TWK: Make payment decisions immediately and securely

More overview for Technische Werke Kaiserslautern (TWK): Finance and controlling now have comprehensive liquidity monitoring based on business intelligence solutions from SAP. This enables the service company to keep an eye on its current solvency at all times, even with high sales and many transitory items. The liquidity management system was introduced in cooperation with the SAP consulting company IBsolution.

Electricity, district heating and water − TWK Technische Werke Kaiserslautern supplies around 90,000 regional customers in the Western Palatinate. As a modern service provider, the energy supplier also operates local public transport in the entire catchment area of the city of Kaiserslautern. The wastewater and garbage divisions are billed by TWK on behalf of the city as a service. In total, the 650 employees generate more than 150 million euros annually. High sales and many transitory items are part of everyday life for utility service providers like TWK − and it is important to keep an eye on your own liquidity at all times.

Make payment decisions immediately and securely

The service company carefully monitors its use of equity − despite high sales and many transitory items. But without end-to-end liquidity management, those responsible at TWK found it difficult to keep track of current solvency. “That’s why we decided to introduce liquidity monitoring based on SAP software,” explains IT manager Berthold Willig. TWK was supported in this by IBsolution, a Heilbronn-based consulting company specializing in business intelligence solutions. “IBsolution offered us the best overall package. The proof of concept and the extensive industry references completely convinced us,” emphasizes Berthold Willig. The consultants implemented SAP BusinessObjects solutions for business intelligence, which can be used to analyze and prepare large volumes of data particularly quickly and easily. The result is comprehensive liquidity monitoring that delivers up-to-date figures at the touch of a button.

Simple entry masks

In order to be able to map the liquidity monitoring clearly, TWK needed some technical tools. IBsolution configured the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition in SAP Business Warehouse for this purpose. With the help of the scalable Java architecture, the solutions used can be easily interconnected. Unlike in the past, for example, rents, salaries or compulsory payments can be entered manually via a common interface − regardless of whether the payments are monthly, quarterly or annual. IBsolution has developed clear entry masks for this purpose.

SAP BusinessObjects dashboards provide a quick overview of the current payment position. Three different operational key figures can be tracked: incoming and outgoing payments as well as the liquidity status. This allows finance professionals to create interactive reports and visualize data professionally in no time. Thanks to simple drop-down menus, entry fields and tabs, even complex financial data can be presented quickly and clearly.

Accounting is also supported by the analysis functions of SAP Business Explorer (BEx) Analyzer. They open up a detailed view of accounts receivable and accounts payable. This also allows workbooks to be displayed in Microsoft Excel − with additional drag-&-drop- and trace functions. It is now possible, for example, to display progress payments separately and aggregate them to different internal customers. The business department can thus quickly see which invoices have been sent to service providers, which have been paid, and which are still open.

More time for the core business

Previously, finance managers and controllers had to track multiple transactions in SAP ERP to obtain meaningful liquidity information. Complicated filter settings made the work even more difficult. “With the help of the new solution, this process is now automated in SAP Business Warehouse. With just one click, our employees receive a list of all items − clearly presented,” says Markus Vollmer, Managing Director of TWK Technische Werke Kaiserslautern GmbH.

The liquidity data from SAP for Utilities, the industry solution for utilities, is integrated into SAP Business Warehouse and is available there for reporting. Data from all components finds its way to the user reliably and clearly via the new front-end tools. As a result, TWK can now better overview and control its operational business. Those responsible can see at a glance which payments can be made. In the run-up to larger disbursements, the finance department can also provide individual accounts with sufficient liquidity cover. This means that the company is well prepared for day-to-day business and can identify potential payment bottlenecks at an early stage. Even short-term investments can be planned and checked thanks to daily updated information. TWK gains security and has more time for its core business.

“IBsolution convinced us with a fast implementation in good quality at favorable conditions,” Berthold Willig draws a positive conclusion. Consequently, the consulting company is now also introducing operational liquidity management for the supplier systems. This enables finance and controlling to maintain an overview at all times, even in the case of external settlements.

“The SAP BusinessObjects tools for visualizing payment flows help us to better use and position the BW system internally. Thanks to the good knowledge transfer by IBsolution, we can now manage our BI landscape completely independently.”