01. September 2009

World's First Go-Live of SAP GTS 8.0 at EADS

Global Export Compliance Platform as a Standardized Group Solution

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) has become the first company in the world to go live with "SAP BusinessObjects GRC Global Trade Services“ (SAP GTS) Release 8.0. On June 2, the technical upgrade from SAP GTS 7.2 was successfully completed and Release 8.0 of the global trade and customs management solution went live.

EADS is Europe's largest aeronautic, defense, and space company, with annual sales of €43.3 billion and approximately 118,000 employees in 2008. EADS owns Airbus, the leading manufacturer of civil aircraft and military refueling and cargo aircraft, Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter group, and EADS Astrium, Europe's no. 1 in the aerospace business with programs such as Ariane and Galileo. With its defence and security division, EADS offers comprehensive system solutions, is a partner in the Eurofighter Consortium, and a major shareholder in the cruise missile manufacturer MDBA.

As a global enterprise, EADS is required to meet a multitude of export control regulations. For instance, the group not only has a global network of customers and vendors, but also operates its own business divisions and subsidiaries in different states. These are responsible for transnational goods movements both among themselves and with business partners outside the group. The import and export regulations that apply in each instance may vary depending on the location and product. For example, munitions must meet both the European export regulations and the United States Government regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Control (ITAR).

These are complex export compliance requirements, which were implemented in SAP GTS 8.0 as part of the ramp-up program using functional enhancements, and which the EADS company solution accommodates in full. All business partners can now be compared using lists that are standardized across the entire group. Of particular significance for EADS are the ITAR track & trace function with license depreciation at the level of bill of material items, the extended authorization check, and the assignment of export licenses to programs and projects in GTS license management. For certain specific issues, the respective standard functions were defined and implemented during ramp-up. For example, the "manual posting" function is now available to users of GTS Release 8.0 as standard. Manual posting allows unconnected units to verify their transactions (purchase orders, goods receipts, sales orders, deliveries) on the company's central export compliance platform.

The excellent cooperation with the two technical experts on hand during the GTS 8.0 ramp-up, SAP AG's ramp-up back office, and the consultancy cbs Corporate Business Solutions (cbs) was crucial to the success of the project. Manufacturer, consultant, and customer worked hand in hand to accomplish the new SAP solution. cbs's involvement in SAP GTS product development is well-established and supported the project on the implementation side. The consultants brought to the table their process expertise, a phase-oriented and process-oriented approach, international project management experience, and the required level of organizational competence for solutions of global proportions on the SAP application and technology side. The superb response times of SAP's ramp-up coach and the speed with which bugs in the application were dealt with by GTS product development were key factors in meeting planned deadlines and achieving an end result of such high quality. EADS can now reap the benefits of the integrated, standardized, group solution that is the new export compliance platform based on SAP GTS 8.0.