SAP software solutions in PLIVA

The development of a modern ERP system to support these business operations, began in 1995/6 with projects intended to advance individual modules or sectors of IS. Up until that time, PLIVA had a classical transaction information system with centralized, hand-entered data. Pressured by a lack of time for independent development of a new integrated system, the management decided on the purchase of a compete system, keeping the SAP package in mind (alternatives were IBM, BAAN and Oracle). Today, according to the assessments of independent research, SAP Croatia holds 25% of the domestic business software market. In Croatia, SAP has 35 large clients including PLIVA, Podravka, Ericsson and Croatian Telecom, and most interestingly, the State Treasury (Vecernji List, 2002). The implementation of the SAP solution took place in individual phases, with two modules in the area of cost center accounting and profit center accounting implemented in 1997. This enabled the better control of financial resources, forecasts and a new type of analysis. During the implementation of the IS, the consulting company PriceWaterhouseCoopers conducted a reengineering project, or the re-organization of business operations aimed at determining the key sectors of future operations: the ‘core business’. Though these were two fully independent projects, they were harmonized at the level of the steering committee. SAP moduls were implemented through 4 phases:

1. phase: 1996-1997 (SAP 3.0) • FI-Financials • CO-Controlling • BC-Basis components • UPGRADE 3.0-3.1 H
2. phase: 1998-2000 • MM- Materials Management • PP:-Production Planning • QM-Quality Management • SD-Sales & Distribution • WM- Warehouse Management • HR-Human Resources • UPGRADE SAP 3.1H-4.0B-2000 (JAN) • UPGRADE 4.0B-4.6 C 2000 (JULY)
3. phase: 2001 • PP-PI-Production Planning-Process industriesextension of PP module • QM module-advanced functionality of Quality control • PM-Plant Mainteinance
4. phase: 2002 • Internationall roll-out A thorough review of the information system according to SAP specifications and standards was also conducted, and the implementation of the following modules is planned in 2003: • SCM- Supply Chain Management, • BIW- Business Information Warehouse, • Project Systems, and • Treasury