DGB distils its SAP challenges

IT challenges: Upgrade SAP environment, access to Basis support

DGB was faced with a number of IT challenges:

• The need to upgrade their SAP environment
• Gaining access to Basis support
• Ensuring there were no performance issues in their system
• Obtaining a copy of their production environment.

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 G3G as their VAR (Value Added Reseller) partner, and in 2021 DGB moved their Infrastructure hosting to EPI-USE Labs Cloud. 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).

Toasting our success

EPI-USE Labs’ hosting, licencing and ticketing system solutions resulted in an annual cost saving of 48%.

Added value includes:

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.

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 to 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.

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).

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.