Automotive Sector / Widened Market Access

Stuttgart, Vienna, Reutlingen, 26 July 2006 – Vienna-based AC Solutions, an AC Group company specialising in SAP consulting, and iPoint-systems of Reutlingen have entered into partnership agreement under which they will contribute their respective strengths to the collaboration. AC Solutions specialises in business intelligence solutions for analysing business data, while iPoint-systems is an expert on communication between automotive-components suppliers and automobile manufacturers (OEM), which is made predominantly over Internet portals. The goal of the partnership is the mutual development of solutions focusing in particular on the optimised analysis and interpretation of OEM portal data and its integration with the related enterprise data from the auto-parts suppliers' SAP systems. Doing this allows clients to reap the benefits of the SAP Business Information Warehouse, such as automated notification when threshold values are exceeded or cross-module analysis in direct connection with Internet portals to include workflow. The iPoint Automotive Agent automates the bi-directional exchange of process-relevant data between the OEMs and suppliers, continuously scans the manufacturers' Internet portals for information on quality, logistics, procurement and sales that is specifically relevant to the individual supplier company and then automatically passes the results to the appropriate corporate departments. In the future this communications data can be concurrently integrated into the dashboard systems developed by AC-Solutions, which is based on a SAP Business Information Warehouse, where it can be used for detailed analysis. Such a management cockpit can compile the external process data from the Internet portals and the internal operating data of the application systems into a solution that can deliver to decision makers a never-before-seen depth of information compressed onto one screen page. Market watchers indicate that there will be a tremendous amount of interest in such applications on the part of almost all the automotive-components suppliers. SAP will also be helping cultivate the market. In this regard, SAP (Austria) has awarded the AC Group the status of Territory Automotive OEM & Automotive Supplier for Austria. This comprehensive, full-scale offering for the industry, which also includes All for Automotive, the market-leading mySAP All-in-One industry solution from the AC-Service AG company All for One, has garnered an even broader access to the market. All for One, AC Solutions, AC-Service and iPoint-systems will be exhibiting together (Booth 18/19) at the Automobilforum trade show in Graz from 27 to 29 September and be presenting to the public for the first time the fruits of their collaboration in the form of this SAP BW-based cockpit solution with OEM portal connection.

Find out more on the Internet at www.ipoint-systems.de and www.ac-service.com