Fressnapf digitalizes its HR department

Efficient SAP standard environment

The head office introduced SAP HCM for HR management in 2012. Initially, the quality assurance of payroll accounting with the SAP solution was still carried out manually. However, it became clear that the regular payroll check needed to be automated, simply because of the rapidly growing number of employees. After the persons responsible in the HR and IT departments had familiarized themselves with the new SAP system, the next step was to select a suitable ICS solution for SAP HCM.

Step by step to a comprehensive ICS

In combination with PLK and PLX, the Master Data Audit Program MADAP PA was implemented for the control of HR master data, which checks the plausibility of master data before each payroll run. In further expansion steps, the comparison and calculation tool VBT2, the extension of the Master Data Audit Program to include the OM component, and the audit tool PLK_AT for the Austrian sites were added. The implementation of further Centric tools is already in the pipeline. Janine Thiele, responsible for SAP HCM at Fressnapf, notes:

"Since all Centric tools can be integrated with each other, we can use them to build a comprehensive modular ICS for SAP HCM step by step."

Long-term data quality management

Centric tools have enabled the HR team in Krefeld to establish regular quality assurance and reporting processes for payroll accounting. A total of up to 20 users works with the tools regularly. While the monthly payroll audit with PLK, PLX, and PLK_AT are specific to the German and Austrian locations, the tools MADAP and VBT2 are used to analyze data from all national companies that work with SAP.

MADAP is now used to check the master data records of around 10,000 employees every month. The heterogeneous organizational structures of the various country subsidiaries were also harmonized with the help of MADAP OM. As a source system for downstream systems, organizational management now ensures the uniform naming of organizational units and reliable data quality across countries and topics.

Flexible personnel controlling

HR controllers use the VBT tool to create the standard monthly reporting. Thanks to flexible ad-hoc analyses, they can also answer spontaneous questions from the corporate group at any time. Janine Thiele, who is responsible for HCM, sees the simple evaluation of various SAP data sources in one tool as a major advantage:

"Instead of using time-consuming SAP queries and Excel, our HR controllers can use VBT2 to link all SAP data at the click of a mouse and evaluate it in combination."

For example, employee and payroll data can be merged in VBT2 and analyzed and prepared together using stored formulas, predefined queries, and filters. The HR controllers use VBT2, for example, to simulate bonus calculations, to report international key figures for financial controlling, or to simulate the financial effects of contract changes on the forecast and the annual plan.

Real advantages in many areas

Through automation in payroll, reporting, and data maintenance, Fressnapf saves considerable time on routine tasks with the Centric tools. The error-prone manual processing of Excel lists has also been eliminated in many places. HR managers can now rely on the fact that the payrolls are correct and the data quality is right. Another important plus point is the reliable international reporting that results from the high data quality in organizational management and master data.

The IT department also appreciates the ease of use of Centric tools during both implementation and operations. Control and administration takes place completely internally, and Centric is available to answer any questions. Thanks to regular updates provided by Centric, the ICS at Fressnapf is always technically and professionally up to date.