final application, led to success for the client and offered valuable insights into our committed approach to functioning as a seamless extension of your business.

THE TECHNOLOGIES

The project team assigned to this challenge had deep existing knowledge of our client’s IT and Security requirements, meaning we could minimise their internal IS/IT workload for this task. As a result, we aimed to have the assigned work done several months ahead of the agreed timeline to finalise any changes and allow for thorough QA and Testing.

Our on-hand experts were able to:

  • Demonstrate deep knowledge and understanding of our client’s technical landscape, including functionality and integration touchpoints. This also allowed great insight of current hardware utilisation, bottlenecks and pain areas we were able to optimise – minimising hardware costs.
  • Project Managers/SMEs were able to work closely with IS/IT/Security teams to validate architectural choices proposed, Hosting & Hardware requirements, Firewall rules, security compliance – as well as producing status reports for regular updates.
  • Setup multiple PI environments for E2E, UAT and Integration Test.

THE RESOURCES

At Infotel, we strive to work alongside your business and employees, meaning our work and integration
process will always be seamlessly successful.

  • 1 Project Manager
  • 2 Automotive Consultants
  • 1 AWS Developer
  • 3 IT/IS Security Consultants
  • 1 Business Lead

THE RESULTS

Starting with our trademark in-depth audit, we were able to provide all parties with an objective view of their existing architecture, and where we could improve it to meet their goals.

  • The hard work dedicated to this task resulted in a stronger, improved infrastructure that was consolidated across South Africa, Russia & Europe.
  • Project was managed with zero variance from the original Solutions Footprint, and completed without any hard coding which would have made future variations difficult and time-consuming.
  • The overall improved performance resulted in a more efficient Dialog response time, Database request time and Front End response time.
  • An improved backup solution was supplied, as well as heightened security compliance.

The pride taken in this project from both the Infotel UK team and our client lead to a strong, reliable resolution: Improved performance as a result of the FBT Implementation, with all components brought under the SAP recommended threshold level.