Field report on the development of an SAP interface for Ciba Vision Malaysia by Oliver Hoff

While the DOQ implementation at Ciba Vision Johor, Malaysia, has already entered its third phase (implementation in the finishing area), we simultaneously started developing an interface between DOQ and the Alcon Group’s new SAP system, IRIS. The SAP system was not yet in use at the time of development and was scheduled to go live at Ciba Vision Johor at the turn of the year 2021/2022.

The first technical discussions regarding the interface began in April 2021. After completing the requirements engineering phase, we began development in June. The planned timeframe was very challenging and left no room for delays, as the Alcon Group’s international SAP team had planned for the go-live date at the turn of the year 2021/2022. Development was completed at the end of October, along with all developer tests and the IQ and OQ phases. In November and the first half of December, the data was migrated from the old SAP system, which was in use at Ciba Vision Johor before 2022, to the new SAP IRIS system. The associated changes were implemented and tested in DOQ.

An additional challenge was the requirement from Ciba Vision Johor’s management, as the first site in the Alcon Group, to implement the system without a production shutdown. Normally, a complete production shutdown of at least 10 days is always planned for the migration from an old ERP system to IRIS. The old SAP system was then shut down on December 23rd, but production continued until December 30th. The accumulated data

was temporarily stored in DOQ during this time (approximately 1,000 processed production orders) and uploaded to the new SAP system IRIS via the new interface after the data migration. This data delivery to IRIS essentially took place on January 1st, 2022. It’s hard to imagine that our team had a special New Year’s Eve, because instead of celebrating, they had to oversee the data migration.

Here’s an overview of the interface’s functionalities: Data from SAP IRIS to DOQ:

• Material master data: Material master data relevant to DOQ can be marked in SAP. This data is automatically transferred to DOQ and automatically resent to DOQ if changes are made in IRIS. DOQ checks whether changes to existing production orders have changed and makes the necessary updates.
• Production order data: IRIS transmits released production orders to DOQ. A particular difficulty here was that in the first process step, eight production orders are grouped into a so-called run in most production lines. This grouping is done in advance in SAP and transferred to DOQ. During production, the material number of the created product may also change. In this case, a new production order is transferred to DOQ, replacing the old one.
  DOQ receives the LOIPRO-IDOC standard from IRIS, which contains all relevant data: order data, operations to be performed (work steps), and associated material reservations (order BOM).
• Batch master data: The master data of all batches relevant to DOQ is transferred to DOQ. Depending on the product, this may include, for example, expiration date and planned storage location.
• Inventory: The inventory of purchased goods and consumables relevant to the production process is transferred to DOQ every hour. This information is later used to provide the operator with a selection list of available batches and to validate whether the batch in question is even available in sufficient quantity in the inventory.

Data from DOQ to SAP-IRIS:

• Production status: When production of an order begins, corresponding information is sent to IRIS. If changes are made to the production order in IRIS, the SAP user receives a warning message that the order is already in production.
• Material postings (Goods Issue): Material postings are made in DOQ at various points in the production process. These postings are checked against the submitted inventory to avoid errors in IRIS.
• Operation confirmations: The production process consists of seven operations, some of which have up to four sub-steps. However, the sub-steps are only represented in the DOQ.
• After completion of an operation, it is reported as completed, with yield, scrap with reasons, working hours (personnel or machines), and start and end times being transmitted.
• Goods Receipt: After production is completed and approved by QA in DOQ, a completion notification with a stock entry is sent to IRIS.
• Batch Attributes: After the stock entry, various data from the production process is transferred from DOQ to IRIS (production date, quality class, etc.).
• Inspection Results: After the batch attributes, some inspection values ​​recorded in DOQ are transferred to IRIS and saved with the batch.

All open interfaces have an automatic correction mechanism implemented for subsequent changes that updates the data in SAP.

Conclusion:

With this interface development, we were able to prove that even a medium-sized software company like LA2 can complete such a large-scale project within the specified timeframe. The fact that we were able to achieve this without stopping production is a first for the Alcon Group and saves our customers a lot of money.