Microsoft Office SystemCustomer Solution Case Study

Homogeneous Environment Ensures Smooth Cooperation

OverviewCountry or Region: GermanyIndustry: Manufacturing – Automotive & Industrial

Customer ProfileKnoll Maschinenbau GmbH in Bad Saulgau is a leading manufacturer of conveyor and filtration equipment for chipping and cooling lubricants in metal processing. In 2007, the family-managed enterprise reached about €103 million (US$138 million) in sales.

Business SituationKnoll operates an ERP, archive and workflow system, and a CAD software. Because these programs lack interfaces with the installed OpenOffice.org versions 1.x and 2.x, its employees were not able to make use of the full functionality of these programs.

SolutionThe company decided to make a complete switch to Microsoft Office 2007, which was previously used only in isolated administrative work fields.

Benefits Improved Productivity Improved Collaboration

“We switched to Microsoft Office so that we can use the full functionality of our business applications.”

Juergen Straub, IT Director, Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH

Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH has a full order book, hence, the company relies heavily on seamless interaction between production and management. However, the installed open-source software in production and administration posed several problems. Knoll operates an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), archive and workflow system, and a CAD suite simultaneously. All these solutions lack interfaces with the office software used in the production line. To better integrate these business applications to the corporate IT environment, the management decided to opt for a standardized office system solution by Microsoft. After the transition, its employees have the entire functional spectrum of their business applications readily available.

SituationOver a span of 38 years, Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH has grown from a small family operation to the leading manufacturer of conveyor and filter equipment for chipping and cooling fluids in metallurgy industry. In 2007, the company raked in about €103 million (US$138 million) in sales.

The company, which is based in Swabian Bad Saulgau, designs and sells systems that dispatch chippings produced during turning, milling, and grinding processes. Special filters clean the coolant.

“I wouldn’t find a less strong growth so bad,” Knoll IT Director Juergen Straub said with a touch of irony.

Due to the excellent orders recorded, growth at Knoll was so robust that it was difficult to allocate the required resources according to demand.

The work force number rose so significantly that the IT department had a hard time keeping up with the set-up of new jobs at the manufacturing sites. It was little wonder employees were longing for a little more calm in their work environment. Apart from the installation and configuration of new computer systems, the eight Knoll IT staff had to care for the maintenance of all IT solutions. They focused on various applications.

For example, Knoll operates the archive system, Easy Archive by Easy Software AG; and the workflow software, Easy Logistics Center (ELC). Other important applications are 3-D CAD software Unigraphics NX4 by

Siemens and the associated Teamcenter, a product data management system (PDM system).

Where the use of office software is concerned, Knoll pursued a dual strategy in the past.

In the administration department, Microsoft Office was already deployed at those work areas that were integrated in data exchange processes with external systems.

In the past few years, each newly installed PC was set up with the latest Office version. The newest hardware ran Microsoft Office Standard 2007.

Computer workstations in the production field, however, were completely configured with open-source software OpenOffice.org, version 1.x and 2.x.

In total, there were about 250 PC workstations at Knoll, the majority of which ran OpenOffice.org.

However, this dual strategy raised several issues.

“The biggest drawback of OpenOffice.org is its lack of interfaces to other software," Straub complained.

This could be seen in the archive system at Knoll. Straub explained, “Easy Archive offers features, add-ons and plug-ins which run exclusively with Microsoft Office.”

The situation was similar for the add-on package ELC. This software defines workflows for automated and paperless document and information processing.

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“Microsoft Office provides the standard interfaces for networking with our business applications.”

Juergen Straub, IT Director, Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH

Finally, the CAD package that is deployed at Knoll lacks the interface with OpenOffice.org. This means there is no direct connection with Calc, OpenOffice.org’s spreadsheet software.

SolutionSound CalculationPrior to any new software purchase, Straub and his team would carry out extensive tests. Only when Microsoft Office passed the test for interacting with Knoll´s business applications did the team go on to calculate its costs and benefits.

After consulting Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Bechtle GmbH & Co. KG (Friedrichshafen office), Knoll opted for an Enterprise Agreement that included 250 licenses of the MS Office suite.

“These costs should also be regenerated since I am operating here without a budget,” said Straub.

The IT manager added, “This means all investments I execute have to be hedged by a return-on-investment-analysis.”

Straub expects the diverse functionalities of the Office suites to lead to an increase in efficiency and to allow the company to more than break even eventually.

Although such added value is inherently hard to calculate, the IT department is convinced that all expenses will be amortized within the targeted period of 36 months. The change to Microsoft Office 2007 system is an explicit benefit.

Straub said, “The financial aspect is only one facet among many others. As an IT manager, I put special emphasis on functionality and in our case, there were hardly any alternatives aside from Office 2007.”

Step By StepThe conversion to Microsoft Office took place gradually. The IT branch of Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH set up new PCs by using image files that were simply copied to the hard drive. Since the company had ordered 80 new PC workstations for the beginning of the year, Microsoft Office 2007 suite was installed on these computers.

All further updates and alterations of the configuration were implemented through a server-based procedure. For capacity reasons, these activities were usually carried out overnight or on weekends.

Straub wants his team to complete the migration from OpenOffice.org to Microsoft Office 2007 within six months.

At strategically important job positions where users need access to the workflow or CAD system, the installation of the new software will be given a higher priority.

The larger part of the conversion serves to standardize all Office suites already in use at the company. Eventually, Knoll´s IT specialists also expect a reduced need for support and training with the new alignment of the software environment on the clients.

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“The biggest drawback of OpenOffice.org is the lack of interfaces with other software.”

Juergen Straub, IT Director, Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH

BenefitsThese days, the staff at Knoll works closely with Microsoft Office Word 2007 and Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 is used in combination with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition, while Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition is undergoing test runs. The sales department utilizes Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007.

Although the conversion is not fully completed, Straub gives a positive summary. Classic software packages that were installed in insolation throughout the company no longer exist.

And whether it is a CAD or ERP system, or an archive or workflow system, “everything nowadays is linked up,” said Straub.

“Likewise, ELC´s integration into Microsoft´s Office suite is considerably easier and more profound than we could have ever accomplished with OpenOffice.org,” he stressed.

By switching to Microsoft Office, the interface to the CAD software is available now.

Unigraphics, the software used at Knoll, contains a tool that allows the user to work with part families, for example, parts that are being produced in variants. These variants are stored in spreadsheets which will be updated by Microsoft Excel.

“In order to achieve interoperability, we need standardized interfaces. And by using Microsoft Office, I have got them,” the IT manager concluded.Microsoft Office SystemThe Microsoft Office system is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office system, go to: www.microsoft.com/office

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Bechtle GmbH & Co. KG products and services, call +49 7541 9500-308 or visit the Web site at:http://www.bechtle.com

For more information about Knoll Maschinenbau GmbH products and services, call +49 7581 2008-0 or visit the Web site at:http://www.knoll-mb.de

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published April 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Office− Microsoft Office Standard 2007

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft Exchange Server 2003