With SAP-based BI tool and ORBIS: Rittal brings more efficiency and transparency to sales planning

The internationally active software and business consulting company ORBIS AG has introduced an innovative, easy-to-use planning solution at Rittal with great success internationally. The new BI tool forms an important building block in the „Digital Sales Excellence“ strategy of Rittal, a leading supplier of control cabinets and systems and part of the Friedhelm Loh Group. It was developed in close cooperation with ORBIS, which was also tasked with implementation and rollout. Thanks to the cooperative partnership between the Rittal project team and the ORBIS experts, the rollout went quickly.

The benefits of the planning application, which is based on SAP BW Integrated Planning (SAP BW-IP) and SAP Lumira 2.0 and is integrated into the SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) at Rittal, became apparent shortly after going live. Sales can now plan sales for the following year with consistent IT support and thus transparently and very efficiently at the desired aggregation level. A special highlight is the administrator cockpit of the BI tool, which serves as the control center. Here, power users from the business department and BW administrators from the IT organization maintain and manage all the parameters relevant for planning. Preparatory steps such as loading current sales or assigning market segments to the users or user groups responsible for them are also carried out in the cockpit.

During planning, different user levels can access all plan data live, which SAP BW IP distributes to the corresponding users or user groups based on the assignment. Before the start of a planning cycle, an algorithm segments the respective planning data into the various categories. In the navigation area of the application, relevant key figures and desired aggregation levels can be selected with a mouse click, and values and subtotals can be shown or hidden as required. The plan figures can be entered or changed at any aggregation level and are automatically distributed top-down to the level with the finest granularity.

In addition, every change to the original plan is fully traceable - thanks to a freeze process. This means that the various plan versions created as part of annual planning can be compared at any time. This freeze also enables fine-granular plan/actual reporting of forecast, plan and actual sales figures at various levels. Trend arrows in green and red immediately indicate deviations from planned/actual figures, so that the necessary measures can be taken immediately to close target gaps between current sales and planned and forecast figures.

Since the BI tool is integrated into the SAP landscape, the result of a planning can be integrated into the various SAP systems at Rittal and also made available to Controlling via SAP BW. This is a big plus, as is the intuitive user interface in the SAP Lumira front end, which also includes interactive BW IP functions. New projects are planned in a grid, the structure of which is built automatically as soon as the necessary data has been entered.

About Rittal
Rittal, headquartered in Herborn, Hesse, Germany, is a leading global systems provider for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and software & service. System solutions from Rittal are used in almost all industries, predominantly in the automotive industry, in power generation, in mechanical and plant engineering and in the ITC sector. With 9,300 employees and 58 subsidiaries, Rittal has a global presence. Its broad range of products and services includes infrastructure solutions for modular and energy-efficient data centers with innovative security concepts for physical data and system protection. Leading software providers Eplan and Cideon complement the value chain with cross-discipline engineering solutions, and Rittal Automation Systems with automation solutions for switchgear construction. Rittal was founded in 1961 and is the largest company in the owner-managed Friedhelm Loh Group. The Friedhelm Loh Group is internationally successful with 18 production sites and 80 subsidiaries. The group of companies employs 11,500 people and generated sales of 2.5 billion euros in 2017. For the tenth time in a row, the family-owned company was named Top Employer Germany in 2018. In a nationwide study, Focus Money magazine and Stiftung Deutschland Test determined that the Friedhelm Loh Group was one of the best training companies for the third time in a row in 2018.
For more information, visit rittal.com und friedhelm-loh-group.com.

About ORBIS
ORBIS accompanies medium-sized companies as well as international corporations in the digitalization of their business processes: from the joint development of the customer-specific Big Picture to the practical implementation in the project. The digitalization and automation of business processes across the entire value chain ensure the competitiveness of our customers. The in-depth process know-how and innovative strength of our 440 employees combined with the expertise gained from more than 30 years of successful, international project work in various industries make us a competent partner. We rely on the solutions and technologies of our partners SAP and Microsoft, whose portfolios are rounded off by ORBIS solutions. Our focus is on SAP S/4HANA, Customer Engagement and the realization of the Smart Factory. On the basis of smart cloud technologies such as Machine Learning, Cognitive Services or IoT, we promote the innovative power of our customers in the development of innovative products, services and business models. Our expertise results from over 2,000 customer projects at more than 500 customers in the automotive supply industry, construction supply industry, electrical and electronics industry, mechanical and plant engineering, logistics, metal industry, consumer goods industry and retail. Long-standing customers include the ZF Group, Hörmann, Hager Group, Rittal, Kraftverkehr Nagel, ArcelorMittal, Montblanc, Bahlsen and Sonepar.

Contact for the press
ORBIS AG
Stephanie Schommer
Head of Marketing
Nell-Breuning-Allee 3 - 5
66115 Saarbrücken

Tel.: +49 (0)681/99 24-675
Fax: +49 (0)681/99 24-489

Mail: Stephanie.Schommer(at)orbis.de
Web: orbis.de