Success Story
SAP Release Procedure

Case study

Goals Achieved by the MailCenter Digitization Platform – Approval Procedure

1. Simplified release of order confirmations
2. Efficient transaction processing in sales
3. Replacement of an existing workaround
4. Saving on transmission costs
5. More transparency about sent ABs

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company

thyssenkrupp rothe erde Germany

• Headquarters: Dortmund
• Industry: Steel processing
• Employees worldwide: 6,000
• www.thyssenkrupp-rotheerde.com

Choosing MailCenter

1. Optimum support for workflows
2. Good experience with sending invoices
3. No comparable solution on the market

Solutions and Services

1. Digitization platform MailCenter
2. Solution partner: munich enterprise software GmbH
3. www.munich-enterprise.com

Implementation Highlights

1. Rapid implementation of customer requirements in the software
2. Employees were taken along from the very beginning

Main benefits for the company

1. Everything is done with a click of the mouse
2. Order confirmations reach the customer faster
3. Clean documentation of the entire process
4. Cost savings: approx. 1,000 euros per month
5. ROI: 1 year

Environment

1. EHP7 FOR SAP ERP 6.0

Case study in detail

“With the MailCenter, sales approval processes can be carried out in an integrated manner in SAP. There is nothing comparable on the market. The entire solution, including acquisition and maintenance costs, will pay for itself after just over a year.”

Christian Köppen
, SAP SD Supervisor in the Organization Department

For purchasing transactions, SAP provides a detailed set of rules for approvals, depending on value limits. This option is not available for sales documents such as offers, contracts or order confirmations. But they also need to be approved internally before they go to the customer. thyssenkrupp rothe erde Germany GmbH has therefore been using the MailCenter from munich enterprise software for this purpose since 2023. The company has been sending XRechnungen via this solution since 2021. Why not use what works well there for sales approvals, thought Christian Köppen, SAP SD supervisor in the organization department of thyssenkrupp rothe erde Germany GmbH.

Cumbersome workaround replaced

Specifically, the sales documents from SAP SD are order confirmations (AB) that refer to the SAP objects “Sales Order” and “Scheduling Agreement”. Before the pandemic, these were printed on paper, signed manually, and shipped to the customer. From 2021, there was an interim solution with Corona: In SAP, a PDF was printed, stored on a network folder and manually uploaded from there to a web application. There, depending on value limits, the respective recipients responsible for the release were selected. Once confirmed, the AB was manually sent to the customer.

70 sales employees of thyssenkrupp rothe erde Germany GmbH are involved in this approval workflow. For each of them, due to the cumbersome procedure, it took quite a few mouse clicks before the AB could finally go to the customer. With the SAP add-on MailCenter, which replaced the previous workaround since July 2022, sales approval processes can now be carried out in an integrated manner in SAP. “There is nothing comparable on the market,” says Christian Köppen

MailCenter covers three operations at once

Before we could get started, munich enterprise software created the framework to store the existing procedural instructions in the MailCenter as described above. “I have rarely seen a system partner implement our requirements so quickly and competently. Human and professional 1A,” says Christian Köppen enthusiastically.
It is now very simple for the sales staff: When entering the sales order, they simply set an indicator for when the document is to be started for release. Everything else is done automatically, in accordance with the internal procedure instructions for sales releases, which have been stored in the system in close cooperation with munich enterprise software.
At the end, the document is automatically stored in the electronic archive. With the MailCenter, thyssenkrupp rothe erde covers three processes at once: internal approval, dispatch to the customer and filing. The system works in exactly the same way as sales in practice.

“In the first three months alone, we released almost 2,000 documents via the MailCenter. As a result, the order confirmations reach the customer faster and the entire process is clearly documented in SAP.”

Tobias Schulte-Bisping
, Head of Sales

Order confirmations reach the customer faster

The employees are correspondingly enthusiastic. A prerequisite for this was that the IT team took them on board from the very beginning. So everyone knew what to expect on the day of the launch. Tobias Schulte-Bisping, Head of Sales: “In the first three months alone, we released almost 2,000 documents via the MailCenter. The order confirmations are now with the customer faster and the entire process is clearly documented.”
Not to be neglected are the eliminating costs, as the web application is no longer needed today. The savings are considerable: a four-digit amount per month. thyssenkrupp rothe erde recouped the annual maintenance costs for the MailCenter after just a quarter of a year, “The entire solution, including acquisition and maintenance costs, will pay for itself after just over a year,” Christian Köppen has calculated.
Based on its experience to date, thyssenkrupp rothe erde now wants to be the third major document type to send drop shipments via munich enterprise’s software and thus also equip its purchasing department with the solution.

thyssenkrupp red earth

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of slewing bearings, thyssenkrupp rothe erde specializes in the development and production of rolling bearings and seamless rolled rings. In close cooperation, customer-specific solutions are developed that are unique in terms of construction, material properties and performance. Every month, more than 6,000 experienced and highly qualified employees convert 15,000 tons of steel to meet customer-specific requirements worldwide.