IT carve-out: How to move the go-live date forward

Make a carve out happen quickly

The success story of the Kostal Group, which develops and produces complex electronic and mechatronic products for industrial companies, shows how such a carve out can be realized even faster than planned and completely remotely during the pandemic.

The Kostal Group, headquartered in Lüdenscheid (46 branches and more than 20,000 employees worldwide) planned modifications to its own IT landscape. Until recently, the group had been using an SAP ERP and an Extended Warehouse Management system (EWM), each with twelve organizationally and data technically self-contained units (clients). The aim was to incorporate the Czech Republic site under the Bulgaria site and to continue to operate it there immediately after the go-live.

Data migration: How to kick it off quickly and avoid long downtimes

Since the ERP system is significant for the entire company, the business transformation had to be implemented particularly quickly, securely and without impacting ongoing business. The family-owned company with five independent business divisions - automotive electrics, industrial electrics, contact systems, testing technology (SOMA) and solar electrics - relied on the expertise of the software and consulting company SNP to implement the time-sensitive project.

The data migration experts examined the ERP landscape with the help of their own transformation software, which relies on automation and visualizes the effects of planned system modifications in real time. This revealed the fact that one client each in the ERP and the associated EWM system contained three company codes, from which the Czech company code had to be removed and created in a new Bulgarian company code with its own plant code.

Carve-out project from the perspective of the IT experts

The transformation specialists removed the Czech Republic company code from the system and transferred it to the new company code and plant code. In the process, the purchasing and sales scheduling agreements were also transferred. Further restructuring took place at the inventory level, between the source and target plants: SNP consultants carried out material inventory postings, including subsequent postings of inventory accounts and valuation classes. In the area of finance and accounting (FI), the master data of debtors and creditors could be transferred unchanged. The sales organization was transferred to a new one and the Extended Warehouse Management was converted to the new plant code. In addition, the cost centers were given a new number range.

Zero-defect migration with early go-live – performed remotely during the pandemic

All project steps of this zero-defect migration were carried out quickly and securely remotely, which proved to be a clear advantage at the time of the pandemic and in view of applicable virus containment measures. "Due to the high quality of the delivery and the flawlessness of the mass test to ensure data quality, we were even able to bring forward the planned go-live date by three weeks," says Stephan Sokolowski, Head of IT Competence Center at Kostal. Thus, the remote project was successfully completed after a total of three and a half months.

The advantages of the project approach at a glance

• All project steps were carried out remotely
• The go-live date could be brought forward by three weeks
• Zero defect migration: Fast, secure and consistent data transfer