Release process via Power App: The best of SAP and Microsoft 365

Around 2000 individual order and credit limit approvals are an essential part of risk management at Roto Frank Dachsystem-Technologie (Roto DST) every year. 

By individually adjusting order and credit limits, Roto DST can efficiently support its customers even during rapid growth, major projects or seasonal peaks, while minimizing its own risks at the same time. However, this important process is subject to special requirements in terms of transparency and compliance as part of the internal control system (ICS). To date, the process has been handled heterogeneously in the ten international companies of the DST division. 

The unbundling of IT at Group level also meant that a previously used solution was no longer available. All of this made it necessary to change the process. Against this backdrop, Roto DST decided to standardize the process across the division and to fully support it with a digital approval process. An implementation in SAP made no technical or economic sense, as the necessary investment would have been lost with the upcoming switch from SAP ECC to S/4 Hana. At the same time, SAP is the source for all relevant data and the target system for the result.

Model-driven Power App

As other approval processes at Roto DST are also mapped in Microsoft 365, the company decided to implement the process for order and credit limit approvals as a model-driven Power App with a connection to Microsoft Teams. Roto DST turned to the Power Platform team at Net at Work for a timely and cost-efficient implementation.

At the beginning of the project, the requirements for a new, standardized process for order and credit limit approval across all ten national companies were formulated. 

It was clear that the approval process would be triggered from SAP, that the users should be integrated intuitively and also via mobile devices and that the result must flow back into SAP. The entire process was to be implemented in compliance with the ICS - for example, by maintaining the dual control principle - and fully documented as a PDF in the SAP archive.

„We really liked the pragmatism of our colleagues at Net at Work. Thanks to the iterative approach and the quickly tangible results of the low-code development, we were able to implement the technical requirements efficiently. The focus was always on the benefits for us,“ says Marco Schneider, Head of Financial Accounting at Roto Frank Dachsystem-Technologie. The new Po-wer app - developed by Net at Work as a model-driven app - is supplied with all the necessary data from SAP using the MuleSoft interface tool. 

Independent or integrated

It assigns the individual approvals to the right decision-makers on a data-driven basis, takes into account various threshold values for different rules and escalation levels and can process different languages and currencies. 

Particular attention was paid to usability for users. The app can be used both independently and integrated into the familiar Teams environment. It follows the familiar operating patterns of established applications and does not require a great deal of training. It reminds decision-makers of outstanding tasks by e-mail and ensures transparency, efficiency and speed.

„We didn't want to create any unnecessary hurdles for the division-wide harmonization of this process. That's why it was important to us not to impose another workflow solution on our users, but to pick them up where they are anyway. Microsoft 365 and Teams in particular is a very good choice - also because mobile access is easy,“ says Marco Schneider, Head of Financial Accounting at Roto Frank Dachsystem-Technologie.

Entry into M365 platform strategy

A key guiding principle in IT at Roto DST is to reduce complexity by concentrating on a few platforms and lean processes. The company therefore always starts by checking whether new requirements can be covered by existing standard software solutions. If a solution is too expensive, not suitable or can only be used with extensive changes, the company opts for individual development.

Alongside SAP, Microsoft 365 was already one of the widely used platforms at Roto DST. Individual software that is based on the M365 platform, such as the new Power App for order and credit approval, therefore fits seamlessly into the company's overall IT architecture. From an IT perspective, this creates synergies in the areas of operations, development and building up the necessary expertise. 

„Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform offer us considerable potential to enrich our Modern Workplace with individual applications and thus to be able to react quickly and flexibly to new requirements from the specialist sides. The interaction with SAP as the central platform went smoothly,“ says Robin Imhof, SAP Consultant at Roto Frank Dachsystem-Technologie.

Hyper-care approach

Two offers from Net at Work made a particular contribution to the success of the project. Firstly, a so-called hyper-care approach was implemented for the critical commissioning phase. This involved Net at Work's experts providing the customer with continuous support and advice in order to resolve any potential difficulties at short notice. 

A managed service agreement was also concluded between the two companies. The team
Net at Work takes over the further maintenance of the application and thus relieves the customer's internal IT department.

„The collaboration with Net at Work was fun and was characterized by professionalism and a quick response. The cost estimate was very good and they also responded flexibly to our change requests,“ says Robin Imhof, SAP consultant at Roto Frank Dachsystem-Technologie. 

The project was implemented very successfully within just a few months, from the initial idea to the international roll-out in numerous European countries. Today, Roto DST uses the new solution to carry out around 2000 order and credit limit approvals per year according to clear specifications, fully documented and transparently and efficiently at all times. Even in times of change, an important process has been harmonized across Europe with the help of an individual Power App. 

Modern Workplace

The example shows that with Power Apps and Microsoft 365 as an established platform, individual, cross-system requirements can also be implemented efficiently and user-friendly in the Modern Workplace. The integration of third-party systems such as SAP into the familiar working environment of the Modern Workplace brings new processes and applications to where users feel comfortable. (Source: Net at Work)