SAP Simplified for Mobile Plant Maintenance Using GuiXT

Transcription

1 SAP Simplified for Mobile Plant Maintenance Using GuiXT Customer Speaker: Leon Kowalewski, SAP EAM / Mobile Analyst Fairfax Water Host Presenters: Daniel Nunes, Marketing Communications Aparna Desai, Solutions Engineering Manager Synactive Inc.

2 Agenda GuiXT Technology Introduction Leon Kowalewski, SAP EAM / Mobile Analyst Fairfax Water Presentation Challenges: Had nothing that tracked the progress of a project Decision: Wanted a mobile solution that could be taken into the field Solution/Results: Automated solution provides accurate real time reporting Key Learning Points: Training, testing Questions / Answers Aparna Desai, Synactive

3 Synactive: GuiXT Technology Simplify, Clarify, and Optimize SAP GuiXT Technology Embedded in SAP Certified by SAP for NetWeaver Portals No backend code changes Benefits Faster SAP Data Entry Input sets automatically fill in common information in SAP fields Set default values Less manual entry for users means fewer mistakes Streamline business processes, remove unwanted fields, and consolidate screen tabs

4 Synactive: GuiXT Activation Embedded within SAP!

5 Synactive: GuiXT Solutions GuiXT Technology is a Desktop mature, risk free enhancement which has been bundled with SAP for the last 10 years. Deployed to hundreds of ACCESS Web UI Offline Office thousands of users worldwide, GuiXT is fast to develop and easy to customize. Mobile

6 SAP Simplified for Mobile Plant Maintenance Using GuiXT Leon Kowalewski Fairfax Water

7 What We Will Cover OVERVIEW: The background of Fairfax Water SITUATION: Fairfax had nothing in the way of keeping track of work that was done, reporting, or time management ACTIONS: Fairfax wanted something Mobile to put the work in the field and get real time data RESULTS: Automated solution provides timely information, accuracy, and reporting KEY POINTS TO TAKE HOME: Training, testing and more testing

8 About Fairfax Water Largest water utility in Virginia Approximately 1.5 million served AAA bond rating 400 employees Coverage 400 square miles

9 Our Situation Before Mobile Using paper work orders Results could be delayed or lost No automated tracking of time management Reporting was difficult at best

10 Desired Result Automate work order process Improve efficiency Reduce / eliminate delays between work completion and entry in SAP Enable reporting Improve visibility for management into work status at any time

11 Our Decision SAP s Mobile Asset Management (Utilities) tool was powerful but challenging to implement and maintain Requires Dev, QA and Production boxes Probably required a dedicated FTE Too much for a 400 person organization 3 rd party tools an option - May require high levels of maintenance and initial consulting investment Fairfax Water decided on hybrid ABAP / GuiXT approach Reduce cost Keep much development work in-house Ease of maintenance Potential use of GuiXT for other SAP modules

12 Our Solution Some ABAP required for our solution for Utility specific screens in second phase, little required for Plant Maintenance GuiXT provided much of the screen logical flow GuiXT screen painting simplified and customized screens Valuable in heavily modified screens such as hydrant flushing notifications GuiXT coding can easily be maintained in-house No elaborate training required

13 Architecture Users running SAP ECC 6.0 real-time GuiXT scripts run over SAP GuiXT paints both custom and standard SAP screens Citrix is interface Required careful configuration to work with GuiXT NetMotion used to preserve session in case of signal loss Verizon is wireless service provider Challenge during testing what is causing the problem? Hardware: ToughBooks with touch screen Need access to other PC applications such as GIS GuiXT offers small device solution (not best for us)

14 Results Field and office no longer burdened by paper orders Approximately 90,000 annually Paperwork no longer lost or delayed Office staff can provide immediate info to customers All processing is real-time in SAP Simple clerical activities to close orders not needed now Supervisors have visibility and reporting access to work Time tracked to each work order

15 Project History Split between Maintenance and Customer Service Maintenance project - 9 months Go-live April 2009 More involved screen painting Issues with Citrix, NetMotion resolved Customer Service project 7 months Go-live November 2009 More ABAP intensive due to IS-Utilities processing Approximately 3 month FTE consulting total on both projects Fairfax Water s significant GuiXT work on second phase

16 Life Cycle of an Order Order created, reviewed, and released by supervisor Mobile worker starts order; status set to en-route Arrives at work site; status set to on-site Completes physical work As necessary: Creates notification Suspends order Enters time Order is completed in Mobile Operation system status set to CMPL (Complete)

17 Starting Point for Mobile User: Order List ABAP Coding based on IW73 GuiXT routing buttons added across top Large Buttons on touch screens

18 Large Address Screen Can Easily Be Seen

19 Standard SAP Order Display (IW33)

20 Order Details

21 Completion screen IW33 screen, heavily modified: Access Desktop Web UI Mobile Offline Developer Standard SAP:

22 Suspend Allows user to indicate work could not be completed

23 Suspend (continued) User may enter and/or a user status indicating why work could not be completed Returns user to comments Order List to proceed with next order

24 Suspend (continued) Provides supervisor with an easy view of why order is not completed

25 Notifications Fairfax Water uses notifications extensively in both Maintenance and Customer Service

26 Notification selection pop-up Possible to create buttons for multiple entries GuiXT: Standard SAP:

27 Object List

28 Hydrant Flushing Notification

29 Completion Confirmation Crew Chief enters time for all workers on order

30 Completion Confirmation (continued) Integrated with ESS for time entry by worker (custom)

31 Supervisory Order Management Custom transaction based on IW37N created Supervisor can view status of orders easily in list format Work center changeable for multiple orders at a time Can Release, Technically Complete orders

32 Lessons Learned Careful analysis of all business processes key to success Found many ways to accomplish same task, resulting in problems for automated approach Bring in field staff for project Input on look and feel of product invaluable Result high acceptance following go-live Little or no reduction in completion time from paper process Test every permutation, then test again! Verify all parts of technology are working properly throughout service area SAP, GuiXT, mobile provider, Citrix, etc.

33 Key Learning Points If a large scale implementation is too much for your organization, consider ABAP and GuiXT as a solution Carefully evaluate 3 rd party options Implementation effort and cost Maintainability and flexibility in-house vs. external Research processes thoroughly Automated solution forces tight integration of different departments Ensure automated process is best fit for execution needs of business Bring in at least one field staffer for life of project Improves user acceptance, solution s fit with real-world needs Test, test, test and more testing

34 SAP for Utilities North American Conference When: September 18-21, 2011 Where: San Antonio, Texas ASUG HCM Canada When: October 12-14, 2011 Where: Halifax, Nova Scotia SAP Oil & Gas 2011 When: October13-15, 2011 Where: New Orleans, Louisiana Upcoming Events Stop by our booth or attend a technical or business session at any of the events above and learn more about our innovative products and solutions. Registration and details at:

35 Q & A

36 Thank You Very Much! For more information contact us at: Synactive, Inc