SAP ECC Experts

Project: Digital Sovereignty – Toll Collect

Workshop: Digital Sovereignty Recognize dependencies, reduce risks, remain capable of acting

Format

• One-day practical seminar

Target group

• Executive management
• IT managers
• Data protection officers
• Compliance functions

Content and objectives

• Systematic analysis of digital dependencies
• Assessment of legal and operational risks
• Development of a concrete plan to increase digital sovereignty
• Mapping of the entire IT infrastructure by participants
• Identification of critical dependencies on non-European providers
• Creation of a prioritized risk matrix based on:
• GDPR
• NIS2
• EU AI Act
• Joint development of options for action – from a hybrid model to complete migration to European solutions
• Development of an individual sovereignty roadmap with:
• Responsibilities
• Milestones
• Budget framework

Agenda

• Preliminary self-assessment (current infrastructure)
• Digital sovereignty? Nothing but an illusion
• Digital sovereignty 2026 – Germany’s dangerous dependency in focus
• Digital sovereignty & open source
• What is digital sovereignty?
• Three questions raised by digital sovereignty
• Reflection: Digital sovereignty in your own life
• Why is digital sovereignty existential now?
• Practical examples of digital sovereignty
• Schleswig-Holstein initiative
• Benefits of digital sovereignty for your company
• Assessing strategy options (cost-benefit matrix)
• Sovereign provider? 10 questions
• What does digital sovereignty specifically mean for your company?
• How do you shape digital sovereignty?
• Digital sovereignty and psychological safety
• Psychological safety: The key to high-performing teams
• Why psychological safety in your company?
• Benefits of psychological safety
• Invitation to group work: PsySafety Check (PS-C)
• The “Braintrust” experiment
• Creating a risk matrix
• Creating a roadmap & project plan
• European alternatives to US Big Tech
• 10-point plans:
• NIS2
• EU AI Act
• GDPR
• ISO 27001

Stabilization of a critical logistics outsourcing setup in the context of an SAP S/4HANA transformation. The focus was on restoring a reliable operational fact base between the client, logistics service provider, international supplier plants and the SAP/IT organization.

• Coordination between the client, global logistics service provider, international supplier plants, SAP/IT teams, Quality Management and the operational shop floor.
• Management, monitoring and operational correction of Inbound Deliveries; integration of Outbound Delivery processes.
• Analysis of interface, posting, batch and master data errors between SAP S/4HANA, logistics service provider, supplier plants and internal business functions.
• Significant reduction of critical inventory differences between the client and logistics service provider.
• Improved operational management capability in the logistics environment and creation of a common fact base.
• Reduction of recurring error patterns in the areas of Inbound Deliveries, inventory, interfaces, batch/posting logic and service provider processes.

Using periods between projects to deepen leadership skills and Change Management methods.

• Personnel and culture development: Supporting specialists and managers with professional reorientation and providing strategic coaching for successful self-presentation.

• Empowerment & Performance Coaching: Conducting systemic personality assessments to identify performance bottlenecks and specifically develop strengths within teams.

• Moderation & Training: Managing interdisciplinary workshop and seminar groups in both industrial-technical and commercial environments.

• Objective/Motivation: PAYONE urgently needs a 360° view of its customers. So far, PAYONE has had no company-wide master data strategy. It is not possible to identify customers across all relevant systems.

The organization is to be enabled to identify customers across all relevant systems. Establishing the basis for master data management at PAYONE

• Challenge: Due to company acquisitions, the system landscape is very heterogeneous. The company is highly dynamic and burdened with many system harmonization and integration projects, meaning that resource bottlenecks and changes in project priorities repeatedly create an almost impossible task.

Due to BaFin findings, the project has a central task and role. The first focus is the migration of all customers, including their AML/KYC data, from the master data backend systems to Salesforce. This is intended to resolve one of the largest findings and establish the corresponding ODD/EDD processes.

In addition, customer data must be harmonized in Salesforce. Previous migrations resulted in duplicate customer records in some cases. The aim is therefore to maintain only one customer in Salesforce and, using the relevant information from the backend systems, also be able to identify which products the customer uses and in which processing systems the customer obtains PAYONE services.

