SAP move to DB2 with BasisTeam

If you want to survive in the mail order business, you not only have to know exactly what your customers want, but above all you have to keep your IT landscape up to date.

All mail order processes depend on information technology.

The Junghans Group includes, among others, the mail order companies Pro idea and Junghans Wollversand. Pro-Idee operates eight independent webshops in Germany and webshops in other European countries.

The central IT for all companies is run at the headquarters in Aachen. The webshops are run by a service provider.

Knitting, embroidery, needlework

The group of companies has found niches in the competitive environment with its concepts for knitting, embroidery and needlework and for original products.

Junghans Wolle mail order business began as early as 1954.

At the heart of the Junghans Group's success is a data center. Dedicated servers from independent partners are connected to it for the operation of the webshops.

As the volume of data and transactions increased, performance degradation of the ERP environment's database became noticeable.

That's why, in spring 2015, the group of companies urgently sought not only a technical solution, but also a partner who could implement the technical solution absolutely smoothly and without disruptions.

Previous system exhausted

The basis for merchandise management and business tasks was an SAP ECC 6.0 EhP4 with NetWeaver 7.01 and SAP BW 7.1.

All performance-enhancing measures within the installed SAP environment had been exhausted, and the expansion options of the MaxDB used had been exhausted.

In order to continue to guarantee the stability and performance of the SAP system, the change to a more powerful database was unavoidable.

As a result of a carefully conducted selection process, Junghans decided to use IBM's DB2.

The upgrade of SAP ECC to SP12 and SAP BW to 7.4 SP10 was a prerequisite for the use of the current DB2 version 10.5 LUW and part of the project.

The group's IT team, led by project manager Mark Wagener, knew the pitfalls of the project.

That's why there was a clear announcement to possible partners who were looking for the database migration contract here.

Andreas Kühne, Head of Organization and IT:

"A move from MaxDB to DB2 that was identical in all parameters had to be successfully completed - from installation and setup to parameterization of the system and consistent data migration."

The search was on for a provider who could carry out precisely this job. Mark Wagener's team found what they were looking for with BasisTeam, an IT service provider based in Bochum that belongs to Libelle.

Non-disruptive migration

The database migration should take place without interrupting ongoing operations.

Marcus Knur, SAP Basis Administrator at the Junghans Group of Companies:

"There are periods of low operation, but merchandise management, order processing and the call center are constantly dependent on the SAP system. The work of 600 employees depends on the uninterrupted operation of the IT landscape."

"Normally, conversions of this type take a long time, involve high risks in data migration, and require extensive preparation and testing in advance of the actual measures."

This would hardly have been compatible with an uninterrupted move.

The smooth and punctual operation within the planned time window was ultimately ensured by test runs and the subsequent analyses and optimizations, added Mark Wagener.

Andreas Kühne is satisfied:

"Switching to DB2 was the best thing we could have done. With BasisTeam's support, the switch was smooth."

The desired acceleration was achieved. Data compression of 50 percent was achieved in SAP ERP, and as much as 75 percent in the data for SAP BW. The performance of the systems was increased approximately tenfold by the new database.

The services and know-how of BasisTeam, in particular Peter Sikorskis, who played a key role in the project, are considered by the Junghans team to be exceptionally professional.

The mail order specialists have taken the good experience as an opportunity to also use a solution from Libelle for the time-consuming system copies in SAP.

"The cooperation was close, unbureaucratic and pragmatic".

Kühne concludes:

"You notice that for BasisTeam it's the result that counts instead of formalisms. That's very important for a medium-sized company."

The commitment of BasisTeam was to be highly valued, especially because a large part of the services had to be provided outside of regular working hours.