Intelligent archiving: Two men - eight terabytes

Intelligent archiving: Two men - eight terabytes

Defence group Hensoldt relies on kgs and benefits from lean processes, less effort, reduced costs, great transparency and more flexibility  

Hensoldt, the defence company that was spun off from Airbus Defence and Space for sensor technology in 2017, had been using the established IBM FileNet P8 software solution for data and document archiving. However, they were not very satisfied with it because the solution is not only maintenance-intensive, but also expensive.

Thomas Holzmann is SAP Basic Administrator at Hensoldt and did not want to put up with this unsatisfactory state of affairs any longer. "IBM FileNet P8 was a kind of black box for us. When problems occurred, there were enormous time delays in solving them, because in many cases not only our provider but also FileNet experts had to be called in."

Lean archiving

An order of magnitude of 2 terabytes of ERP data and 6 terabytes of PLM data had to be managed and archived - primarily SAP documents and product-related documents and files.  Holzmann was convinced that there had to be other and better options for archiving than IBM FileNet P8-ideally a highly integrative solution that eliminated the need for an intermediate archiving layer. While talking with his provider, Datagroup, he learned about KGS Software GmbH's intelligent archiving tools. "Their approach and solutions convinced us from the first moment, for various reasons. Firstly, because of the portfolio, the price and the transparency, and secondly, because of the fact that it is a solution that integrates transparently with our ERP system."

When Holzmann compared the goals defined in the specifications, it was not only the functions of the kgs tools that were convincing, but also the software manufacturer's many years of SAP expertise. "Since our archiving exclusively concerns SAP, kgs' SAP partnership and the fact that it is a fully SAP-integrated solution were of course powerful arguments," recalls Holzmann, who was involved in the decision-making process together with a project manager and an archiving manager. However, he and his colleagues were particularly impressed by the price. Holzmann: "The cost ratio was 1:10 - in other words, archiving with IBM FileNet P8 cost us ten times as much as the kgs solution."

The kgs moment

In December 2018, they reviewed the kgs concept and in January 2019 decided to implement the tia® Document Router, tia® Content Server as well as tia® Migration. In March 2019, they started with the preparation and implementation. Then, at the beginning of July, the intelligent archiving solution tia® from kgs went live - initially for six months in parallel with FileNet operations. "We had previously arranged a PoC (proof of concept), which - in addition to the technical test - was like a training course for us, in which we learned completely transparently and very clearly from the kgs consultants how to work with the tools ourselves," says the SAP Basis administrator. He was very impressed by the simplicity, transparency and focus on the essentials. After starting the migration, they had migrated all data and documents - a total of 8 terabytes - to tia® within six weeks 2 weeks for the ERP-relevant data and another 3-4 weeks for the PLM-relevant data.

"The migration was my personal kgs moment," Holzmann admits. "Moving from IBM FileNet P8 to kgs in such a short time really blew my mind. I didn't expect anything like that." He classifies this migration project as transparent, comprehensible and very well documented, for which there was also praise and recognition from the IT management. "We also received final documentation that is tailored to audits by auditors and therefore gives us security on this side as well."

New kgs projects

After this positive experience with the introduction of kgs tia® archiving at Hensoldt Sensors, Holzmann could imagine rolling out kgs across the group and introducing it at sister company Hensoldt Optronics as well. "Although we have mainly archived ERP and PLM data at Hensoldt Sensors so far, and in the other divisions it would also be SAP business warehouse data in addition to ERP files, I am convinced that great effects can be observed here as well," estimates Thomas Holzmann.

He would recommend kgs in any case - and not only internally. "Archiving from kgs offers exactly what is needed. Lean and effective. The solution is easy to use, for maximum transparency and you can look after the system yourself and no longer need an external service provider," says the IT administrator.