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ASUG Minnesota Chapter Meeting
Customer Case Study: How Kellogg’s Maximized Their Excel-to-SAP Processes
Americas’ SAP Users’ Group
Introductions
Laun Adams
Manager - Financial
Integrations,
Kellogg Company
Tim Curtin
Solutions Specialist,
Z Option, Inc.
About Z Option
Located in Lewisville, Texas(Near Dallas, TX – U.S.)
Formed in 1998 by accountants and programmers
SAP software solution partner
Customers of all sizes and industries, worldwide
Z Option has hundreds of customers with
thousands of users worldwide. For a
more complete list of our customers, visit
www.zoption.com.
Software Tools
Start posting documents in afew hours with a free remote
installation service
GLSU uses standard SAP authorizations
Reduce support and development costs
Powerful, flexible, user-friendly solutions
About Kellogg’s
With 2013 sales of $14 billion, Kellogg Company is the
world’s leading producer of cereal and convenience
foods, including crackers, chips, toaster pastries, cereal
bars, frozen waffles, and meat alternatives.
For more than 100 years, innovation and commitment to
being the best in the categories in which we compete
has guided Kellogg. From being the first company to
offer premiums in our cereal boxes to being the first to
fortify our cereals, Kellogg has historically been a leader
in industry, innovation and marketing.
™
About Laun Adams
With a background in SAP general ledger processes
and financial statement preparation, Laun leads many
continuous improvement projects for the Kellogg
North American Financial Service Center.
As the Manager of Financial Integrations, he is
responsible for aligning the SAP general ledger
processes for all change initiatives, including leading
the GL cutover work for the recent Pringles
acquisition.
™
Kellogg’s – SAP Environment
First implemented SAP R/3: 1995
Current SAP version: 6.0 New GL
SAP Modules: FI/ CO/ SD/ MM/ PS and many more
GLSU Customer since: 2003
Process Before GLSU: In-house designed program
Kellogg’s - Typical Uses of GLSU
Accruals
Foreign currency transactions
Payroll uploads
Data uploads
CO-PA adjustments (B records)
Ad-hoc entries
Kellogg’s – Favorite Benefits of GLSU
Easily customized for a variety of situations
Quick validation of large amounts of data
Much easier to use than standard SAP
Easy to learn/easy to implement
Dropped header functionality
Case Study – Kellogg’s
Issue: Moving data from one system
to another – each transaction in old
system must continue to be a single
transaction in new system.
Result: Individual line items booked
in SAP using standard Excel tips and
tricks quickly and efficiently.
Current Challenges
Non-flexible upload tool
Errors on large journal entries
New implementations
Multiple currencies
Cross company postingsLarge external file uploads
SAP upgrade
Mergers/acquisitions
Multiple vendors
Month-end closing process
Key Features of GLSU
Easy user interface
Leverage existing Excel skills
Pre-validation of data before posting
Master data lookups
Post more than 1000 linesPost directly from the
spreadsheet
Flexible layouts
SAP document numbers returned
Attach source workbook to posted document in SAP
Post multiple documents from one worksheet
GLSU Common Uses
Attach source document (entire workbook)
Misc. vendors
Multiple currency entries
Cross-company transactions
COPAPayroll
Travel and expense process
P-cards (i.e. phone bills, lease payments)
Accrual entries
Acquisition/Migration (moving legacy information)
“We’ll have been using GLSU for two years and I cannot tell you what a
positive impact it has had on our finance users.” – Director
“Since implementing GLSU, we’ve managed to achieve our goal of a
[much shorter] closing, down from 8 weeks.” – ICT Officer, FI Unit
“There is simply no limit to how you can use GLSU if you’re familiar with
Excel.” – SAP Business Analyst
“We use GLSU to improve overall productivity.” – Senior Accountant
“SAP is dynamic, my clients’ businesses are dynamic, and they need
dynamic tools like GLSU.” – Independent SAP Consultant
Customer Comments
Review customer success stories and published articles at www.zoption.com.
Customer Success Stories
“With GLSU, we save time
and money.” –FI Project Manager
“[GLSU] is the best of both worlds. We get the functionality of
SAP software and the user-friendliness of the Microsoft Excel
front-end.” –Manager of Finance
“With GLSU, we don’t have to maintain the
software, and it gives us better
flexibility with more options.” – IT
Project Manager
“As accountants, we know Microsoft Excel
very well – so the more we can do in spreadsheets, the
more productive we can be.” – Accounting
Manager
GLSU has increased our data integrity on
all levels, from finance to marketing. Users have commented on the quality, volume,
and accuracy of data.” – General Accountant
Questions & Next Steps
Contact Information:
www.zoption.com
972-315-8800
Tim Curtin – Z Option
Laun Adams – Kellogg’s
Wrap-Up
Thank you for joining us for
today’s session.
Please contact us if you have
questions or would like
additional information.
Thank You!
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, SAP NetWeaver®, Duet™®, PartnerEdge, and other
SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are
trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other
countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the
trademarks of their respective companies. Z Option is neither owned nor controlled
by SAP.
Disclaimer