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LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

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Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#21

Post by adrian_mrd »

DrinkWater wrote: post #11

SAP was, and will always stay, a mystery to me. It is ridiculously expensive and complex. I know that the problems it aims to solve are also highly complex and very specific, but reading stories like this, plus (if you live in Germany and work in the IT industry) sometimes hearing unbelievable stories from your peers, it always confuses me that companies still want so much SAP. In the late 90s/early 00s a lot of peop…

Totally agree. It seems that the main advantage it has is that the complexity can be skewed to any angle (helpful for sales), and that the decision-making process at many large companies is an exercise in check-box procurement - rather than, say, genuine understanding of the problems to solve or the user(s) needs.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#22

Post by lucb1e »

Human translation (I should practice my German anyway):

Because introducing a new data system didn't work out, the Deutsche Post (German Mail) has already booked higher losses a few years ago. The same now happened to Lidl. The planned system still doesn't work smoothly after seven years and more than half a billion euros in costs. Now, the discount store pulled the kill chord.

For years, Lidl is expanding operations. The discount store from Neckarsulm has stores in almost all European countries and is now also expanding in the USA. A new inventory management system should support purchases and logistics to keep track of ever more complex business. That was the decision in 2011.

System is not suitable for high-turnover countries

The software of the development concern SAP from Walldorf should be adapted to the needs of Lidl. Until now, the system is only being used in small places in Austria, Northern Ireland and the USA. It was clearly shown that the by over a hundred IT specialists developed SAP version is not suitable for high-turnover countries. Now, Lidl has stopped the project. In a paper called "Heilbronner Stimme", an article writes to the employees that the goal is not achievable "with reasonable effort". Until now, the project cost over half a billion euros according to expert opinions -- for example for costly IT consultants and SAP licenses. Now, Lidl says they want to further develop their old inventory management system.

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Edit: I've never had much to do with SAP, but just today I've been applying for jobs in Germany and two of the places (out of five or so) use some SAP system for their online applications. The former threw a HTTP 400 and later HTTP 500 errors so I couldn't complete the application. The latter is currently stuck on registering: I've been waiting for the page to load for 4 minutes now. Pretty sure that one is broken, too.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#23

Post by psihonaut »

www.DeepL.com/Translator of the article:

Problems with new data system: Lidl blows 500 million euros

The Lidl brand plate at a branch. Picture: BR/Herbert Ebner

Lidl has been expanding for years. The discounter from Neckarsulm now has branches in almost all countries in Europe and is now also growing in the USA. A new merchandise management system was needed to provide an easy overview of the increasingly complex business processes and to control the stores, purchasing and logistics. That was the decision made in 2011.

System is not suitable for high-turnover countries

Software from the Walldorf-based operating software group SAP was to be adapted to Lidl's needs. So far, however, the new system has only been introduced in the small agencies in Austria, Northern Ireland and the USA. This has shown that the SAP version developed by more than a hundred IT specialists is not suitable for high-revenue countries. Now Lidl has stopped the project. In a letter to the staff of the newspaper "Heilbronner Stimme" it was stated that the actual "goals" could not be achieved "with justifiable effort". Experts believe that the project has already cost more than half a billion euros - for costly IT consultants and SAP licenses, for example. Lidl now wants to further develop its old merchandise management system.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#25

Post by pdpi »

philipodonnell wrote: post #14

> Software from the Walldorf-based software company SAP was to be adapted to the needs of Lidl. So far, however, the new system has only been introduced in the small agencies in Austria, Northern Ireland and the USA. It has been shown that the SAP version developed by over one hundred IT specialists is not suitable for high-turnover countries. I realize these words are not directly from the company and I am reading t…

> If you are getting into SAP and "adapting it to your needs" then you will almost certainly fail.

This is a tricky topic. If you're getting into SAP and you're not adapting it to your needs, you're almost certainly doing something wrong.

The trick is that it _has_ to be a "meet in the middle" kind of situation, where SAP wants to be used in a certain fashion, but also allows a certain amount of leeway — any non-trivial implementation project will involve both tweaking the knobs SAP provides to fit the customer, and developing bespoke components for those scenarios that SAP either doesn't cover at all, or doesn't handle the way you'd like.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#26

Post by gadders »

My previous contract PM role was working in HR on a SAP contract. I'd never come across it before and it's very strange. The thing it reminds me most of is Lotus Notes, in that it has its own specific vocabulary and the whole system is stored in its own database.

Screen are rarely referred to by name, but have weird codes like XQ44 and are ugly AF. It also has a whole bunch of utilities for fixing up the referential identity on records, importing data etc.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#27

Post by Slartie »

raverbashing wrote: post #15
DrinkWater wrote: post #11

SAP was, and will always stay, a mystery to me. It is ridiculously expensive and complex. I know that the problems it aims to solve are also highly complex and very specific, but reading stories like this, plus (if you live in Germany and work in the IT industry) sometimes hearing unbelievable stories from your peers, it always confuses me that companies still want so much SAP. In the late 90s/early 00s a lot of peop…

Using services from big name companies is (half) the corporate world version of an expensive fashion item/fancy car and half "wanting someone to sue in case things go wrong". Except an expensive fashion item doesn't ruin your ability to do your job and is still probably cheaper in relative scales.

And the "wanting someone to sue in case things go wrong" strategy is typically a pipe dream as well - you're simply fucked and paid a lot of money for nothing in case things go wrong.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#29

Post by arethuza »

simias wrote: post #20
DrinkWater wrote: post #11

SAP was, and will always stay, a mystery to me. It is ridiculously expensive and complex. I know that the problems it aims to solve are also highly complex and very specific, but reading stories like this, plus (if you live in Germany and work in the IT industry) sometimes hearing unbelievable stories from your peers, it always confuses me that companies still want so much SAP. In the late 90s/early 00s a lot of peop…

I don't know much about SAP besides the fact that I don't think I've ever heard anything positive about it (but then again, nobody talks about the trains that are on time). I always assumed that it was a "nobody gets fired for choosing SAP" situation. It's huge, it might be clunky but you know that if you pay for the support it'll probably end up doing mostly what you want and it'll mostly keep working. The alternati…

"you could do the same thing for 1% the cost and it'd work better etc."

I used to think that - then I did some work with large scale ERP systems and realised that I was wildly wrong. Fortunately I moved into other areas while I still had some sanity.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#30

Post by rossdavidh »

philipodonnell wrote: post #14

> Software from the Walldorf-based software company SAP was to be adapted to the needs of Lidl. So far, however, the new system has only been introduced in the small agencies in Austria, Northern Ireland and the USA. It has been shown that the SAP version developed by over one hundred IT specialists is not suitable for high-turnover countries. I realize these words are not directly from the company and I am reading t…

If you don't, basically, change your organization to the way SAP (or any such "product") already is set up to run, you are essentially buying a programming language (or perhaps framework) that is poorly documented, with a much smaller online community (for examples, tutorials, Stack Overflow questions, etc.). So it is the same problem you already don't like your solution to, except with a lot of things stacked against you now.

But, they won't make the sale if they honestly say "use it the way it is or else don't buy it", so they say something more along the lines of "you can customize it".

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