Automated processing of incoming orders at SFS

At SFS group order processing with tangro OM is completely reliable and paperless. There is no longer any need to print out orders and distribute them manually and no need for cumbersome filing.

"We wanted a solution that was simple to handle and as close as possible to SAP," explains Fredi Schmitter, CC manager at SFS intec and the person responsible for the project. "Our goal was a paperless process in which as much information as possible was automatically recognized and pre-entered in SAP." An additional goal was that it should be possible to improve the recognition rate through an integrated and easy-to-use learning function. tangro provided a solution that exactly meets these criteria. "tangro OM is completely embedded within SAP - including the learning functions. This makes handling especially simple and effective," explains Fredi Schmitter. "It also keeps administration costs to a minimum. If we were using a different solution that was not fully integrated with SAP we would have to pay additional licensing fees for the learning user, which would have made everything a great deal more expensive."

Up to one-third of the documents reaching SFS intec by fax are not orders at all, but for example returns, order confirmations, payment reminders or simply rubbish. For this reason, the neutral document entry list was used to act as a central hub for fax receipt where all inbound documents are pre-sorted and routed. The neutral document entry list ensures that all documents are forwarded to where they belong: orders to the sales department, order confirmations to the relevant users in purchasing – and advertising, which nobody needs, to the virtual waste basket. This in turn results in a tidy archive, since an order is only filed away electronically when it is forwarded to tangro OM. This ensures that only orders reach the archive, as desired.

tangro OM and the neutral document entry list ensure significant efficiency increases in document processing. Orders are captured substantially faster, meaning that sales staff at SFS intec have more time for their actual work, i.e. for controlling and customer support. The latter activity also benefits from the significant improvement in transparency. Since an order is directly linked to SAP master data, it is possible to track the entire process from inquiry through to delivery note and invoice. Today, sales staff can therefore help more quickly when a customer requires specific information on an order. 

It is no wonder that the reaction to the new SAP add-on among users has been consistently positive, particularly because users see results immediately. This is the case, for example, with the weekly order from a partner company that always comprises around 70 line items. Prior to the introduction of tangro OM, this involved a clerk taking several hours each week to type in these items manually. Rolf Locher scanned the order in and learned the data. "tangro recognized 65 of the line items automatically in no time at all, the effect was immense."

The company: SFS Holding combines four group companies: SFS unimarket, SFS intec, SFS Locher and SFS services. The total of around 4,200 employees generated sales of approximately CHF 1,200 million in 2010. The headquarters of SFS Holding AG are located in Heerbrugg (Switzerland) and the group of companies is represented at more than 45 locations in 21 countries.