AWS and Pillir: Innovating at the Edge for Archean Group

In a recent joint webinar with Archean Group and AWS, Pillir explains the solution they created for the challenges Archean Group was facing with their manual procure-to-pay process. With the various different sectors that Archean Group works within, they have to operate in many different locations where connectivity is not always present. Their manual based processes were causing errors in data as well as lags for when approvals could be made for the Procure-to-Pay process.

In this blog, we’ll give a general recap of the webinar with Archean Group and AWS as well as dive into the newly digitized Procure-to-Pay process and how EdgeReady Cloud, powered by AWS, was able to streamline this process.

Watch the webinar below for more.

Archean Group

Archean Group was founded in 1984 as a private company that works within four different sectors such as mining and minerals, industrial salt, marine chemicals and granite industries. Their operations span the globe in locations such as India, South America, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Archean Group managed several of their business processes, such as Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash, through SAP. They started noticing the complexity of managing these processes through a legacy SAP system and were stuck doing many tasks manual or through paper-driven processes. This became a large burden for the business due to the number of operations in various locations and connectivity landscapes. As a first approach to solving these challenges, SAP was customized for the needs of Archean Group. However, these changes and enhancements cost large amounts of time and money.

Archean Group greatly needed a solution that was:

• Modern and future proof: the solution needed to be modern and capable of adjusting to the future needs of the business. Digital transformation also had to be built for a traditional industry and be adaptable to the local environment, no matter what.
• Mission critical with offline capabilities: A solution that has offline capabilities was a must and it also had to support mission critical applications in order for the business to succeed. This is because Archean runs operations in various locations where connectivity isn’t possible.
• Compatible with SAP: SAP must be compatible with the solution and remain the digital core of the enterprise.
• Easy and cost effective: The solution should add less work, not more. Archean Group didn’t want something else added to their plate that would take up more time.

Pillir’s Solution for Archean Group: Digitization of Procure-to-Pay

To solve for the challenges Archean Group was facing, Pillir built different applications and workflows to make sure Archean no longer had to rely on manual or paper-based processes for many of their tasks. One aspect of the solution included digitizing the Procure-to-Pay process. Through EdgeReady applications, built using the power of AWS, Pillar automated Archean’s Procure-to-Pay process. The following is the steps for the newly innovative process:

• Purchase Requisition Workflow
• Vendor Quotation (Vendor Portals)
• Purchase Order Workflow
• Goods Receipt
• Document Management System

Purchase Requisition Approval

The first step in the new Procure-to-Pay process is the Purchase Requisition Approval, which is a multi-level workflow that consists of mobile apps that are integrated with SAP. This is extremely beneficial because any employee of the company can now send or receive the purchase requisition through mobile or email notifications. This automation not only makes the approval process quicker, but also much easier for everyone involved.

Vendor Quotation

The vendor quotation step is when vendors provide online quotations for the purchase requisitions. This was created as a web application and was named the vendor portal, making the quotation process that much more streamlined. Vendors can access the portal whether they’re in the office with connectivity or on the road with little-to-no connectivity. Once the quotation is uploaded, it then is updated to the purchase order which is then created in SAP.

Purchase Order Workflow

Once the purchase order has been created, it goes through the SAP process wherein the Purchase Order (PO) approval gets accomplished. The PO approval was created into apps that integrate to SAP and also have mobile and email notifications. The approved PO is released to vendors for delivery at the end of this step.

Goods Receipt

Once the PO is released to vendors, it then arrives at the plant where someone looks at the goods receipt. The good receipt is inspected through the mobile application and updated in SAP. The offline capabilities are extremely important especially for this step as the plants for Archean Group do not have any connectivity, so this is a big time-saver.

Document Management System

The last and final step in the digitized Procure-to-Pay process is the Document Management System step. In this step, an invoice is received after receipt of goods and are then scanned into the document management system. Invoices are then sent into SAP where SAP takes over for a processing standpoint for the payments.

Archean Group Automates their Manual Processes with EdgeReady Apps

After implementing Pillir’s EdgeReady applications into their workflow, Archean Group noticed some incredible changes in the way their business operated. Below are benefits that innovating at the Edge provided for them:

• Cloud-based solution that tightly integrates to SAP
• Offline capabilities on Archean’s device of choice with the flexibility to switch devices later on
• Easy to build and maintain with little-to-no coding on a low-code platform
• Reduction of the need for SAP ABAP coding. This contributed to a more pristine SAP core
• Six applications built and deployed
• Easy to maintain and scale with a lean IT

In conclusion, adopting the EdgeReady Cloud capabilities into your business will help you to innovate and digitize at the Edge, without the requirement of complex coding or time-consuming app building.

If you’re interested in learning more about Archean, click here for the case study. Discover all that the EdgeReady Cloud can offer.