SAP Datasphere
The Dockweiler Group faced the challenge of modernizing its outdated reporting system. The goal was to establish a reporting system that was fully integrated into SAP in order to benefit from improved integration possibilities and synergy among the various SAP applications.
The company
Dockweiler is a global supplier of stainless-steel piping systems and custom-made products for equipment in the semi-conductor and pharmaceutical industries, biotechnology, and all high-tech industries. The Dockweiler Group employs about 780 people worldwide and generated sales of around EUR 164 million in 2023. Dockweiler AG is headquartered in Neustadt-Glewe.
Dockweiler has subsidiaries in Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Israel, Thailand, India, China, Japan, and the USA, as well as distribution partners in more than 50 countries around the world.
Detlef Martensen
Head of IT at Dockweiler
”We were looking for a partner with whom we can work in an agile manner and who will drive the project forward. That's why we chose valantic.“
The challenge
The Dockweiler Group faced the challenge of modernizing its outdated reporting system. The goal was to establish a reporting system that was fully integrated into SAP in order to benefit from improved integration possibilities and synergy among the various SAP applications.
Consulting approach
In cooperation with valantic, Dockweiler started a two-phase migration to SAP S/4HANA, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), and SAP Datasphere. This step-by-step approach will allow Dockweiler to leverage existing investments while modernizing reporting.
Customer benefits and solution
The migration to SAP-based reporting enabled Dockweiler to reap significant benefits from intuitive operation, more efficient reporting, and cost savings through the early shutdown of old systems, which significantly increased operational efficiency.
The challenge
Transformation of reporting in SAP S/4HANA, SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere
The Dockweiler Group wanted to replace its previous reporting solution, which was based on IBM Cognos and Microsoft SQL Server. The reason: The company was already using SAP S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). The goal was to build a reporting system that was fully integrated into SAP in order to benefit from the better integration possibilities and close interaction of the individual SAP applications since this makes it easy to extract data from SAP S/4HANA into the SAC. SAP Datasphere, the new business data fabric from Walldorf, acts as a consolidated data source and integration accelerator. Datasphere excels as a business fabric, among other things, thanks to the easy and broad integration of many SAP and non-SAP sources such as Google, MS-SQL, flat files, etc.
Solutions & results in detail
It proved useful to divide the full SAP transformation into two project phases. The first project phase, which has been completed successfully, provides for parallel use of Microsoft SQL Server and the integration of flat files from SAP S/4HANA via SFTP server (current configuration). The second project phase will involve the complete conversion to modern CDS-View extraction from S/4HANA (target image).
The goal was to use existing investments as long as possible, especially when extracting the data, in order to avoid generating additional costs for transferring the old reporting. valantic and Dockweiler initially focused on profitability analysis. The structure of the profit and loss statement will be determined in the second project phase using CDS Views.
Target-Actual Comparison of the Architecture & Vision
Detlef Martensen
Head of IT at Dockweiler
”We were looking for a partner with whom we can work in an agile manner and who will drive the project forward. That's why we chose valantic.“
Cost savings due to shutdown of the old system after go-live
Improved decision-making thanks to improved data quality and accessibility
Increased automation of data processing
Comprehensive, integrated reporting that is fit for the future
Daily, meaningful inventory and delivery reliability reporting
Intuitive operation with short learning curve
Detlef Martensen
Head of IT at Dockweiler
”Moving business users from IBM Cognos to SAP Datasphere was not a big deal. With SAP Datasphere and SAC, our employees can evaluate situations independently, and the solution is intuitive. We conducted a day-long training, and our employees were able to work with the new solution relatively quickly.“
Project history
“We were looking for a partner with whom we can work in an agile manner and who will drive the project forward. That’s why we chose valantic.”
At the start of the project, teams from valantic and Dockweiler jointly conducted a requirements analysis and completed a design phase. SAP’s future platform S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud were regarded as fixed elements of the project because Dockweiler was already using both solutions and also wanted to migrate its reporting into the existing IT environment in order to benefit from efficiency and synergy effects. After evaluating several data warehouse solutions from various vendors, Dockweiler selected the Cloud DWH SAP Datasphere, because it best fulfilled the company’s requirements. “We already had SAP S/4HANA and SAC; this was not a decision against the old IBM Cognos solution, but for SAP Datasphere and integrated, unified reporting. We can clearly benefit from the comprehensive integration of the SAP Datasphere cloud solution and SAP Analytics Cloud,” says Detlef Martensen, Head of IT at Dockweiler.
“SAP Datasphere is a modern business data fabric solution based on an SQL-DWH. We were able to adapt many of the logic and processing steps with a few minor adjustments during the transformation,” explains Marcel Beckmann, Solution Architect and SAP Analytics Manager at valantic. It was important to adhere as closely as possible to SAP standard best practices. “We initially took a lot of time for the design and discussions with the departments, then within eight weeks, we put both the test and production environments into evaluation,” he reports.
Data extraction from MS SQL Server will be preserved during the transition phase until the complete conversion is done in the second project phase. Dockweiler has been using inventory and delivery-reliability reporting to improve delivery reliability to customers since February 2024. Inventory reporting is done either weekly or monthly. In the coming months, a new sales data model, the implementation of the profit and loss statement, and purchasing volume reporting will be on the to-do list.
“The conversion of the business users to SAP Datasphere was not a big deal. With SAP Datasphere and SAC, our employees can evaluate situations independently, and the solution is intuitive. We conducted a day-long training, and our employees were able to work with the new solution relatively quickly,” recalls IT director Martensen.
“SAP Datasphere excels as a business data fabric thanks to the easy integration of different data sources. The comprehensive integration between SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud makes the testing, development, and deployment phases much shorter,” says Beckmann from valantic, summarizing the project’s progress to date. “However, the technical deployment of the Cloud Connector Data Provisioning Agent in your own data center should not be underestimated,” Martensen concludes.
Another benefit of SAP Analytics Cloud for the future: Additional data areas can be imported quickly and without much effort should this be desired or necessary. A P&L statement, production cost planning, logistics, and sales planning would be conceivable. However, a decision on future extensions and the use of artificial intelligence is still pending at Dockweiler.
Marcel Beckmann
Solution Architect and SAP Analytics Manager at valantic
”SAP Datasphere is an easy-to-use SQL DWH. We were able to adapt many of the logic and processing steps with a few minor adjustments during the transformation, which ultimately reduced time and costs.“
Download Case Study: "Dockweiler migrates its reporting to SAP Datasphere so that it's fit for the future and reaps significant business benefits"
Marcel Beckmann
SAP Analytics Manager
CoE Lead Data Warehouse