Project success
Optimization of procurement processes with SAP SRM at Stadtwerke Augsburg
Project at a glance
Customer: Utility company
Industries: Energy
Project successes
- Implementation of SAP SRM
- Redesign of the P2P (Procurement2Pay) process for indirect procurement
- Consideration of high compliance/usability requirements
- Process cost reduction
Project description
The project comprises the redesign and optimization of procurement processes combined with the introduction of a new eProcurement system.
Project execution
The Stadtwerke Augsburg, Bavaria's third-largest utility company, supplies around 350,000 people in the Augsburg area with electricity, natural gas, district heating and drinking water. With an innovative mobility concept consisting of buses, streetcars and car sharing, Stadtwerke Augsburg offers the citizens and visitors of Augsburg an environmentally friendly alternative to their own cars.
In order to remain innovative and profitable in the future, a program - FIT for 2020 - was launched in 2015. The program comprises several optimization projects, including the redesign and optimization of procurement processes combined with the introduction of a new eProcurement system.
Following an extensive analysis phase, work began in 2016 on redesigning the entire procure-to-pay (P2P) process for indirect materials as well as external services. The process was redefined together with Deutsche Business Consulting GmbH (DBC), a management consultancy specializing in purchasing systems and processes. High compliance/usability requirements were taken into account. In the context of the existing IT strategy, the tool selection fell on the SAP SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) software. In the course of implementing SRM, the existing eProcurement system and the free-text requirements entry via SAP ERP MM (Materials Management) purchase requisitions were replaced.
The system was made available for use by employees on the intranet in time for the planned start date of January 1, 2017. In the meantime, all requisitions throughout the Group are processed via the system by the almost 800 users. An electronic multi-supplier catalog is available to employees for frequently required items. The catalog data is provided by the framework agreement suppliers via an Internet-based catalog platform and approved by Group Purchasing. For non-standardized external service requirements, such as unplanned maintenance work, forms are used to record requirements.
With the increasing standardization of requirements via catalog items, operational procurement is relieved and can concentrate more on strategic tasks such as the execution of tenders and supplier development.
Overall, project manager Tobias Büchsemann, team leader for cost and performance accounting at Stadtwerke Augsburg, draws a very positive conclusion:
"Many thanks to the entire team at the DBC for the exemplary implementation of the project and the excellent cooperation. It should not go unmentioned that the development department in our company described the cooperation with the DBC as desirable for all other projects and praised it highly. Many thanks for that."
