SAP BusinessByDesign Archives - Phoenix Business Consulting

SAP Business ByDesign Implementation for SIONYX

admin — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:39:15 +0000

SIONYX is a high-tech manufacturing company specializing in digital night vision technology, “The company is scaling, and we are growing both in headcount and processes and products. We had islands of capability, whether it be finance or supply chain tools. We recognized the fact that we had to get a monolithic system that was going to fuse all of the elements of the company functions together to drive to the next level of capability. Some of the biggest challenges we were facing was that we were still using multiple spreadsheets and had to do things that were manual. We had several different software applications that we were using that did not talk to each other at all,” said Steve Anderson, COO, SIONYX.

Phoenix Business Consulting provided SIONYX direction on how best to use the SAP ByDesign software, where it has allowed them to create efficiencies in not only the retrieval of the data, but how they can package that data together. Now they have all their information right at their fingertips, and they can drill through all the different screens and get the information that they need in a timely manner.

Phoenix Business Consulting has a wide range of expertise in areas where we were able to give SIONYX guidance on improvements in many areas.

Phoenix Business Consulting has been in business for over 25 years. We are an SAP Gold partner that focuses on implementation, training and support of the entire SAP suite of products. SIONYX came to us with a very common problem. They had several different silos on many different systems in which they input data. We sold them SAP Business ByDesign, a cloud-based ERP, and then consolidated all of their current systems into one ERP system (SAP Business ByDesign).

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EUV TECH Success Story – SAP Business ByDesign implementation by Phoenix Business Consulting

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:44:34 +0000

EUV TECH Success Story

EUV Tech manufactures machines that make computer chips commonly used in phones, computers, and other electronic accessories. Modern chip manufacturing is highly complex and precise. Major companies like Samsung and Intel rely on EUV Tech’s equipment as part of their production line. A global leader in the production of at-wavelength EUV metrology tools for over 20 years, EUV Tech supplies the semiconductor manufacturing industry with leading-edge EUV metrology solutions using extreme ultraviolet light technology. In the last few years, EUV Tech has seen exponential growth both in headcount and products. Demand for existing products, new products, and new product development are driving growth. EUV’s growth required a new ERP system to provide enhanced reporting and analytics, as well as streamline finance and supply chain management with an integrated, proficient solution.

“Phoenix Business Consulting helped EUV Tech in every aspect of the business by implementing SAP Business ByDesgin. Having a partner like Phoenix Business Consulting really helped EUV Tech implement the SAP ERP solution at a pace that really would work for us. For any organization that is looking to implement the SAP Business ByDesign solution, we would highly recommend going with Phoenix Business Consulting. They are a great SAP Implementation partner to work with and they bring great solutions to the table.”

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SAP Business ByDesign and the Changing Manufacturing Expectations Through Digital Transformation

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 16:21:00 +0000

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I spent the past 13 years selling SAP ERP, mainly SAP Business ByDesign, to small and mid-sized companies, I have talked with thousands of companies of various sizes, types and industries. Most of these conversations are usually oriented towards determining fit, requiring me to understand the prospect’s needs as best I could in the time available in order to help determine which SAP systems capabilities provided the best fit. Over the intervening years, I have noticed how some needs and expectations have changed. As an example, I rarely see Moving Average costing for Production anymore. In the past, many organizations wanted to track Moving Average costing for production. Today, the vast majority of companies are using or looking to use, Standard costing and reporting of cost variances down to the production order.

Over time, technology and the move to the cloud have quietly but steadily changed these requirements. Companies used to express concern about their employees’ ability to learn and use handheld devices. Now, during lunch breaks, their employees use their phones for personal business through tasks that are more complex than anything they would ever be asked to do for a business purpose. Few modern companies are worried about employees resisting the use of computers and handheld devices.

One of the biggest changes I have seen is how companies want to start recording production. A lot of companies still use paper in production. This means a production order is printed and a packet or clipboard holding the production order (often called a traveler) accompanies the item, batch, or run through the production process. Each person involved records materials and labor issued on the sheets of paper accompanying the production order. If there are multiple units being produced, a tally is kept upon completion. At the end of the production process, the data is manually keyed into the system by a supervisor or back-office user.

