Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Manufacturing Giant Improves Collaboration and Communication, Enhances Business Intelligence Reporting
Overview
Country or region:India
Industry: Manufacturing
Customer Profile
Robert Bosch India Ltd. is a global supplier of technology and services in the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology.
Business Situation
Robert Bosch was using in-house developed ERP solution along with parent ERP solution, SAP, to fulfill various business needs. The disintegrated solutions however could not support dealers across the country and hence business was affected.
Solution
RBEI deployed Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1 and integrated it with SAP to create a unified technology infrastructure. With an integrated SharePoint portal and business intelligence reports, this solution (Horizon), provides one-stop distribution solution for the dealership network.
Benefits
Automates manual processes
Empowerd with business intelligence reporting
Centralized system improves visibility
Self-servicing improves efficiency saves time / “Microsoft Dynamics NAV was found highly suitable to improve the efficiencies of the dealer network leading to better customer satisfaction and shorter lead times for making informed business decisions.”
Srinivasa S, General Manager - Marketing, Robert Bosch India Limited
Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Robert Bosch India Ltd has more than 1,800 automotive components to its credit, which it distributes, across the country via 200 dealers. It has SAP ERP at the head office, along with a homegrown dealer management solution. To drive further efficiencies in its distribution network, the management took the initiative to centralize and standardize the system, unite all its dealers with team at head-office on a single distribution and dealer management system. The company implemented Microsoft® Dynamics™NAV 2009 SP1 with the help of Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI). Real time electronic data interchange between SAP and Dynamics NAV brought the entire team on a common knowledge base. The team witnessed a new level of efficiency with reduced time lag and lower order processing time. Web based services and business intelligence reporting together with SharePoint based portal further improved the productivity and reduce system effectiveness. Dealers can now collaborate more efficiently and in real time.
Situation
Founded in 1951, Robert Bosch India Limited is one of the largest auto components manufacturers in India. It is the flagship company of Robert Bosch GmbH, one of the world’s biggest private industrial corporations inGermany. Headquartered in Bangalore with 14 manufacturing facilities and 3 development centers, Bosch has a strong nationwide service network across 1,000 towns and cities with over 5,000 authorized representations.
Bosch manufactures and trades in three business sectors namely automotive technology, industrial technology and consumer goods and building technology. In financial year 2010, its consolidated revenues were approximately U.S.$ 1,386 million (INR 6,630 crore).
Bosch was using a homegrown solution, InDIS (Integrated Dealer Information System), to manage its distribution and dealer network developed around 12 years ago. It was based on Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, COM+ technology and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Crystal Reports 10 was used for report generation from a wide range of data sources. InDIS was deployed at 120 dealer locations.
But, this decentralized solution had its own set of challenges and issues. Application installation, database backup and restore at each dealer location were manual processes using external physical media such as DVDs. Lack of a centralized, integrated IT infrastructure at dealers’ locations, and irregular process for backing up the data resulted in loss of data.
Besides, InDIS lacked latest functional requirements and modern features. Further upgrades were not possible because Microsoft’s extended support in VB 6.0 ended in year 2008. Moreover, it was operating system dependent and worked only on Windows 2000 Server. Reports were difficult to create or modify. It was also not very user friendly and required intensive training for users.
Most importantly, it did not integrate with the company’s parent ERP system, SAP. The data interchange was a manual process where users had to upload specific files with order details to SAP using an interface developed on the internet portal. Also, the goods receipt note was uploaded manually using the text file received through an email.
Creating new data in the master files was difficult. Any new products, item codes, prices, schemes, discounts, targets and awards took time and substantial effort to add.
At the same time, consolidated dealer information wasn’t available at head office resulting in manual work. “It took considerable time to consolidate information at the head office,” says Uday Kumar, Deputy General Manager-IT, Robert Bosch India Ltd.
All these issues triggered the search of a new solution to meet the critical business requirements.
