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ITP makes complex offer compilation easier for Atlas Copco(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 19 September 2014 Release date- 18092014 - Challenge-Atlas Copco deliver industrial solutions, including compressors, expanders and air treatment systems, equipment for the construction and mining industries, industrial tools and assembly systems. The offers are complex because not only does technical information need to be taken into account, but also specific requirements and conditions for the large number of countries in which the company operates must be considered. Much of the required information is available in SAP CRM, which is being rolled out internationally within Atlas Copco, but it is difficult for end users to produce the right documents quickly and direct from this system. This prompted the company to look for a specialized output application. Solution 'Atlas Copco placed a number of important requirements on their output application' explains Eileen To, SAP Functional Analyst for Marketing & Sales at Atlas Copco. 'What was most important was the proper integration with the SAP CRM system. The proof of concept did an excellent job of proving that ITP met these requirements. Incidentally, Aia Software works closely together with SAP. This is our guarantee that both applications will also work together properly in the future.' Atlas Copco also wanted end users to be able to do a final revision of the offers through an interactive dialog. No two assignments are the same, so there should always be the possibility to customize offers. The greatest advantage of ITP is that the templates are also stored and managed centrally. This raises yet another important requirement, namely, the desire to manage content as close to users as possible at any given time. On the other hand, the technical management of the application needs to be kept as centrally as possible. Implementation The implementation of ITP is linked to the roll-out of SAP CRM within the entire organization, which is taking place country by country. In mid-2014, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland will already be working live with the software and much work is being done to make this happen in a number of other countries, also outside of Europe. Data is exchanged between Aia ITP and the SAP business applications by means of XML. This results in quality documents that always have the latest and correct information. Every country uses a different language and deals with specific regulations and local legal, technical and commercial information. 'Experiences and feedback have already been very positive with creating the offers and employees are enthusiastic about the system.' Eileen To adds 'At present, content management is still the responsibility of the central IT department, but this will be scaled down in the near future. The departments are personally responsible for the content of the various text blocks. Other departments are also interested in how the system works and are looking into the possibilities of using it themselves.' (c) 2014 Electronic News Publishing - |