debis IT Services Southern Africa, together with DaimlerChrysler, has completed Phase One of a project called "Invision" to implement SAP R/3 for DaimlerChrysler South Africa. The project began in 1997 and has a multi-million Rand budget with the debis portion valued at more than R20 million. Early in 1998, debis, in conjunction with DCSA, conducted feasibility studies for the replacement of the car manufacturer`s legacy system for the implementation of an enterprise resource planning solution.
SAP R/3 proved the logical choice for the client`s requirements, providing the flexibility and high level of control required as well as put it on a par with its European counterparts as well as to align itself with the adopted DaimlerChrysler AG strategy of globalisation. Phase 1 of the project, completed in March, called for the implementation of the Finance (FI), Control (CO), Plant Management (Plant Maintenance) (PM) and Human Resources (HR) modules. A major requirement of the project was the implementation of the various modules without impacting on the client`s business. DCSA chose the phased "low-risk" implementation to ensure minimal disruption to the ongoing business requirements. debis provided SAP consultation and ABAP programmer skills with certain complementary skills imported from Germany.
In addition to software and IT services, more than 240 PCs and 50 printers were installed. The bulk of the project took place at DaimlerChrysler`s East London plant with the balance implemented at its offices in Pretoria and Pinetown. This made the project logistically difficult but was completed according to schedule with the final Go Live taking place on March 1st.
The need to ensure a low risk to the client`s existing system meant that SAP interfaces to the existing legacy systems had to be built. This required the thorough testing of the interfaces on a daily and monthly basis during the integration testing cycle. The project is unique to debis IT Services SA in that it is the first SAP project in which the company has been involved in all phases of PLAN, BUILD and RUN. These phases, or services, were developed by debis Systemhaus in Europe and cover all stages of implementation of an IT installation.
For example, with PLAN, debis offers a full consulting service to analyse the business requirements and to draw up the most-cost-effective, best practice solution for a customer`s particular needs. The BUILD phase covers systems integration, software sourcing or development and turnkey commissioning. RUN covers the ongoing running, management and support of the IT infrastructure. debis IT Services SA has had an ongoing relationship with DaimlerChrysler, having an existing IT outsourcing contract with the company. It also has an extensive track record in the South African automobile industry as well as banking, breweries, retail and financial.
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