Building Materials Manufacturer

The Challenge

As a leading supplier of premium building materials, this manufacturing company relied on a trio of critical systems — SAP, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM — to manage its operations. Dynamics 365 CRM was pivotal for tracking leads, managing customers, creating quotes, and closing orders. However, integrating Dynamics 365 CRM with the ERP system, SAP, to generate accurate quotes based on material inventory and pricing posed a significant challenge. Additionally, ensuring SAP was notified when an order was placed to initiate the delivery process added another layer of complexity.

To further complicate matters, the company used Salesforce for handling product warranties, managing product repairs, and customer billing. The need for seamless data synchronization and interoperability across these three systems became evident to optimize and streamline their business processes. Prior to engaging with Argano, the company had engaged with a third-party consultancy that opted for TIBCO Scribe as the middleware solution, but this proved insufficient for their growing needs.

The Solution

Armed with extensive experience in middleware solutions, the Argano team embarked on a mission to modernize the existing TIBCO Scribe applications. The journey began with a meticulous reverse engineering process, where each TIBCO Scribe flow was analyzed to identify redundancies and obsolete processes. The team then created a detailed migration roadmap, outlining which applications would be migrated to MuleSoft and which would remain on TIBCO Scribe. Close collaboration with business users ensured that every requirement was accurately captured and potential enhancements were explored.

• Comprehensive migration roadmap to ensure a successful transition
• MuleSoft Implementation and API-led approach to create a robust, future-proof integration layer
• Operational enhancements with Azure services

With the roadmap in place, Argano deployed MuleSoft along with various Azure services to implement the recommended solutions. System layer APIs were built for each relevant end system, ensuring a secure VPN tunnel for ERP accessibility. The team employed an API-led approach for new applications, leveraging the agility and scalability of this modern methodology.

The Results

The transformation was swift and impactful. Operational support was significantly improved with the implementation of log forwarding for CloudHub applications and custom application alerts for scheduled jobs and connectivity errors. Comprehensive documentation, including coding standards, design documents, and runbooks, was provided to ensure seamless maintenance and future development.

The migration from TIBCO Scribe to MuleSoft yielded immediate benefits. Best practices, optimizations, and enhancements were applied, preserving all existing functionality, while addressing long-standing challenges of limited visibility, lack of reusability, and system strain. The client now enjoys an enterprise-ready application network that delivers:

• Enhanced operational visibility and efficiency with real-time insights empowering better decision-making
• Agile and scalable infrastructure adapting to ever-evolving business requirements
• Robust security and compliance measures mitigating vulnerabilities

The ripple effects of this initiative extended beyond the company’s U.S. borders. Impressed by the benefits of API-led connectivity, the manufacturer’s European counterpart engaged Argano to implement interfaces between SAP and CRM Dynamics. This not only showcased the scalability and applicability of the solution across regions but also underscored the transformative power of a well-executed integration strategy.

With Argano's expertise and MuleSoft's capabilities, the company now operates with increased agility, security, and efficiency, setting a benchmark for high-performance operations in the manufacturing industry.