MARITIME LOGISTICS

Optimizing processes with SAP Business One in Chipolbrok

Chipolbrok

Chipolbrok is the oldest Chinese deep-sea owner and the first enterprise with foreign capital in the history of the People’s Republic of China. It is for this joint venture between the Polish and Chinese governments that we have created a proprietary and unique IT solution based on the SAP Business One for HANA.

The maritime industry may seem hermetic and very conservative to many outside observers. The processes related to the sale of freight or the operation of ships seem to be optimal and well-established in the business reality of a company. Often, these processes are supported by distributed, non-communicated systems that were designed in the last century.

KEY METRICS:

70

years in the maritime business

23

vessels

>500k

fleet capacity

Real time

data and calculations

Workshops

At Chipolbrok’s request, we conducted a series of workshops with the company’s employees, which allowed a thorough AS-IS analysis of the processes and IT systems (including SAP ERP and proprietary solutions). The result of this was the creation of the TO-BE Business Concept, which redefined the IT architecture, created the scope of requirements for a new IT system (implementing core business processes) and defined the flow of information between IT and the existing auxiliary systems.

A new system

The new system has been designed to implement business processes directly related to the sale of freight services and ship charters. The complicated system of settlements of the shipowner with all its commercial partners (clients, agents, intermediaries, etc.), commission handling, documentation, invoicing and reporting required us to create a complex industry solution based on the SAP Business One for HANA system.

Operation managment

Additionally, for the needs of operation management, we have created a module that collects various parameters from sensors installed on the ships. One of these parameters is fuel consumption, which is used for automated warehouse management. SAP Business One handles the entire process related to the purchase of fuel (demand, inquiry, acceptance on board) up to its cost during the voyage and condition monitoring in each tank.

Extend the reliability

In the course of the analysis, a decision was made to keep the existing financial and accounting system based on SAP ERP 4.7, which is not supported by the manufacturer. We have ported it to a new hardware platform from IBM that virtualizes the older version of the AIX operating system. This avoided the purchase of new licenses, implementation and training costs, which contributed to significant savings within the project budget.

The above operation and the implementation of interfaces connecting SAP ERP with SAP Business One allowed us to not only extend the reliability of the old system, but also to extend its capabilities through access to the modern SAP HANA analytical platform.

Collecting information from multiple sources as part of a single, efficient SAP HANA database platform allows real-time analyses to be carried out, such as to test the profitability of individual routes or contracts, and to conduct management reporting.

How can we help your
business grow?

FLEET MANAGEMENT / IOT

Unlocking SAP ERP for IoT and fleet management for the biggest Polish bus company, MZA

A municipal bus company in Warsaw

MZA in Warsaw is the largest city carrier in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe. The MZA fleet includes nearly 1,500 buses, serving 187 lines and carrying around half a billion passengers each year in Warsaw and the many nearby towns that together form the capital.

The Incata.it team, as a partner of the general contractor, implemented the SAP Plant Maintenance (SAP PM) system at MZA, a module supporting the maintenance and management of the machine park, tool room and the company’s infrastructure. SAP PM is also responsible for repair management – it provides information on the maintenance of individual bus parts.

KEY METRICS:

1500

buses

>500 mln

passengers every year

200

buses operating on almost 200 bus lines

70%

reduction in breakdowns and 25% less maintenance costs

Maintenance planning

How do you know when the gasket needs to be replaced in 500 hours? This is possible thanks to the data from sensors and meters installed in the vehicles, which are wirelessly transmitted to SAP PM and enable the system to plan repairs in a detailed manner.

Measurable benefits

The project shows the measurable benefits of having an integrated enterprise management system that enables the flow and real-time use of information from various areas of the organization: warehouse, purchasing, maintenance, infrastructure and human resources.

Automation

Additionally, SAP PM checks if there are suitable parts in the warehouse and, if not, they can be ordered in advance from suppliers, so that they are already in place on the day designated for the repair. The system also allows you to plan the load and availability of the infrastructure in depots and using the data from SAP HR to verify whether the mechanics will be available on a given day.

Mass and widespread use of IoT devices in the form of sensors and counters allows the system to be supplied with the necessary data, automatically and precisely. As a result, many routine processes, such as the creation and planning of repair orders, can be carried out automatically, without the involvement of the company’s employees.

Predictive Maintenance

Predictive Maintenance is an indispensable element in modern systems that care for the maintenance of traffic continuity, infrastructure and renovation management. Predictive maintenance deals with analysing the readings of the parameters of equipment in order to identify anomalies in their operation. This makes it possible to recognize the probability of a failure occurring before it occurs. This is essential to maintain business continuity and prevent excessive repair and downtime costs.

How can we help your
business grow?

TECHNOLOGY

SAP Business One

Implementations, licenses, maintenance and dedicated solutions

Get on the path
for digital transformation

An ERP platform for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized businesses into intelligent enterprises.

