SAP-Integrated Web Tools for Estimation and Shop-Floor Planning

The Challenge

Two business units, two bottlenecks - both with the same pattern: domain knowledge lived in spreadsheets and people’s heads, the underlying data lived in SAP, and manual transcription sat in between.

In sales the subject was underfloor heating layout. A dependable material estimate required experience, looking up price lists and several hours of work - for a quote the customer expects the same day if possible.

In production the subject was shop-floor staff scheduling, which ran on printouts and shouted updates, while the underlying order and capacity data had long been available in SAP.

Our Approach

Domain logic first, interface second. For both tools the actual work lay in reconstructing the domain logic - which parameters feed into the layout calculation and how, which rules govern shift staffing. We worked that logic out with the business units before a single line of interface was built.

Direct integration instead of data export. Master and pricing data come from the systems of record, not from copied spreadsheets. That way the tool always calculates with current conditions - the point at which isolated solutions typically fail.

PDF output as the handover point. The result of the material estimate is a document that goes straight to the customer. Layout and completeness of that output were therefore not a side aspect but part of the core requirement.

Browser-based, no installation. In a production environment, software rollout is costly. Both tools run in the browser, on existing devices.

The Results

The material estimate that previously took hours and required experience is now done in minutes - including by colleagues who do not perform layout calculations daily.

Scheduling lives in one place instead of on printouts, alongside the order data it has to be planned against anyway. Neither is a spectacular system; both are tools that measurably save time in daily operations.