Initial situation

• The previous ERP system (Navision) no longer met the requirements in a global context and was to be replaced by SAP. Innoface's extremely reliable interface was used between Navision and Windchill.
• The drawings were not transferred to Navision but were obtained directly from Windchill through a separate portal.
• Furthermore, the interface, material and document migration to an already existing SAP system was required.

Customer requirements

The most important requirements for this project included:

• Mapping of the existing Windchill data to the predefined data structure in the existing SAP system
• Reliability of the interface with simultaneous use by the 80 users worldwide
• Data consistency from CAD through PDM to ERP

What has been accomplished

• The material and document migration ensured a seamless changeover to SAP, without subsequent data corrections or verifications.
• The interface permits the automatic creation or modification of material master data, document info records and bills of materials.
• The transfer to SAP is process-driven from the promotion requests and change management workflows. For the initial release of documents, the transfer can be initiated by a status change.
• If required, the data transfer from Windchill to SAP can be initiated via menu.
• For example, for administrative adjustments or subsequently generated file formats (e.g. for procurement: DXF, STEP).
• During the approval processes, the data is validated so that any subsequent errors in SAP are avoided.

Customer benefits

• The automatic creation of bills of materials and documents with default values for additional SAP master data fields makes it possible for the engineers to work efficiently, allowing them to fully concentrate on their tasks in Windchill.
• Errors are detected through validation even before a material or BOM is transferred to SAP, so that potential errors in SAP can be avoided and corrected immediately.
• Data generation and transfer take place in the background, so there is no major waiting time for the user.
• The reliability of the interface makes additional verification of the data in SAP unnecessary.