Digitized material traceability for all infrastructure materials
Initial situation: As part of a manufacturer recall, defective materials could not be identified. EBA required an end-to-end digital solution to track a material lifecycle for safety-critical materials.
Problem: Material age and origin cannot be traced seamlessly. In addition, there is no end-to-end, serial-number-level overview containing all relevant information on the materials installed in the infrastructure.
Need: Development of a technological solution (database and end-user app) for standardized material traceability in the infrastructure.
Needs analysis and assessment of the status quo through discussions with end users
Creation of an operational as-is process in accordance with the BPMN standard
Integrated definition of the target state with the identified specialist departments and derivation of the to-be process
Derivation of requirements and IT features and visualization in mockups
Validation of the to-be process as well as the functional mockups and the customer experience
After approval: creation of business and technical user stories for scheduling into IT development sprints
Review: developed features are reviewed and approved with end users
A database for material traceability developed within the ERP standard, as well as two apps for different end-user groups (approx. 6,000 users in maintenance) with specific functionality
All stakeholders were identified along with their needs and involved throughout the entire development process (customer centricity), and further supported during hypercare phases
Short IT development cycles enabled changes to be implemented at short notice and delivered in releases
"With a user-centered approach, the consulting firm helped identify the needs of all stakeholders and implement them in iterative IT development cycles without any loss of time."
The approach is relevant for infrastructure operators and network operators who install safety-critical materials at scale and must track their lifecycle seamlessly—for example due to regulatory requirements or following recalls. The user-focused approach with BPMN modeling, mockups, and iterative development cycles can be applied to any initiative in which an ERP-supported solution is being introduced for operational maintenance for the first time.
