Case Study:
Global Template for S95 ERP-MES Integration
Problem:
A global pharma company had completed multiple SAP-to-MES system integration projects at a number of global sites, aligning their strategies by region; in other words, unique SAP instances and MES systems (PAS-X) per region. Because of this, each project was treated as a one off, and new custom programs were made for each site. The result was a limited ability to leverage knowledge and information between sites, and a challenging support and sustainment model that required detailed, individual site-knowledge to troubleshoot problems.
Solution:
Endeavor conceived, designed, and executed a global template concept to be used by all sites. This template was developed to accommodate all of the requirements and nuances for every site into a single configurable program. This one global template could be governed and deployed from a central instance.
It was a simple solution with a complex reality, necessitating defining all of the SAP configuration possibilities within the company (for example, HU vs SU vs non-SU). Exacerbating this was the company’s use of Custom BADIs and the user exits within the various SAP instances, along with PAS-X version-specific nuances.
Endeavor gathered all of these requirements, created a robust configurable solution, and developed templated user exits to handle any situation not addressed through the standard options. Additionally, Endeavor ensured field level version-controlled configuration tables were created to enable the construction of IDOCs, to address all retroactive field differences and any new field mappings in the future.
Benefit:
Endeavor identified that there was a huge value proposition in addressing as many design problems ahead of time as possible, especially in anticipation of multiple sites going live with SAP-MES integration. Doing so created solution synergies across sites and instances, saving time, money, and the need for multiple teams on support as had previously been the case.
Additionally, the design concepts and best practices within the enterprise were now able to be shared centrally, rather than living within the business and IT SMEs of a particular region. Thanks to this, the template became a major accelerator for new sites going live, and an instruction manual was created to configure the site interface. All of this enabled the rapid use of vetted, pre-existing functionality that previously would have taken months of effort and required a major project to execute.