JiVS platform instead of legacy systems

Bühler thus saves 80 percent in operating costs compared with continuing to operate the legacy systems. And in just six months, it was able to transfer all the information of a spun-off business unit to the new independent company. The Swiss company, which operates in 140 countries, is currently examining the introduction of JiVS IMP as an integral part of its future SAP S/4 landscape. This will enable Bühler to keep its central ERP system permanently lean and agile while minimizing total cost of ownership.

"The decision in favor of the JiVS platform has paid off completely. As a solution for the transfer of legacy data, selective data transfer and decommissioning of legacy systems, it helps us to make massive savings in operating costs. These are 80 percent lower than if we had to continue operating the legacy systems just to access the data they contain."explains Vidor Kapy, Head of Application and Technology Management at Bühler.

Solution

In 2003, Bühler decided to replace the various ERP systems of its business units and subsidiaries with a single, central SAP client in which globally harmonized processes are mapped and all data is stored centrally. "We had a large number of country-specific ERP systems in use at the time, the vast majority from SAP"says Christophe Stoos, Head of Process and Project Management Office at Bühler and responsible for the S/4 transformation. "To keep the migration effort to a central SAP client as low as possible, we did not want to move the data contained in the legacy systems. At the same time, we were aware that it would have been too time-consuming and expensive to continue operating and maintaining the legacy systems only to retrieve legacy data and to pay licensing and support costs for this. With the JiVS platform we found the ideal solution for this challenge."

"In addition to legal security, the key criterion for us in selecting the historization solution was that we have as little work as possible with the historized data after outsourcing"emphasizes Vidor Kapy. "Because what it comes down to is easy access to legacy data, whether for legal or business reasons, by our colleagues in finance, manufacturing and customer service."

In addition to the JiVS platform, Bühler tested three other solutions against these criteria. "None of them proved to be as lean as the JiVS platform. And access to the historical data was via web browser then as now - it couldn't be easier. In addition, the strong support for SAP promised a low project outlay."Vidor Kapy reports. "In addition, the JiVS platform requires virtually no maintenance."

Since signing the contract with JiVS provider Data Migration International, Bühler has transferred legacy data from a wide variety of SAP systems to the JiVS platform. These included the ERP solutions from Spain, Brazil, Italy, France, and Germany as well as the HR system from Switzerland. It goes without saying that all country-specific requirements were taken into account, particularly for the financial data area. All the old systems were then decommissioned; their former users now work with the central SAP client. Since the legacy data is kept on the JiVS platform together with its business context, the JiVS users can work with it as if it were still in the original SAP system.

In addition to decommissioning legacy systems, the JiVS platform, which like the central SAP system is located in Bühler's data center, supports agile business scenarios such as carve-outs and mergers & acquisitions. "Spin-offs and acquisitions have to be mapped in IT as quickly as possible. For the carve-out of Polymetrix 2016, it was important to transfer all relevant legacy data - and only this data - as simply and quickly as possible and to be able to limit the migration effort exclusively to the open processes. With the help of the JiVS Platform, we were able to complete the project, which is normally a time-consuming and complex task for IT departments, within six months as planned.explains Vidor Kapy.

Bühler took a very similar approach, but in the opposite direction, when it purchased Leybold Optics. Taking over only the open processes minimized the migration effort, since the historical information is all available on the JiVS platform. In the meantime, Bühler has decommissioned the first of two Leybold ERP systems.

Advantages

"The decision in favor of the JiVS platform has paid off completely. As a solution for the transfer of legacy data, selective data transfer and decommissioning of legacy systems, it helps us to make massive savings in operating costs. These are 80 percent lower than if we had to continue operating the legacy systems just to access the data they contain."Vidor Kapy sums up.

Further decommissioning projects are currently in the pipeline, ranging from various SAP ERP systems in Europe to non-SAP systems in the USA and China. Due to the flexible support of a wide variety of business scenarios and the numerous as well as fundamental further developments in the current product generation, the JiVS platform plays an important role in Bühler's preliminary considerations and plans for the transformation to S/4 Hana.

"In the meantime, our central SAP client contains 23 years of data with a volume of around five and a half terabytes. We will certainly transfer as little of this as possible to the Hana database."Christophe Stoos gives the current planning status. "Due to the cost of main storage, we need to keep the future SAP S/4 landscape as lean as possible, not only at the beginning, but in the long run. For this, JiVS IMP is a very interesting option."