The client produces the over-engineered cooler of choice for outdoor enthusiasts, pros, tailgaters, and backyard barbeque kings. There line of products have seen exponential revenue growth over the past several years and it is going to continue. To support a future multi-billion-dollar company they needed a modern and scalable cloud-based solution from a company with a proven track record in the consumer products vertical. They selected SAP as their solution. With minimal internal expertise in SAP, the next step was to secure the talent needed to ensure they implemented on time and on budget, while maximizing their investment in the technology. Project Everest went live on February 6, 2017 as the client switched from their legacy system to S/4HANA 1511 on premise cloud.

Key Challenges

S/4HANA is SAP’s cloud-based technology providing an in-memory database, multilingual and multi-currency solution that could scale with the company’s explosive global growth. Planet Technology was engaged to ensure they received the right FTE‘s and subcontractor talent to complement the SI and other technology partners. The client wanted to ensure that the system was of a superior quality and over engineered like their products. Secondly, the organization and end users had to be well trained and prepared for using S/4 when it went live. The people and contractors that Planet Technology added to the project were critical to its success.

Solution

Planet Technology successfully delivered a working SAP system fully integrated to six other cloud-based systems including Salesforce, SAP IBP, credit card processing, tax, real-time shipment tracking, and Workforce Performance Builder. Minimal custom code was used to reduce the complexity and cost of upgrades. New Best Business Practices were implemented. Training, OCM, and organizational readiness were managed and delivered. Business Process Procedures for all SAP transactions were completed and connected via extended help in the SAP GUI to be referenced real time by all users.

Results

• Smarter Sales and Returns: Sales orders from Salesforce post instantly into S/4HANA and enable new advanced return functionality.
• Simpler Purchase Approval: Approval and rejection of indirect spend via purchase requisitions and workflow.
• Improved Data Reliability: Improved credit card reconciliation and forecasting for Finance using BPC embedded.
• Reporting & Inventory Monitoring: Increased real-time reporting functionality and visibility of inventory on hand.

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