Company Profile

One of our clients is a mid-sized production company with a strong presence in Switzerland and significant export business. The company operates several plants both domestically and internationally. At 10 locations around the globe, over 700 professionals support more than 20,000 customers in finding solutions for their mission-critical metal components.

Problem

After migrating to SAP S/4HANA, changes and improvements to the system were necessary. Standard processes often need to be modified to meet individual needs. Customizing SAP S/4HANA to specific business requirements can be challenging. Each company has different processes and requirements that are not always fully covered by the standard functions of SAP S/4HANA. Through workshops and interviews, a comprehensive understanding of the requirements was gained.

Solution

To address the problems and ensure more efficient operations for the client, we carried out optimizations of the SAP S/4HANAsystem. Functionalities were gradually enhanced and extended.

• Result Report: Expansion of KE30 reports to achieve a more detailed presentation of results. An improvement in sales and margin analysis was achieved.
• Asset Carve-Out: Separation of assets so they can be managed separately in a new company.
• Fiori Tiles: Optimization of existing and creation of new business-specific Fiori tiles to enhance functionality and implement business-specific extensions.
• Dunning Program: Improvement of the dunning program by enabling dunning notices to be sent directly via email in SAP. Additionally, various functionalities of the dunning program were configured in Fiori to make the workflow more efficient.
• Planning Figures: Implementation and optimization of planning figures in SAP.
• Electronic Dispatch: Introduction of electronic document dispatch.
• Agency Business: Setup of the kickback process in agency business.
• Profit Center Accounting: Conversion of profit center accounting.
• Currency Management: Handling FX issues to minimize currency risks.
• Intercompany Billing: Review of billing between different company areas, including the insertion of condition types with a markup. This example will be discussed in more detail:

In the modern business world, precise and transparent billing between company areas is crucial for success. Our client faced recurring discrepancies in billing between different company areas and entities. This concerned the selection of condition types with a markup for drop shipping. These discrepancies led to inconsistencies. To solve this problem, we carried out a comprehensive optimization of intercompany billing in SAP S/4HANA. The key was in adjusting the condition types:

1. Insertion of Condition Types: We implemented a solution where condition types with a markup for drop shipping between different countries are automatically and correctly inserted. This reduced errors and significantly simplified the billing process.
2. Discussion of Pricing Strategies: An important discussion was about which price should be written in the purchase info record: some text
   1. Selling price of the supplying plant for purchased materials plus the percentage (primary source similar to the condition type in sales).
   2. Directly the condition type sales (gross price = 100% + percentage markup).

In the case of billing between Switzerland and Germany (and vice versa), this led to identical results, as billing between these countries always uses the purchase price (selling price) plus percentage. However, between Switzerland and other entities of the company, in other countries, such as France, higher transfer prices are applied, which are based on market prices. The adjustments to the billing strategies between the different entities of the company ensured market-appropriate pricing.

Value Added

Through targeted optimizations, we achieved significant improvements in system utilization and efficiency. The specific adjustments and extensions led to a significant reduction in errors and increased user-friendliness. The ability to send dunning notices electronically and use detailed dunning procedures has significantly reduced the workload in dunning and accelerated payments. The adjustments in intercompany billing led to accurate and transparent pricing, ultimately increasing the company's profitability. Overall, our service helped the client better leverage the potential of SAPS/4HANA and sustainably improve their business processes.