SAP Business One

SAP Business One was developed specifically for the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. It is a solution for managing the entire company: finance, sales, customer relations and logistics. This ERP system helps to comprehensively streamline and automate your processes, giving you immediate access to all the information and accelerating the increase in profitability. Thanks to SAP B1, you gain an advantage over the competition and enter a road to a digital transformation that will re-engineer your company into an intelligent enterprise.

Constantly evolving business

Your business and the reality around it are constantly evolving, often resulting in many contradictory and outdated systems and processes that duplicate work and inhibit business growth: from orders to margins, from profits to the satisfaction of your customers. SAP B1 is an ERP class system available to everyone, that can help you to define and implement the optimal development strategy for your company. It can cover areas of your business so far managed by spreadsheets and manual tasks.

What distinguishes SAP Business One?

  • SAP Business One for HANA is a technologically advanced platform for building tailored business solutions for companies of all sizes, from a variety of industries.

 

  • Easy integration with the family of SAP products, including: SAP Analytics Cloud, SuccessFactors, SAP ECC, S / 4HANA, as well as with Microsoft Office, warehouse and production systems, e-commerce and IoT devices – thanks to the Integration framework.

 

  • Licensed, dedicated solutions for industries involving: production, transport, logistics, municipal services, insurance, property management, trade, e-commerce, tourism, automotive products, agriculture, processing and much more.

 

  • Wide access to knowledge and support as well as a dedicated platform for monitoring system operations and providing remote assistance by the SAP partner – Remote Support Platform.

 

  • International exchange of knowledge and experiences of SAP users as part of the knowledge exchange platform – SAP Community, associating nearly 3 million people.
  • SAP HANA – in-memory database technology for efficient and effective processing and analysis of large volumes of data in real time. SAP HANA acts as both a transactional data repository and a Business Intelligence tool (data warehouse).

 

  • Large possibilities for expanding and adapting to the business requirements by creating dedicated extensions.
  •  
  •  
  • Possible operation within High Availability architecture, ensuring uninterrupted activity in the event of a server failure and automatic switching to a backup server.

 

  • Automatic handling of processes, master data and transactions, as well as consolidation within capital groups – Intercompany.

 

  • High-cost efficiency, low entry barrier, available in both on-premise and cloud versions. A special Starter Package addressed to startups.

 

  • A solution prepared for local companies and those with global aspirations (28 language versions, 50 locations), with over 3,000 references from many industries.

What distinguishes Incata?

  • In our work we keep our focus on joint value delivery, lack of customer-supplier valuation, partnership based on trust and respect, honesty and objectivity in all communications.
  • Over 20 years’ experience in implementing solutions for businesses of all sizes.
  • Business and technological knowledge.
  • An individual approach to the client’s business characterized by a thorough pre-implementation analysis combined with mapping processes via IT tools.
  • Many years of partnership with market leaders, including global ones.
  • An extensive network of trusted and proven partners and subcontractors.

What distinguishes SAP?

  • A global leader in providing solutions for companies.
  • A wide portfolio of products for both corporations and startups with few people.
  • 40 years of experience in the market, over 400,000 customers in 180 countries, over 100,000 employees, over 100 development and research centres, and over 17,000 partners all around the world.
  • One of the most highly valued brands in the world – global TOP20.
  • Strategic technology partnerships with leading hardware and infrastructure vendors.

Let's talk about
your business

TECHNOLOGY

SAP S/4HANA & ECC

SAP ERP integrations, consultancy, development and support services

SAP applications and extensions

Our specialists have been implementing and developing SAP software in Poland and abroad since 1998. We were present during the first and largest implementations in our country. Throughout all these years, we have been constantly improving our competences and expanding the area in which we provide our clients with the highest quality and maximum value services.

Experience and knowledge

This unique capital of experience and knowledge allows us to support your company in the key technological areas of SAP ERP system operation. We specialize in extensions to the SAP system and integration with external, internet and mobile applications.

During the implementation of programming and integration projects, we work with a team of experienced business consultants, whose knowledge of individual SAP ERP modules is valuable capital for our clients.

Extensions for SAP

  • ABAP, ABAP OO
  • Workflows
  • Smartforms
  • LSMW

Integration

  • SAP XI, PI, PO
  • SOAP, REST
  • IDoc
  • RFC

SAP Mobile Platform

  • OData
  • NetWeaver Gateway
  • SAPUI5
  • Fiori

SAP HCM development

  • Custom Reports and Enhancements
  • HR Forms, SAP Interactive Forms
  • ESS, MSS Applications
  • Floorplan Manager and SuccessFactors Integration

Let’s talk about
your project

TECHNOLOGY

Software house

Custom applications and solutions for companies, institutions and local governments

Custom made software
and solutions

The software development cycle

Our knowledge of business processes carried out in companies from various industries and structures is one of our greatest strengths. Thanks to this, we can provide services in the Software Development Outsourcing model, covering the entire software development cycle and identifying all the requirements at a very early stage.

