Single Point of Truth
The GMH Group sees itself as the first port of call for innovative solutions and qualitative excellence in steel. This association of medium-sized companies has been growing closer together for several years in order to position itself even better for the challenges of the future as a jointly operating GMH Group.
Integration, collaboration and efficiency are to be strengthened through common processes and their uniform mapping in a central ERP system.
ERP as a platform for the future
With the support of Corporate Business Solutions (cbs), the GMH Group carried out the largest IT project in its history: In four stages, "Zukunft ERP" merged the existing separate ERP systems into a single SAP solution.
The consolidation has streamlined processes, increased data transparency and thus strengthened the competitiveness of the GMH Group. So the management level can now access reliable real-time data from all companies and use meaningful and comparable key figures.
The Group's customers and business partners benefit from new digital services and improved support. The decentralized corporate structure stood in the way of lasting competitiveness.
Part of this was the heterogeneous ERP landscape, which consisted of four independent ERP solutions. As part of the multi-year overall program "Future GMH Group", which required major changes in the organization and processes, the company standardized this structure.
The sub-project "Future ERP" transferred the four existing SAP solutions to the state-of-the-art SAP system GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice).
"It was the largest IT project in the company's history, with which we wanted to turn what used to be four separate SAP systems into a uniform one across the Group, thus ensuring our future viability"
project manager Daniel Kotte looks back.
This is because the merger into a central SAP ERP system should provide real-time data from all companies and make it available more quickly, as well as enabling digital services for customers.
Customized migration
The group-wide consolidation was carried out by a team from GMH Systems, the IT service provider of the GMH Group, in four stages and with the support of cbs. First, the project team adapted the SAP system GMP to the new target structure.
At go-live, it merged the controlling areas and the various charts of accounts into one each and introduced the new asset accounting system.
With the conversion to the new general ledger (New G/L), Financial Accounting was also able to more closely integrate internal and external accounting. For the entire project, cbs used its own project methodology M-cbs to make the complex project as efficient as possible and to accelerate it.
In particular, for the migration of the P01 system to GMP, the team used a solution based on the tried-and-tested methodology that was precisely tailored to the requirements of the GMH Group. In addition to the replacement of three ERP systems, the focus was on the necessary adjustments to the BI systems.
cbs also provided a solution for the changes in the connected HCM systems. During the runtime of the program, there were still additional tasks to be solved: Units were sold or had to be transferred to new systems.
For these simpler parallel projects, the company relied on SAP LT (Landscape Transformation) software, for which a license already existed in the GMH Group.
Integrated processes
"The transformation project was successful across the board: in time, in quality, in budget," summarizes Thomas Löhr. All the companies in the GMH Group now work with just one SAP system.
Logistics benefits from the harmonization of supplier and customer data. The project has improved intercompany processing and the purchasing IT system, and Group-wide standards for market applications and products now apply in sales.
The GMH Group has successfully introduced the harmonized chart of accounts with new accounts and a new account assignment manual, and has defined a framework for cost accounting and a uniform contribution margin scheme.
The GMH Group's consistent and up-to-date data transparency strengthens the company:
"The uniform SAP ERP system has increased transparency in the GMH Group: Now we can quickly provide reliable information on the current earnings situation."
CFO Thomas Löhr sums up.
"Management finally has all the real-time data it needs to steer the group toward a successful future."
