Water/Waste Processing - Feb 2012
Business Systems in Harmony ERP Harmonization and MDM Initiative for Siemens Water Technologies When Siemens acquired USFilter in 2004 an immediate priority was to transition its many business systems to Siemens universal SAP ERP system However prior to being acquired and renamed by Siemens USFilter had been through its own lengthy series of mergers acquisitions and divestitures Transitioning to a single business information system was no small order As Jeffrey Karson project manager Business Integration for Water Technologies recalls it We had 18 different business platforms We had everything from SAP Oracle and Baan down to Quick Books in some of the smaller segments of our business The strategic goals of Seimens Water Technologies were Improve visibility and control of information improve operational efficiency improve working capital management and comply with Siemens standards Approach A steering committee comprising the companys CEO CFO CIO and others understood that Water Technologies would need both a set of standards and processes for controlling 18 February 2012 Water Waste Processing www waterwaste com the creation of new information for SAP as well as a solution for cleaning up enriching and harmonizing older material data being transitioned to SAP Siemens had already gone through a process of mapping Siemens proprietary Electronic Serial Number ESN materials coding system to the global standard United Nations Standard Products and Services Code UNSPSC coding system which would be introduced through the material master data harmonization process at Water Technologies Investing in both data cleanup and process control was an easy decision for the Water Technologies steering committee the challenge came in finding a single solution provider that would be up to both sets of tasks After seeing demonstrations of the competing solutions Water Technologies selected Zynapse because it was the only provider at the time that had a complete solution that had been engineered specifically to do what Water Technologies was trying to accomplish For Water Technologies which faced an exceptionally complex harmonization task the process has yielded a critical lesson that others would be wise to heed Karson says Its great to find a solution provider who can take on the task of harmonizing and enriching your material master data But as the client you need to be
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