Starting Point
An internationally operating beverage manufacturer with over 30,000 employees across more than 10 countries faced a classic problem: business processes had grown over decades, organized in silos, and largely managed manually.
The specific pain points:
- Production planning relied on Excel spreadsheets exchanged between plants via email
- Sales processes ran through an outdated form system — approvals took days instead of hours
- HR workflows (leave requests, onboarding, approvals) were paper-based
- No visibility into the status of ongoing requests — “Where is my application?” was the most frequently asked question
Challenge
The central challenge was not technology but diversity: every plant, every country organization had developed its own process variants over the years. A BPM solution therefore had to be:
- Flexible enough to accommodate local variants
- Standardized enough to enable global reporting
- Low-threshold in operation — users were plant managers and sales reps, not IT specialists
- Integrable into the existing SAP landscape
Solution
We implemented a modular BPM platform covering three core areas:
Module 1: Production Workflows
- Digital production orders with automatic routing to responsible departments
- Real-time status tracking for every order
- Escalation rules for delays (automatic notification after defined SLAs)
- Integration with SAP PP (Production Planning) for material availability checks
Module 2: Sales Processes
- Digital quote creation with configured approval workflow
- Price deviations automatically trigger the correct approval level
- Mobile approvals for managers (approval via app instead of signature)
- Audit trail for every decision — compliance-ready and traceable
Module 3: HR Workflows
- Self-service portal for leave requests, expense reports, and onboarding
- Automatic routing based on organizational hierarchy
- Delegation rules with automatic handover during absences
- Dashboard for HR managers with overview of open requests
Technology Stack
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| BPM Engine | Camunda Platform |
| Frontend | React-based task portal |
| Integration | REST APIs + SAP RFC Connector |
| Mobile | Progressive Web App (PWA) |
| Monitoring | Custom dashboard with process KPIs |
| Infrastructure | Kubernetes (on-premise) |
Results
After 12 months in production:
- Sales approval times: from an average of 4.2 days to 6 hours (−85%)
- HR requests: processing time reduced by 70%
- Production orders: 95% of orders completed within SLA (previously: 62%)
- Visibility: real-time status for all ongoing requests — “Where is my application?” became obsolete
- Adoption: 2,800 active users within the first 6 months
Lessons Learned
1. Standardize Processes Before Digitizing
Digitizing chaotic processes produces digital chaos. Before implementation, we reviewed every process with the business teams and consolidated variants — from 47 approval paths in sales down to 8 standardized workflows.
2. Change Management Is 50% of the Project
The technology was implemented in 4 months. Achieving adoption across all countries took 8 months. Local champions — employees who live and breathe the platform in their daily work — were the decisive success factor.
3. Start Small, Scale Fast
We started with one plant and one sales process. After proving value there, the rollout expanded to all locations. Attempting to roll out everything simultaneously from day one would have failed.