Client Overview
Our client is a leading global provider of water and wastewater treatment solutions, known for their innovative approaches to optimizing water resources and their strong collaboration with various stakeholders. They partner with utilities, industrial manufacturers, building operators, and communities to enhance water management and sustainability practices worldwide. With operations spanning multiple countries, they face complex regulatory requirements, where specific local invoicing regulations must be strictly adhered to.
Challenges
The client’s invoicing and compliance processes in Romania were managed using a legacy .NET system. This system was increasingly problematic, plagued by frequent integration failures with the Romanian government’s platform due to master data inaccuracies. These errors led to significant disruptions, as invoices often failed to submit correctly, requiring manual rework and resubmission—a time-consuming and error-prone process. Furthermore, the absence of a centralized dashboard for monitoring and troubleshooting exacerbated these issues, leaving users without a clear view of system status or errors. The inefficiencies in the existing setup were impacting the company’s ability to comply with Romania’s strict invoicing regulations, risking non-compliance penalties and operational delays.
Our Solution
Recognizing the need for a more robust and integrated solution, we undertook a comprehensive evaluation during the migration from the legacy system to the SAP S/4HANA environment. While traditional methods like IDOCs and RFC connections were considered, these options fell short of fully addressing the client’s requirements for a streamlined, automated, and user-friendly compliance system.
Through in-depth discussions and analysis, we identified SAP Document and Reporting Compliance, part of the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), as the optimal solution. This application offers an end-to-end approach for managing e-invoicing and compliance reporting across multiple countries, including the complex regulatory landscape of Romania. The solution is designed to automate the creation, submission, and archiving of electronic invoices, while also providing tools to monitor and manage compliance across different jurisdictions.
Implementation Details
Migration and Integration: We successfully transitioned the client’s Romanian business operations from the legacy .NET system to SAP S/4HANA. The integration of SAP Document and Reporting Compliance was a key part of this migration. By leveraging SAP BTP as the middleware, the solution facilitated seamless communication with Romanian government bodies, automating the submission and receipt of electronic invoices and ensuring compliance with local regulations. This integration significantly reduced the manual efforts previously required and minimized the risk of errors in the invoicing process.
Customization and Reporting: One of the challenges the client faced was the lack of standard reporting tools within their legacy system to address failed integrations and facilitate re-processing. To overcome this, we developed custom reports and re-processing programs tailored to the client’s needs. These tools provided users with a clear view of the invoicing process, enabling them to quickly identify and correct errors. The introduction of these custom tools drastically reduced the manual workload, allowing users to focus on more strategic tasks rather than repetitive rework.
Global Compliance and Localization: SAP Document and Reporting Compliance provided out-of-the-box support for e-invoicing across more than 20 countries. The solution’s robust localization features ensured that the client could meet Romania’s unique invoicing regulations and easily adapt to any changes in regulatory requirements. This capability was crucial for the client, as it allowed them to maintain compliance across their global operations without needing to implement separate solutions for different regions.
Outcome
The implementation of SAP Document and Reporting Compliance delivered significant benefits to the client:
Enhanced Compliance: The automated invoicing and compliance management features of SAP Document and Reporting Compliance ensured that the client could consistently adhere to Romania’s strict regulatory requirements. This automation reduced the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
Reduced Manual Rework: The custom reports and re-processing programs we developed greatly minimized the need for manual intervention. Users could now quickly identify and correct any issues, reducing the time and effort previously spent on reworking failed submissions.
Improved Efficiency: The integration of SAP Document and Reporting Compliance with SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP streamlined the client’s compliance processes, embedding them within the core business operations. This integration resulted in a more efficient workflow, allowing the client to manage their compliance obligations more effectively.
Scalability: The solution’s global reach and regular updates ensured that the client could maintain compliance across multiple regions, even as regulatory requirements evolved. This scalability positioned the client to expand their operations without worrying about compliance challenges in new markets.
Conclusion
By implementing SAP Document and Reporting Compliance, we enabled our client to overcome the challenges posed by Romania’s complex invoicing regulations and streamline their global compliance processes. The result was a more efficient, automated system that not only reduced the risk of non-compliance but also freed up valuable resources for other critical business activities. This case study underscores the importance of leveraging advanced SAP solutions to manage compliance in a rapidly changing regulatory environment.