Project: ONE Customer

Budget: €1.5 million

Team: 10/30 employees (full-time/part-time); 4 vendors/providers

Integration: 8 (subsystems/interfaces)

Applications: Salesforce; SAP S4/HANA; in-house developments

Tools: MS Office; Jira, Confluence, SharePoint

Methods: Hands-on; Agile (SAFe); Prince2

The consultant's responsibilities/actions are:

• Consulting on the migration of material master & PP Master data
• Prepare Article List template for Cutover Phase
• Implementation of data cleansing measures using individual and bulk changes
• SAP all mandatory fields data extraction regarding Business needed
• SAP migration, Cutover, Testing, BAT, UAT
• Align with the multiple Stakeholders regarding Data from Legacy and SAP System
• Deployed SAP MM best practice (guided configurations, active methodologies and road map for project initiation)

SAP ERP | SAP GEMINI | SAP Fields Coordination | Documentation | SAP IDoc | SAP Integration | SAP End-to-End Process | SAP MM (Material Management) | SAP Functional Consultant | SAP Gap analysis | SAP MDM (Master Data Management) | Data Migration & Management

• Designed and implemented enhancements in SAP BW on HANA 7.5 in the context of CRM migration and S/4HANA and BW/4HANA transformation programs
• Migrated SAPI data sources to the ODP framework as part of the S/4HANA migration
• Delivered SAP ECC data to Snowflake using BW data models and Calculation Views for Power BI analytics
• Integrated SAP and non-SAP data sources (including MS Dynamics)
• Improved reporting transparency through consolidated data models
• Optimized data loading processes for FI-CO data sources, significantly improving load times and system performance

• Defined S/4HANA finance solution architecture and led full project lifecycle — Blueprint through Hypercare — for global rollout.
• Designed global finance templates and COPA characteristics, harmonizing financial reporting across business units.
• Implemented role-based authorizations, SOD controls, and master data governance; managed provisioning and training for 200+ users.
• Coordinated cross-module integrations (MM, SD, PP) and third-party systems (Salesforce, SAP DRC, E-Invoicing), reducing month-end close from 5 days to 2 days.
• Prepared functional specifications, supported ABAP development, and drove problem management practices that reduced recurring incidents.

• Introduction of 5 different process applications for different teams

• Release planning: scope and time management

• Resource/capacity planning

• Conducting Sprint Planning / retrospectives

• Increment planning (several sprints)

• Preparation of Steering Committee meetings / reporting to the Board

• Coordination / alignment with external suppliers / deliveries

• Resource planning for multiple projects

• Coordination with business department and development team

• Identification of best practices with IBM BAW

• Cost control and planning for the project team and external service providers

• Collection of KPIs using LogScale

• Analysis of application errors with LogScale / Queries

• User Story definitions / coordination of requirements with the business department and development team

• Testing and defect tracking

• UI/UX design of applications

• Preparation and moderation of Brown-Paper workshops

• Test concept, test data, test organization, test execution

• Collection of team velocity / metrics

• Test execution

• Script for automated testing

• Test organization with business department and IT

• Recording and prioritization of defects

• Establishment and operation of the application

• Establishment of application monitoring with LogScale Dashboards

• Checking health endpoints with PowerShell

• Post Mortem analysis

• Establishment of Incident Management

• Establishment of Problem Management

• Analysis of errors using LogScale Queries and Dashboard

• Pre-processing of data for AI

• Evaluation using AI language models (Meta Llama 3.3 LLM and deepset Haystack) and RAG

• Installation of runtime environments for LLMs (Large Language Model)

• Evaluation of various LLMs

• Installation of RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) and integration with LLM

• Extraction of unstructured data with LLM and RAG

• Project based on IBM BAW (Business Automation Workflow), Websphere Liberty, Domea, d.3, REST, LogScale (formerly Humio), Swagger, Powershell, JIRA, Confluence, Lucom Interaction Platform (LIP), Mattermost, Jabber

• Support for the SAP “Sourcing & Procurement” modules as part of the “S/4HANA Brownfield” project rollout for the entire company
• Analysis, design and organization of IT-supported business processes
• Further development of SAP MM in ECC 6.0 into S/4HANA, from requirements and process analysis through design to implementation (customizing, programming)
• Optimization and documentation of business processes and applications
• Responsible implementation of the S/4HANA rollout as an external consultant
• Independent performance of problem analyses and their resolution
• Definition of change requests and their implementation/testing in cooperation with internal key users and process owners
• Support for SAP key users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Training and support for users in connection with the rollout

Scope: Embedded as FP&A Data & AI Architect within the Finance function of a major European refrigeration manufacturer, leading the transformation of manual, fragmented financial reporting into an automated, governance-driven intelligence platform. Driving the shift from Excel-based controlling to structured data architecture, Power BI analytics, and AI-assisted financial operations.

Financial Data Integrity & ERP Governance

• Initiated and led GL vs. subledger reconciliation investigations, identifying and resolving structural mismatches between General Ledger and subledger data that had gone undetected prior to engagement
• Conducted asset analysis to identify items missing from General Ledger postings, surfacing gaps in fixed asset tracking and period-end completeness
• Validated SAP reports, establishing baseline data quality standards for Finance team consumption
• Established systematic SAP data validation framework ensuring ongoing integrity between ERP postings and downstream reporting outputs

