Best basis for further growth

“Our goals were to optimize company processes and improve our structures – and the implementation project helped us achieve both,” explains Dr. Andrea Eckelhoff, Head of Information Systems, Central Administration, and Occupational Health and Safety, and one of the project managers at GNS from Essen.

“To achieve this, we implemented a technical SAP S/4HANA conversion and a complete system redesign, establishing SAP as the main system while also reducing the number of non-SAP sub-systems. The SAP S/4HANA transformation thus resulted in a leaner IT landscape with greater flexibility for the long term.”

GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH completed its greenfield implementation with the support of GAMBIT between October 2020 and January 2022. Before the start of the project in mid-2019, a joint preliminary study was completed to produce a roadmap for SAP S/4HANA.

Ralf Schoolmann, project manager and GNS project lead at GAMBIT: “In the preliminary project, we planned out the implementation in detail, including the process optimization activities, keeping in mind the strategic objectives to be achieved.”

Before the transition, GNS previously used an SAP ECC 6.0 system with enhancement package EHP6. The company had a two-tier system landscape consisting of a development and production system. For the SAP S/4HANA implementation, the experts set up a three-tier on-premise system landscape consisting of a development system, a production system, and a test system.

One of the special features of the GNS project was that, in addition to this implementation, a number of additional projects, each with different implementation partners, had to be implemented at the same time.

• For example, GNS’ automated high-bay warehouse at the company’s Mühlheim location underwent a technical modernization (retrofit) by service provider Viastore. This involved replacing the control technology and upgrading the conveyor technology in the warehouse.
• Due to the transition from Warehouse Management (SAP WM) to Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM), which was required for SAP S/4HANA, service provider Prismat connected the technology in the high-bay warehouse directly to an SAP EWM running on SAP S/4HANA. SAP EWM offers a greater range of functions than SAP WM plus many automated processes and supports companies with all warehouse logistics and warehouse management processes.
• In another parallel project, the new HR service provider for GNS, iCon (now EPI-USE GmbH), converted the existing employee self-service (ESS) portal to the WebDynpro-based SAP ESS portal as part of a re-implementation. SAP ESS can be used by employees to record, manage, and evaluate a lot of HR data independently.

Given the large number of new and existing partners involved, the project required considerable coordination and excellent communication. Meetings were therefore set up in the preliminary project to integrate the various projects into the overall roadmap and ensure effective project coordination. GAMBIT ultimately took over responsibility for coordinating the external project partners, essentially acting as general contractor.

Besides replacing the SAP ECC system and simplifying the IT landscape, one of GNS’ main goals in the implementation of SAP S/4HANA was to establish a new business segment with a focus on international business.

The SAP S/4HANA implementation was also intended to improve regulatory compliance, for example, in the areas of ASME, (a set of rules for the design, manufacture, and testing of pressure equipment and pressurized components), international accounting, or fast close for faster preparation and publication of the annual financial statements.

The go-live at the beginning of January 2022, which followed an intensive phase of testing and training, was completed without any major issues. During the go-live itself, all GNS processes, with the exception of Human Resources, were migrated to the new SAP S/4HANA system.

“The success of the project is thanks, in large part, to the excellent cooperation between the internal and external project teams throughout the project. The extensive cutover plan, which contained 1,100 lines, and the thorough go-live planning also contributed to this success,” commented Daniel Schlick, Head of IT Applications, and Yvonne Staisch, Head of Finance and Accounting at GNS and part of the GNS project management team after the go-live. “We have overcome the challenge of the transition and must now face the next challenge: using the system for day-to-day business!”