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Why Experienced Data Migration Consultants Are the Key to Successful SAP Data Migration Projects?

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 09:56:06 GMT

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP, are crucial for streamlining operations and enabling data-driven decision-making. However, one of the most underestimated and misunderstood aspects of SAP implementation is data migration.

Too often, data migration is treated as a last-minute technical task rather than a strategic pillar of the project. The result? Delays, budget overruns, and poor data quality hamper adoption and business performance. This is where experienced data migration consultants come in. Their role isn't just about moving data—it's about ensuring the data is clean, usable, validated, and supports the business from day one.

At Kagool, we've led and rescued numerous SAP programmes across the globe, and we know what makes data migration succeed. It starts with recognising data migration as a core strategic capability.

What Is Data Migration in SAP?

Data migration is the process of transferring data from legacy systems to the new SAP environment. It involves extracting data from legacy systems, cleaning, enriching, and transforming the data, loading it into the new SAP system, and validating and reconciling it to ensure integrity and completeness. While this may sound straightforward, it is anything but. Without proper planning, expertise, and ownership, data migration becomes the Achilles heel of SAP projects.

Data Migration Lifecycle Chart

Why Experience Matters

Data migration isn't just about scripts and templates. It requires people who understand end-to-end migration workflows, can translate business requirements into technical specifications, know how to validate data quality, structure, and dependencies, and can proactively troubleshoot issues and escalate when needed.

The first people to spot system configuration issues are often the data migration consultants. At Kagool, our experienced consultants know how to identify red flags, such as missing SAP transports and configurations, or inconsistent source data—before they derail the project.

Defining Ownership: Who Owns the Data?

One of the most significant grey areas in large-scale SAP implementations is data ownership. Is it IT? The business? The functional teams? When you assign a dedicated data migration consultant or team, such as those from Kagool, they take full ownership of specific data objects, coordinate with stakeholders across business, IT, and SAP teams, and ensure that accountabilities are clear and tasks don't fall through the cracks. Without that ownership, things get missed, quality drops and the business is left scrambling.

Collaboration Across Teams

Experienced migration consultants act as the connective tissue between various parts of your programme: business users, SAP functional consultants, programme management, and ABAP and IT infrastructure teams. At Kagool, our consultants are not only translators between business and tech but often act as trainers, helping business users understand how their data fits into the SAP system. During an SAP project in Vietnam, for instance, our data consultants became informal trainers by walking business users through data workflows well before formal training began enabling the business users to become more familiar with the SAP product

A Broader Skill Set

Great migration consultants bring more than data expertise. They offer analytical thinking to identify data anomalies, root cause analysis to fix recurring problems, and process insight to detect upstream inefficiencies. At Kagool, we don't just raise issues—we offer solutions and help elevate the overall data quality within the organisation.

Process, People, and Technology: A Balanced Trio

Here's a key mantra we use at Kagool: "Technology moves the data. Process enables the movement. But people ensure the right data, in the right format, at the right quality." You can have the best tools and best-laid plans. However, without experienced personnel, your project risks falling short of its return on investment (ROI).

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

Many of our engagements at Kagool involve rescue missions. We're brought in after data loads fail, business users lose trust in the migration process, and timelines slip. The common theme? The project lacked skilled, dedicated data migration resources. Often, overloaded SAP functional consultants are asked to "cover" migration work. But this approach rarely ends well.

What Success Looks Like

A high-performing data migration team will own the end-to-end data lifecycle, provide clear documentation and traceability, collaborate seamlessly with all stakeholders, and ensure data quality, consistency, and audit readiness. They are your project's first line of defence against data issues and your last gatekeeper before going live. At Kagool, we ensure our consultants bring these qualities to every engagement.

Final Thoughts: Data Migration Isn't a Task. It's a Discipline.

Too many SAP programmes treat data migration as a technical footnote. In reality, it's a strategic differentiator that affects everything from system usability to long-term business intelligence. Investing in experienced data migration consultants isn't nice to have. It's the foundation for a smooth implementation, reliable reporting, and a lasting return on investment (ROI).

If you're starting an SAP transformation, don't just plan for data migration—partner with Kagool to do it right.

Related Resources

How to Ensure a Successful Data Migration with Defined Processes

De-Risking Your Data Migration Process with Pulse

Explore Kagool's Data Migration Services

Learn About Pulse

Driving Warehouse Logistics Transformation with Kagool and SAP EWM

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 11:42:13 GMT

Introduction

The ability to manage logistics with speed, precision, and efficiency is no longer optional – it's critical.

As companies strive to enhance control, visibility, and scalability in their supply chains, adopting logistics automation technology like SAP EWM (Extended Warehouse Management) is essential to adapt to industry trends, optimise operations, and meet ever-evolving customer demands.

This blog highlights how SAP EWM addresses current logistics challenges, the key supply chain approaches businesses must adopt, and why partnering with Kagool is crucial for manufacturing, retail, and service businesses to transform their operations.

Trends and Challenges Transforming Logistics

The rise of e-commerce, globalisation, and growing customer expectations regarding speed and transparency have driven a paradigm shift in logistics over the recent years. However, businesses still face persistent challenges:

Many organisations rely on fragmented third-party systems, making it difficult to gain centralised visibility of inventory, shipments, and overall supply chain performance.
A high level of manual, repetitive tasks slows operations down and increases the risk of costly errors – especially during periods of high demand.
Surges and seasonal peaks require logistics teams to scale operations quickly, yet efficiently onboarding and training temporary staff is a challenge.
Inconsistent delivery performance can impact customer satisfaction, especially in industries such as e-commerce, where timely delivery is non-negotiable.
A lack of integration between logistics, finance, production, and other business functions leads to inefficiencies and delays in decision-making.

