Diehl Aircabin: Two Become One – Keeping System Harmonization Always under Control

During the past two years, Diehl Aerosystems, a division of the Diehl Group, drew up and enacted a new IT strategy for all of its business units. The goal was to use synergies across the division more effectively. An important line of action in this regard was harmonizing the processes of the division’s business units.

In 2012, Diehl Service Modules GmbH (formerly Mühlenberg) was integrated into the division. Diehl Aircabin faced the challenge of consolidating its business processes with the new business unit, and launched the first major harmonization project in the division together with the new affiliated company.

Up until its integration into the division, Diehl Service Modules worked with a Kifos solution from Sage bäurer GmbH as its ERP system. Within the scope of this harm-onization project, all of the associated logistics processes were to be discontinued and replaced with Diehl Aircabin’s processes. To do so, the processes were to be transferred to the existing SAP® ERP system.

In order to adapt the two companies’ business processes to one another, Diehl Aircabin decided to use SNP’s Transformation Backbone® software. With this software solution, information was migrated at the spreadsheet level and the database from the Kifos solution was transferred into the SAP target system. In addition, standard transfer tools, such as Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPI), were used for selected business objects. As the name suggests, BAPIs are standardized pro- gramming interfaces that provide access to the ERP system’s processes and data.

Different processes, a short project time, and the necessity to examine data in the old system that is not SAP-compliant made it necessary to move swiftly when planning and implementing the project. Thanks to SNP Transformation Backbone, the company could continuously make prototypical advancements and run tests on individual processes during the entire migration.

In addition, while going live, downtime did not exceed 48 hours. Furthermore, the software made additional test steps possible during the migration process. After successfully transferring the data, individual business objects were analyzed with regard to their consistency.

The excellent teamwork, an exemplary willingness to run tests, and the excellent work by the Diehl Aircabin project team all played a key role in the project’s success.

Diehl Aircabin has established itself as a preferred system partner in the international aviation industry. With its cabin modules, crew rest compartments, and air ducting, Diehl Aircabin provides an array of highly specialized aviation solutions under the general umbrella of Diehl Aerosystems.

Diehl Aircabin GmbH’s area of expertise includes product and process development, design, predevelopment, construction, and the production and qualification of cabin elements. The inte- gration of system components such as in-flight entertainment, oxygen systems, and electrical equipment also forms an imp- ortant part of the company’s wide-ranging portfolio.

Further information: www.diehl.com/en/diehl-aerosystems/company/companyprofile/ diehl-aircabin.html