Holistic Supplier Database for Maximum Efficiency
With evia towards the successful modernization of the supplier database for stable and future-proof supplier processes.
A leading German premium car manufacturer from Stuttgart is known worldwide for its luxurious and high-quality vehicles. To meet the complex requirements of supplier management, the company uses the central Supplier Data Base (SDB) to manage master supplier data. Over time, however, maintaining and expanding the system became increasingly complicated, especially with the introduction of multi-client capability. This led to recurring stability issues.
To ensure the growing demands of a global supplier network and more stable processes, the company decided in 2014 to replace the existing system with a more modern and future-proof solution. This began a long-standing partnership with evia to develop a more powerful, flexible version of the SDB and gradually replace the old system.
evia has created a speedboat that implements requirements significantly faster and more efficiently.
IT Project Manager, Client
Starting situation for the modernization of the SDB
The complexity and maintenance effort of the old SDB led to the decision for a new development, which, together with evia, brought stability, flexibility, and future-proofing.
The Supplier Data Base (SDB) is a central application for the capture, management, and processing of supplier master data and supplier hierarchies, used by both buyers and suppliers. As a central system for the creation, maintenance, and distribution of supplier master data, the SDB supplies data to a variety of third-party systems. These systems can access the supplier data via various interfaces. In addition, the SDB has numerous interfaces to systems that are required for supplier creation and management processes.
However, due to historical development, the maintainability and extensibility of the SDB had become very complex and repeatedly led to stability problems. Particularly when adding multi-tenancy capabilities, it became clear that the limits of the application's further development and maintenance had been reached. Against this background, the company decided in 2014 to replace the existing system with a more stable, faster, and flexible version. And thus began our 10-year journey together so far. The decision was made to redevelop the software to meet current technical requirements and enable migration from the old to the new application.
evia was selected as a partner for digital transformation. The flexible concept with a holistic approach convinced the stakeholders and paved the way for a new application with many possibilities.
Transformation and expansion of the Supplier Data Base from 2014 to the present
From new development through international rollout to cloud migration – continuous optimization and expansion for maximum efficiency and future-proofing.
Challenges in optimizing supplier management
Process Harmonization, Data Migration, and System Integration as Keys to the Successful Rearchitecture and Optimization of the Supplier Data Base.
Secure transition to a modern system with the evia migration solution
Two-stage strategy for a gradual phasing out of the legacy system, ensuring seamless integration into existing business processes.
The central challenge was to develop a new, modern system while phasing out the old system gradually and safely without interrupting ongoing business processes. To achieve this goal, a migration strategy was developed based on a two-stage approach.
A concept for the transition was already created during the bidding phase, which provided for a one-year parallel development of the new system. This approach was intended to ensure that the new system is seamlessly integrated into the existing IT landscape and to avoid a risky „big bang“ switchover.
The two-stage strategy made it possible to gradually transfer existing processes and data to the new solution without jeopardizing daily operations. This ensured that the implementation proceeded smoothly from both a technical and functional perspective.
Phase 1: Immediately upon system startup, smooth & fully functional
Phase 2: Complete decommissioning of the legacy system
Modern System Architecture and Migration
From 3-tier architecture to cloud migration.
3-tier architecture
Java Implementation
Confluence Documentation
SCRUM Project Management
Jira Integration
The database is based on a 3-tier architecture. The application is implemented in Java and is extensively documented in Confluence throughout the entire project lifecycle and with every update. Project management is handled using the SCRUM method in Jira.
Open Liberty
PostgreSQL
Redundancy
Load balancing
Kubernetes
Continuous Integration
Azure Infrastructure
Surprise Interface
DB2 Replacement
For the migration to the Azure cloud, WebSphere was replaced by OpenLiberty and DB2 by PostgreSQL. The application was adapted for operation in Azure, taking redundancy and load balancing into account. The entire infrastructure was built in Azure, from the source code through continuous integration deployment to the technical infrastructure with Kubernetes. Information was made available to other areas via the Surprise Interface (proprietary evia application).
Azure Cloud
Open Liberty
PostgreSQL
Redundancy
Load balancing
Kubernetes
Continuous Integration
Surprise Interface
WebSphere Replacement
For the migration to the Azure cloud, WebSphere was replaced with OpenLiberty and DB2 with PostgreSQL. The application was adapted for operation in Azure, taking redundancy and load balancing into account. The entire infrastructure was built in Azure, from the source code to continuous integration deployment to the technical infrastructure with Kubernetes. Information was provided to the other areas via the Surprise Interface (proprietary evia application).
We thank Evia and the team for continuously working on optimizing the system and for their strong contribution to improving user satisfaction.
IT Project Manager, Client
Benefits of holistic care and development
Efficient communication, early involvement of relevant stakeholders, and continuous expertise ensure stable, fast, and adaptable solutions.
Thanks to our holistic view of projects, we understand our clients' needs and can react quickly and efficiently. This approach saves our clients complicated and extensive explanations and descriptions. Our long-term experts on the project recognize necessary changes and optimizations early on and implement them after consultation.
By using shared tools, we ensure maximum transparency, allowing our clients to view the current project status at any time. This provides continuous insight into development and implementation, significantly facilitating collaboration.
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