SAP DBM Module Intro

DBM ( Dealer Business Management ) is an automotive SAP industry specific module. From the module name it indicates that this module is related to either the dealerships or dealership organizations. This module is related to the vehicle sales, workshop management, parts management service and warranty. Talking Master Data which is the long term core data of the organization. In this module the master data is like Vehicle, Customer, Parts, Labor Operations and Packages.

Let’s imagine the distribution chain of the automotive industry. We have the OEM ( Original Equipment Manufacture ) that is connected to the importer or the distributor, who is responsible for importing the cars to the country. The importer is connected to the dealers around the country, where they can reach to the end customers who will buy the cars. This module have some business goals that tries to achieve such as customer loyalty, long term growth, increase efficiency, maximize the profit  and competitive differentiation.

The real process is very complex due to the large network between all parties which cause a paralysis for the business, which doesn’t achieve the required business needs. There is a lot of inconsistency in the data, lack of customer focus, lack of horizontal and vertical integrations and poor financial visibility, that leads to low efficiency, low customer satisfaction and poor profitability. The DBM Module helps in building the harmony and optimize the process across the business, provide sustainable and profit growth and using real time data which provide a high visibility, personalized customer service and full transparency.

To achieve the business prosperity the stakeholders should be aligned towards the same goal with effective management for the dealership between the general manager, sales, service and parts. Every party need to achieve a required goal which is a customer centric business and a profitable dealership. DBM Module is an end to end cross functional solution, where it starts with:

• Vehicle Procurement and Logistics
• New and Used Vehicles Sales
• Appointment Scheduling and Service Processing 
• Parts Sales and Parts Logistics.

As long as there is new and used vehicle sales the DBM Cycle will be in two inner loops in the vehicle service area and the parts management area. For the vehicle sales it will be between the appointment scheduling and service processing, while in the parts management will be between the parts sales and logistics.

Having a standardized business processes help in enabling better decision making and improved customer services to achieve a customer oriented environment with maximizing the revenue. DBM Module will fulfill the motive to have a consistent processes that will meet the customer needs and increase the profit. There is a need to meet the customer demands and expectation in a continuous way to be able to achieve the customer satisfaction. The customer need is to be offered the right vehicle that is suitable for him, have the services required and the accessories for the vehicle. All of this needs to be in a right time with a high quality.

For Vehicle Sales, In the procurement of the vehicles you have a complete visibility of your vehicle pipeline and inventory plus it allows you to manage the right vehicle portfolio. The process starts with Vehicle Master and History, where you can handle multi-franchise with complete real time vehicle history, added on this creation of multiple vehicles. It continues with Bulk Procurement, where you can process multiple vehicles in one step across the supply chain. It can be noted that the module provide mass creation capability, which is not only dependent on single creation. It reaches to the vehicle inventory and administrations, where there is vehicle life cycle either new or used, stock lists with vehicles, vehicle predelivery inspection and stock age calculations. It ends with a vehicle search engine, which gives high efficiency during your vehicle search.

You need to ensure customer retention that is achieved from the customer satisfaction by providing a high quality service and fulfilling all the customer needs. It can be achieved by having a feedback from the customer at the end of the service for more improvement. This also gives the customer a sense of caring, that we seek his full satisfaction with his own eye. Providing that customer service needs high integration and collaboration with efficient scheduling of workshop resources to ensure that customer expectations is met during every phase from the customer service journey.

For Vehicle Service, There is integrated appointment scheduling process with real-time information on parts and technician availability with integrated deferred / additional work. It is providing a 360 degree view for all the customer and vehicle data, which help in preventing the information gaps with providing a clarity for every step in the process. The process starts with customer inquiry which provide an overview on the customer and vehicle data details. It continues with the related documents such as service contracts and service quotations with customers approval. It reaches to the customer’ service request, which contains the job catalog with the estimated job items and the assigned packages. It moves with the service data selection which is a graphical overview of relevant labor team capacity. It plans the service advisor using also a graphical overview for selecting the slots. There is also another graphical reservation for the plan mobility. It ends with confirming and wrapping up, where it confirms the reliable date to customer with customer details, requested service, Drop off and pick up date with price information and item view.

In the customer service, It is required to keep the inventory low, while at the same time you need to meet the customer expectations and keep growing the profit margin. You need to manage all the aspects in the service parts delivery including parts planning, procurement, storage, delivery and invoice creation. It is managing a high volumes of parts in multi-brand environment with challenges such as limited storage space, unpredictable failure and demand on parts and marketing competitions. DBM Module provide end to end parts processing across all the dealer locations, advanced replenishment planning routines and high service level with emergency repair.

In Parts Management, The parts logistics starts with OEM and Dealers parts master data with replenishment planning for the stock, which is advanced planning routines for the parts stock. It can be done with multiple replenishment types such as consumption based planning, net requirement calculation and order based planning. It continues to inventory management and physical inventory with inventory types and handling such as consignment with warehouse management integration. It ends with the purchase requisition and purchase order for the required parts. This to improve the parts availability and to cut the inventory costs by keeping the inventory levels as low as possible.

That is an introductory blog on the SAP DBM Module with it’s definition with focusing on the most important aspects that is related to the module from the Vehicle Sales to the Parts management. Clarifying the main business goals from that module and how it can reduce the complexity and the paralysis of that large distribution network.