SAP Gap Analysis & Design Services [Blueprinting]

You’ve implemented SAP ERP software for your warehouse. Operations are running, you have reasonable inventory accuracy, are material handlers are doing their job. But for some reason, your company can’t seem to maintain efficient productivity or consistent inventory overhead to align with customer orders. What are the next steps?

There may be a few factors that are causing this business stagnation. Incorrectly implemented barcoding hardware can cause lag times that increase downtime and inaccurate records. Perhaps the RF software hasn’t been optimized to process the data that your business and SAP environment needs. Another reason is that your company is experiencing a significant gap in SAP software back-end automation or mobile optimization capabilities. Whether with SAP mobility, RF-enabled barcoding solutions, or RFID technology, these gaps and inefficiencies can be reduced or eliminated when you partner with a company that understands the SAP software, barcoding equipment and inventory control best practices, and has implemented hundreds of purpose-built RF scanning and barcode printing solutions for nearly every industry. 

Among the various services we provide as leaders in warehouse productivity solutions, we at BCC Distribution offer SAP gap analysis and design services- aka blueprinting. These services allow us to identify where your SAP systems can improve, identify differences in SAP features and/or business processes that your company needs to succeed (gaps), include barcode equipment considerations, as well as designing an ideal solution that mobilizes and automates the warehouse for optimized inventory traceability. Our expert recommendations depend on our blueprinting of your company’s SAP environment AND business processes.

Gap Analysis & Design Considerations

As a part of the analysis and design (blueprinting phase), BCC Distribution will review and analyze the following essential categories/environments:

  • Physical Environment: Temperatures, Location Labeling, Indoor/Outdoor, and Regulatory Requirements
  • Technical Environment: Network Connectivity, Equipment Requirements, or Existing Software
  • Functional Environment: SAP Modules- IM, WM, or EWM, Transaction Codes and Movement Types
  • SAP Software Version, Roadmap, and Upgrade Strategy
  • Utilization of Quality or Batch Management, FIFO, Serialization, Handling Units, Storage Unit Management, LPN’s
  • Inventory Movements and Data Flows
  • Inventory Control and Warehouse Business Process Improvements
  • Process Validation for Successful System User Adoption
  • Vendor or Customer Compliance Requirements
  • Return On Investment (ROI) Expectations

BCC Distribution’s Blueprint Deliverables

  • SAP Logisitics Mobile Software Transaction Design – Detailed
  • Project Scope (Statement of Work)
  • SAP Terminology with Clear Descriptions
  • Mobile Device Connectivity – SAP ITSmobile (SAP recommended framework), SAP Console, Fiori Design (UI5 App), .NET
  • SAP Software Transaction Codes and Movement Types
  • Purpose and Use
  • Barcode Labels (1D and 2D) and/ Reports Output
  • User Prompts, Inputs, and Feedback
  • Function Key Utilization (Physical or Virtual Keypad Interaction)
  • Screen Logic and Display Designs
  • Procedures – Display, Input, Default, Result, Message and Action

BCC Distribution’s detailed technical blueprints are typically accompanied by additional supporting documentation, such as a project timelines and resource utilization, recommendations and proposal(s) for RF equipment, barcode scanners, barcode printers, labels, 3rd party software, warehouse labeling, and WLAN site surveys when applicable.

SAP & Logistics Best Practices.

SAP Gap Analysis, Design & Blueprinting

It’s important to have experts that are familiar with SAP software, module utilization, logistics operations, and barcoding technologies analyze your business systems to identify what aspects of the SAP system needs to be enhanced, automated, and/or expanded. This also includes reviewing what barcode scanning, barcode printing, or RFID hardware your company uses to manage inventory and warehouse operations. At BCC Distribution, our gap analysis includes reviewing your organization’s SAP business system and current utilization, actual inventory and business processes, existing barcoding solutions, implementation of SAP mobility and SAP-certified equipment, as well as barcoding system peripherals such as your WLAN network and warehouse location labeling strategy. Since we provide end-to-end SAP mobility and barcoding solutions, we can analyze your existing SAP infrastructure and figure out precisely where and how the system can be improved and optimized to meet your inventory accuracy and real-time visibility objectives. 

Barcoding Solutions

Barcoding solutions necessitate both SAP-certified software and services, as well as proven barcode hardware to increase productivity and streamline workflow. With our SAP analysis and blueprinting services, we’ll leverage our extensive pool of in-house certified barcoding equipment, to review your barcoding needs. Whether a single standard barcode scanning technology, or a hybrid approach that include tablets, vehicle terminals, scanners, wearables, and mobile barcode label printers, your team can rely on BCC Distribution for a complete barcode solution that meets the goals of both your operations and IT department.

Mobile RF Terminals 

Mobile RF scanning terminals (or RF scanners) allow material handlers to easily select, view, and interact with important warehouse data directly at the point of execution. RF scanners permit increased accuracy for inventory and equipment data collection and real-time SAP software validation. RF scanners come in a wide variety of form factors, costs, and capabilities. The goal is to analyze the SAP business system, the business process, then narrow the field of RF scanning technology down to exactly what fits your business requirements. However, this is only possible with the correct procedural design, implementation methodology, equipment staging and configuration, as well as software and equipment testing and training. We’ll analyze your SAP mobility needs to see how best to increase productivity.

SAP-Certified Hardware 

Not all barcoding hardware is created equal. From consumer grade materials to unstable operating systems, inexperienced configuration, and SAP software and connectivity expertise. Your SAP-integrated RF technology may not be doing their job and causing downtime or other unnecessary lags in productivity. We can review your warehouse’s legacy barcoding equipment, warehouse strategies, and wireless infrastructure to make sure that they too are optimized and enable the full breath of barcoding and automation features that your company requires. Confirming that your company’s hardware is both SAP-certified and proven for industrial applications is essential. Otherwise, the end-point hardware can be a source of significant productivity lag and costly downtime or failed user adoption.

RFID

RFID can streamline warehouse operations a step further than barcode solutions, that is until your RFID technology doesn’t work. RFID systems can rely on less handheld hardware, but it’s only efficient if it’s designed, staged, and implemented correctly. At BCC Distribution, we’ll review to design and implement a SAP-integrated RFID solution for your warehouse that optimizes use of RFID tags, RFID readers and antennas, RFID printer encoders, mobile RFID scanners, RFID software and real (or near) time SAP integration. Analyzing your SAP environment, material flow, and the right RFID architecture will allow us to design and implement a RFID system that matches your short and long-term autonomous data collection needs. 

Find Areas of Improvement with BCC Distribution

At BCC Distribution, our team is committed to helping your company identify ways in which it can streamline manufacturing and distribution. One of our many services is SAP Gap Analysis and Design, which helps companies find where they can implement optimized SAP capabilities, customized to their business needs. Industries and business demands are constantly evolving, and so should your technology. Contact us at BCC Distribution today to find out how we can maximize your company’s SAP mobilized and barcoding capabilities for an optimized SAP design.