Order confirmations automatically in SAP

Viega GmbH & Co. KG processes order confirmations automatically in SAP with tangro software. A project with an all-around positive conclusion: implementation in just four months, increase in processing speed by an estimated 50 percent, and in some cases already a completely automated process - without the intervention of an employee. "We are aiming for fully digital exchange with suppliers. tangro is an important step because we now check and process order confirmations quickly and paperlessly," says Christina Rinscheid from Global Procurement Development and Corporate Supply Chain at Viega.

Viega is an internationally active family-owned company in the field of sanitary and heating technology with approximately 5,000 employees worldwide. Approximately 35,000 order confirmations are generated annually in indirect purchasing at Viega. By digitizing the procurement process for processing order confirmations, the company hoped to reduce the workload of its employees. The direct connection to SAP and direct access to SAP data in real time were decisive for Viega in selecting tangro as the automation solution. Another decisive factor was the ability to use user authorizations in SAP at the same time. The short project phase was also a key factor.

"tangro is already fully capable in the standard version. Other providers would have had to program many of the required functionalities as special functions. There's no way we could have managed or even completed the project in a few months."

With tangro, everything went very quickly: it only took four months from the start of the project to go-live, including company-specific adjustments. The entire implementation phase was done remotely. Training was organized internally, which also simplified the project.

Digitizing and automating the processing of order confirmations has made the purchasing process much more efficient and accelerated it. tangro automatically recognizes and checks the relevant content of the PDFs. These include quantities, prices and delivery date, but also the drawing status and the statistical goods ID number. Terms of payment, Incoterms and delivery address are also recorded by tangro. The system indicates discrepancies via a visual warning indicator. Christina Rindscheid:

"You can see at a glance where there is a problem in the document: with the price or with the quantity. That makes our work much easier."

Correct documents are posted in SAP with a single mouse click. For some order confirmations, even this work step is eliminated: "For 30 suppliers already, tangro takes over the processing of the order confirmations completely. No one has to do anything here anymore," says Christina Rinscheid.

"With tangro, we have succeeded in saving around 50 percent of the processing time for order confirmations."

Direct access to SAP data makes itself felt as an enormous advantage:

"Employees can access the purchase order, info record and material master or vendor directly from tangro, as well as the agreed payment terms."

The automation solution also speeds up processing by making it easy to retrieve documents according to various selection criteria. In addition, tangro simplifies the e-mail correspondence around ABs: returns in the case of inconsistent confirmations only take two to three clicks because the correct e-mail address and text are automatically suggested. Another very important aspect for Christina Rinscheid is the fact that tangro has made all colleagues even more aware of the legal significance of ABs.

ABOUT VIEGA

Viega has advanced to become an internationally operating market leader with ten locations throughout the world, over 4,700 employees and a wide range of products covering the entire installation technology sector.