Workflow-Optimisation with SAP CRM for Ideal Standard Europe
Ideal Standard Europe is a subsidiary of American Standard, the leading international vendor for kitchen and bath furnishing. The group operates selling as well as production shops in most of the European countries. The brands differ by country and so do the products and services. Sales organisation, customer service structure and products are aligned with the market requirements of the respective country.
The Starting Situation
Companywide SAP R/3 is used as sales application. Up to now Ideal Standard provided its customer service for business customers like retailers, plumbers, and exhibitors mainly by help of different third party software. Among other tasks clavis was responsible for the replacement of legacy systems by SAP CRM and the integration of all business processes in Germany , Italy and the United Kingdom .
The Implementation
In the first place the goal was to map all business processes from the tender preparation and the contract placing to the installation of products in showrooms into the SAP system. For contract placing is managed in the R/3 system and the customer support is provided via SAP CRM, the communication between these systems had to be customised and expanded.
Inside the CRM system the objects for showrooms and for activities are automatically created immediately after order entry. Further on the account manager is issued a date for an inspection of the installation. In an interactive cockpit he can directly access all relevant data and make appropriate modifications. Thereby all objects of the respective business process are automatically adjusted (Single Point of Input).
Within a central transaction the account manager gets an enclosing overview of all objects of the CRM system that belong to an installation or a customer. Any displayed information can be modified via a link to additional related transactions. By means of flexible selection criteria and by an EXCEL interface, the central transaction also serves as a comfortable reporting tool.
As a further functionality we have implemented the transfer of legacy data. With the help of reports, this function can also be applied for mass data changes.
The Effect
With the replacement of the legacy systems and the transfer of the data into the SAP system, an all-time Europe-wide standard of the system environment together with the deployed tools and utilities has been achieved. Reporting now has access to a synchronised data base that allows for consistent and comprehensive evaluations. Furthermore we have established a workflow that automatises the business process chain in SAP CRM. The respective account manager is informed by the system about recent or modified installations, jobs or tasks and returns the results of his verifications to the system.