InformationWeek

Supply Chain For SAP R/3

By Tom Stein

AP AG is making it easier for custo mers to get supply-chain management features from their R/3 enterprise applications. The German vendor last week signed on supply-chain apps vendor Numetrix Ltd. as a "complementary solutions provider" and plans to ink similar software integration agreements with Chesapeake Decision Sciences Inc. and Red Pepper Software Co. in the coming months. SAP already has agreed to embed i2 Technologies Inc.'s constraint-based planning engine into its R/3 4.0 software, which is slated for release at year's end.

The integration is done at the API level, enabling data to be passed between R/3 and the third-party software. It also assures customers that the R/3-Numetrix interface, for example, is ready to use and makes SAP a point of contact for maintenance.

Customers say they don't want to waste time and energy developing customized interfaces between the R/3 suite and third-party supply-chain systems. "This gets us out of the integration and interface business," says Tom Glenn, manager of operations for IS at Imp erial Tobacco Ltd. in Montreal, an SAP and Numetrix customer. "This also frees us from managing the burden of future releases. We can now assume the integration will be there for our upgrades of SAP and Numetrix."

When Imperial began implementing R/3, it was under the impression that the suite would cover its supply-chain needs, Glenn says.But a year into the implementation, Imperial realized that R/3 couldn't handle the cigarette maker's advanced planning and scheduling requirements. "SAP assumes you have infinite capacity, and that if you get an order, you'll find a way to make it," Glenn says. "In reality, we only have so many machines and machine operators available."

At first, he says, SAP was standoffish about helping Imperial build an interface between R/3 and Numetrix's technology. "But now, things have changed, and SAP has begun looking outside its box," Glenn says.

Besides teaming with other suppliers, SAP is racing to develop its own supply-chain functionality. However, it won't commit to a time frame for delivering modules for finite capacity scheduling and constraint-based planning.

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