Million-Document Archive with SAP Connection
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- Europe
Country
- Germany
Product
- DocuWare
- CONNECT to SAP DocuWare module
- SAP business system
- NetApp storage system
Tech Stack
- SAP
- DocuWare
- NetApp
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Procurement
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- Data Science Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
ZF Friedrichshafen AG is a leading supplier of mechatronic solutions for the automobile industry and a developer of computer input devices. The company is based in Auerbach, Germany. In 2008, ZF Friedrichshafen AG acquired Cherry Corporation, and together they comprise the Electronic Systems business unit in ZF's Industrial Technology division. The management at Cherry Corporation recognized very early on that rapid access to digital information would markedly sharpen their competitiveness. They implemented their first document management system as far back as 1991, choosing Arcis, a package from Siemens Nixdorf. By the time their original DMS was discontinued in 2004, the company had well over a million corporate and technical documents in their electronic archives.
The Challenge
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a leading supplier of mechatronic solutions for the automobile industry, had over a million corporate and technical documents in their electronic archives by 2004. The company needed a new system that could carry over the legacy documents at low cost, demonstrate a flexible and customizable software structure, and promise to be a safe long-term investment. The requirements for electronic document administration had drastically risen over the years. Features for process management and optimization, such as the ability to generate workflows, were nonnegotiable. They also were looking for a certified SAP interface. In the interests of preventing their applications from growing out of control, for years they have held to the strategy of consistently standardizing all their business processes to fit into their SAP environment.
The Solution
DocuWare satisfied the selection criteria and made a strong impression with its modular structure, not to mention the comparatively low cost to implement and operate it. Beyond those factors, the DocuWare partner demonstrated persuasive expertise and offered a coherent plan for migrating the legacy archive files. In only a few days, the DMS specialist was able to carry through the basic implementation including integration into the SAP system. The CONNECT to SAP DocuWare module augmented the existing SAP infrastructure with features for archiving documents and data via the SAP ArchiveLink interface. Incoming and outgoing documents, print lists, and SAP files could now be archived directly from the business solution. Associated Office documents such as Word and Excel files could also be directly attached to SAP documents and stored with them using the same module. The carryover of legacy documents from the Arcis archive was not a problem from a technical perspective but was outsourced to an external service provider due to the large volume of files.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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