DGB Success Story - Upgrading SAP, hosting, Basis support

EPI-USE Labs can slice a specific subset of data that's applicable to the change that you want to test, whether that be transactional data or master data. They do that quite quickly and easily with their software, and it consumes a lot less space on your QA and DEV boxes than a full copy of Production. We're happy, and we have been using them for over six years to look after our SAP environment.

Carel van der Merwe, Central Planning Executive, DGB (Pty) Ltd

ECC landscape upgrade, Cloud hosting and Basis support

In 2017, EPI-USE Labs assisted DGB with an ECC landscape upgrade from ECC6 (EHP0) to ECC6 (EHP7). During this upgrade, we also provided SAP Basis support. In 2020, DGB engaged EPI-USE Labs' sister company G3G as their VAR (Value Added Reseller) partner, and in 2021 DGB moved their Infrastructure hosting to EPI-USE Labs iSphere Cloud (private cloud hosting). With the move of infrastructure, EPI-USE Labs assisted with restructuring their licence model, shifting the database licensing via SAP.

Services include:

An ECC landscape upgrade from ECC6 (EHP0) to ECC6 (EHP7)
SAP-centric upgrade with Basis support
Introduction of automated transports
Infrastructure hosting on EPI-USE Labs’ cloud, providing Infrastructure and Platform as a service (IaaS/PaaS) with an emphasis on high availability
ISO27001 Information Security Management standard and SOC 2 Type 2 reports from independent auditors
Restructuring the licence model (including customer engagement plan, auditing, advisory services and critical support) via SAP
Access to Client Central; support using a ticketed automation platform with knowledge sharing and an embedded Learning Management System (LMS).

Infrastructure

A unique, SAP-centric approach to providing Infrastructure and Platform as a service (IaaS/PaaS)
EPI-USE Labs’ software products and Intellectual Property (IP)-leveraged services helped to optimise the SAP investment
The technology stack is built from the ground up with SAP in mind
Every level of the architecture of the hosting environment has been designed with high availability in mind
ISO27001 Information Security Management standard and SOC 2 Type 2 reports from independent auditors to verify the suitability of the design and operating effectiveness of our controls relevant to security, availability and confidentiality of the operations.

Ticketing System (Client Central)

Client Central is a secure, ISO-certified Software as a Service (SaaS) platform
Customer support via a ticketing automation platform
Collaborative knowledge-sharing via workspaces
Dashboards, reporting and Service Level Agreement management
An embedded Learning Management System (LMS).

VAR Support (Licensing)

Collaboration & Empowerment

Customer Engagement Plan
Licence Audit and Annual Licence usage check and audit review prior to final submission to SAP Access expert licensing advice
Quarterly VAR report – Critical recommendations, maintenance phases, licence consumption, inactive users, support entitlements
Invitation to G3G's VibeLive event in London, UK

Innovation and Value Realisation

SAP Solution Manager
Technical Quality Checks
S/4HANA Readiness assessments

Manage Critical Support

Early Watch report recommendations.

About DGB

Nestled in the Cape Winelands lies DGB (Pty) Ltd, one of South Africa's largest independent wine and spirit producers and distributors. They pride themselves on their wide variety of wine, liqueur and spirits.

DGB (Pty) Ltd was formally established in 1990, although their true roots extend over 300 years ago, when winemaking began at the Boschendal and Bellingham farms in the Cape Winelands.

Today, they are one of South Africa's largest independent wine and spirit producers and distributors.