This process is seen as reliable, if not particularly efficient. Data errors typically only occur when data from the manual sheets are being entered into the system. The lag in recording labor, materials and completion varies depending on the time it takes to produce that item as well as any backlog in data entry backlog upon completion. Not surprisingly, more companies want to move to capturing that data in, at worst, near time or at best, real-time.

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The next step in this evolution is having production users enter time, materials and completion into a terminal. There are many approaches to this, including paper and even bar codes on the traveler, anything to make it easier for the employee to use a handheld scanner to enter the Work order number, Operation ID, Materials, and more. Many modern ERP systems, including SAP Business ByDesign, support this approach right out-of-the-box. So, what was once considered the ‘minimal’ standard a company expected out of its new ERP has changed dramatically, with new definitions of ‘minimum’ standards emerging all the time

Over the past decade or so, many manufacturers have invested in modern equipment that features data collection sensors built into their controllers. These can count the number of units coming off a line, the processing time involved, and a host of other data elements. In times past, this data was once used by production engineers and others to fine-tune processes and schedules. Outside of certain industries like automotive components and plastics, the data wasn’t often captured for use by the ERP due to the complexity and cost of gathering all that controller data into one central source. This was compounded by the legacy ERP’s limited integration capability, which had the effect of forcing most, if not all, integrations to be created through custom development. The resulting data sets were huge- and without massive investments in data storage and processing power, they managed to grind a traditional ERP to a halt.

Now the limitations that once dictated expectations on automated recording of production have all changed or been eliminated through the use of modern web-based ERP systems. Modern ERP’s based on in-memory database technologies coupled with open API has dramatically changed this cost equation. As an example, systems based on SAP’s HANA in-memory architecture don’t slow down as more data is added. Alternatively, you can now store data in a location like AWS, making it available for analysis by both internal and external users through web services. So today, the data volume issue is no longer relevant. It really doesn’t matter how much data you gather, or where it is stored. The issue now is centered squarely on the user’s ability to make sense of all the data and use it to grow their business.

ERP systems like SAP Business ByDesign utilize Open APIs to allow companies to map multiple data streams into the system in order to record data in real-time. We all now use systems to grab key data from one spot and use it in another every day. This process is often so seamless and transparent that end-users never even notice. This capability has now flowed out to the production floor. Today’s production managers are asking why they can’t just pull data from their machines and update the ERP accordingly. Forward-thinking executives make sure this is possible by choosing ERP systems capable of enabling these and other important technologies. This requirement has become a new ‘minimum’ expectation.

Where companies once had workers recording receipts with a pencil, they now have those same workers focused on other higher value-add tasks because the machine controller counts or scans finished items and record the results in the ERP in real-time. This is working smarter- and isn’t that every manufacturer wants? Making it a reality is a direct result of choosing the right ERP system. For many in manufacturing, SAP’s Business ByDesign is not only the right choice- it’s the smart choice.

For more information on SAP Business ByDesign, please don’t hesitate to contact us here. We also hold weekly webinars on SAP Business ByDesign.

By Richard Haugen

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Dealing with Digital Disruption

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 09:29:01 +0000

How Public Sector Entities Can Turn Its Negative Impacts into Positives

Welcome to Part 2 of our series on Digital Transformation for the Public Sector. Today’s topic is dealing with digital disruption in a manner that turns its negative impacts into positives. Before we get to that, we need to define the term digital disruption.

Digital Disruption Definition

What does digital disruption mean? First, understand that digital disruption is a natural outgrowth of digital transformation. This makes escaping digital disruption impossible for any organization engaged in the battle to gain efficiencies and increase effectiveness. The cresting wave of digital disruption is going to wash over your organization, and there isn’t anything that can stop it.

While it sounds like dire straits, tagging the disruption as negative or positive depends on your perspective. If you’re skilled at turning lemons into lemonade, dealing with digital disruption is right up your alley. Here’s why: Although new or emerging technologies tend to disrupt the status quo, they also bring with them the promise of opportunity.

This idea is inherent in how this term is defined. The digital disruption definition found in the Gartner IT Glossary states that it is “…an effect that changes the fundamental expectations and behaviors in a culture, market, industry or process that is caused by, or expressed through, digital capabilities, channels or assets.” The blog for the Oxford College of Marketing defines our term this way: “Digital disruption is a transformation that is caused by emerging digital technologies and business models. These innovative new technologies and models can impact the value of existing products and services offered in the industry. This is why the term ‘disruption’ is used, as the emergence of these new digital products/services/businesses disrupts the current market and causes the need for re-evaluation.”

