Playing Well with SAP
GP MaTe’s Financial Interface Module (FIM) has been upgraded to support SAP’s IDOC formats for interface communications. We can now integrate GP MaTe real time with your corporate SAP system.
What does this mean for a GP MaTe user? You can now
- Link spare parts to equipment and work orders via MPLs
- Reserve materials and run replenishment calculations to ensure materials are available
- Use GP MaTe mobile devices to receive, issue and perform cycle counts
- Link purchase requisitions to work orders for non-stock parts and be notified when received
- Link historical usage of parts with equipment for reporting
- Use new Process Safety / Mechanical Integrity functions in GP MaTe to ensure proper spare part QA/QC inspections at receipt and issue.
As with any integration, decisions must be made as to how to deal with information that resides in both systems. The biggest issues revolve around spare parts, since these represent a major financial investment in your plant’s bottom line.
Issue #1:
To make the best use of GP MaTe, equipment should be linked to spare parts, and this information should be available to the maintenance group. This allows the inventory store room to know what materials are needed on upcoming jobs. This enhancement to the GP MaTe FIM permits you to maintain spare parts information, at a line item detail level, in both GP MaTe and SAP.
Issue #2:
In which system do various functions (receiving, issuing and returning, procurement) occur? The upgrades to FIM mean that maintenance functions can occur in the easy-to-use GP MaTe environment.
Consider an example: a recent implementation for Jacob Holms in North Carolina. In this configuration, GP MaTe is used for all inventory management functions: receiving, issuing to work orders, physical inventory adjustments, and replenishment Purchase Requisition creation. Non-stock purchase requisitions are also created in GP MaTe and received in GP MaTe. When a purchase requisition is approved using GP MaTe’s powerful work flow process, it is then pushed over to SAP as an approved Purchase Order.
In the Jacob Holms case, GP MaTe updates SAP for any inventory movement (receipt, usage, adjustment). SAP has accurate, up-to-the-minute cost information for all aspects of inventory, but the maintenance and storeroom personnel use GP MaTe for all inventory transactions.
GP MaTe’s Financial Interface Module permits GP MaTe to interface to a variety of financial systems to provide seamless sharing of information. Thanks to this module, you can use GP MaTe to manage your work orders and spare parts inventory and use your financial system to place orders for replenishment and on demand orders. FIM will automatically update all financial transactions.