sauder woodworking co. SAP FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IMPLEMENTATION SAP solutions case study CHALLENGES SAUDER WOODWORKING CO. consistency in handling collections and business transactions Project: • Required increased visibility and SAP Financial Accounting Implementation • Sought increased control over vendor Industry: • Sought new efficiencies with Automated master database Archbold, Ohio Company Headquarters Location: • Needed accounts payable items to be Manufacturing Project Location: Archbold, Ohio purchase order related SAP® Solutions & Services: • • • • Accounts Payable(FI-AP) Accounts Receivable (FI-AR) Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM) Collections Management–Business Partners Company Website: www.sauder.com Case Study Summary: When Sauder Woodworking Co. needed to streamline its financial process flow, implement best practices, reduce costs and labor inefficiencies and document desk procedures, it turned to Dickinson + Associates to lead the rollout of SAP Financial Accounting (SAP FI) and FI sub-modules. Over a five-month period, Dickinson + Associates worked alongside the Sauder team to deploy FI-AR, FSCM and FI-AP, enabling Sauder to dramatically transform and automate its financial accounting processes. Clearing House (ACH) payment processing, automatic goods receipt/invoice receipt (GR/IR) clearing, consistent pricing and monthly accrual process WHY SAP? • Implementation segmented into five phases: project preparation, business blueprint, realization, final preparation and go-live and support • Quality checks at the end of each phase ensured deliverables and critical success factors were met RESULTS • Instituted a single master data owner and process • Eliminated financial reworking and communication handoffs that previously impeded financial accounting • SAP software brought proven results and a • Automated the accounts payable payment high degree of flexibility to companies in the manufacturing sector, resulting in optimized operations and reduced financial risk process, including ACH payment processing, purchase order-based invoices, GR/IR clearing and 1099 reporting. • A unified SAP solution enabled further • Increased efficiencies in accounts receivable integration of business processes across the enterprise • Sauder sought enhanced communication, simplification and speed that SAP would directly remediate • SAP managed multiple tasks for Sauder, providing a complete snapshot of financial performance without looking at numerous systems METHODOLOGY • Utilized the Dickinson + Associates deployment methodology that aligned with Accelerated SAP (ASAP) implementation methodology by implementing FSCM Collections, including automatic write-offs, prioritized daily task list, collection notes and enhanced lockbox processing. WHY DICKINSON + ASSOCIATES? • D+A put forward a variety of creative approaches and solutions to achieve success • Consultant team brought extensive manufacturing experience as well as SAP expertise, merging its skills with those of the Sauder team • D+A had completed previous SAP deployments at Sauder. For this project, D+A carried out two simultaneous implementations: FI and Procure to Pay SAP solutions case study SAP FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IMPLEMENTATION sauder woodworking co. growth necessitates financial process improvements After years of rapid growth, Sauder Woodworking Co. had earned its place as North America’s leading producer of ready-to-assemble furniture with more than 2,100 employees, 4 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space and shipping nearly 48,000 cartons daily. Decades of growth at Sauder resulted in outdated accounts payable and accounts receivable processes. Legacy systems dated back 25 years, and many functions happened in a paper-based environment. Invoice matching and routing were done by hand. Technology didn’t facilitate the comparison of goods received to the invoice received. Numerous financial processes required streamlining and automation. Sauder deployed SAP in phases over several years to optimize processes across the enterprise. Sauder engaged Dickinson + Associates to work with its team to deploy FI-AR, FSCM and FI-AP, concurrently with SAP’s Procure to Pay module over a five month period. improvements across the enterprise The implementation of FI-AR, FI-AP and FSCM reaped countless benefits for Sauder, including: • Eliminated duplicate and conflicting data, centralized ownership and established best practices to master database while storing all purchasing and financial data for suppliers • Streamlined AP communication by enabling access to vendor pricing and purchase history and eliminating hand-offs and rework across the organization • Increased quality of data by migrating it to FI-GL (General Ledger), giving Sauder the ability to generate flexible financial reports reinforcing best practices in payables Dickinson + Associates enabled automated vendor payments through the ACH network. Payments were previously made via hard copy check, costing as much as $4 each to generate, process and mail. Now, the majority of Sauder vendors have been converted to ACH payments, costing about 10 cents per transaction. With several hundred payments each week now transmitted electronically, SAP enabled Sauder to achieve cost savings and reductions in errors and turnaround time. Sauder used SAP to convert its largest vendor to Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS), which generated roughly 100 invoices to Sauder daily. The ERS procedure was initiated with Sauder’s largest vendor and is replicable for any vendor. dickinson + associates: “the consulting firm of choice” for sauder As it prepared for training and go-live, Sauder, with assistance from Dickinson +Associates, compiled a comprehensive set of business processes that encouraged adoption, consistency and correct use of the system. This set of 30+ documented desk procedures created a hands-on tool that will serve Sauder for years. “The Dickinson + Associates consultants were outstanding,” said Kevin Lamb, Sauder Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “They got along with our people very well, communicated very well and had that rare talent that consultants don’t often have: coming across as non-threatening, encouraging and knowing how to communicate. They fit in seamlessly with our team. They also were able to take highly technical issues and help people understand them.” Dickinson + Associates completed this project on time and on budget, which, in this industry, is rare. In fact, Dickinson + Associates has become the consulting firm of choice for us in finance as well as manufacturing. ~ Kevin Lamb Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sauder Woodworking Co. about dickinson + associates Since 1998, Dickinson + Associates has been a leading systems integrator and SAP Value Added Reseller that delivers transformational SAP business solutions to corporate and public sector clients. The firm is a trusted SAP Gold Partner with global delivery experience extending into Europe, Asia and the Americas. Dickinson + Associates offers deep expertise in SAP Business Suite (ECC), Business Intelligence, HANA and Enterprise Mobility as well as seasoned industry experts in Financial Services, Manufacturing, Consumer Packaged Goods, Retail and Public Sector. Our team designs and implements strategic and operational programs that leverage and integrate SAP with various platforms. Our business-driven approach puts the emphasis on measurable business results versus just the technology. One North LaSalle Street Suite 800 Chicago, Illinois 60602 312.419.9600 www.dickinson-assoc.com • Enabled full overview of the sales cycle with real-time integration of FI-AR with FI-GL and MM • Automated the goods receipt/invoice receipt clearing process, which previously prevented Sauder from understating expenses and liabilities on its financial statement • Streamlined billing and collections processes, gaining further insight into Sauder’s cash flow © Dickinson + Associates 2013. All Rights Reserved. SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and other company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. 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