Accompanying the customer into the new world as an enabler

One thing is clear: An ERP system must function perfectly. All those who handle their processes with the current SAP Business Suite fear that proven functions will no longer be available in S/4 HANA. GIB from Siegen is also familiar with these user concerns. As a software manufacturer and certified SAP Silver Partner, the company specializes in optimizing supply chain processes in SAP.

When SAP announced the new program package, GIB was quickly convinced of the benefits for customers and wanted to position itself as a conversion enabler that combines the technological advantages of S/4 with the strategic and operational advantages of integrated and holistic supply chain management from GIB.

Take proven functionalities with you

So the GIB strategy is clearly aimed at S/4, and thus at refining the digital core. Felix Grab, Vice Director Development at GIB:

"Starting this year, development will be done exclusively in this new world. What can be translated into the old R/3 world in a meaningful way will be downgraded for customers who do not yet dare to make the switch. The focus here is on ensuring that all the proven functionalities of GIB Suite can also be run with high performance in the S/4 HANA environment, so that users can continue to work reliably with their familiar software solution. The GIB Suite can thus be taken from the R/3 to the S/4 world without any effort (brownfield) or, of course, set up anew under S/4 in a greenfield approach."

For innovation-minded companies that want to fully exploit the possibilities of the S/4 world, GIB has been providing the new Supply Chain Excellence Suite (SCX) since this year. GIB SCX uses the digital core of S/4 and high-performance HANA technology to provide an end-to-end view of the supply chain. The forward-looking software solution offers plenty of scope for further innovative functions that significantly optimize day-to-day work.

GIB SCX works with a sophisticated role concept that makes the highly complex supply chain process transparent and manageable. The user is served all relevant work steps in a precisely fitting manner. The new tool brings a new level of user-friendliness and simplification and guarantees that nothing is overlooked in the worklist.

In addition, the SCX Suite calculates the process maturity of the supply chain and the respective sub-processes on the basis of the live data from the SAP S/4 system and presents this using an innovative indicator model. Based on KPIs determined from SAP Core, the single point of truth, the quality of the entire end2end process as well as the sub-processes Demand Planning, Manufacturing, Procurement, Inventory Management and Sales & Distribution is thus presented.

Switch to the S/4 HANA world only with the GIB solution

GIB SCX is one of the first SAP-certified solutions in the S/4 HANA Cloud worldwide. Although not mandatory on the SAP side for on-prem products, GIB has been relying on end-to-end certification since 2005 to give all customers the assurance that the software products work together perfectly. The GIB Suite has been certified for S/4 HANA On Premise since 2018.

"We were under tremendous time pressure to certify our new SCX suite"reports Stefan Theis, Manager Software Logistics and Technology GIB.

This urgency was based on the request of a customer who already wanted to tackle a cloud conversion to S/4 HANA EX in the current year and will go live with the cloud extended edition (EX) in 2021. Since SAP certification is a basic requirement in the cloud case and the user definitely did not want to take the step into the new world without his proven GIB Supply Chain Suite, certification of the new GIB SCX was a priority for the Siegen-based software manufacturer this year. Because the customer did not want to do without "his" GIB Manufacturing under any circumstances, despite the advantages offered by the SAP functionalities in the new S/4 system.

Bringing all services to the cloud as well

GIB has successfully supported numerous S/4 conversions over the past two years, but the cloud scenario presented the software manufacturer with special challenges.

"Certification for SAP Cloud involved a lot of changes to the source code"explains Florian Lenz, Manager Development at GIB.

"The time window was extremely narrow! We had already decided internally in the spring to have the GIB solution certified for the cloud, but unfortunately the final SAP requirements catalog for a certifiable solution for the cloud was not finalized until July."

Fiorized interfaces to map processes even more efficiently

Even though the proven GIB functionalities for supply chain management continue to exist in SAP S/4 HANA, the interfaces were fiorized. The focus here was less on fancy interfaces and more on providing optimal support for users to do their work well and efficiently.

"The fact that the pilot project could be certified so quickly and successfully was the result of very good and close cooperation between our GIB departments involved and those responsible at SAP."explains Stefan Theis.

"It's clear that a large portion of pioneering spirit and maximum flexibility are part of it. This is the only way to respond promptly to all new requirements."

The success proves the protagonists right: In September, the feat was completed and the new GIB Suite was certified by SAP. The partnership-based contact with the SAP certification team and, of course, the clear signal from the customer of how important the solution is to them for their S/4 launch were also decisive for the rapid speed of the certification process.

"We were involved in the testing and trial phase at a very early stage. This allowed us to try out the tools in the new environment and see how the processes run in the cloud." explains Stefan Theis.

With the certification, which must be renewed annually with each new cloud release, GIB has taken a big step towards the new SAP world. According to a GIB survey from this year, migration is on the horizon for most companies within the next two years. High time to look at the benefits of GIB SXC in the new world.

Whitepaper on the survey on https://gib.world/de/gib/blog/ request