Automation of order confirmations

But what happens if the ERP system does not have a suitable solution to meet the need for automated processing of order confirmations?

Paper tray is filed

Around 65,000 order confirmations (OCs) are received by MAG every year at seven decentralized locations. This means that almost 180,000 items are compared in SAP and dozens of order confirmations are stapled to the printed orders stored in binders.

Everyone can probably understand what an immense amount of time, searching and errors this involves. And surely everyone is also aware that order confirmations received by fax or letter can be misplaced.

If a query then arises about the process, this is extremely unfavorable. The paper also has the disadvantage that it is slow. This means that suppliers are sometimes inadvertently reminded to send the overdue AB.

Unfortunately, the person in charge has been on vacation or sick for a long time - or it was forwarded to the wrong person or got lost in the meantime.

"We wanted to become much better in terms of response and processing times, but above all in terms of transparency"

explains MAG project manager Jürgen Geiger the desire for electronic processing of order confirmations.

The purchasing manager confirms this by revealing, "he simply observed his employees doing what they do".

"Somehow you know it, but to see how much walking is done in the purchasing department every day is remarkable"

says Markus Schulz.

Purchasing process and SAP

To select suitable software, MAG was looking for certified manufacturers who develop SAP-integrated software solutions, understand the purchasing process and SAP, respond flexibly to requests and requirements and have experience with electronic document processing. For these reasons, MAG came across AFI.

Willing and able

It turned out that AFI met all the requirements, except for one. The software solution did not quite fit MAG's processes. This initially caused irritation among some in the project team.

"However, we quickly realized that AFI's management was absolutely willing and, above all, able to adapt the software. We also realized what a huge opportunity this could be for us"

recalls Markus Schulz.

"We were given the opportunity to help shape the software. An opportunity like this doesn't come along very often."

MAG also held talks with other potential manufacturers and wanted to know how they would approach the implementation. It quickly became clear that there was no SAP-integrated order confirmation software on the market that would meet MAG's requirements.

That was unexpected! AFI presented a concept for software customization and began development immediately. "The result was ideal software that makes our daily work so much easier and supports my team," says the purchasing manager happily.

Silent faxes

The fax hardware has been converted to the "fax to folder" function in order to receive the faxes directly in digital form in future. The faxes still arrive as faxes, but the end device no longer prints them out on paper, but stores them centrally as TIF or PDF files. The first step towards maximum transparency, shorter processing times and complete documentation!

How the data recognized by OCR is transferred from the AB to SAP requires in-depth knowledge of the ERP system. Thanks to the detailed knowledge of the AFI development team, DirectConfirmationControl is able to compare the AB data read out with the SAP MM order data.

If an order is sent to MAG by the supplier as "confirmed as ordered", the AFI software recognizes this. The subsequent processing by the purchaser is then a matter of seconds. Conversely, deviations in scheduling, quantities and prices are immediately visible.

Here too, processing is much more efficient thanks to direct jumps from DirectConfirmationControl to the SAP transactions ME23N, MD04, MM02 or ME12. It is no longer necessary to laboriously enter the SAP keys.

"Now all you have to do is press the 'stock/requirements list' button and you can see whether a deviation is tolerable"

describes the purchasing manager.

Automatic correction if required

If a discount or surcharge is shown on the AB but is not noted in the SAP order, the AFI software recognizes this and accesses the ERP system in real time to overwrite the original order.

"Of course, we were initially skeptical that a software would automatically change the SAP order"

admits Markus Schulz.

"However, the benefits of automatic correction were obvious. In the test system, we proved that what needed to be corrected was corrected optimally. And that all steps are fully logged".

Significance of net prices

Every buyer knows how important the composition of net prices is. It's not just about your own reputation in the recurring evaluations and analyses. It is much more about transparency and traceability and the resulting derivations for future calculations.

"Net prices can only be assessed if it is clear how they are made up. And that, in turn, must of course be mapped in SAP"

says Markus Schulz about the fact that DirectConfirmationControl writes discounts into the SAP order if necessary, thereby changing the original order.

Transparency is also guaranteed by the filter options and electronic archiving in the SAP Content Server.

"The extensive filters and status displays in the monitor are location-independent and easy to understand"

knows Jürgen Geiger.

"Each of our purchasing organizations can choose what they want to display. A global overview of all order confirmations throughout the company is also guaranteed. And if the original is to be displayed, it is immediately available at the touch of a button."