Efficient Master Data Optimization at Knorr-Bremse: The Watchdog by Processand with Celonis and Machine Learning
The Challenge: Data Proliferation and Declining Master Data Quality
One of the major challenges that come with the rapid growth of companies such as Knorr-Bremse lies in the effective management and quality assurance of master data. As the global market leader for braking systems and safety-relevant subsystems, Knorr-Bremse was faced with the problem that organic growth and the decentralized expansion of the business led to a proliferation of data. The increasing complexity, lack of checks during integration and migration processes, and insufficient authorization concepts within the ERP resulted in declining master data quality, negatively impacting the efficiency of processes along the entire value chain.
"We had a proliferation of our master data records. This cost us a lot of time, work, and patience in central evaluations."
Peter Reichert, Head of Global Order Management Rail
The Impact of Faulty Master Data
The impact of faulty master data on Knorr-Bremse's organization was significant. Redundant data and incorrectly assigned information not only affected accounts receivable management, credit limit control and the service department, but also had an impact on the reliability of management reports. The correction of these errors was time-consuming and inefficient, involving manual data exports and evaluations from SAP, followed by manual cleansing of the data records.
The Solution: The Watchdog by Processand
To address this problem, the "Watchdog", an innovative software solution based on Celonis in combination with machine learning, was developed in collaboration with the implementation partner Processand. This solution aims to detect and correct faulty master data early to ensure quality and consistency throughout the organization.
"We had a very good collaboration with both Celonis and the implementation partner Processand. They immediately understood what we were aiming for and were able to support us quickly with their expertise."
Peter Reichert, Head of Global Order Management Rail
Watchdog at Work: Improved Data Quality and Acceptance
The Watchdog acts as a guard dog, leveraging Celonis Process Mining to check the quality of master data after entry into SAP and actively suggesting alternatives to users if needed. The interactive user interface provides an overview of the data records identified by the algorithm and offers the option of making changes directly in SAP.
The implementation of the Watchdog not only significantly improved data quality, but also increased the sales team's awareness of their responsibility for their accounts in terms of data quality. The transparency created by the Watchdog enables users to correct data inconsistencies, greatly enhancing the efficiency of master data management. The monitoring dashboard enables effective monitoring of the activities of various sales organizations in master data cleansing and helps to ensure that employees are happy to take back responsibility for their data quality.
The successes can also be seen in reporting, where the manual cleansing of data for the creation of reports such as sales, incoming orders and overdue receivables has been significantly simplified. The Watchdog has proven to be intuiative and user-friendly, enabling employees at Knorr-Bremse to work more efficiently.
Conclusion: A Milestone in Data Management
Knorr-Bremse is already planning the next step into the data-driven future with Watchdog 2.0, which is being developed by Processand. This upgrade will make it possible to identify inactive master data records, automatically block them and request a check by an employee. The aim of this upgrade is to ensure that master data is always up to date.
The Watchdog project marks an important milestone for Knorr-Bremse on the path to effective data management, ensuring that the company’s data-driven future begins on a solid foundation – the master data.
About Processand
The Munich-based consulting firm specializes in Process Mining, Business Intelligence and Advanced Analytics. Today, Processand is one of the leading Process Mining consultancies worldwide and supports companies in their long-term Process Mining initiatives. In each case, the focus is on operationalizing data-driven insights and creating a factual basis for strategic decisions.
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Alexandra Tyrkich
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