Finance Reporting Transformation

• Designed and implemented a structured Transformation Project approach for converting manual Finance reports into fully automated processes
• Created and owns the Data Reporting Audit Log; a centralized tracking system capturing report owners, stakeholders, data sources, manual effort estimates, and automation opportunity scores across the Finance function
• Mapped the full reporting landscape identifying quick-win automation targets and strategic Power BI migration candidates
• Actively reducing manual Excel and PowerPoint dependency across FP&A workflows; replacing point-in-time snapshots with live, governed data models

Power BI & Analytics Enablement

• Introduced and presented Power BI as the strategic reporting platform to Finance leadership, building internal buy-in for the BI transformation roadmap
• Designed initial Power BI architecture aligned with SAP, Salesforce and Oracle data structures and FP&A reporting requirements
• Established report ownership, governance documentation, and data lineage standards enabling sustainable self-service analytics across the Finance team

Transformation Infrastructure & Collaboration

• Configured and deployed Jira as the transformation project management hub, establishing structured sprint workflows, backlog management, and progress visibility for Finance IT initiatives
• Proposed and initiated a dedicated FP&A Communication & Transformation Hub, a structured cross-functional forum aligning Finance, IT, and business stakeholders around the reporting transformation roadmap
• Positioned the Finance function as an active driver of data governance and digital transformation within the broader organization

Outcomes

• GL/subledger reconciliation gaps identified and investigation framework established within first two weeks of engagement
• Data Reporting Audit Log deployed; first structured inventory of Finance reporting landscape in company history
• Power BI transformation roadmap presented and approved by Finance leadership
• Jira-based project governance live; Finance transformation now tracked with full sprint visibility

Technologies: SAP FI/CO · Power BI · DAX · SQL · Excel (advanced) · Power Query (M) · Power Automate · VBA · Jira · Microsoft 365 · SharePoint · Salesforce (Sales Data) · Oracle HCM · Python

Assessment of the product, delivery, and AI organization with a realignment of operational excellence, target architecture, and AI-first operating model

Situation: The product and delivery organization showed structural weaknesses in efficiency, control, and collaboration. In addition, there was no clear target architecture for AI-driven product and organizational development. At leadership level, there was limited transparency regarding roles, responsibilities, and operational performance.

Responsibility & approach:

• Analysis of the existing product, delivery, and organizational structures in terms of processes, governance, and controllability
• Evaluation of architecture and platform with regard to scalability, future readiness, and AI integration
• Development of a target picture for an AI-first product and delivery operating model
• Derivation of concrete measures to improve operational excellence and collaboration
• Sparring with the leadership team on structured organizational development

Results & impact:

• Creation of transparency regarding structural bottlenecks, performance, and decision-making logic
• Development of a target structure for a scalable AI-first product and delivery setup
• Improvement of decision-making capability and control at leadership level
• Creation of a solid basis for downstream transformation measures
• Definition of concrete levers to improve efficiency, collaboration, and time-to-market

• Lead architect for an enterprise loan digitisation programme, coordinating 12 engineers across five workstreams and serving as final technical authority on system design.
• Cut critical application response times by 68% (display 17.3s → 5.6s; modification 11.8s → 5.0s) through targeted caching, OData query optimisation and lazy-loading refactoring; further optimisation in progress.
• Own production error triage, prioritisation and resolution across a multi-application portfolio supporting live lending operations.
• Design and implement SAP Fiori applications on SAP UI5, TypeScript and RAP, owning delivery from architecture and code through rollout and production support.
• Established C4 architecture documentation and decision records for the full programme, enabling faster onboarding and consistent cross-workstream design governance.
• Co-managed S/4HANA release cycle alongside primary responsibilities, coordinating directly with SAP support to resolve critical system issues across the portfolio.

• SAP ERP/ECC, SAP S/4 Hana
• Analysis and documentation of SAP FI/CO, PSM, PSCD customizing
• Analysis, consulting and documentation of S/4 Hana apps for defining and executing statutory reports
• Clarification of the prerequisites for using S/4 Hana apps to define and execute statutory reports
• Analysis and documentation of customizing for in-house developments
• Consulting on the integration of SAP FI/CO as well as PSM, PSM-FM (Funds Management), Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable (PSCD)
• Consulting and documentation of customizing adjustments in SAP FI/CO, PSM, PSM-FM, PSCD when introducing new company codes and other organizational structures
• Consulting and documentation of necessary process adjustments

• Migration of financial data from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP ECC for eleven companies, as well as from SAP S/4HANA to SAP ECC for one additional company. At the same time, an interface from an operational leasing tool to SAP S/4HANA had to be tested from a business perspective and aligned in an audit-proof way.

• Lead and plan the migration work packages, create the migration concept for accounts payable and accounts receivable with active customer-vendor integration, set up the reconciliation and QA method, test management, cutover planning, and audit-proof project documentation.

SAP/business focus: SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, FI, Business Partner/CVI, Finance Data Migration, Reconciliation, Test Management, Cutover

• Traceable and audit-proof migration of multiple companies with clear reconciliation logic, strong QA evidence, and controlled cutover.