In the late 90’s Hershey foods decided they needed to begin preparing themselves for Y2K. While they were getting all their ducks in a row for what would eventually turn out to be one of the most anticlimactic “doomsday” scenarios in history, they also decided to update all their software, replace existing legacy systems, and implement $112 million dollars’ worth of SAP ERP software (Koch, 2002). It seemed like a solid, “catch-all” solution for what many people considered to be the coming apocalypse. Of course, the world didn’t end on January 1, 2000, nor did much of anything else happen aside from a few doomsday cults feeling the sting of embarrassment and plenty of egg on their faces. Hershey, however, was almost certainly looking back on the past couple years and regretting the rushed schedule they gave themselves for trying to cover more ground than was possible in the time allotted. [Read more...]
Mind the Gap: How Small Lapses in Communication can Derail an SAP Implementation and Cost a Company Millions – Part 1: How SAP Can Make or Break a Company
Webinar – Benefits and Challenges of using SAP Lean Order Management (LOM) as a Point of Sale for Retail
Some SAP Retail customers need an alternative to the SAP POS module or other outside POS interface. Lean Order Management (LOM) is a real alternative that runs order fulfillment processes directly in SAP through a portal interface. A number of enhancements can be made to the base LOM product to make it a fully functional Retail POS. This is particularly beneficial to companies that need real time, up to date information. LOM can be successfully deployed across a large end user base as a Retail POS.
What Will Be Highlighted:
- In this session you will learn how other retailers have integrated and leveraged LOM across hundreds of stores with minimal end user training
- Discussion will include the necessary enhancements needed to simplify the order process (sales, tender, refunds and returns), reducing associate / customer POS interaction and allowing end users to focus on meeting customer needs and enhancing the customer in store experience.
Date: TBD
Time: TBD
Duration: 30 Minutes
Speaker: TBD
SAP EDI EDPAR Table Walkthrough – How to Cross Reference External Customer Number to SAP Customer Number (Part 2)
Let’s say you are receiving EDI ANSI X12 850 Sales Orders from you customers that need to be uploaded into your SAP System using the ORDERS05 IDOC. Most customers will have their own internal customer numbers that they send in their EDI transmissions to represent the Sold-To and Ship-To partners.
How do you convert these external customer numbers into your internal SAP customer numbers?
Some may hard code these conversions into their EDI maps. This approach can be very high maintenance as customers can add new ship-to locations or reorganize their internal numbers which would require changes to your maps.
Others may set up a cross reference table within their EDI translation table to perform the conversion. This works well at times, but then you are at the mercy of your EDI group to update the table with any new additions or changes to existing entries. [Read more...]
Web Dynpro Basics: Context and Binding
This is for those who are new to Web Dynpro programming. Here is an explanation of how to set up a Web Dynpro application using the context and binding the context to User Interface (UI) elements of the application. This is only a basic explanation to help set a foundation for understanding Web Dynpro programming. The 3 basic elements of a Web Dynpro application are windows, views and the context. The window is simply a container for a view. To assign a view to a window expand the views and windows under the section labeled ‘Object Name.’ Double click on a window and then drag and drop the view into the window. [Read more...]
How DataXstream and SAP Retail can Improve your Business
Retail Business owners, have you ever wondered how SAP Retail can help your business? Let our partners at SAP show you what we can do for you.
At DataXstream, we create tailored solutions for SAP Retail that give retailers tools which allow them to capitalize on the retail revolution and achieve success in today’s business environment. Our dedicated team of Retail-focused SAP experts, with specialties ranging from technical and functional implementation to custom configuration and strategic project management, enables our customers to realize the full potential of SAP Retail’s highly flexible, configurable, and powerful solution toolset. Whether you are a food, hardline, or softline retailer, Dataxstream can help you achieve operational and supply chain excellence with your SAP Retail system.
SAP EDI EDPAR Table Walkthrough – How to Cross Reference SAP Customer Number to External Customer Number (Part 1)
When creating IDOCs in SAP to send Invoices to customers via EDI you will likely have to send the customers their internal partner numbers on the EDI ANSI X12 810 Invoice Document. In almost all cases this will not be the same as the SAP partner numbers. So how can we set up a cross reference of SAP and external partner numbers? Well, the answer is simple because SAP has set up a utility to handle this for you. All you need to do is populate the EDPAR table in SAP using the VOE4 transaction. Once this is completed the IDOC_OUTPUT_INVOIC function module will read the EDPAR table when the Invoice document output is processed and populate the LIFNR element of the E1EDKA1 or E1EDPA1 segments of the INVOIC IDOC with the external partner number. Entries in EDPAR can be set up for multiple partners including the Sold-to, Ship-to, and Bill-To numbers so that external customer number cross-references can be passed on the IDOC if needed.