"After the rollout of NAV to the Bosch Dealer network, we are convinced that the application is efficient to deliver the desired features and will help the business a great deal. We have therefore extended this application to other segments also.”Srinivasa S, General Manager - Marketing, Robert Bosch India Limited
Solution
To upgrade to latest technology and implement new functional requirements, IT team at Bosch decided to replace home-grown InDIS with a standard ERP solution. It considered Microsoft Dynamics solutions because of rich functionalities and relatively quicker implementation cycle. Srinivasulu, Expert Architect, MS Dynamics, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI) says, “We wanted a solution that could integrate with Bosch SAP with ease, making manual transfer of data redundant.”
Finally, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 was chosen because it was quick to deploy, integrated easily with SAP and was scalable to meet Bosch’s growing business.
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions(RBEI), Bosch’s implementation partner and one of the group companies deployed Dynamics NAV.
With project timeline of 6 months, Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementation journey started in September 2010 with the help of a trained distributed team and a central coordination and support office. The solution went live in February 2011. The solution was centrally hosted and was deployed for 240 users across 150 dealers. The modules deployed include Sales, Purchase, Inventory and Finance.
RBEI tailored the solution to reflect the business goals. It customized Microsoft Dynamics NAV to include an integration layer. Using XML Port Designer based web services it interfaces NAV with SAP via Bosch B2B integration platform.
Dynamics NAV web services were integrated with SAP to facilitate master data transfer. RBEI used Dynamics NAV web services with proxy web services deployed on Internet Information Services (IIS) by leveraging Basic Authentication concept to communicate with Bosch’s B2B platform.
In addition, some custom processes were also created in Dynamics NAV:
Customer Cash Discount and Penalty: Displays payment terms with multiple discount slabs and penalties. With this module, the actual business practice of manual calculations for payments and disbursements could be handled within Dynamics NAV system.
Scheme Management:Configures free items awarded on purchase of regular items. The scheme is setup in the SAP and flows into Dynamics NAV becoming available to dealers without any delay.
Target Management:Helps dealers maintain and track sales targets along with incentive management.
Microsoft SharePoint Serveris deployed, making Microsoft Dynamics NAV available via Internet to reach maximum users. The portal offers email, message boards, and consolidated information. Bosch has plans to further refine the portal, enhance features and functions so that it becomes the central location used by its dealers and employees. This would improve efficiency and save time.
RBEI also designed a production system, quality control and disaster recovery (DR) site.
Lastly, Business Intelligence (BI) reporting is incorporated with Dynamics NAV. SQL 2008 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Cubes are designed to allow quick analysis and consolidate data from different NAV companies for multiple perspectives. With multiple client capacity, it is possible to build multiple business structures where each dealer is treated as a separate entity or company. SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports developed on the above cubes are published via SharePoint. Real time consolidated reports are available to the management giving them complete visibility of the entire supply chain.
Benefits
With a comprehensive and integrated solution in place, the company has gained holistic insight of its business. “Real time data exchange between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and parent ERP system, SAP, improves business insight and strengthen business performance,” says Raghuram Joshi, Delivery and Practice Head MS Solutions, RBEI. “Concurrently Dynamics NAV, BI functions expands the functional borders to meet overall demands within the organization. Horizon (this solution) is extremely flexible and can be applied to any distribution situation. We are already getting many more implementation requests within Bosch. Many external organizations have also shown interest and we are really keen to work with them.”
"Accelerated report creation abilities with data from multiple locations directly into a single report also simplify collaboration and management. The advanced reports create a holistic view of business, helping the top management to gain enterprise-wide insight."Girish Shankar, Senior Architect, Robert Bosch India Ltd.
Automates Manual Processes
Real time integration of Microsoft Dynamics NAV with SAP, allows automatic data interchange between the two eliminating all manual activities and reducing time lag. “Automated master data transfer savesapproximately 160 person hours of efforts per month,”explains Uday Kumar, Deputy General Manager-IT, Robert Bosch India. “It eliminates manual work, reduces data errors and reduces time for data updates.”
