Detering Consulting SAP Automotive Dealer Portal

Today's consumer grew up in a completely digital environment.  They conduct virtually all of their 'digital life' on a mobile phone.   For many, they've been learning and playing online since they were born.  That's why they have a completely different expectation when it comes to the vehicle buying experience.  They want to be able to search for the vehicle of their choice, configure it to suit their specific needs, get the price and make the deal, on their phone.  To make that previously complex process consumer simple, we provide the SAP Automotive Dealer Web Portal. 

It provides:

• Vehicle Ordering - simple & complex
• Vehicle Allocation including matching based on characteristics of vehicle / machine
• Rebate & Incentive Management
• Simple & complex vehicle enquiry
• Rewards and Sales Incentives applications

This suite of applications and dealer business process capabilities allows your dealership users*) to interact with you digitally at every step of the process - including up to and including the F&I process.  The F&I process is a key process where F&I managers must not only ensure the financials are correct, but that communication is done in a highly visual, effective and most importantly, legally compliant fashion.  With this system, the entire sales process can be conducted digitally.  

*) also consumers buying directly on the internet!

The Detering Consulting SAP Automotive Dealer Portal has been designed from the ground up to maximize dealer efficiency while providing an outstanding customer experience.  When it comes to the all important Vehicle Warranty and Service processes, the true power of the fully integrated SAP Automotive Portal shines through.  It provides complete support for:

• Claim Creation
• Prepaid / Capped Price Service
• Vehicle Service History
• Campaign Tracking and Completion Management, including dealer responsibility
• Tight integration with the backend, so SAP Vehicle Configuration changes are reflected in real time to the Dealer Portal
• Enhanced Long Text Management - Completely customizable and brandable dealer forms, all available online.
• Photos and attachments - including video and audio. 
• Wizard based approach to claim creation, that can be tailored to customer specific needs
• Buttons and next available actions are driven from the Action Control Matrix
• Button permissions are role based
• Technical Support Application and Solutions Database

Today's consumer expects a highly personalized experience with their automotive dealer, from first touch to last interaction.  For today's long lasting vehicles, that means you may be interacting with customers for 10 to 15 years, or in some cases, a lifetime.  

That means your service and warranty experience must be seamless to the customer.  The SAP Automotive Dealer Portal, coupled with the extended SAP system, allows your consumers to book a service appointment online, pay for it online, and for you to provide a highly personalized service experience with your customers.

This naturally leads to multiple Upsell and Cross-Sell Opportunities throughout the service lifecycle.  When your customer is in your waiting room, they want to be kept informed of the progress of their repair.  The system allows you to provide a continuous stream of personalized feedback to your customer, whether they are in your facility, or out and about on their iPhone or Android device.  

They not only expect this from you - they demand it.  When you deliver this level of professionalism, with every customer touch point, they will tell their friends, family and co-workers about the experience.  They will also be much more likely to leave you positive customer reviews on Google and all the other places where your performance is under the gun.

• Add-on - Enhanced Validation Rule Processing
• Add-on - Operation Code / Flat Rate Schedule Flexibility and Rule Application
• Add-on - Claim Copy & Management
• Add-on - Enhancements to Prior Work Approval / Goodwill and subsequent process
• Add-on - Warranty Pricing, Outgoing Version vs. Incoming Version & Chargebacks
• Add-on - Campaign Management
• Add-on - Vehicle Scanning & Parts Replacement Application - allows for scanning of the vehicle, track parts replacement and to take photos of repair.
• Add-on - Customer name matching to enhance accuracy of vehicle owner information
• Add-on - Enhanced Reconciliation of Incoming Claimant, Outgoing Claimant, Outgoing Vendor & Incoming Vendor versions of the warranty claim
• Add-on - Enhanced Long Text Handling and Permissions
• Add-on - Enhanced SAP GUI screens for warranty processing
• Add-on - Part Number selection based upon Parts Interpreter information to ensure only the correct parts can be attached to the Warranty Claim.  This eliminates errors and makes your dealership more efficient.
• Add-on - Parts Return handling

The Detering Consulting Team has deep expertise in the configuration of the SAP Warranty Module along with the complete Automotive Dealer Portal Solution.  We bring together expertise few can match - having worked from the OEM level, through the distributor level and finally the dealer level.  We understand the challenges and value of getting your Dealer Portal and the backend processes configured correctly.

We make it simple to transition to the highly effective SAP Automotive Dealer Portal.   We have a highly refined and simplified business requirements gathering process. In service of a project scoping.  You'll never have a doubt about not what needs to be done, but as well, why it is being done that way and the benefits you can expect from a new, digital, transformed, business process.

