Renewable energy generator, Statkraft, creates a mini ERP system for your pocket in 4 months and now has plans to continue growth in other areas of their business.
Challenge: Make Operations and Maintenance Easier With an Improved ERP System
When Oslo-based international hydropower leader Statkraft sought to simplify its SAP user experience and deliver mobile capabilities for its operations and maintenance (O&M) solutions, it turned to Neptune Software’s low-code rapid application development platform to improve their ERP system.
As Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy, Statkraft produces hydropower, wind power, gas-fired power and district heating and is a global player in energy market operations, Statkraft’s 4,500 employees serving more than 17 countries around the world.
The company has successfully used SAP since 2002 to manage ERP workflow across the entire business. Still, several hundred of those employees responsible for O&M found existing processes and tools hard to navigate, making it difficult to find information and get work orders completed in a timely fashion.
Training efforts also needed a boost, resulting in inconsistent processes across locations, while leaving users less likely to operate the system overall.
Solution: Provide an Intuitive, Easy-To-Develop ERP System for Any Device
To get started the company defined its project goals: simplify and streamline O&M processes across offices, and put users first by providing an intuitive, self-explanatory user interface that required little hands-on training.
Statkraft also sought to enhance capabilities for users on any device, whether they used Android phones or tablets, iOS devices, or desktop, and offer online and offline functionality to help support work anytime, anywhere.
That made Neptune DXP the obvious choice, for multiple reasons: its ability to increase workers’ mobility and make it easy for developers to add the new features users needed while protecting Statkraft’s existing ERP system investment.
An internal project team began with the maintenance report, defining user requirement specifications to ensure the project would meet users’ needs.
Using the SCRUM method for project delivery, Statkraft defined key sprints and tested the system between each sprint. To make the development process efficient, the company was careful to reach defined goals before moving on to the next sprint.
Initial development attempts sent Statkraft back to the drawing board to refine its approach. Once it better understood the maintenance report and work order capabilities within SAP and how best to simplify them using Neptune Software’s UI5 designer capabilities, the project continued to move forward.
In this phase, team members worked collaboratively with Neptune Software, taking advantage of the low-code platform’s drag-and-drop designer that directly leverages SAP’s own source code (ABAP) to make the best use of Fiori capabilities.
To drive consistent use of the system across geographies and users, the company identified use patterns, working to make the best use of the application and workflows. That was supported by consistent training and fostered a common understanding of how to use the ERP system.
Using Neptune Software’s simple approach covering the development lifecycle across design, build, manage and run, Statkraft proceeded. The result was a revamped O&M system that was fully mobile and suitable for advanced work order planning.
As more users became familiar with mobile apps and Statkraft took the time to deliver improved functionality and user interface, adoption rose.
Results: Easier Workflow, More Info, Happier Users
“Today more than 600 employees, representing a wide range of managers and operating units, actively use the app to manage O&M in both online and offline mode,” said Ronny Olaisen, Senior Maintenance Specialist, at Statkraft.
That’s because word got around quickly that the project team had successfully streamlined the app. Users saw that it looked better, that more information could be presented to them, and that the system was more usable overall. In turn, that led to increased interest in the app. New users across the company began searching for the app, and could quickly download it from an easy-to-use app store.
Today, new users find it easy to create and release a work order in the system with a few simple clicks. They’re impressed by the back-end functions that are being managed seamlessly by the app.
“Key functionality for maintenance notifications and work orders is handled via the app in an intuitive and self-explainable interface,” said Ronny Olaisen. “Another key win? How easy it is to find important information when producing work orders, something that’s typically challenging in standard SAP transactions.”
Use has increased across mobile and desktop, while online and offline transactions are handled with ease.
For example, an employee tackling maintenance can simply open the work order, accomplish all relevant tasks, and then save when complete, regardless of whether they are on the network at the time. The app registers the data, saves it on the device, and pushes it out when that user is back online.
Overall, Statkraft has optimized the maintenance process, including reporting with the new mini ERP system. Users feel confident that they have the correct object costing and an accurate picture of the work order process.
Over time, the company has added even more capabilities and use cases. In particular, enabling detailed time management by individual operations turned out to be important functionality that meets the company’s needs well beyond maintenance. Now users responsible for field services and warehouse management as well as Mechanical, Electro, Civil, and Environmental workers (to name a few) have the access and capabilities they need to do complete their work efficiently and effectively.
“Today, the Statkraft technology team supports an advanced level of SAP functionality, one that’s easy for developers to manage and maintain,” said Ronny Olaisen. “And now that it’s possible for Statkraft to build whatever it likes using Neptune Software, the company is considering dividing the app into several apps to simplify them further, and adding mobile HR workflow, including time entry and travel expenses, creating a win-win for developers and users alike.”
Perhaps most importantly, users now see that it’s possible to tackle complex SAP business processes easily, leading to one user calling the system “a mini ERP system in your pocket.”