A wide range of solutions

The experience of our analysts and project managers allows not only to efficiently supervise the software development process itself, but to provide customers with additional values in the form of consulting, business analysis, process mapping, identification of requirements and needs, as well as the search for improvements and optimizations.

The wide range of solutions we offer – from open-source software (PHP) to enterprise-class technologies (.NET platform, Java, SAP ABAP) – enables us to successfully provide services tailored not only to various technological environments, but also to varying sizes of client budgets. We offer both applications of the SaaS model, using our infrastructure and on-premise implementation.

Extensions for SAP

  • ABAP
  • SAP HANA, XSA
  • SAPUI5 – Fiori

Internet

  • PHP, ASP
  • jQuery, AngularJS
  • Magento, WordPress

Mobile applications

  • Android – Java
  • iOS – Objective C
  • Windows Mobile – .NET

Desktop applications

  • .NET
  • C#
  • JAVA

Get to know our portfolio and let's talk about your project

TECHNOLOGY

Webcon BPS

Low-code applications and integrations for
business processes and workflows.

Low-code platform
+ Incata experts

Using our experience, we have developed effective methodologies, while to automate business processes we use a low-code platform that enables effective, future-proof handling of all business processes – both essential and supporting. We know that many we can improve processes without the need to create new software, while significantly optimizing costs and implementation time.

Business Process Management

We provide applications created to meet the specific requirements of customers from various industries, based on the proven low-code platforms of the BPM (Business Process Management) class.

We build business applications that do not require or only require minimal coding. We digitize, standardize and automate the key processes based on ready-made components and an ideal collaboration environment. This saves you a lot of time and money. Every change is possible within a minute and could be done by the users themselves.

Flexibility WEBCON BPS platform

Thanks to the very high flexibility of the WEBCON BPM platform, we can implement many processes within a few weeks of making the decision. In the case of any modification to the process, we can introduce changes very quickly without losing data. We deliver and develop applications, even when the business assumptions are uncertain or are subject to constant change.

Most importantly: the implemented solutions remain the property of the client, who can further modify or develop their applications on the basis of proven technologies and standards.

Digital transformation is here, and automating business processes has never been easier.

Automation of business processes for every industry

The WEBCON BPS platform allows you to streamline any process – from support to key, and even specific to a company or industry. Especially when the market simply lacks ready-made, non-standard solutions.

Electronic workflow and process management without coding

We know that IT departments today have a lot of work, so we help them and business divisions by building applications and document workflows that meet the demand, minimize IT participation, and at the same time provide proven, safe and predictable tools.

As a result, the management board can effectively implement the strategy and best practices, while business users benefit from a single digital work environment with easy access to tasks and information.

A comprehensive platform for automating business processes

Effective process management

We measurably improve the work of our clients:

  • coordinating the flow of information – so now we know who is working on what.
  • supporting compliance with procedures and providing information on the progress of individual tasks.
  • optimizing and automating administrative activities – once the data is available to the authorized people.
  • integrating the exchange of master and result data with ERP systems, including SAP ERP, SAP S4/HANA and SAP Business One.
  • providing current, reliable data on processes, including on the company’s condition.
  • providing people authorized to conduct analyses with access to information on the number and effectiveness of the tasks performed by subordinates, thus helping to detect places in the organization that require improvement or further optimization.
  • providing data to make any key decisions and improving the functioning of the business, remembering that the organization is as strong as its weakest link.

The Total Economic Impact™ of the WEBCON BPS study, conducted by Forrester Consulting, showed that after implementing the platform, companies could expect a 113% return on investment within three years, and accelerate their business processes by up to 87%, thus saving over 600 000$

The most important business benefits
indicated in the Forrester report

Processes that were once carried out manually and with the help of paper documents have been automated and transformed into a digital form. Combined with the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), internal processes have been accelerated by 87%. Employees can spend the time saved in carrying out more ambitious tasks.

WEBCON BPS enables any organization to quickly prototype new solutions and test them in practice, significantly reducing the time needed to introduce new products and services to the market.

Comprehensive external processes are largely related to customer service, which is why their acceleration was extremely important for companies. Thanks to WEBCON BPS, enterprises quickly began to create new applications to expand and optimize what they offer. For example: by automating the process of issuing credit decisions, they managed to reduce as many as 4 of the FTEs so far needed to support this process.

WEBCON BPS has allowed IT and business to work together in a previously impossible way. Today, IT experts and business users are able to create solutions jointly and iteratively, design the perfect workflow, quickly and easily implementing the modifications suggested by the business, improving communication, and making sure that the process works as expected.