The SAP Dealer Portal Vehicle Management System, referred to as a VMS, offers you complete integration of all relevant dealer processes such as procurement, sales, rework, returns processing, trade-in and service processing. It also supports the archiving of vehicle data. In other words, it allows you to react flexibly to customers’ requirements in the area of production (using the “pull strategy”) and fast delivery times with reduced warehouse stock and sales/distribution costs.  Our solution, in addition to the standard out-of-the-box functionality, also has the following Add-On Modules to improve your dealer efficiency throughout the process.

• Add-on - Enhanced SAP GUI screens for VMS
• Add-on - Interlinking Actions for many different scenarios in VMS
• Add-on - Vehicle Owner tracking and updates
• Add-on - Sold To Dealer, Current Dealer, Dealer Transfers
• Add-on - Uploads for Vendor Shipping and Customs data
• Add-on - Inter-company sales, virtual plants, Transfer Pricing, Stock Transport Orders
• Add-on - Inter-company Delivery and Transactions
• Add-on - Production Planning Order integration to the Vehicle Sales Process
• Add-on - Enhanced Transportation and Shipping Management
• Add-on - Internal Vehicle Management

Getting the right parts at the right time to the right place is a primary goal and capability of the system.   With its deep integration with electronic parts catalogs, advanced AI enhanced search capabilities, and beautiful user interface design, dealer efficiency is greatly improved.  

The Dealer Portal Parts application provides the following capabilities:

• Parts Ordering
• Dealer Stock for parts
• Parts Returns, including price adjustments, limited time offers, purchased vs. returned items management
• Auto Replenishment of fast-moving parts
• Segregation of pricing based on dealer type
• Dealer Performance Dashboards (Fusion)
• Parts Supersession on & BoM handling
• Fast ordering & ACS Dealer Management Systems (DMS) integration

What benefits do all these capabilities provide?  Greater dealer efficiency and profitability.  Your customers will love it when you are able to find the part they need, order it, get a reliable estimated delivery date, and schedule their service appointment, on the spot.  They will brag to their friends about how your system sent them friendly appointment reminders.  And if a vehicle recall should be issued while the part is in transit, the advanced Business Intelligence system will alert you so you can work with your customer in a seamless fashion to get it resolved.  

Using continuous data intelligence, the system will also make proactive stock recommendations.  Predictive vehicle analytics allow you to forecast what parts are likely to be needed well in advance of when they will actually be needed, and lay in supplies to be able to delight your customers by having just the part the need, on the shelf.  It can do this while keeping inventory carrying cost low using advanced EOQ calculations.

The SAP Automotive Dealer Portal Information Center is the central business management digital nervous system.  It provides:

• Bulletin, Training Material, Dealer Advices, Product Information publication platform
• Can integrate with a Content Management System
• Publication and viewing permissions
• Multi-lingual with translation management

You and your team, from General Manager to Service Advice Technicians to the Salesman, will find it ties everything together for them to do their job.  Coupled with analytics platform, it delivers continuous business insights and helps optimize and improve dealer EBITDA by providing a pathway to profit optimization.

The SAP Automotive Dealer Portal is designed to allow full Self-Service capabilities to every user, according to their role:

• Fiori Launchpad
• My dealer(s) functionality controls access to information.
• Business Partner relationships controls access to functionality within each application

An Automotive Dealer, however, does not work as a stand-alone island.  They form part of a vast eco-system, whose members often times need to interact with your dealership.  For those business process scenarios, the SAP Automotive Dealer Portal Self Service functionality  and the SAP dealer management system, provides sophisticated, yet simple to use applications.  Need a part that you can see available in someone else's warehouse?  You can execute the entire acquisition process by giving them access.  Got an Inbound Delivery that is running late.  With the SAP Event Management functionality, the driver can use the system to notify you.  Did someone have a breakdown on the road and call you to get them back on the road?  The system can help orchestrate every step of that process.  

• Vehicle Telematics
• Demo & Internal Fleet Management
• Real-Time Sales Target Tracking including Regional and National Sales Targets for monthly reporting of Wholesale & Retail performance
• Vehicle Scanning, Repair Tracking and repair photos
• User Management including integration to Identity Management software such as Ping Federate, Microsoft Active Directory

Of key importance is the ability to report real-time sales performance across dealerships, brands, geographies and any other dimension you might like to track.  But it can go far beyond just tracking results.  It can make marketing campaign recommendations to support your aggressive sales targets.  This can help you keep inventory to a minimum, increase your inventory turns and improve your cash-to-cash cycle time.

The complete SAP Automotive Dealer Portal business process lifecycle looks like this: 

A dealer portal requires its own unique implementation methodology. 

Dealer Portal - Implementation

Whether you're moving 2,000 or 200,000 units a year, you can't afford to take risk with your IT systems.  That's why we:

• Offer fixed scope, fixed price implementation using our unique delivery methodology
• Can also extend the solution to fit your unique business requirements
• Are waiting on you to Call to Discuss

Our approach can be tailored to your requirements to quickly get you transition to the SAP Dealer Portal.   Your digital transformation journey to higher dealership efficiency begins now.

From a high level business process perspective