Credit management optimization with SAP S/4HANA for Receivables Management

Challenge

Stulz S.p.A., a leading multinational company in the industrial air conditioning sector, has chosen Qintesi as a partner in a project initiative aimed at reviewing credit management processes. The initial application scenario was the result of a SAP S/4HANA conversion performed with a brownfield approach which, therefore, did not include the innovations available in the new release. Hence the possibility of starting a process redesign activity to meet the expectations of business users by leveraging the new SAP S/4HANA features.

Solution

Based on the requirements and objectives expressed by the customer, the implementation approach Qintesi Template was proposed and adopted, which consists in using as a starting point for the design of the solution target process templates that exploit the latest generation SAP Best Practice contents, which are suitably integrated with add-ons that Qintesi has developed and consolidated over the years.

Following a short study phase, aimed at analyzing the initial application scenario, the design activity was divided into different streams aimed at:

• redesigning the credit management process: the phases initially managed outside the system have been reported within the SAP S/4HANA solution thanks to the design of an integrated process based on the Advanced Credit Management functions, which also made it possible to automate a series of activities, such as updating the scoring, risk class and credit limit of the customer portfolio in order to ensure greater process efficiency, but above all greater responsiveness to changes in risk scenarios;
• making information exchanges with the external credit management company more efficient: through the adoption of APIs, the flows of requests for opening or changes in insurance coverage and those for receiving the grade of customers and any unilateral changes defined by the management company credit have been integrated into the SAP S/4HANA solution;
• reviewing the credit control rules to ensure compliance of the logic applied by the system with respect to the needs of business users;
• implementing structured processes to ensure certified and traceable management of decision-making flows and better effectiveness in the exchange of information between the various company functions (e.g. granting internal credit lines, authorizations for the fulfillment of orders in derogation from the general credit control policies, etc.);
• expanding the functions offered by the system, through the activation of the Collection and Dispute Management modules for the optimization of the management processes of collections and disputes;
• strengthening reporting tools by introducing new KPIs, activating standard Fiori apps and developing customized reporting.