Case Study

The Customer is King: Automated order processing at BASF

Automated invoice processing is taken for granted these days, yet many companies are hesitating to automate the acceptance of orders.
But why?

Companies frequently receive orders in a variety of forms - by fax, e-mail or via Internet portals. Unlike invoices, statutory requirements do not govern the information that orders must contain, and customers frequently use their own designations for the products. However, the most important reason is that businesses are grateful for every order they receive, so under the circumstances, the actual form of the order is hardly relevant.

So why force customers to observe a specific order format? That's certainly how BASF AG sees it. The company would like to spare its customers the necessity of entering each order twice - in their own ERP systems, and in the BASF PlasticsPortal (a portal for online ordering of plastics).

The User

BASF AG has a broad product portfolio ranging from bulk chemicals, plastics, refined products, pesticides and fine chemicals to petrochemicals and natural gas, thus catering to customers in virtually all industries. In Germany alone, around 46,000 employees work to identify and fulfill customer requirements. At the administrative level, this means accepting a large number of orders every day, prompting their fulfillment and monitoring the entire process. Seen in an international context, it's a daunting task.

The Requirements

BASF AG accepts orders through a number of channels. Customers requiring tight logistical links to BASF rely on electronic data interchange (EDI). Some see the BASF PlasticsPortal as the ideal way to place orders quickly and reliably. Other customers, however, are faced with the problem of double order entry, having to input the orders into their own ERP systems as well.

Until recently, these customers relied on their good old fax machines or e-mail to place orders. The orders then had to be entered into the SAP system manually by BASF AG employees - a cumbersome and error-prone job. While orders from different customers all contain the same data fields such as the order number, date, quantity and designation, they tend to differ considerably in their structure - especially from country to country.

BASF AG therefore sought a solution that would automate order processing while taking country-specific differences in forms into consideration, read data flawlessly, transfer it to the linked SAP/R3 system and archive it electronically. The company's objective: to provide maximum benefit to the customer while ensuring that no changes to customers' processes, order formats or ordering behavior would be required.

The Solution

BASF AG introduced Intelligent Order Processing (IOP), a project designed to accommodate its customers' ordering behavior. The full range of ordering options was taken into account: use of the ordering portal, ordering via a direct link to BASF and - the decisive options - faxed and e-mailed orders. With Intelligent Order Processing, BASF AG closed the gap between paper-bound orders, portal entries and EDI.

BASF customers are now able to generate orders in their own ERP systems and send them as PDF attachments to a special BASF e-mail address, or print them out and fax them to a dedicated fax number. In IOP light integration, customers generate orders in their ERP systems, which then automatically e-mail them to BASF. Regardless of whether the order arrives by fax or e-mail, the DOKuStar document analysis software and Adaptive Read Technology (ART) module extract the relevant data and compare it to the data in the customer's order history. If the software recognizes deviations, it sends the order to a correction workstation. The complete set of electronic order data is then automatically transferred to the linked SAP system. In the process, the data record is converted to IDoc format and filled with supplementary data to ensure the flawless creation of the order in the SAP system. The relevant sales office is then automatically informed of the new order via SAP and the customer is sent an e-mail confirming the order. The process is controlled by a document workflow designed by Ultimus.

The Benefits

Swift order processing is not only a central interest of customers, it can also be lucrative for the vendor by providing a decisive competitive edge. Intelligent Order Processing solves the double order entry problem and lets customers place orders in their customary format, while eliminating the time-consuming and error-prone process of manually entering faxed orders at the receiving end. IOP has now attained an importance comparable to that of BASF's other e-commerce transaction channels.

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