Microsoft Dynamics
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.
“Automated master data
transfer saves
approximately 160
person hours of efforts
per month.”
Uday Kumar, Deputy General Manager- IT,
Robert Bosch India Ltd.
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
in Germany. 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).
"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
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.
Solution
To upgrade to latest technology and
implement new functional requirements, IT
team at Bosch decided to replace homegrown 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 Server is 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.
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.
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 saves
approximately 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.”
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.
The company has also reduced timeconsuming 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.”
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.
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.
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,
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
Senior Manager-IT, Robert Bosch India. “And
sales order reference to a dealer is
generated 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 aftermarket 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,” concludes Srinivasa 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”.
For More Information
Microsoft Dynamics
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing can reach Microsoft text telephone
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
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 systems that 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 Robert Bosch
India Ltd, call (91) (80) (2299 2000) or
visit the Web site at: www.boschindia.com
For more information about Robert Bosch
Engineering and Business Solutions
products and services, call (91) (80) (6657
5757) or visit the Web site at:
www.boschindia.com/rbei
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.
For more information about Microsoft
Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics
Software and Services
Hardware
Microsoft Dynamics
− Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1
 Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Microsoft SQL Server R2
− Microsoft Windows Server 2008


Dell R610 Servers hosting SharePoint,
Windows RDS and NAV Services
 Dell R710 Server hosting SQL Cluster
Partner

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published January 2012
Robert Bosch Engineering And Business
Solutions