Major Consumer & Personal Products Company

A major consumer and personal products company was deploying two major independent projects:

1. A major Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation (SAP)
2. A global Manufacturing Execution System (MES) solution (WonderWare)

Both projects were at different stages of their respective global implementations, involving different process scopes and rollout strategies.

The client recognized the need to address the overlap and boundary definitions between the two initiatives, and decided that a detailed analysis was necessary to ensure both initiatives were using the same assumptions and design components. Both initiatives assigned resources to the task of reso

Endeavor was retained to execute and facilitate the detailed analysis for the overlap identification and boundary definition of the two initiatives. Through workshops, analysis, and the use of industry standards like ISA-95, detailed schematics and narratives were developed which identified the key boundary areas. Key design decisions were investigated and specifications created. The deliverables reflected an ERP-MES boundary analysis from three different perspectives:

1. Functional scope boundaries
2. Key data objects overlapand
3. Information flow/interfaces

The results of this exercise were detailed narratives, common assumptions, as well as functional and process maps which drove the future projects direction.

Both initiatives were able to use a common frame of reference for process scope and interface definitions. Where before neither initiative refined their respective designs related to the boundaries of the other, they were able to complete the design detail using the same assumptions and functional overlap definitions. The ISA-95 application to these deliverables ensured adherence to industry standards and terminology as both initiatives progress and are required to interface to the other. This is a key component for the respective software for the implementations, SAP and WonderWare, both of which have the ability to adhere to ISA-95 standards. A significant amount of rework has been avoided by recognizing and confronting these design issues "“up-front” versus waiting until a design conflict during implementation causes a major road block causing design rework.