Overview

Smart workflows and maximum integration

Ghent University now manages funding digitally in SAP

Universities need third-party funding for teaching and research. For a long time, Ghent University struggled with the fact that digital document management was extremely time-consuming. Simple processes such as drag & drop into SAP ERP or Outlook integration were impossible. But the university looked for and found a way with the ECM product suite top xRM. Since then, standardized workflows have accelerated business processes and made them less error-prone.

Every year, the influential Shanghai Ranking (ARWU) compiles a ranking of the 500 best universities worldwide. The University of Ghent (UGent) is ranked 62nd on the list. Nobel Prize winners and numerous winners of other science prizes come from the almost 200-year-old institution.

With around 41,000 students in 117 subjects, it is an important center for science and research in Belgium. Third-party funding plays a major role in this success. In the fields of medicine, bioengineering and pharmacy alone, funds in the hundreds of millions are raised every year. The funds flow into basic research or specialized industrial products – sometimes with world-class results: The turf for some of the venues for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil was developed at Ghent University. The profitable effort involved in acquiring and managing third-party funds and monitoring their use is enormous. Digital documentation of the processes is a key part of this.

Strict requirements in document management

Usually, a research or teaching department first determines the financial requirements for a project. Applications for the amount and use of funds are written and negotiations with potential donors from industry, foundations or state institutions are initiated. All the necessary documents must be recorded and documented in the SAP system. Once the requested funds have been approved, the contracts concluded, the cash flows and finally the documents on the use of funds must also be handled in the same way.

The 600 employees in the purchasing department responsible for this also have to follow strict guidelines: All processes, i.e. supplier inquiries, offers, contract awards, invoices and cash flows must be scanned and digitally documented. For expenditure of over 8,500 euros, there is also the documentation of tenders, authorizations and approvals. “Efficient document handling is a prerequisite for ensuring that all processes run smoothly and on time. Unfortunately, this was impossible to implement in our IT constellation for a long time,” recalls Geert Van de Gucht. He is head of the finance department at UGent and is also responsible for third-party funding management and university-wide purchasing. He previously worked as a consultant for SAP for a long time – so he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the German software manufacturer.

Poor integration and file search

In the past, the standard SAP Folders Management files were used. However, employees considered the solution to be inflexible, time-consuming and complicated. Although it was easy to organize documents created in SAP, for example, it was difficult to integrate correspondence with external partners: there was no direct connection to Outlook. Therefore, emails and their attachments were copied and manually entered into the standard file of the respective process. It was also not possible to simply drag and drop files between Windows Explorer and SAP ERP. All documents first had to be imported via Folders Management and provided with metadata in forms.

In addition to the poor integration, the search for documents was a major annoyance: the files in UGent’s funding management system contain 60 or more folders with various files. If, for example, a draft contract was required, the corresponding file could be found quickly using the software. However, in order to access the required document, the folders had to be opened and looked through individually. A system-wide search was not possible. As a result, each employee developed their own workflow with hand-knitted workarounds for the biggest hurdles in the SAP system. Established workflows for documentation were missing for years.

The task: Implementing central functions without interfaces

The inconsistent document management, the lack of Office integration and the system-wide search led to unnecessarily long processes. In addition, acceptance among employees was poor. Van de Gucht therefore spent a long time looking for a suitable solution. Initially in vain. This is because UGent has a special technical feature: the servers used are divided into two worlds. One half hosts the SAP system, while the other half runs all other applications – such as Office programs. This division of tasks in particular meant that communication between Outlook and SAP, for example, seemed impossible. “At some point, I saw a YouTube video showing someone moving files between Windows and SAP using drag and drop. So it did work,” says Geert Van de Gucht, describing the decisive moment. If this hurdle could be overcome, it should be possible to find solutions to the other problems.

From then on, Van de Gucht specifically researched ECM providers who also understand complicated SAP integrations and offer solutions for the key deficits of folder management. Three candidates – including top flow – were shortlisted. Van de Gucht: “In a live demo of their add-on top xRM, top flow showed how Windows integration and system-wide document search can be implemented in comparable cases using an intuitive and functional interface.” The result was immediately convincing. top flow was also able to meet other requirements of UGent: seamless integration of the solution and implementation without placing any significant strain on internal IT resources. The contract was therefore awarded to top flow.

The project started in July 2015 with a workshop. Employees from top flow were on site in Ghent for two days. For preparation and to coordinate with the university’s IT department in an iterative process. “Everything else was done remotely. But I was informed about every action and was able to test the progress live throughout. The entire implementation of top xRM ran incredibly quickly and quietly – that’s not something that can be taken for granted,” says Van de Gucht, who was in charge of the project. Apart from him, only one other UGent employee was involved in the project. In order to install top xRM for third-party funding management, IT integrated the add-on into the existing SAP system. Authorizations and roles were assigned in close coordination with the data protection officer. “The migration of the old files and documents to the new structure was also completed after just four weeks. During the entire time, our employees were able to work normally and the entire intervention was barely noticeable.”

“We should have known about the ECM solution top xRM much earlier. Then we would have been spared years of unnecessarily long and cumbersome business processes. SAP should make its customers happier and make them aware of the add-on.”

Geert Van de Gucht, Head of Finance at Ghent University

Employees accepted add-on immediately

Just two months after the start of the project, top xRM was implemented and the data was fully migrated. Before the go-live, Geert Van de Gucht presented the new solution to employees in key positions. “Many colleagues were very skeptical because of their previous SAP experience. But the long-awaited functions – such as the filter-supported file search – and the simple handling with an intuitive front end made an immediate impression,” says the Head of Finance. “We were also able to retain our familiar file structure. The familiarization with top xRM was correspondingly quick and easy.”

Another positive effect was already apparent in the first few weeks: “We were able to develop standardized processes for the first time. Thanks to the logical structure of top xRM, we were able to integrate the organization of documents into a coordinated workflow and, for example, transfer document-related tasks to the next colleague using checkboxes,” says Van de Gucht. As a result, the processes accelerated significantly and the error rate fell. Van de Gucht: “Thanks to the more efficient workflows, the seamless connection between the Office and SAP worlds and the system-wide file search, we have made enormous cost savings. Our investment was amortized after just three months.” Word of the positive experiences with top xRM has long since spread to other departments at the university. For example, top xRM is to be used for building management in 2017 and the HR department has already made an enquiry.

Success Story top xRM Fördermittelakte – Universität Gent



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Overview