Foreign trade in the cloud

For the carve-out, Kulzer chose a hybrid solution: ERP on premise as an IAAS solution in an external data center, GTS in the cloud.

Global export control and efficient customs management in foreign trade are complex tasks that present considerable challenges. This is an area that is extremely critical, both professionally and technically.

For Kulzer, it quickly became clear that in-house operation was not an option. So the SAP consultants from Heidelberg brought their complete solution cbs SAP GTS Cloud into play.

With success: All processes in customs clearance and foreign trade could be handled with the cloud solution.

Relocation of all IT systems

With the takeover of Kulzer by the Mitsui Chemicals Group, it was necessary to separate the dental division from the Heraeus Group.

Realizing such a carve-out in line with business requirements and within the set timeframe is extremely challenging.

cbs Corporate Business Solutions supported Kulzer in managing the complexity of the project for the SAP system landscape and in structuring and packaging the wealth of tasks (evaluation, replacement, dismantling, migration of 60 interfaces, sequencing of projects, upgrade, fiscal year change) as part of a well thought-out project management.

After all, the project list included no less than the construction of a new data center (relocation) and the right-sizing of the process landscape including SAP ERP and GTS as well as connected third-party systems.

cbs brought expertise from numerous global rollout projects and restructurings to the table.

"When analyzing possible operating models and migration paths for the GTS solution, it quickly became apparent that a non-SAP midmarket solution would not be able to reliably map our complex customs and foreign trade processes"

explains Bernd Müller, project manager and person responsible for SAP at Kulzer.

The globally active company was faced with the task of mapping its business processes uniformly worldwide. A company like Kulzer, which operates on international markets, needs a modern, harmonized IT infrastructure and an integrated merchandise management system that covers all processes.

Only an SAP solution came into question for this. Kulzer decided to implement a hybrid solution: ERP on premise, GTS in the cloud.

A particular challenge was the separation of the GTS corporate unit from the global parent company. This was realized with the special software cbs Enterprise Transformer and a standardized procedure.

The carve-out of the GTS system from the group IT comprised around 120,000,000 master and transaction data records such as products, partners, documents including ERP reference documents, export licenses, SPL and audit logs (sanctioned party lists/boycott lists).

Not to forget: the interface to the Atlas customs clearance system.

When the company was still part of the former parent company, Kulzer was already working with an SAP GTS system. This platform had proven itself. So it made sense to continue relying on the foreign trade solution.

However, global export control and efficient customs management are complex tasks that present enormous business and technical challenges. For the globally active company, the tasks in foreign trade are simply much more difficult to manage than simply using the classic SAP ERP suite in its core process fields.

The legally compliant operation of a customs and foreign trade system ties up capacity, and Kulzer's IT department did not want to build up additional internal expertise for this. Focusing on the core IT processes was clearly the priority.

The cbs SAP GTS Cloud therefore presented itself as a suitable overall solution. So the project managers set about tackling a tool-based migration of Kulzer's corporate and process data from the existing SAP infrastructure.

The requirements of the company management were clearly defined: The implementation was to take place without interruption and without interrupting the ongoing foreign trade and export processes. In addition, downsizing and right-fitting of the system was important to those responsible in order to save costs.

Legal requirements with regard to compliance aspects had to be complied with. In addition, the existing system-side and specialist process documentation was to be used throughout the project and optimized as required.

In addition, further optimizations had to be realized as additional quick wins. The aim of the comprehensive consulting concept was to go beyond a standard approach and establish a comprehensive operating model, taking into account processes, data security and support, in order to achieve the optimum for Kulzer. The solution thus set itself apart from standard market outsourcing, which often only covers housing and hosting.

In the course of project planning, dependencies on the data center, such as go-lives of other projects and the upcoming establishment of the internal IT organization, put the team under additional time pressure.

In addition, there was an upcoming AES/Atlas upgrade for the customs processing system. The entire program planning therefore turned out to be very complex: Not only the SAP GTS implementation had to be carried out within the shortest possible time, but also the smooth connection of the Seeburger converter required the utmost attention.

After all, this ensures all Atlas export declarations for customs. At the same time, the carve-out of Kulzer's entire SAP ERP system from the parent company's SAP landscape was scheduled.

Only through the structured approach, the integrated approach and a consistent process and phase orientation was it possible to complete these demanding tasks in the allotted time.

The project team supplemented the existing Kulzer project methodology with its own tried-and-tested M-cbs methodology - and thus achieved success.

Strategic decision with foresight

With the cbs SAT GTS Cloud, Kulzer received modern IT service management and SAP-certified application management support. All open questions of the responsible persons regarding a legally compliant operation of the customs and foreign trade system were answered.

In addition, viable yet profitable solutions were provided for infrastructure, operations, monitoring and license management. As a result, the team was able to successfully complete the carve-out on time and on budget within just three months.

cbs transferred the solution to the ISO-certified data center of cbs parent Materna, while SAP ERP continues to be operated on premise as an IAAS solution in an external data center.

cbs SAP GTS Cloud is currently the only licensed complete solution available on the market for global export control and efficient customs management and is therefore also classified by SAP as a Partner Managed Cloud (PMC).

Thomas Gessler, CIO at Kulzer:

"It was a strategic decision with foresight to completely outsource our foreign trade solution and place it in competent hands. The effort required to operate such a complex system internally to the necessary extent would simply have been too great for us as an international medium-sized company."

Since then, SAP GTS Cloud has been reliably handling all foreign trade processes, while cbs is responsible for complete system maintenance. With the private cloud solution, Kulzer benefits in several ways: on the one hand, from clearly defined service levels and a fail-safe complete operation of its global foreign trade solution.

On the other hand, from the in-depth customs expertise and broad process knowledge of cbs. cbs' parent company, Materna GmbH, is significantly involved in the development of the German Atlas electronic customs clearance system.

In this respect, the connection of the Seeburger converter in use to the new SAP architecture also went smoothly. Kulzer thus created a solid foundation for the operation of the cloud-based GTS solution.

Solution proves itself in practice

Thanks to SAP GTS Cloud, Kulzer can now concentrate fully on its core business again. The effort the company has to invest in GTS system operation is zero.

The SPL lists of the business partners are updated almost in real time and the daily monitoring of the system and business processes is reliably taken care of by the Application Management Team of cbs.

In view of the care that the company must take in terms of system availability and compliance with legal requirements, the solution found, in combination with a sophisticated support concept, is ideal.

Outsourcing based on the SAP GTS solution is much more than simply outsourcing or housing an IT infrastructure. Rather, the dental specialists get everything from a single source: leading expertise in foreign trade, proven process and SAP consulting, and a solution provider that meets the highest standards in terms of security and data protection.

This combination also convinces Bernd Müller, project manager and SAP manager at Kulzer:

"I haven't heard anything in months regarding the GTS system. It's just running."