Company Profile

The NZZ Media Group was established in 1991 through a majority stake in the St. Galler Tagblatt. In 2002, it acquired a stake in LZ Medien AG (now RMH Regionalmedien AG), the publisher of the Luzerner Zeitung.

Problem Statement

In the period 2012-2013, the NZZ Media Group faced the challenge of optimizing its IT systems and processes. Project Stretch aimed to harmonize the order management for print media distribution on both a system and organizational level. The management of LZ Medien AG and the St. Galler Tagblatt, as well as NZZ AG, were running on two separate systems up to that point. For harmonization, a new SAP ERP system was established, into which the two existing systems were to be migrated. This included a release upgrade introducing the central business partner.

Further issues arose from the consolidation of processes. Service functions such as customer service or financial accounting were reorganized internally or consolidated within specific departments of the group.

Due to the incomplete integration of the systems, the internal IT faced additional efforts in providing, supporting, and maintaining the SAP ERP solution. The ongoing reorganization of individual departments led to a need for adjustments to improve process support.

The task of Project Stretch was to sequentially integrate the systems while providing consolidated enhancements to increase efficiency in business processes. The overarching goal was to reduce IT costs and improve process support for the departments.

Solution

Migration of Data from the Old System: Our staff supported the internal IT in migrating order data from the older SAP release of NZZ into the new consolidated SAP ERP system.

Data Cleansing and Preparation: Before the migration, the data was meticulously cleaned to ensure that only relevant and correct information was transferred. This helped maintain data quality in the new system and avoid potential issues caused by erroneous data.

Consolidation of Business Partners: A key part of data cleansing was the consolidation of business partners. Duplicate and inconsistent business partner records were identified and merged. This ensured that each business partner was accurately recorded once in the new system. The improved data integrity simplified the use of business partner roles.

Data Transfer: The data migration was carried out using SAP standard modules and batch input methods. These tools enabled a structured and efficient export of data from the old system and import into the new system.

Improvement of Process Support: In addition to data migration, another focus was on improving process support in the new SAP ERP system. Our staff worked closely with the departments to ensure the new processes were efficient and user-friendly:

Analysis of Existing Processes: Together with the departments, the existing processes in order processing were analyzed. Weaknesses and areas for improvement were identified.

Value Added

Optimization and Harmonization of Processes: Based on the analyses, processes were harmonized and optimized. This included standardizing workflows and adjusting SAP ERP functionalities to the specific requirements of NZZ, St. Galler Tagblatt, and Luzerner Zeitung.

Software Adaptation: The existing SAP ERP functions were adjusted to support the specific requirements of order processing.

Training and Knowledge Transfer: To ensure employees could effectively use the new processes, extensive training was conducted. This included the internal IT department to ensure knowledge transfer.

Customer Value: With the implementation of Project Stretch and support in application support, the NZZ Media Group achieved numerous improvements in order processing for print media in their SAP ERP system:

Increased Efficiency: Through data migration and consolidation, as well as process support optimization, workflows were made significantly more efficient. This led to increased productivity and reduced operating costs.

Improved Data Quality: Careful data cleansing and consolidation of business partner data ensured high data quality in the new system. This improved data integrity and facilitated downstream processes.

Reduced Maintenance Effort: The harmonization of systems and processes significantly reduced maintenance effort. This relieved the IT department and lowered long-term operating costs.

Better Process Support: The adjusted and optimized SAP ERP functions improved the support of business processes. This led to smoother order processing and higher satisfaction in the departments.

Sustainable Knowledge Transfer: Targeted training and knowledge transfer to the internal IT department ensured that the knowledge about the new enhancements was embedded in the company. This enabled the IT department to take over support independently and effectively.

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