From an information management perspective, the firm lacked a single, reliable, centralized source of such information. This meant there were multiple, uncontrolled copies of documents stored across several repositories, and each site developed its own processes around document control, leading to inconsistencies in information governance.
“Initially, we managed our plant maintenance documentation within SAP, but we soon realized this was not ideal as it lacked basic document management principles ‘out-of-the-box,’ such as version control, and it had limited workflow capabilities,” said Simon McCarthy, Lead, Information Management and Reporting at MMG Limited. “Difficult and time-consuming customizations were developed to overcome the limitations, but the user interface was not ideal, it wasn’t always reliable and the IT maintenance overhead was too high.”
In 2012, MMG commenced a project to refresh and perform a major upgrade to its SAP platform. This presented an ideal opportunity to transform how it manages and serves documentation to its staff and contractors.
“The goal of the SAP upgrade project was to improve the ERP solution through facilitation of standardized business processes across the organization. From an information management perspective, the goal was to improve our business-critical document management,” commented McCarthy. “Having started out using OpenText™ Content Server in our legal department, we turned to OpenText once again to address our information needs. OpenText™ Extended ECM for SAP® Solutions was identified as the right solution at the time thanks to its broad capabilities, close integration with SAP and strong partnership between OpenText and SAP.”
MMG enlisted the expertise of the OpenText Professional Services team for the initial implementation. They provided specialist knowledge of the solution needed to solve its business requirements and ensure successful delivery.
“Having suffered the pitfalls of developing customized solutions in the past, the solution was effectively implemented ‘out-of-the-box.’ With the flexible configuration options available to us, we were able to avoid custom code development, which meant future upgrades would be simpler, faster and more cost effective,” explained McCarthy. “Native OpenText tools, such as OpenText™ WebReports, provide the ability to deliver user interface customizations, without code development.”
MMG currently partners with local OpenText partner organizations and other vendors to provide the best set of knowledge and skills in specialized areas, such as change management and SAP consultancy.
“The approach of engaging the best capabilities for the task has been a very successful approach for us, contributing to the ongoing success of OpenText and SAP projects at MMG,” said McCarthy.