Automating uncomplicated (supporting) processes, such as the purchase of office supplies or IT equipment, has allowed to accelerate them by as much as 67%.

A detailed audit trail is available for each process. Greater transparency means easier process management and more effective optimization – you can easily check which parts of the process work well and which need improvements or changes. This helps management boards in updating their development strategy and correcting the adopted course.

Let’s talk about
your project

FAIRS AND CONFERENCES

Application factory for business processes and workflows in Amber Expo/MTG

The way to change

The company has so far used electronic assignment of incoming documents to a rather limited extent. The platform did not allow dynamic form building, setting paths or even decision steps. The time of crisis and downtime in the exhibition industry led to new challenges that improved and streamlined the internal processes. It was decided to implement support for secretarial processes and documents coming into the company, service the request and decision cards, assign the cost invoices with integration into the ERP system, service contracts with contractors and other basic CRM functionalities.

KEY METRICS:

10 x

faster request approval

>3 000

invoices processed in the first 6 months​

Real time

budget consumption report

7 apps

for core business processes in less than 6 months

The low-code
Webcon BPS

We chose the low-code Webcon BPS platform, allowing us to model all the required processes and efficiently implement it in a short time.

We saw 7 applications for 12 processes, several workshops, arrangements and many other improvements in the organization in such a short time. The analysis and implementation specification were ready within two weeks. Thanks to the real possibility of continuous improvement, using InstantChange technology, it is possible to shorten the time needed to create the necessary applications. The platform allows you to efficiently shorten the implementation time and very quickly introduce changes, corrections and process optimizations.

Within a few months, it was possible to build an environment for handling processes that significantly supported the company’s operations.

The annual budget plan was broken down into several thousand budget items as the basis for the demand processes, decision cards and cost invoices.

Application factory

The Webcon BPS platform is a real game changer
in terms of creating the necessary applications
to support business processes.
The Webcon BPS platform is a real game changer in terms of creating the necessary applications to support business processes.

Organizing many tasks

Some tasks have always been performed manually and required information gathered from many stakeholders. In addition, errors or delays sometimes occurred, meaning all the work had to be redone.

During the workshop, we had the opportunity to present the logic-first approach, then the activity approach. This type of application design allowed us to organize many tasks as well as determine what steps are actually needed. The logic behind the process is very simple. From the start and then through all the individual steps to the final decision. It was only during the individual steps that we could see what was important to who, to do what and why.

Increasing value for owners

Thanks to the implementation of a process support platform, employees can gain more time to handle tasks that are more important than document processing. Employees can search for new contacts, conduct negotiations and execute contracts, increasing their efficiency and quality of work. In addition, a lot of data can now be shared and made easier to report. New metrics will emerge to keep you looking for improvements in your company’s internal flows and processes.

The attitude of the client and the management system is aimed at the continuous development of the company, increasing the value for the owners and following modern solutions that are also a good driving force for us.

Creating value for our customers is our primary goal. In this project, we used our experience in the areas of business management, process analysis and building dedicated applications, both based on low-code platforms, as well as creating integration and dedicated programming extensions.

How can we help your
business grow?

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Healthy lifestyle and sustainable mobility among children - from a local to a national project

Gdańsk City Hall Rowerowymaj.eu

Rowerowymaj.eu began in 2014 as a local project in Gdańsk. The main goal was to engage children and teenagers to ride a bike on their way to and from school. The project was quickly transformed from the local Tri-City to a nationwide one, meaning that there was a need for an IT tool that would allow project and campaign management. From 500 educational institutions in 2018 to 1130 in 2022, all registered for the program.

KEY METRICS:

10 mln

registered activities from 2018

580k

registered participants
from 2018

50

cities and towns
registered in 2022

Real Time

results for participants

Record the activities

From 2018 a dedicated web-based system for managing campaigns, registering participants and creating real-time statistics and reports was introduced. Teachers have direct access to the platform and record the activities of children who have come to school by bike or scooter.

Challenge

Our role was to design and build the entire platform.
Many functional and technical aspects required in-depth workshops and mock-ups.

Work

We have developed a comprehensive UX, UI and campaign management system. The system was built very quickly in 2017 in order to be able to handle the campaign and registration of participants from the beginning of 2018. The platform comprises an information portal available to the public based on the popular CMS platform. We publish statistics calculated on an ongoing basis. For this, there is an entire custom made back-office portal with options for planning, managing and accounting for the campaign. Access support for teachers, SMS authorizations, award planning and many other solutions facilitating the work of the team from the Gdańsk City Hall.

Since the start in 2018, over 10 million journeys have been registered in the system, with nearly 600,000 active participants.

The many years of partnership with Gdańsk City Hall has allowed us to gain further valuable experience in working with public institutions. Restrictive contract terms and low budget flexibility were compensated by the excellent openness and favour shown by the project team.

How can we help your
business grow?