itelligence Helps Drive AC Propulsion's Expanding Business Designs

CINCINNATI, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- itelligence announced today the successful "Go Live" implementation of SAP® Business ByDesign™ at AC Propulsion, a global leader in the development, design and manufacturing of electric vehicle technology. This implementation was recently achieved in AC Propulsion's San Dimas, California facility and will be extended later this year to manufacturing facilities in Shanghai and Beijing, China.

SAP Business ByDesign is a complete, fully integrated business management solution delivered on demand and designed around four key principles—completeness, ease of use, adaptability and significantly cutting total cost of ownership (TCO). A software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution with built-in service and support, it's ideal for growing midsize companies that want the benefits of large-scale business applications—including finance, HR, CRM, supply chain, and procurement—without the burden of managing a large IT infrastructure.

AC Propulsion's decision to implement SAP Business ByDesign was made after conducting an in-depth review of options and consulting with executive services consultant Tatum LLC.  Top considerations ultimately included fast implementation time, affordability, high functionality for project management and Materials Requirements Planning, and scalability.  

"In the end, we strongly desired an SAP partnership to immediately have the game-changing ability to compete in a much faster way, significantly expand our information resources and more effectively address our growing, global business needs," said Susan Hoyle, vice president and CFO for AC Propulsion.  "With SAP Business ByDesign, we knew we would have functionality capable of supporting much larger companies but designed for smaller businesses like ours.  We also wanted to be able to readily demonstrate the value of our SAP decision to employees, customers and other stakeholders—and how this decision is a critical step on our path to becoming a tier-one automotive supplier."

Deciding on the best implementation partner was an easy decision for AC Propulsion, according to Hoyle.  "itelligence was strongly recommended to us by Tatum based on their firsthand knowledge of itelligence's deep implementation experience and reputation as a true business partner and team extension.  We knew itelligence had both the SAP preferred partner credentials and the global support capabilities to help us achieve our short- and long-term objectives, and we definitely leaned heavily on them for their technical knowledge and project implementation expertise."

Reflecting on the implementation process and its outcomes, Hoyle added, "The experience was beneficial in many ways, including giving our employees, many of whom have only worked for AC Propulsion, exposure to other best practices through the implementation and conversion templates which are an integral part of SAP Business ByDesign.  Our overall team communications, collaboration and bonding around the system have been unexpected benefits."

With itelligence's assistance and SAP Best Practice experience for a Fast-Track implementation, AC Propulsion now has real-time access to an equipment list of more than 2,000 line items, product sourcing and end-to-end project management, supply chain and financial operations information.  In addition, AC Propulsion is well on its way to completing objectives such as formalizing the documentation process for ISO process certification and evaluating the best ways to use CRM functionality.

"The flexible, comprehensive design of SAP Business ByDesign creates significant business opportunities for us to help companies like AC Propulsion quickly adapt to changing business climates with real-time information access, accelerated business processes and effective growth management," said Brad Wolfe, senior vice president for itelligence. "We are confident that AC Propulsion is now better positioned to focus on its innovative drive system technologies and profitable, global growth objectives."

About AC Propulsion

AC Propulsion is the global leader in the development, design and manufacturing of electric vehicle technology. AC Propulsion's proprietary tzero™ technology is a complete solution for electric vehicles, and can be customized for every class of electric vehicle, from a sports car to an SUV to an 8-ton city bus. AC Propulsion's technology allows for 200 kW or 268 horsepower, up to a 300 mile range at 60 mph and the ability to replenish 90 miles per hour charging in any standard outlet. AC Propulsion is also a leader in the development of Vehicle to Grid (V2G) capable vehicles, as well as the research and development of V2G technology. For further information, please visit www.acpropulsion.com

About itelligence

itelligence Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of itelligence AG, an international full-service solution and consulting company with a global presence in 20 countries. itelligence provides a broad range of consulting and customer support services to maximize SAP solutions, including implementations, application support, hosting and training. itelligence AG has a global value-added reseller (VAR) agreement with SAP AG, a highly selective program via invitation through SAP management only, developed to transform itelligence from a high-growth midmarket partner and local reseller into a managed, global partner. itelligence is a gold-level SAP channel partner authorized to resell SAP Business All-in-One and SAP BusinessObjects solutions and is one of only 6 SAP global services, global hosting and global application management services partners. itelligence also holds global quality accreditation by SAP Active Quality Management organization for demonstrating clear quality standards and processes. For more information please visit http://www.itelligencegroup.com.

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SOURCE itelligence