The company has also reduced time-consuming data entry by using data from SAP wherever possible. The order processing and goods inward process time has been reduced significantly. Uday continues, “Manual data entry of goods receipt note (GRN) is completely eliminated. This saves data entry time for 1000 + GRNs in a month per dealer.”
At the same time, he added that the basic product had to be customized by the implementation partner to include the batch management process of product sales used by the retail business.
Empowered with Business Intelligence Reporting
Microsoft Dynamics NAV with BI reporting abilities using SSRS allows end users to create enhanced reports with new visualization and analysis tools, enhancing management and thereby performance. Girish Shankar, Senior Architect, MS BI, Robert Bosch India expresses, “Accelerated report creation abilities with data from multiple locations directly into a single report also simplify collaboration and management. The advanced reports create a holistic view of business, helping the top management to gain enterprise-wide insight.” Powerful, feature-rich and easy-to-use online analytical processing (OLAP) and data-mining capabilities remove burden from IT team to collate data from various locations and generate reports in desired formats.
Centralized System Improves Visibility
Bosch sells over 18000 products and with centrally hosted system, everyone has real time visibility and access to critical information throughout the enterprise. Top management is equipped with the real time consolidated performance status of all the dealers all the time. Online information is available to dealers about pricing and discounts.
Jagabandhu Mukhopadhyay, Finance Functional expert, RBEI says, “Centralized deployment of tax and statutory updates for all dealers reduces the effort of manually sending the patches to 200 dealers. It in-turn saves 400 person-hours per patch release.” Moreover, single database hosted centrally reduces the efforts and cost of maintenance.
Self-Servicing Improves Efficiency, Saves Time
Since data from SAP is instantly reflected in Dynamics NAV at all the dealer locations, time is saved over calls and emails for clarifications. Response time for any request is 30 seconds and reference number is generated immediately for future communication. “Due to simplified billing process, the invoice creation time has reduced from 3 minutes to less than a minute per invoice,” states Kanchi Ambalal, Senior Manager-IT, Robert Bosch India. “And sales order reference to a dealer isgenerated under one minute after raising purchase order.”
Bosch’s portal is an excellent communication tool between Bosch and its dealers. Access to company’s portal over internet eliminates system dependency. Users can login and share the information or post messages.
Centralized and online service desk saves efforts of mailing or personal follow-ups for support topics for both business and technical. At the same time, security of each dealer’s data is ensured.
"Enabling Bosch Automotive After Market business in India to generate 500 Mio USD from 200+ dealer network selling 18,000 parts was a challenge to begin with. But with the rolling out of this Dynamics NAV based solution we have succeeded in seamlessly integrating with SAP, handling about 50,000 requests every month each under 30 sec." says Prakash Shenoy, Practice Head, Business solutions, RBEI. "That has been the real success story on the solution and technology front."
Improved planning and availability of reports required for business forecasting, seamless data interchange between dealers and Bosch systems provides scope for using the tools and cuts the lead time for decision making which in turn helps achieve growth in after-market business.
“Microsoft Dynamics NAV has helped Bosch to improve the efficiencies of the dealer network leading to better customer satisfaction which in turn allows the company to achieve the growth targets set by the Bosch management,” concludesSrinivasa S, General Manager - Marketing, Robert Bosch India. “After the rollout of NAV to the Bosch Dealer network, we are convinced that the application is efficient to deliver the desired features and will help the business a great deal. We have therefore extended this application to other segments also”.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enable you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systemsthat your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
About Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Limited (RBEI) is one of the world’s leading global suppliers of technology and services, offering end to end engineering, IT and Business solutions. It is a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. With global footprint, RBEI has presence in United States, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. In India, it owns two state-of-the-art facilities in Bangalore, and a development center in Coimbatore. It is ISO 9001:2008 certified (2009), appraised at CMMI-L5 (2006) and also ISO 27001 certified (2009). It provides solutions for automotive industry, industrial technology and consumer goods and building technology.