Examples of Digital Disruption

To see these definitions in action, let’s use Uber as an example. Most understand how Uber’s service disrupted the taxi industry- but not very many know that it also disrupted airports. Cab drivers haunt airports looking for fares, and most airports have agreements with the companies to pay for this privilege. To ensure airports get paid, the companies install transponders in their cabs so that taxi activity can be tracked.

However, when airport travelers started using Uber’s services, airports found themselves caught in a case of digital disruption. Since Uber drivers use their personal vehicles, transponders could not be installed in them, so driver activity couldn’t be tracked- and the airports couldn’t charge Uber. The IT team at San Francisco’s airport solved the problem by developing a system that detected Uber’s GPS app, used by every Uber driver. When an Uber car entered the airport’s perimeter, its presence was registered and its activity tracked. Uber was charged according to its agreement with the airport.

Here’s another example: In the Public Sector, many government entities are struggling to continue providing key citizen services in the face of dwindling funds. However, many are forced to either suspend or end important services, or raise the price of these services through increased taxes or outright fees. This causes citizens to seek out alternative providers, exactly the scenario that digital disruptors seek out. Why? Because there is a gap between what the citizenry wants and what the government provides. The technological advantages championed by disruptors enable them to establish fill the gap with new digital business models based on delivering value to customers through reduced costs, economies of scale and- the ultimate arbiter- improved customer experiences. They deliver the same or enhanced value as the government entities without duplicating the investment of capital, coping with seemingly endless regulatory requirements and overcoming the other burdensome impediments that bind many Public Sector entities.

Solving the Public Sector Dilemma

So what’s a well-intentioned Public Sector organization to do? How can it change digital disruption from a negative to a positive? Simple- embrace the change. Here are eight effective strategies to help with this effort:

Don’t run from change; Face it. Change is coming. Organizations looking to improve their effectiveness and increase their efficiencies must understand that early adoption of new technologies is a way of life. Understand how digital disruption works in your favor. Challenge the assumptions inherent in the way your processes work.
Don’t wait; Start moving forward today. The key here is to respond deliberately, not reactively. When you act, act strategically. Evaluate and refine everything you do. Plan how you’ll cope with change when it comes. Prepare now to take advantage of opportunities when they appear.
Visualize how your best self serves your constituents. Take off the blinders, give yourself permission to dream big and focus on your constituency. Will new technologies solve their biggest issues and concerns? How? Are there new technologies enabling you to improve processes, deliver better service or reduce costs? If so, adopt them now.
Reduced costs trump increased value nearly every time. The one near absolute of digital disruption is this: customer demand is driven through reduced costs. It is the single greatest attribute that almost every digital disruptor brings to the table.
Benefit from the change. Think about the IT spend that bought those systems and servers running your organization’s ERP software and activities. If it were possible to remove that hardware, and the costs associated with service or upgrades, would you benefit financially? If so, say ‘hello’ to cloud-based ERP systems and ‘good-bye’ to all that hardware.
Understand how the job must be done. Think in terms of inputs and what steps are essential to arriving at your desired outputs. Eliminate as many of the interim steps as possible. In the end, if a process does not add value, eliminate it.
Understand the inherent trade-offs. Every opportunity for advancement comes with some trade-off. Identify those trade-offs. Realize when ‘just good enough’ is, well, just good enough. If providing 25% of a service enables substantial savings, then perhaps that 25% is just good enough.
Partner with the change. As a Public Sector entity facing the prospect of digital disruption, realize that you don’t have to be a victim. There is an alternative: Partner with disruptors. Help level the playing field between older, established partners and new up-and-coming entities. Work to change laws and regulations that strangle innovation. Establish Public-Private partnerships when appropriate.

Coping with changes brought on by digital disruption is never easy. Finding ways to work through the disruption and seize the opportunities it provides is a crucial in determining the success of your digital transformation.

Find out more about how SAP’s Business ByDesign delivers the benefits of digital transformation for your organization by getting in touch here.

By: Teresa Blackwell, Director, SAP Business ByDesign Practice, & Jay M. Winchester, Proposal Writer

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