Software AG’s next step
in digitizing the enterprise:
revamping the Global
Deal Desk
The Global Deal Desk (GDD)
is an internal project within
Software AG, involving
the collaboration of sales,
finance, controlling and legal.
This initiative is coordinated
by our Audit, Processes &
Quality group, which is also
responsible for all process
optimization projects at
Software AG worldwide.
Here’s how we applied our
own technology to revamp the
GDD to support Software AG’s
growth and agility.
The challenge we faced
One of the main components of process
excellence is continuous optimization. In
2007, Software AG acquired webMethods and
immediately began to take advantage of its
potential for optimizing internal processes. The
first step was to create a digital and globally
standardized solution for its contract approval
process.
At the time there wasn’t a globally aligned
process for deal approval, and much of the
collaboration was carried out via fax and email.
This made it difficult for stakeholders to keep
track of a given deal’s status in the approval
process. The resulting potential for inconsistency
generated unnecessary business risk.
How we automated
the GDD
In 2013, the GDD was completely revamped and
integrated with webMethods Business Rules,
which has made it much easier to implement
changes to the approval process. Terracotta
Server Array was also incorporated to improve
reliability via clustering. Additional updates
were made to the front-end as well to improve
usability. The GDD is now much better equipped
to carry Software AG forward.
The resulting solution enabled:
•Faster adaptation to new requirements from
the business or government—changes no
longer require IT expertise and can be made
in significantly less time
The GDD’s introduction in early 2008 added
•Greater differentiation of deal complexity
transparency to the process by creating a unified
has sped up the approval process—approved
platform for requesting and making approvals
contracts can be delivered to customers even
so that everyone involved could easily monitor
faster and reduced cycle time means more
which deals needed to be approved, what was
deals can be processed
overdue, and what steps needed to be taken.
•Minimized
business risks through unified
Business risk was minimized and stakeholders
approval
rules
and more thorough and
could easily monitor progress. Furthermore,
systematic reviews of deals
the process and requirements for deal approval
were globally aligned in order to ensure
•Terracotta Server Array allows for clustering of
consistency and eliminate redundant tasks.
webMethods Integration Server, which keeps
the GDD up and running even in the event of
As Software AG continues to grow, more and
technical difficulties
more deals go through the approval process and
•More detailed categorization of deals on the
the deals are becoming increasingly complex.
front-end
The original GDD was hard coded, which made
In
addition, advances in programming language
the process of implementing new business rules
have allowed for improved UI aesthetics and
excessively complicated and time consuming.
The GDD had to be taken a step further in order usability based on research and testing:
to adapt to a dynamic business environment
•Initiators, reviewers and approvers each have
and to support growth.
unique UIs designed for their respective roles
in the process
•Color coding indicates which deals require
more immediate action
•Notification system informs users when a
new task is assigned
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Software AG’s next stepin digitizing the enterprise
Model-to-Execute (M2E) is
about uncovering business
problems and designing
the best-possible business
solutions by combining
ARIS business process
analysis with webMethods
BPM. The M2E approach
ensures the job is done
right the first time and
provides controlled,
traceable and auditable
solution development.
“Software AG is moving
forward fast, so it is
important for us to be
able to adapt to changing
business needs quickly
and easily.”
— Frank Simon | Vice President Audit, Processes &
Quality, Software AG
A really good deal
M2E helps seal the deal
In the business of infrastructure software and
associated IT services, the creation of a bid can
quickly become complicated. Therefore, many
people, including those who will be responsible
to deliver the deal and additional experts from
different departments, can be involved in
completing and reviewing the bid before it can
be presented to the customer. Since April 2008,
Software AG has been handling this process
using the GDD Business Process Management
(BPM) solution. The GDD helps ensure that
a deal is truly in the best interests of both
parties—Software AG and its customers—from
an economic, legal and project management
perspective.
With the integration of the rules engine, the
redesign of the UI, and the added support from
Terracotta Server Array, the update was multifaceted and required comprehensive change to
the coding of the GDD. The program had to be
rewritten from the ground up, which was done
in a classic M2E fashion.
Supporting growth and
agility
The scale of the project made it necessary
to create a comprehensive blueprint for the
application. All of the requirements were
formally documented using ARIS, which were
then passed on to the development team
who used webMethods Designer for technical
implementation. The interoperability of these
systems gave equal footing to business and IT
throughout the process. Since the GDD supports
a vital function within Software AG, it was
necessary to employ only the best methodology
for such a large and important project.
Thanks to webMethods Business Rules, the
GDD can now be adapted to new requirements
quickly and easily. Frank Simon of Audit,
Processes & Quality has pointed out that it was
possible to adapt the GDD to the new overlay
sales function within around three days. Without The Contract Management System (CMS) is
the rules engine, this process would likely have involved in every part of the deal making
process. Once an initial contract has been
taken over a month.
created in Salesforce®, an initiator must submit
a new deal to the GDD for approval. If the deal
GDD 4.0 has also shown it is capable of
is approved, the contract can be delivered to
handling Software AG’s increasing volume of
deals. When the new version was first rolled out the customer to be signed, then entered into
in October 2013, 4,000 deals were processed as an SAP® system by finance, controlling and
accounting, and finally registered in Salesforce.
opposed to 2,000 deals in the same quarter of
If it is not approved, it must be revised or
the previous year.
discarded.
How the GDD fits in the
deal-making process
Applications
Salesforce
GDD
SAP
Salesforce
CMS
Process
Create Contract
Approve Contract
Close Contract
Activate
Contract in SAP
Register Contract
Roles
Sales
Legal
FC&A
FC&A
Maint. Ops.
The GDD is part of the Contract Management System. Global Consulting Services (GCS) India handled technical design,
implementation and continuous development while Software AG Business Operations provides end-user support.
Find out how to power up your Digital Enterprise at www.SoftwareAG.com
ABOUT SOFTWARE AG
Software AG helps organizations achieve their business objectives faster. The company’s big data, integration and business
process technologies enable customers to drive operational efficiency, modernize their systems and optimize processes for
smarter decisions and better service. Building on over 40 years of customer-centric innovation, the company is ranked as a
“leader” in 14 market categories, fueled by core product families Adabas-Natural, Alfabet, Apama, ARIS, Terracotta and
webMethods. Learn more at www.SoftwareAG.com.
© 2014 Software AG. All rights reserved. Software AG and all Software AG products are either trademarks or registered trademarks
of Software AG. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
SAG_Global_Deal_Desk_SuccessStory_Oct14
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