Let’s look at how this process works. Let’s say we have created an invoice document in SAP. In this case, the Sold-to, Ship-to, and Bill-to partners are all SAP customer number 15. If we want to create an INVOIC02 IDOC on which the external customer numbers are populated for all three of these partners we would have to set up three EDPAR entries as displayed on the below screen shot. The Customer field will contain the SAP partner number (Sold-to, Ship-to, Bill-to). The Ext. Function field will contain the Partner Function (SP = Sold-to, SH = Ship-to, BP = Bill-to). The External Partner field will contain the external partner number that the customer is expecting on the EDI file. And the Int. no. field will contain the SAP partner number (Same as the Customer field).
Lessons Learned for Decision Makers and Leads from a Successful SAP Retail Project Part 2 – Client Resources
My first post of the SAP Retail Lessons Learned series, I provided some background information on the SAP Retail implementation project that will be used as the primary reference for the lessons learned. I also listed a few over-arching themes for the entire series as well as major Lessons Learned categories that will be featured in upcoming posts.
In continuing my series of lessons learned with SAP Retail I would like to cover the topic of Client Resources and Planning. Again, in general many of these lesson I have learned could be applied to any project and I can easily draw parallels from other SAP industry solution implementations that I have led in the past. I will do my best to highlight where I think there are specific retail differences.
There Are Never Enough Client Resources
This is the case on almost any large-scale project, not just SAP projects. It impacts smaller organizations and it impacts retail businesses more because they tend to run leaner IT organizations. So you might be saying to yourself, “big deal; what project not funded by the government doesn’t have enough resources?” This one point however might be the most important one I make in this series.
Business Benefits of Virtualization
I speak with a number of people every year who have never heard of virtualization, and quite frankly this is a point that saddens me as a technology enthusiast. How can everyone in the world not know about the glorious wonders that await them if they virtualized their infrastructure?! Haha, ok maybe that’s going a bit too far, but I think you get my point.
To date, I’d have to say that of the business decision makers I meet, only about 30 percent of them know what virtualization is. Now on the flip side, of the people who are actively down in the trenches managing systems on a day to day basis, nearly 75% of them have either used some method of virtualization or heard of it. My question is, why is there such a disparity in knowledge of something that can be so beneficial to an organization between these two groups of people?
Well that’s what this post is about, educating decision makers about the numerous business benefits that virtualization solutions provide.
[Read more...]
Role Call – NRF Annual Convention and Expo
DataXstream will be present at Retail’s Big Show later this month (Jan 15-17) to talk all things SAP Retail. Will you be in attendance? Send us a message below to connect with us in New York later this month.
DataXstream: A Proven Expert in SAP Retail
Since a great number of SAP shops exist these days, you might ask yourselves why, as a retailer, you would choose DataXstream to implement SAP for Retail for your business. It is a good question, and we have a great answer.
First and foremost, we at DataXstream are proven experts in SAP, having worked in the SAP world for more than 15 years and having established an excellent reputation. Simply speaking, we understand SAP extremely well. You can absolutely trust us with any SAP project.
Secondly, we have a proven track record when it comes to the specifics of SAP for Retail. With us on your team, you can expect to implement SAP for Retail 50% faster; have all the unique configurations of the system you need to best reach your business goals, and even have your system customized to improve upon SAP’s already excellent functionality.
Thirdly, we are experts in virtualization, as well, which means we give you the unique opportunity to virtualize your SAP environment if you so choose. Many cost-savings and other benefits (including flexibility and increased responsiveness to business growth) can result from a virtualized environment. For more details on the benefits of virtualization, read here.
Connect with us at the Expo
Lessons Learned for Decision Makers and Leads from a Successful SAP Retail Project
I have spent the last 2 years working on an SAP Retail implementation. An SAP Retail project is the last place I could have ever imagined myself working. I have always been drawn more to SAP manufacturing, distribution, and A&D projects. Being a manufacturing engineer by trade, I am always a little more comfortable with a manufacturing line or warehouse near by. Even the facility that we ran the SAP project out of had a manufacturing line in it and a warehouse, so it helped to ease my inner engineer. It also broke my 12 year streak of not having a project in the state I live in.
I have been working with SAP for over 15 years. This was my first SAP Retail project and once again SAP has proved to me that it can be successfully leveraged and become a competitive advantage for those companies that implement it. Each time I start a new project in a new industry I think about the vast differences in how the new company will need to leverage SAP and the challenges that unique business will create for the SAP application. Time and time again a reasonable solution path is achieved and SAP becomes a solid foundation from which the business operates. The diversity of my own personal experience working with successful SAP customers demonstrates this point. There are not a lot of similarities in how A Flooring Retailer, Rocket Manufacturer, Pharmaceutical Manufacturer operate, yet they are all very successful at leveraging SAP.
