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nicetec netinsight provides data for BASF’s invoicing of services

Transparent invoicing meeting the highest standards

Calculating all IT usage data from a variety of systems from around the globe, enabling viable, transparent and correct cost allocation, as well as making further IT business planning more transparent: This is what the netinsight IT finance management platform from nicetec has been achieving since 2005 for BASF IT Services Holding GmbH, the BASF group’s IT service provider. However, their range of tasks is constantly developing, and with it the demands for invoicing of services. This was the background for the netinsight implementation contract converting to a company licence – in connection with the completion of long-term support and maintenance agreements.
BASF’s requirements of their information services are extremely demanding. This means that creating a correct and viable cost allocation and budget planning system with the greatest possible transparency for the customer is a very challenging task indeed. BASF IT Services Holding GmbH offers an extensive list of different services.

Collectors gather data from 60 data sources

Today the invoicing of services is processed through a single central SAP system. Netinsight from nicetec forms the basis of all IT invoicing for a number of subsidiaries and departments, as SAP itself does not offer functions for IT finance management and invoicing of IT services.
As a so-called PDC System (Process Data Collection) netinsight takes on the role for the SAP system of reliably gathering all IT usage data from the global BASF subsidiaries – with around 90,000 users, allocating it and carrying out audit-proof invoicing.  The collectors combine the required data from 60 data sources and allocate these to the product definitions and customers. An important data source for the PDC is the user data management system with core and user data.

Before the introduction of netinsight, different individual developments from different individual companies and departments were used for the capturing and invoicing of different IT products. Most of these solutions had grown historically, were limited to specific requirements and were not very flexible.
It was soon clear to those responsible that product definitions for IT services were difficult to create when they had to be viewed in isolation according to the department and the individual invoicing solutions. A central integrated solution was urgently needed for the creation of a new, far-reaching product range and the corresponding pricing and invoicing.

Detailed explanation of all costs

If IT services in the past were more generalised, the netinsight processes enable much more detailed presentation and invoicing.

On a basic level this includes:

  • Asset-based invoicing,
  • Mailboxes and
  • Telephony (landline, fax, mobile network, pool equipment for different users).

“More and more services are presented in a detailed and transparent manner. With the introduction of the PDC system in January 2005 there were around 250,000 individual pieces of invoicing data; that number has now increased to around a million,” explains Wolfgang Kaller, Director of the Corporate Systems & Portals team.

Another benefit of netinsight is that the solution offers investment protection and grows with requirements. The modular IT finance management platform also has features that give users more visibility as well as better presentation options.
“In this respect what is particularly helpful is the modularity of the netinsight system and the option of implementing quickly any invoicing procedures that have changed”, explains Wolfang Kaller.

Individual, market-based presentation of all factors

“A particularly important advantage of the implementation of netinsight is the additional transparency gained for our customers,” explains the Director of the Corporate Systems & Portals. “Data from the PDC is made available in a very clear format on the customer portal “webinfo”. This means our customers can see at month-end which costs have been incurred and, for example, run a target versus actual comparison.
What’s gratifying for BASF’s IT experts is that the implementation costs have remained markedly below the original projected budget.

Against this background of steadily growing demands, in 2010 BASF IT Services Holding GmbH and nicetec agreed on the details of further long-term cooperation. A key point of this is to replace the individual licences of the netinsight platform with a single, over-arching, generalised company license. This will make the expansion to new users in the BASF Group markedly cheaper in the long-term.
A second key point concerns the support and maintenance agreements. In future nicetec will constantly upgrade the development tool for these platforms as well as the netinsight solution.

Management Summary

Referenzen - nicetec netinsight liefert Daten für die Leistungsverrechnung der BASF - BASF IT Services Case Study

BASF IT Services GmbH’s scope of duties and the inherent requirements for cost allocation are constantly developing. This is currently only being handled via a central SAP system. netinsight from nicetec forms the basis of all IT cost charging for a number of subsidiaries and departments, as SAP itself does not offer any functions for IT finance management and the invoicing of IT services.

 

You can download the BASF IT Services case study as a PDF (536 kb).