AVU offers online customer portal with SAP connection
For more than 100 years, AVU has supplied electricity, natural gas and water to
the people in seven cities of the Ennepe-Ruhr region in Germany. In addition, the
company offers its customers many services that deal with the economical and
ecological use of energy. In every action AVU places great emphasis on environmental
orientation. This includes the advancement of renewable energies with
the “Futur”-program, advice on optimal use of energy, subsidies for solar thermal
systems or heating pumps, and ecological grants.
Company
AVU Aktiengesellschaft für Versorgungs-Unternehmen
www.avu.de
Location
Gevelsberg, Germany
Type of Industry
Energy provider
Employees
Approx. 460
Annual turnover
Approx. 300 million Euros
ERP-System
SAP R/3
Programs and Services
Intrexx Professional Business Adapter for SAP
United Planet consulting
Customers
155,000
Requirements
Customer service plays a major role at AVU. For this reason, the company planned
to offer complete service via in an online portal in the Internet. Several hundred
customers per month would be able to order new products in this portal, check
their consumption data, access invoices and change their own customer profiles.
In order to also smoothly circulate this customer data internally, it was necessary
to link the external Web portal with the SAP system directly. In the past, data had
to be sent via e-mail and manually entered in SAP.
Solution
The Intrexx Professional standard software fulfilled all requirements with the Business
Adapter for SAP. The adapter makes it possible to connect the portal to SAP easily
and efficiently. With the help of the consulting department of United Planet, the
portal with all of the required Web applications was developed within three
months. The data can now be accessed in both read and write modes. The customers
in the AVU “Online Meeting Place” can check their personal data online
and also change it immediately on the Web. Part of the data is sent directly to the
SAP system for further processing. Transferring it manually is not necessary. This
saves time on internal processing. The user management contained in the Web
portal makes it secure. The users log on with their customer number and then
gain access to the protected area.
Benefits
- Web-based solution allows access to SAP in read and write modes
- Simplifies data entry and management
- Prevents redundant storage of data
- Location-independent data access for customers
- Time and cost savings for both the end customers and AVU
- The problem of interfacing the two systems was solved optimally
- Portal system can be enhanced as needed
