CWS-boco implements ECM and invoice processing - distributed throughout Europe and centrally controlled with SAPERION and WMD xFlow®

CWS-boco, the hygiene specialist, has been using a combined system since 2009. This brings together the benefits of IRISXtractTM, WMD xFlow Invoice and SAPERION’s ECM suite for SAP-integrated extraction, processing and archiving of incoming invoices. It is an ambitious IT project with a very wide-ranging perspective, because the long-term plan is for all European CWS-boco subsidiaries to use this system. It will be centrally managed from the computer centre in Hamburg and virtualised via Citrix clients. This arrangement provides for the SAPERION ECM suite with its multi-client capability and unlimited scalability to be used as a central repository for invoices. CWS-boco installed SAPERION in several locations throughout Europe as early as 2004, thereby enabling distributed access to a wide range of documents. By choosing WMD Vertrieb GmbH as prime contractor for the current project, CWS-boco has opted for a system partner possessing many years of experience with similarly demanding installations and offering a holistic DMS and process solution with SAP integration as a one-stop service.

Transparency in the accounts payable section is an important success factor for CWS-boco. "That is why we wanted to reduce the lead and access times for incoming invoices as a whole and to provide a better overview of the current amounts outstanding," remarked Ulrich Limper, IT project manager.

Getting the data faster into the system and at the same time reducing the time and effort this requires was to be the task of an automated data extraction solution - not just for incoming invoices, but with the prospect of also applying this to outgoing invoices, e-mails, contracts and other types of documents. The hygiene specialist hopes that this will result in clearer and faster business processes, while meeting compliance requirements and minimising routine paper handling.

In choosing WMD Vertrieb GmbH as SAPERION and I.R.I.S. partner, CWS-boco has opted for a systems integrator and software supplier offering a one-stop solution for all the required components: server-based scan processing using local scan clients, OCR software and data extraction clients supplied by I.R.I.S. are directly embedded in the xFlow Invoice Workflow, making the entire system readily available and seamlessly integrated in SAP.

Invoice processing in Germany represents the nucleus of the international project
The nucleus of the project was the automated data extraction and processing of incoming invoices at the sites in Germany, using IRISXtractTM and WMD xFlow Invoice. The extraction software has already been in use since 2004, but in conjunction with WMD Workflow it has only been implemented since 2009. WMD initially installed the integrated system at the Hamburg site, where both the computer centre and the accounting department of CWS-boco are located. All the incoming invoices received by the German companies are sent here, or rather, vendors are increasingly sending their invoices straight to Hamburg, where the documents are digitised using the central KOFAX network server.

The IRISXtractTM-based Accounts Payable software then extracts the invoice data and transfers these automatically to WMD xFlow Invoice for further processing and release processes within SAP. Around 670 factual verifiers are linked into the invoice verification workflow at 30 of the 55 German CWS-boco sites and process approximately 8,500 incoming invoices a month. The revision-proof archiving of these invoices is then carried out by the ECM and SAPERION Workflow suite version 6.

Marco Sanz Karl, IT manager at CWS-boco Germany, commented: "Different document categories require different business processes. However, a company like CWS-boco cannot use different workflow software for every document category or every business process. In this respect we benefit from the generic approach of the WMD xFlow product family. The modular workflow engine can be customised easily with the aid of graphic tools and can be used for every conceivable work process."

ECM system with multi-client capability for international access
From the Hamburg centre, WMD xFlow Invoice with IRISXtractTM will be rolled out successively in all European countries over the next few months, starting with Benelux and Italy, and with twelve other foreign subsidiaries to follow. In total around 1,000 releasers throughout Europe will be using the centrally managed xFlow Invoice Workflow. The invoices will then be scanned by the foreign subsidiaries, entered in the system in Hamburg using IRISXtract(TM) and then processed and released via Citrix workstations in the various countries, again using xFlow Invoice.

This internationality is one of the major challenges of the project. CWS-boco is mastering them thanks to the flexible workflow design, which allows country-specific features to be incorporated, as well as the particular characteristics of SAPERION, i.e. its modern system architecture, good integration facilities in local environments, high scalability for handling a very large volume of documents, and also its multi-client capability.

SAPERION has already been CWS-boco’s ECM product of choice since 2004. At that time the company parted with several existing AS/400-based archives in favour of a modern ECM infrastructure. The SAPERION software imported about 43 million documents from the old archives and was installed first in Hamburg, then successively in the decentralised locations of Dreieich and Lauterbach, as well as the foreign subsidiaries in Milan (Italy), s’Hertogenbosch (Netherlands) and Berchem (Belgium). Its multi-tiered architecture made SAPERION the ideal product for this distributed roll-out.

Today CWS-boco’s strategic IT focus tends to be oriented towards bringing together previously peripherally hosted applications: SAP, the extraction element and the network scan server have already been installed centrally. When CWS-boco replaces the jukebox storage system with a NetApp storage system in 2010, the SAPERION system will also be completely centralised. Marco Sanz Karl: "SAPERION’s multi-client capability, above all, is of great benefit to us, because although in future we will only have one central host for the system in Hamburg, the subsidiaries will continue to be separated both logically and in terms of authorisation."

We call that investment security: if a new client is to be added, the entire system does not have to be duplicated and no program changes are necessary as long as the technical requirements are identical to those of the existing clients. The multi-client capability makes it possible to provide completely separate application environments in large, distributed installations. This means that several clients can be provided with similar table structures and masks, but on no account must one client be able to see the data of another client or - even more importantly - change the data.

Major savings in IT costs achieved by centralising the IT landscape in the Hamburg computer centre
In addition to being used for accounts payable, SAPERION is also utilised for archiving and managing other document categories: outgoing invoices are stored in the ECM system via SAP ArchiveLink, and the same applies to route maps. Furthermore, SAPERION is used as classic contract management software for archiving contracts and also for archiving e-mails from Lotus Notes. SAPERION ELM provides CWS-boco with a high-performance tool that allows incoming and outgoing e-mails to be archived on the Notes Server automatically and in the background, without the user being aware of this process. Altogether CWS-boco currently stores about 1.3 million documents a month in SAPERION, including 10,000 incoming invoices, approximately one million SAP outgoing documents, route maps, contracts and e-mails, which the 250 concurrent users can access simultaneously. In total the system contains nearly 110 million documents.

The next stage planned for the project is to set up invoice verification with WMD xFlow Invoice in the new SAP system of CWS-boco's subsidiary, CWS-boco International Supply in Dreieich as well. In addition to centralising the three SAPERION systems, there will also be various enhancements in the archiving environment in line with the requirements of the subsidiary. Ulrich Limper anticipates that the centralisation measure, in particular, will lead to further major savings in IT costs for the company.


The company:
CWS-boco Deutschland GmbH is a subsidiary of CWS-boco International GmbH, a company that is wholly owned by Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH of Duisburg. In financial year 2008 the total turnover achieved by CWS-boco International amounted to 779 million euros. CWS-boco Deutschland has about 3,800 employees from 43 countries. The head office is located in Dreieich, Hessen.
As a service partner for washroom hygiene, dust-control mats and textile services, CWS-boco offers systematic solutions for companies of all sizes and in every industry. CWS-boco's particular expertise lies in providing special solutions for industry, public service, health, service providers, commerce and trade. Homepage CWS-boco