Although one of the market leaders in enterprise applications, SAP still needs to catch up on the field of project management software. Most companies therefore rely on a co-existence of classical ERP systems such as SAP on the one hand and isolated project management solutions on the other. However, many valuable information is lost and processes are ineffective because data must be recorded twice. Holistic IT solutions, on the other hand, where the project management tool is fully integrated into the standard ERP via interfaces, ensure effective data management and thus ultimately company management.
Widespread Insulation Solutions
Microsoft Project, Excel and Word for project management, SAP for bookkeeping and hour bookings - this is how it is handled in many places and shows that the awareness of project management software is still underdeveloped in many medium-sized companies Intransparent and ineffective.
The interfaces are
However, if project portfolio management solutions are integrated into traditional ERP systems, such as SAP, they increase the thrust of the already very powerful standard software by optimizing all business processes.
Also interesting is
For companies that rely on SAP, customer-specific adjustments are usually essential. If, however, the project management solution is integrated directly and profoundly into SAP via interface modules, a uniform IT solution ensures transparent and efficient business processes.
End of the double reading
"We are linking the best of both worlds," says Jörg Püls, Managing Director of Collinor Software GmbH, a company that has a reputation as a specialist for the customer-specific integration of multiproject management solutions into classical ERP systems SAP -
With the corresponding, partly bidirectional SAP interfaces - for Collinor, for example, on a BAPI basis - almost complete integration into the SAP environment is possible. For example, the actual hours spent per project and the process are simply and effectively recorded by the employees in a specific timesheet.
The hours are then transferred to SAP via the interface to SAP for the corresponding cost element including the cost center for the internal activity allocation. You can freely define the criteria for the whole project, or different areas, in SAP.
This can be set by means of user-definable account assignment rules, for example, to cost centers, internal orders or collection points. If a statistical internal order is required for account assignment in SAP, in addition to a collection cost center, Collinor "requests" the number directly in SAP via a Z-BAPI and assigns the number assigned by SAP as an additional account assignment element to the project.
It is also important that all costs booked in SAP on the "project" are also directly available in the project management system. The solution from Collinor enables the project manager and all other authorized parties to have a clear overview of all costs (tabular and graphical) including the SAP costs of a project - directly in the project management software and without the need for SAP access
All postings to the account assignment element in SAP (internal order, cost centers) are automatically assigned according to the counteraccount and the cost element for the corresponding cost line in the account structure in the project. Depending on the role-dependent authorization concept, the account assignment according to SAP can be viewed in detail in the project up to the individual document number, each with a different detail depth.
It is also possible with fully integrated solutions that orders can be triggered directly from the project management system. For example, the project manager can generate a purchase requisition in process, including the desired purchase order items, that are created directly in SAP, with appropriate authorization.
If purchasing has made an order from the purchase requisition, the corresponding status of the purchase order with delivery date, individual postings and invoices is displayed immediately in Project Management, and the costs incurred are, of course, taken into account as commitments or actual postings Code>
Duplicates are as good as lost data in a fully integrated solution. The information in SAP, such as customer, vendor, material data and production times of the employees, are automatically made available to the project management tool automatically. If employees have to assign 100 percent of their working time to projects and line activities, the display of the productive time to be recorded in the Timesheet - which is directly transferred from SAP via another interface - makes the job enormously easier.
Uniform information platform
Order and delivery data, the account assignment of the projects and the hours worked by the employees per project (account assignment element) are also available without duplication in both systems. In this way, processes are speeded up considerably as a company-wide information platform enables a clear overview of the projects, including all the company's costs and resources, in just a few clicks.
The integration into the SAP world is generally implemented by means of appropriate standard interfaces, but in this case it is important to place particular emphasis on their quality and the technical implementation. However, it is often the case that the individual SAP systems are configured differently, so that sometimes standard interfaces have to be customized. According to Jörg Püls, Managing Director of Collinor Software GmbH, this is the case if the provider has extensive experience in this field. Because then the expenses for the adjustments keep within limits and pay off very quickly thanks to the immediate benefit.
Conclusion
Through a holistic solution via customer-specific interfaces from the standard ERP to the project management tool or other company-internal IT platforms and vice versa, all systems can be optimally integrated and create enormous added value for all project participants right up to management - and thus a clear competitive advantage for the entire company Company.
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