Case Study

Pharmaceutical manufacturing company (European headquarters)

Integrating global standard processes with Japan's unique business flow (JD-NET): A case study of building a sales management system through collaboration with a global team.

Pharmaceutical SAP

Pharmaceutical manufacturing company (European headquarters)

As a global pharmaceutical company, they faced the challenge of maintaining the "global standard processes" of SAP S/4HANA prepared by their global team while also complying with "JD-NET," which is crucial for their pharmaceutical business development in the Japanese market. Therefore, they adopted "B-EN-Gp JD-NET Solution for SAP S/4HANA," which can integrate with their global system while reflecting Japan's unique commercial flow requirements, resulting in a high-quality system.

Issues before implementation

SAP S/4HANA's standard features did not provide a mechanism to support JD-NET.
Consensus building is required among numerous stakeholders, including the global team, the Japanese headquarters, and partner companies.

Implemented Products/Solutions

B-EN-Gp JD-NET Solution for SAP S/4HANA

Effects after implementation

We successfully reconciled JD-NET's specific requirements with the constraints of the global standard environment and adapted them to the standard process in a short period of time.
From the very first month of operation, there were no problems whatsoever with the integration of order and shipping data with wholesalers, and we achieved our goal of "on-time shipping" from day one.
By achieving excellent results as a successful implementation case in Japan, it has also received high praise from the global team.

Project Outline

Japan's unique pharmaceutical industry data exchange system, "JD-NET," is an essential infrastructure for exchanging order, shipping, and inventory data with wholesalers, supporting Japan's uniquely complex commercial flow. Compliance with "JD-NET" is an unavoidable hurdle for pharmaceutical companies with overseas headquarters conducting business in the Japanese market.

For the company, maintaining the "global standard processes" promoted by the global IT team was a top priority, and the biggest challenge was how to effectively connect the standard functions of SAP S/4HANA with the requirements of Japanese pharmaceutical distribution.

The technical challenge was to maintain globally unified standard processes and a "global single instance" configuration while separating and implementing Japan-specific requirements as "add-ons" in a way that would not negatively impact the overall system. In addition, there were no employees within the company with experience in building JD-NET-compatible systems, making it extremely difficult to define and implement Japan's unique and complex distribution processes and EDI requirements from scratch. Furthermore, it was necessary to logically explain the legitimacy of the Japanese requirements in a way that the overseas IT headquarters could understand and to gain their agreement on the project.

Therefore, B-EN-G was selected as the system implementation partner. The main reasons for this were "their extensive implementation track record and expertise in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry, and the expectation that using B-EN-G's 'B-EN-Gp JD-NET Solution for SAP S/4HANA' would allow for the efficient implementation of many functions within the limited project period."

[Key points of the implementation project]

B-EN-Gp JD-NET Solution for SAP S/4HANA	This system allows for the rapid and low-risk implementation of Japan-specific EDI requirements while maintaining the "standard processes" valued by the global IT team.
Utilizing business scenarios based on actual performance	By avoiding development from scratch and implementing validated processes, the technical impact on global standard models can be minimized.
Global consulting	We represent and coordinate the needs of global IT teams regarding Japanese regulations and business practices based on business logic, supporting smooth consensus building.

In this project, the global IT team was responsible for establishing standard processes and setting up and managing the global infrastructure, while the Japanese local team led the development of domestic distribution requirements. B-EN-G, the leading partner, played the role of communicating requirements based on Japan's unique business logic and the capabilities to meet them to the global IT team. The project was completed in a tight timeframe of just under a year, from its inception to full operation.

From the very first month of operation, there were no problems whatsoever with the integration of order and shipping data with wholesalers, and the goal of "on-time shipping" was achieved from day one. In daily operations, the accompanying reporting function and the Business Process Flow, organized in Excel format, are being used very effectively.

Customer comments:
"JD-NET compatibility is a requirement unique to Japan, and the thought of developing it globally was overwhelming. B-EN-G's JD-NET Solution was exactly what we needed, and it was a real lifesaver. I believe we were able to go live without any major problems thanks to this solution. They also customized it to meet our requirements, and the requirements confirmation process was thorough. I think the fact that we were able to implement so many functions in such a short time is due to the high level of expertise and collaborative spirit of all the B-EN-G project members. This project has been highly praised by the global team, and I feel that we have achieved good results as a case study for implementation in Japan."

Comment from the global representative:
The B-EN-G team had a very good working behavior, and turnaround time to resolve issues was great. Japan is a key market for our company. Looking forward to similar support in future from the B-EN-G team to make the solution seamless and support business continuity.