21 Feb BMEcat software CatalogExpress provides more efficiency for WAREMA

WAREMA Renkhoff SE is a full-service provider for intelligent, exterior sun protection and smart control systems. The company is headquartered in Marktheidenfeld, Germany, and currently employs more than 5,000 people. In addition to the original WAREMA brand, the group of companies also includes five other brands.

Initial situation

WAREMA sells its control systems amongst others to the well-known wholesalers (such as Sonepar, REXEL formerly Hagemeier). Those demanded bit by bit a higher product data quality. Most of the product data is requested in the standard industry BMEcat format. Once a year WAREMA supplies its wholesalers with new data. Each customer has different requirements for a BMEcat. For example, one demands the length data in centimeters, while another wanted it in millimeters. At the beginning, the product data was generated completely manually in EXCEL, later from an editorial system. WAREMA had to invest a lot of time once a year to deal with each customer and each individual BMEcat. With the introduction of the Contentserv PIM system, data should be collected from the ERP systems Xpert and SAP in the future and be enriched centrally. Afterwards, the product data should be extracted from the PIM system as BMEcat. Due to the many specific BMEcat requirements with different catalog profiles, the direct BMEcat derivation from Contentserv was not so easy.

Objective

The objective for WAREMA was finding a solution to optimally make the product data available as BMEcat from Contentserv for specialized dealers and wholesalers. In addition, it was the wish to validate the BMEcat and to be able to check it again without extensive knowledge of XML.

Solution

For WAREMA, it was important to find a software manufacturer that offered both a solution to generate the required BMEcat data from Contentserv and the necessary background knowledge for BMEcat preparation. In nexoma, WAREMA then found a partner who knows the systems and the wholesalers’ expectations of a BMEcat and who offers CatalogExpress, a solution for BMEcat creation from Contentserv.

WAREMA deliberately wanted to keep the first steps with CatalogExpress manual for the beginning. This helped them to understand the processes behind it in a deeper way and to have a better influence on the data provision. Then, step by step, the degree of automation should be increased.

The implementation then looked as follow. In the first step, nexoma checked the product data that was meanwhile managed and maintained by WAREMA in Contentserv’s PIM system. Among other things, the following was analyzed: Are the data valuable, are the fields correct, is the ETIM classification correct, or where is potential for optimization?

Next, nexoma prepared the product data manually, because the deadline for data transfer to the wholesalers was imminent. By doing this, WAREMA was able to gain time for the implementation of the software CatalogExpress and to deliver the product data to wholesalers on time and in high quality as BMEcat ETIM.

During this process, both parties gained a lot of important experience. nexoma learned a lot about WAREMA’s products and data structures, while WAREMA learned more about nexoma’s way of working. This allowed both to become even more attuned to the future collaboration.

In the meantime WAREMA is using the BMEcat software CatalogExpress for generating the product data automatically as BMEcat ETIM. A separate catalog profile will be generated for each wholesaler. The product information is then merged from different data sources (EXCEL with ETIM data and product/price data from Contentserv) and then mapped to the target structure for once.

With the help of the standard interface to Contentserv, product data can be queried live with the BMEcat software CatalogExpress and is therefore always up to date. In addition, the integrated functions in CatalogExpress allow WAREMA to respond very quickly to different data requirements from wholesalers (e.g., length specifications in centimeters or millimeters; shortening of descriptions; merging of attributes into a new value) without the need for an additional data field in the PIM.

After the BMEcat creation, WAREMA can check the data again on a point-by-point basis. In different HTML files the technical data and corresponding pictures of a product are clearly presented to WAREMA. In this way, the specialist department can determine without XML knowledge whether the data is prepared in the way the wholesalers need them. In the future, the data checking process will be completely automated.

In addition to the improved verification of the BMEcat, WAREMA ensures greater process reliability with CatalogExpress. Previously, one person alone was responsible for the BMEcat creation (mainly from complicated EXCEL lists). Due to the BMEcat software CatalogExpress there is no more “EXCEL-Voudou” and the data provision is distributed on different shoulders. WAREMA’s specialist departments can carry out additional imports from the source systems and other source files and generate individual exports themselves. No support is required from the IT admins.

Furthermore, the catalog profiles created reflect the individual requirements of the customers/wholesalers and are henceforth stored in the BMEcat software CatalogExpress. As a result, no one has to familiarize themselves with the existing customer profiles; they only have to focus on data enrichment during the year. This has resulted in enormous time and resource savings as well as quality and process assurance.

Moreover, WAREMA can deliver product data to new wholesalers or specialist dealers more quickly. This is because new catalog profiles can be created in CatalogExpress in no time at all.

In the future, WAREMA intends to use CatalogExpress to provide product catalogs to customers automatically and on schedule. Furthermore, it is planned to supply product data to new customers and portals/platforms via CatalogExpress. With the mapping interface introduced by CatalogExpress, WAREMA can make adjustments in the target format itself and save further service costs here.

This is how WAREMA evaluates the cooperation with nexoma

“We would like to express our sincere thanks for the successful implementation of the project and look forward to our future cooperation.

It is a pleasure to work with such reliable partners.

Together, we managed to generate the data on time and in good quality, while significantly improving the processes.”

Technologies and data standards

• CatalogExpress
• Contentserv
• EXCEL
• BMEcat
• ETIM
• Mapping