SAP EAM/PM CRM business process

[Former Member]

Greetings,

Here is the story: My client from utility industry is about to implement 3rd party product for CRM and Billing. We are using SAP ECC 6.0 and all PM activities are registered in SAP. All financial postings MUST be in SAP.  Now, new CRM  will also have a functionality for registering PM activities. What is more, it seems that they have to be in CRM as this new system will be integrate with other products like GIS, telemetric, etc. and those kind of informations are needed people, which are going to use CRM ( it’s what I have been told )

What are the possible scenarios for PM?

Where the PM process should be registered and processed ? in CRM or in SAP or both?

Should  we duplicate all PM orders in CRM and SAP? Crazy

What about the PM master data? Should be created in CRM and send to SAP or vice versa ?

How the process looks like in SAP ECC - SAP ISU/CRM ? 

If anyone has experience with this kind of business processes, please advise. I’m wondering has it is solved by other companies.

[Former Member]

Peter,

I fully understand that those two systems must be integrated .  Coming back to my examples one  from CS point of view and one from PM point of view:

Customer is calling and notifying us about breakdown. Process starts in CRM ( as this is notification from customer ), but to fix this breakdown we have to create PM order in SAP. Also in CRM they want to know what is the status of currently processed breakdown. Am I correct ?

Other situation is like this. Craftsman noticed malfunction on pump. Right now they create notification in CRM and  if this is related with costs, PM order is created in SAP. Why notification is created in CRM…because there are data which are needed to fix it ( i.e. where is located GIS, whole telematics data etc. ) We do not have does data in SAP. Still, if this breakdown means that there will be no electricity for customers then they should know it in CRM.

Where those process starts ? all in CRM and are transferred to SAP ?

[peter_atkin]

Its up to your business in which system the process starts.

Maybe your company has decided that all processes start in CRM... See if you can find any documentation from the original CRM implementation project.

Provided the configuration in CRM/ERP is suitable, then you can mix PM/CS objects (orers, notifs, etc) required.

PeteA

[Former Member]

Hope, CRM will cover the functionality of Customer Service, but not Plant Maintenance. If other modules are going to be continued in SAP & Finance postings should be in SAP, then why you need to shift from SAP to CRM on PM front?? You can continue with the existing process itself.

[Former Member]

Maheswaran, thx for quick reply.

New system, I call it CRM but it is much more complex with Billing, PM, CRM, FI etc. functionality, such a ERP like SAP but it is not SAP. Please do not ask me why is not SAP

The processes I have mentioned, right now are not in SAP but in the system that will be changed by the new one. What we are doing right now is that in case PM activity is related with costs ( by costs I mean purchasing Invoice  ) then we create it again in SAP  ( because of FI postings ). There is no automatic communication between those two systems. But implementing new system we want this communication with SAP. But what should be created where and should be sent where ? 

Answering your question. Let’s imagine situation: Customer is calling and notifying us about breakdown. Process starts in CRM ( as this is notification from customer ), but to fix this breakdown we have to create PM order in SAP ( as it is related with costs ). Also in CRM they want to know what is the status of currently processed breakdown. Am I correct ?

Other situation is like this. Craftsman noticed malfunction on pump. Right now they create notification in CRM and  if this is related with cost, PM order is created in SAP. Why notification is created in CRM…because there are data which are needed to fix it ( i.e. where is located GIS, whole telematics data etc. ) We do not have does data in SAP. Still, if this breakdown means that there will be no electricity for customers then they should know it in CRM.

From your experience, how those processes should looks like. 

[Former Member]

To correct you, you are talking about Customer Service (CS) process, not PM process. As you are addressing the Customer's complaints, it will come under Customer Service module.

By understanding the functionality of CRM with GIS, etc., it is more convenient in creating the notification in CRM than SAP. In this case, some of the data should be updated from CRM to SAP & some should be from SAP to CRM.

Instead of having transferring every data between SAP & CRM, check the possibilities of updating only FI related data into SAP. I also doubt on the feasibility. If not, carry out all your processes in CRM itself & update the appropriate details viz., Service notification, Service Order, etc., into SAP.

[peter_atkin]

CRM can be used as a stand-alone product, but is often used in conjunction with SAP ERP.

If SAP ERP is used, then many of the functions are replicated in both systems.

CRM is a much more user-friendly system, however it does not have the richness of functionality the ECC has.

Furthermore, you need to ensure that both datasets are kept consistent.

Most of the products that integrate with CRM will also integrate with ERP - remember that there are far more ERP systems than CRM...

PeteA

[Former Member]

I'm talking about CS and PM.

Costs related activities are one thing and the other is that we need one place where we can analyze. I’m talking about pure PM functionality… What was broken, How long that it take to fix it , How much does it costs etc.  Those right now are done in SAP ( for production plants ) and in CRM  ( for distribution plants ). Business want one place to analyze those. 

Should the PM processes ( for distribution plant ) also starts in CRM and be sent to SAP?

This is my basic question, what should be in SAP and what should be in CRM ?