Complex business problems necessitate the application of advanced technology to realise an increase in the efficiency of processes and materials usage. However, in many instances when a multinational or a larger local corporate must turn to an ERP vendor to address its planning needs, the cost of rolling out a tier one solution such as SAP to its many subsidiaries and branch offices becomes prohibitive.
"Many large companies can implement SAP at their larger centres and realise a realistic return on investment. However, while mid-size subsidiaries and remote branch offices that are experiencing lower volumes of trade may certainly benefit from the application of ERP solutions, the reality is that the cost of an SAP solution is simply not justifiable for these sites," explains Shamik Sinha, CEO of Scala Africa.
He notes that in such a scenario, businesses can get the best of both worlds by selecting an alternative tier two ERP system that is designed to fully integrate with SAP, but that has a far shorter implementation window and lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
"SAP may be ideal for headquarters and large operations, while iScala 2.1 ERP software can handle mid-size subsidiaries to deliver a single collaborative system," he says. Sinha notes that, based on this business model, Scala has experienced significant successes in the branch offices of multinational companies and subsidiaries of local corporates throughout Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
Sinha explains that iScala and SAP can be integrated to deliver a seamless, enterprise-wide solution. "There can be many business drivers for deploying SAP and Scala within the same organisation, the most common of which is to match the supported business functionality and technical support costs against the local business needs," says Sinha. He notes that highly complex tier one ERP solutions such as SAP can deliver substantial business benefits in a complex environment where many users doing substantially the same tasks. "However in less complex business environments where business activities can change rapidly or in sites with less staff, a solution that is quicker to deploy may be a better option," he says.
Solutions such as iScala can be installed and maintained with locally available skills and will often meet all the business needs at a significantly lower TCO.
Technically, says Sinha, like most ERP systems Scala has a well-defined interface to send and receive business documents. This is the iScala Data Exchange Server (DES) that is built into the platform of the iScala 2.1 product. DES is a powerful XML-based sorting engine and message gateway. Any business document that is received is inspected to identify what it is and then passed to the correct piece of business logic - called an iScala Manager - to process that document.
"Similarly, when Scala needs to send a message to another system the appropriate iScala Manager creates the business document in XML format and then passes it to DES for onward delivery."
XML is a widely used standard for labelling the data within a document; there are many different labelling standards known as schemas currently in existence. Scala supports one of the most widely used schema sets, the Open Application Group Integration Specification (OAGIS). SAP also has a very well defined interface. "However, the most widely used SAP interface does not use XML; instead it uses a more traditional flat file format that is based on an SAP proprietary standard called iDoc. iDocs are information-rich and can support every type of external communication from SAP, so long as the iDoc format is adhered to," explains Sinha.
He says Scala has already released support for the 50 most common business documents and is regularly releasing more. "Any business document from any Connectivity Solution can be connected to SAP via middleware. These middleware products can also support many types of communication protocols depending on the connectivity requirement, data throughput and so on," says Sinha, adding that Scala recommends the Microsoft BizTalk Server and has built the iScala Adaptor for Microsoft BizTalk to simplify the Scala to BizTalk connection.
"A number of vendors have built adaptors from BizTalk to SAP, making the overall iScala to SAP connection a straightforward exercise to deliver a cost-effective, fully integrated enterprise wide ERP system at a realistic cost."
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Scala Business Solutions is represented in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands by Scala Africa, which provides sales, consulting and implementation skills to a customer base of 70 companies in SA and a further 300 in the rest of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Headquartered in Johannesburg and with offices in countries including Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, Scala Africa (Pty) Ltd, is a truly pan-African concern that offers integrated, collaborative ERP solutions to businesses across the continent. Visit Scala's Web site at www.scala.co.za for press information including press releases, information and product information.
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