Agrana Quality Management Application With SAP BTP

Agrana supplies the food processing industry with fruit, starch and sugar and generates annual sales of over three billion euros with 9,500 employees at 55 production sites. The basis of this success is the high quality of its products, which is why Agrana attaches great importance to quality management. The individual solutions used to date have been reviewed as part of a joint global QM strategy.

With the focus on digitalization, a new goal emerged: to create a single point of entry with harmonized processes for three identified areas (change management, non-conformance, and audit management). However, the idea of turning this into an efficient tool that could be used consistently across all locations and languages for a planned 3,000 end users had to be abandoned. The cost-benefit analysis showed that this would not have been feasible at a reasonable cost.

We required a cost-effective alternative. With a proven track record of developing new solutions using the latest technologies, we decided to work with the SAP team at Agrana to apply agile project management and to use and evaluate the latest SAP cloud tools: SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform).

We compared and evaluated various implementation models—on-prem consisting of S/4 Hana and SAP BTP with RAP (Abap RESTful Application Programming Model) or CAP (Cloud Application Programming Model)—taking into consideration various decision criteria such as development skills, future-proofing, performance, stability, the ability to “keep the core clean”, as well as low-code aspects, licensing issues, and many more.

One variant promised exceptional performance with a remarkably low TCO (total cost of ownership) and therefore qualified for the first round. Despite a low budget, the first UI prototype was ready for presentation within two weeks. The implementation was carried out with an S/4 on-prem, SAP RAP and the Simplifier tool for offline functionality. Agrana's specialist department was not only impressed by the result, but also enthusiastic. The path to the next stage was clear.

The evaluation of the implementation options for a cloud application for the 3,000 users resulted in a clear decision in favor of SAP BTP and the SAP CAP development model. The strategic use of relevant BTP services—including SAP Workzone, PostgresSQL, Cloud Foundry, CAP, SAP BAS, Bitbucket, SAP CI/CD, Cloud Transport Management and SAP CI—as well as the automated translation of texts and master data into 16 languages using DeepL further increased the cost-effectiveness of the solution.

The technical design resulted in a three-tier sub-account structure (E, Q, P) on the SAP Business Technology Platform; embedding was carried out in the existing Microsoft Azure AD environment with Office 365 and Microsoft Exchange.

Another convincing argument was probably the licensing aspects of the SAP Cloud CAP application. According to the customer, it generates "surprisingly low operating costs" for this specific application scenario.

Demo after only one month

Based on the positive economic forecast, the Agrana CIO placed the order to implement the quality management tool now called A~QU~A (Agrana Quality Management Application) in March 2023. Thanks to the use of the agile project methodology Scrum, the optimal assignment of the roles of Product Owner, Developer, and Scrum Master as well as committed stakeholders on the customer side, we were able to present the first live demo at the end of April 2023.

In this project too, it proved extremely successful to present the solution at an early stage and to enable future users to interact with it in a proof of concept. From an IT point of view, the specialist department was especially involved. The sprint-oriented approach was once again enormously helpful in finding the focus. The implemented Agrana application A~QU~A covers the entire process from planning to implementation, allows audits and documents change requests and non-conformities. The respective functionalities—Epic Audit Management, Epic Change Management and Epic Non-Confirmity Management—were rolled out in stages according to the release plan.

Functionalities of Agrana A~QU~A

1. Epic Audit Management—Planning and execution of internal and external audits. Findings from the audits are automatically transferred to the non-conformities area.
2. Epic Change Management—Supports the coordination of changes across systems and departments and ensures that they are fully documented.
3. Epic Non-Conformities Management—Workflow-based handling of deviations from the standard and sustainable improvement of the same.

Going live after twelve months

In December 2023, the globally deployable quality management solution Agrana A~QU~A was technically released with the first Epic Change Management. The roll-out was completed at the beginning of March 2024. With the successful implementation of the high-performance and company-wide standardized tool, we were able to show that agile methods and the latest SAP cloud tools can be used to realize marketable products quickly and cost-effectively. Even those with ambitious goals!

SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform), Abap RAP, and SAP CAP have proven to be key components in mastering the challenges of digital transformation and implementing globally standardized, cost-efficient solutions within a short period of time.

From on-prem to the cloud

The path from on-prem solutions to the cloud world involves a steep learning curve. We can see from our customers that it takes time to acquire the necessary expertise.

In order to provide them with the best possible support in this transformation, we use experiential workshops to impart know-how and expertise on the topics of SAP BTP, Abap RAP, SAP CAP, SAP Fiori, and digital signatures for SAP. We also train IT experts and developers in coaching, pair programming or prototyping, and teach methodological skills in Scrum, Kanban, UML, test automation, and continuous delivery.

In addition to expertise and technology, the right partner is also essential in order to maximize the assets described. Snap Consulting is an SAP consulting and software company in the DACH region. Founded in 2000, its focus is on SAP technology, SAP logistics, maintenance, and healthcare. Snap supports users in getting the maximum benefit from their business processes based on SAP ERP and S/4 Hana (on-prem, private, and public cloud edition).

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