S/4: Manage master data centrally 

Known for its consumer brand „Frosch“, Werner und Mertz is a manufacturer of sustainable detergents and cleaning products for both end consumers and professional cleaning companies. For the family-owned company, however, sustainable solutions are not just about its products and their formulas and raw materials, but also relate to the entire company processes: In addition to formulation development, as few and short transportation routes as possible ensure sustainable production. Solar energy and geothermal energy supply the company headquarters in Mainz. Consistent and standardized software solutions enable efficient and sustainable processes.

Master data management for everything

For the production of your cleaning and laundry detergents, all master data - from the raw materials in production and recipe development to the finished products, including packaging materials such as bottles and labels - should be recorded in one system. This is because efficient and successful collaboration is only possible through the seamless integration of all areas. „However, our 15-year-old workflow no longer allowed this: we could no longer customize it, add any new features or integrate any other areas,“ reports Thomas Ruckes, Coordinator Strategy Master Data Management at Werner und Mertz. „In addition, we only received the article number or material number very late in the old process, which made further processing more difficult.“ The upcoming switch to S/4 Hana also made it necessary to update the master data management system, as the previous system was no longer compatible.

In order to obtain a complete picture of all master data, Werner und Mertz first smoothed its own processes before the S/4 Hana migration: from the raw materials area to the recipes and all other workflows. „There were two reasons for converting the workflow process to FIS/mpm before the S/4 Hana transition: Firstly, we wanted to reorganize our processes and thus have less pressure when it came to actual process issues. And secondly, the start date of the S/4 Hana migration was not one hundred percent clear at the beginning of the project. It was important for us to stay on the ball early and be able to implement the solution as soon as possible,“ explains Thomas Ruckes.

Those responsible were therefore looking for a master data solution that would eliminate existing weaknesses in the old process - such as redundant work or manual user controls - and be able to access standard objects such as authorizations. A native SAP connection of the desired solution should not only reduce the effort involved in ongoing operations, but also allow much more flexible adaptation to future process changes.

After a thorough search and structured selection, the master data tool FIS/mpm proved to be the right choice. In contrast to alternative solutions, which were often more focused on PIM or DAM functionalities and would have required additional interfaces, the tool from the Lower Franconian SAP service provider offers a clearly focused solution for the management of SAP master data, especially in the area of material creation processes. „In addition to the technical decision, we were also convinced by the positive interpersonal experience with the FIS team. Pragmatic, SME-oriented and flexible - three characteristics that perfectly matched our own approach,“ comments Sebastian Krichbaum, Head of Strategy Master Data Management at Werner und Mertz.

Integrated solution

With the desired partner at its side, Werner und Mertz was faced with the challenge of restructuring the existing decentralized process for master data maintenance. As the expertise was distributed throughout the company, the first step was to sequence processes sensibly, take dependencies into account and enable parallelization. „The fact that long-standing employees retired during the project, which meant that expertise was lost and tasks changed in different departments, initially made our change management process more difficult,“ reports Thomas Ruckes. „We were able to compensate for this by training key users on the new system, who then supported the changeover process and passed on their knowledge to colleagues.“ This meant that entire processes, such as the introduction of direct parts list creation, were shifted during the transformation.

Whereas this previously had to be done via Excel and in collaboration with another team, it can now be done directly in the system during recipe development. The multilingualism of the system is also impressive: „Being able to easily process mass data and manage it in different languages is essential for us, who operate in Spain, France and other countries,“ explains Sebastian Krichbaum. With FIS/mpm, data can be exported, edited and re-imported - with full traceability, even for audits. Comments, documents and PDFs can be stored in such a way that everyone involved can access them retrospectively. The data is then imported into SAP in stages once predefined milestones have been reached. „The great thing about FIS/mpm is that we can access SAP tables.

This means that the moment we redefine product groups, this is done in SAP as customizing via our IT department and is then directly available for FIS/mpm,“ explains Thomas Ruckes. The fact that the conversion of the master data solution could be carried out in stages provided additional positive effects: Instead of a rigid, large-scale go-live, different types of material were taken live step by step, accompanied by targeted workshops. In these workshops, processes were discussed together, adapted and even spontaneously expanded if new requirements arose during the exchange.

After three months of live operation, it is clear how satisfied the users are with their new FIS/mpm master data solution: „It is particularly positive that all relevant departments are now integrated into the material master data process - a clear step forward compared to the previous „shadow world“ in which some areas were left out,“ comments Sebastian Krichbaum. Workflows are now tracked transparently with the FIS/mpm cockpit, including the respective process steps, responsibilities and source data. Errors are detected at an early stage, which significantly improves quality and controllability. The central admin team can also intervene in a targeted manner and continues to actively support users.

One system for all areas

One system for all areas, technically compatible with S/4 Hana and flexible in its application and with regard to future challenges - by using FIS/mpm, Werner und Mertz has fundamentally modernized the entire material master data process, bundled decentrally distributed knowledge and clearly structured processes. „With our new tool, we have an S/4 Hana-capable standard solution on the one hand, but also enough flexibility and scaling options to expand the solution sustainably in the future,“ summarizes Sebastian Krichbaum.

The gradual roll-out enabled a practical introduction in which employees were actively involved and processes were iteratively optimized. „The collaboration was characterized by mutual respect, openness and equal cooperation. Both sides acted as equals - professionally and personally - which immediately created a good relationship of trust,“ comments Raphael Zundel, Head of Sales - New Business at FIS Informationssysteme und Consulting. The „spark“ was immediately ignited, which created a strong foundation for the project work. Today, all relevant departments benefit from an integrated, comprehensible and high-quality master data process. Werner und Mertz is therefore ideally positioned for future challenges such as the entire S/4 transformation.

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