Client
The foundation company SRH has around 17,000 employees and a revenue of about 1,3 billion euros and is one of the leading providers of health and education services in Germany.
Starting situation
After a cyber-attack, SRH had a narrow timeframe of a few weeks, to implement a new software solution for the digital incoming invoice management in SAP.
Solution
Doctra implemented OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for SAP Solutions (VIM) for 1,400 users in just three weeks. The central success factors: a consistent orientation on standards, the associated process optimization and the close collaboration with the top management of SRH.
Result
With VIM, SRH benefits from continuously digitized workflows with a high degree of automation in processing over 15,000 incoming invoices per month directly in SAP. The standardized processes save time, reduce the error rate, and enhance future security and updatability.
only 3 weeks project duration
over 15,000 invoices monthly
integration for 1,400 users
Starting Situation
Sometimes it needs to go fast. And sometimes it needs to go very fast. Such as in the case of SRH, who represents one of the leading education and health providers in Germany with 17,000 employees. Following a cyber-attack, the non-profit foundation organization decided to expedite the previously approved implementation of a new software for the digital invoice processing. The tremendous challenge was: The timeframe was only three weeks, as SRH wanted and needed to promptly resume digital invoice processing in SAP.
Solution
As SRH has been working with SAP for many years, the choice fell on OpenText Vendor Invoice Management for SAP solutions, or VIM for short. The advantage of VIM: the solution offers a much deeper SAP integration than the software used until now. However, neither the current consulting firm nor other service providers contacted were able to implement VIM within just three weeks. Typically projects of this scale take several months, after all, the SRH Group manages over a billion euros annually. This also comes with correspondingly high demands on invoice management, such as the multi-stage approval processes and continuous assurance of compliance.
Only Doctra took on the challenge in this sensitive environment. But how can the implementation of such a demanding digital invoice management solution for SAP be achieved in such a short time? The service provider specializing in OpenText and SAP was able to leverage extensive experience in invoice management and best practices from numerous clients. Based on this, the certified SAP and OpenText partner developed a strategy specifically tailored to SRH for the successful implementation of VIM. From the consulting firm’s perspective, only the combination of a multi-stage approach and strict adherence to VIM standards was effective.
"Thanks to the excellent collaboration with Doctra, the project was completed in record time. Doctra distinguished itself throughout the entire project with its expertise and a strong hands-on mentality.“
Andrea Gerdau, Managing Director - Head of the Legal/Tax/Compliance Division
Collaboration
From the beginning, it became clear that this project required not only technology consulting but also process consulting from Doctra. In a dialogue conducted on equal footing, consultants discussed the developed strategy with SRH’s top management. The decision to forego customizations in favor of the VIM standard meant that SRH had to question its existing invoice processing procedures. The SRH management followed the recommendations and supported the VIM implementation from the outset – a crucial factor for the project’s eventual success. Thus, Doctra reported directly to the board, enabling swift decisions and timely involvement of various stakeholders. The implementation of VIM was carried out in three phases. In the first project phase, Doctra ensured that SRH could once again process incoming invoices digitally. This involved setting up IT infrastructure, automatic text recognition (OCR), and digital approval processes for a limited number of users. In this project stage, some manual tasks, such as scanning, were still required, but SRH was once again operational in invoice management.
Result
The ambitious goal to implement OpenText VIM in only three weeks, was reached and with the integration of the procurement it was exceeded. The SRH profited from numerous benefits:
- Higher degree of standardization across the entire SRH Group
- Greater future security through improved update capability
- Automated processing of over 15.000 invoices per month
- User-friendly solution with significantly improved SAP integration for over 1,400 users
- Reduced processing time and decreased error rates in invoice management
- Direct integration of three scan clients for a seamless document flow
- Sustainable VIM-support provided by Doctra as a managed service
Outlook
The combination of exceptional commitment and extensive expertise at the intersection of OpenText and SAP convinced SRH across the board. The education and healthcare provider will continue to place its trust in Doctra long-term in this critical area: Doctra will ensure, through managed services, that SRH always operates with a high-performance, up-to-date and compliance-attentive VIM solution.
Client
As a non-profit foundation with leading offerings in education and healthcare, SRH supports individuals on their unique life paths. With 17,000 employees and 1.25 million clients, they generated a revenue of approximately 1.3 billion euros (2022). Founded in 1966, SRH is now one of the largest education and healthcare companies in Germany with about 80 locations nationwide. The headquarter of SRH is in Heidelberg.
