In a Nutshell:

SharePoint SAP integration to create customer portals. Facilities include integration with FI, realtime consignment tracking, customer portals, project portals, sales portals, and collaboration tools.

Business Problem:

Accounts Department
The company wanted to move towards customer communication orientated around portals, email, and instant messenging technologies. The client wanted to move away from paper based invoicing and account management.

Warehouse Management
Warehouse management needed to be more accessible to customers. Customer tracking of the movement of their goods from ships, to storage, and on to transportation was inefficient and time consuming.

Research:

The company CIO identified certain key system requirements:

•	Must integrate into their existing SAP infrastructure.
•	Utilise their existing Sharepoint infrastructure. Sharepoint was being used successfully by other departments in the organisation. Employees were familiar with the interface components of Sharepoint, so this would reduce time spent on training. Time to implementation would also be greatly reduced.

Identifying a Partner

The CIO decided to partner with Dial Nine Software Technologies because it was one of the few companies specialising in Sharepoint SAP integration, and because the company had more than a decade of experience with internet technologies. Dial Nine Software had also succesfully completed similar projects for other companies.

Proposed Solution

Dial Nine Software Technologies recommended using Microsoft SharePoint technologies as a front-end to SAP, including FI/CO. This method would fall in line with their existing web server infrastructure and would speed development.

Client Portal
The client portal included the following facilities:

1.  Accounts Portal

•	Allows the customer to search and view invoices
•	Update invoice status
•	View statements
•	View outstanding balances

2.  Sales Portal

•	Allows the customer to communicate with their account manager
•	Search and view current and pending orders

3.  Projects Portal
Ad hoc portal that allows a client and staff members to collaborate and compile information associated with specific projects.

4.  Goods Tracking
Allows the customer to track in realtime the location of specific consignments.

5.  Company Announcements and News

6.  Customer Profile
- Allows the customer to update company details and add contacts

7.  Instant Messenger
- Allows the customer to communicate with Accounts and Sales via instant messenger.

8.  Email and Document Support
The system allowed for centrally managed document management support including metadata, search, indexing, version control, and archiving.
The system was tightly integrated with the organisation's email servers, allowing users to easily extract attachments and email content and use them within the Sharepoint portal environment.

9.  Single Sign On
The system authenticated users from SharePoint and through to SAP.

The Result
The client estimates that the introduction of the client portal has reduced the cost of client management by 55%.
Feedback from customers on the new client portal was excellent. Customers saw real benefits from the system, and found the new level of interactivity made communication with the company more timely, streamlined, and dynamic.
Customer adoption of the client portal was smooth. Dial Nine Software was commended on the systems ease of use and intuitive interfaces.

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About Dial Nine Software Technologies
Founded in 1997 Dial Nine Software Technologies provides advanced IT solutions and services to businesses and institutions. The company has proven success and expertise in multiple business domains including finance, travel, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. The company provides a range of services from application development, data warehousing, managed application delivery, middleware, web application development, to wireless application development. The company specialises in SAP Portal, ABAP, Java EE, .NET, SharePoint, and Web software development.