Addressing these logistics pain points is crucial for delivering high-quality service, complying with industry regulations, and maintaining a competitive edge.

The Kagool Story: Leading the Way in SAP EWM Expertise

With over two decades of SAP expertise, Kagool has solidified its position as the go-to partner for businesses seeking seamless and scalable logistics transformations. From manufacturing giants to agile retailers, Kagool's tailored approach ensures SAP EWM is not just implemented but fully integrated into the broader business strategy.

Our journey is rooted in the belief that logistics should be frictionless, future-proof, and fully optimised. Through our in-depth industry knowledge and hands-on expertise, Kagool has enabled businesses to transform warehouse operations, ensuring agility, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

Case Study: Transforming Logistics for a Leading Gas Supplier

One of the UK's largest gas suppliers, Caden t , partnered with Kagool to revolutionise their warehouse management processes using SAP EWM. Faced with challenges such as inefficient inventory tracking and slow order fulfilment, Cadent needed a solution that provided real-time visibility and automation.

By implementing SAP EWM with Kagool's expertise, Cadent achieved:

30% improvement in warehouse efficiency
Significant reduction in stock discrepancies
Faster response times to urgent supply demands

This transformation streamlined operations and enhanced customer satisfaction, proving that the right SAP EWM implementation partner makes all the difference.

Kagool's Expertise in Product-led, Customer-led, and Service-led Supply Chain Approaches

In today's rapidly evolving supply chain landscape, businesses must adapt to new models to stay competitive. These models are becoming more intertwined as companies strive for agility, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Kagool brings deep expertise in SAP EWM, empowering businesses to seamlessly integrate and optimise these three key logistics management approaches: Product-led, Customer-led, and Service-led.

Product-led Supply Chain

A product-led supply chain ensures that products are available precisely when and where needed. Efficient inventory management, powered by SAP EWM, allows businesses to streamline warehouse operations, minimise stock levels, and enable fast, precise product movement from production to distribution. For industries embracing just-in-time (JIT) logistics, Kagool's tailored SAP EWM implementations provide real-time stock visibility, optimised warehouse automation, and synchronised distribution workflows—ensuring product availability without unnecessary holding costs.

Customer-led Supply Chain

With rising customer expectations for speed, accuracy, and transparency—especially in

e-commerce and retail—businesses must adopt a customer-first logistics strategy. Kagool enables companies to leverage SAP EWM's real-time data to optimise inventory positioning, synchronise orders with warehouse operations, and enhance delivery performance. Our expertise in integrating AI-driven demand forecasting, automated picking, and last-mile delivery tracking ensures businesses can exceed customer expectations, meet SLAs, and drive brand loyalty.

Service-led Supply Chain

A service-led supply chain focuses on after-sales support and field service logistics, ensuring critical parts and components are available precisely when engineers and technicians need them. This approach is essential in utilities, manufacturing, and aerospace, where downtime minimisation is crucial. Kagool leverages SAP EWM's advanced tracking, automated replenishment, and AI-powered demand planning to optimise spare parts availability, reducing operational disruptions and improving overall service efficiency.

Kagool's Expertise in the UAE Market

As a global logistics hub, the UAE faces unique supply chain challenges, including complex cross-border trade regulations, free-zone compliance, and high-volume imports/exports. Kagool has successfully helped UAE-based businesses streamline logistics operations, enhance warehouse efficiencies, and optimise last-mile delivery networks with SAP EWM.

Case Study: Enhancing Logistics for a Leading UAE Retailer

A major retail chain in Dubai partnered with Kagool to address inventory management and fulfilment speed inefficiencies. With SAP EWM, Kagool implemented:

Real-time tracking of inventory across multiple distribution hubs
Automated stock replenishment to prevent shortages
Optimised last-mile delivery routes for improved customer satisfaction

The result? 40% faster fulfilment times, a 25% reduction in stock losses, and a 20% decrease in operational costs, reinforcing Kagool's role as a trusted SAP EWM partner in the UAE.

Why Choose Kagool for Your Supply Chain Transformation?

At Kagool, we go beyond standard SAP EWM implementations—we provide customised, industry-specific solutions tailored to your business's unique logistics challenges. Our expertise spans manufacturing, retail, distribution, and field services, allowing us to design SAP-driven logistics ecosystems that integrate seamlessly with your broader supply chain and business strategy.

Proven Track Record: With over 21 years of SAP expertise, Kagool has transformed warehouse and logistics operations for global businesses, including in the UAE.
End-to-End SAP EWM Capabilities: From planning and implementation to ongoing optimisation, we provide full-scale support.
Scalability & Future-Proofing: Our solutions evolve with your business, ensuring long-term supply chain resilience.

By partnering with Kagool, you gain access to unparalleled SAP EWM expertise, ensuring your supply chain is efficient, responsive, and fully optimised for the demands of the modern business landscape.

Transform Your Logistics Operations with Kagool and SAP EWM

Efficiency and agility in logistics are paramount—today more than ever before. SAP EWM, powered by Kagool's SAP expertise, allows businesses to transform their supply chain operations to combat current and future logistics challenges.

Kagool's tailored approach to SAP EWM implementation delivers the control, scalability, and efficiency you need to stay ahead.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Get in touch today and discover how partnering with Kagool can transform your logistics operations, streamline processes, and position your business for long-term success.

How to Ensure a Successful Data Migration with Defined Processes

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 15:51:40 GMT

Introduction: Transforming Data Migration into Business Value

Did you know that 83% of data migration projects exceed their planned budgets due to poor planning and undefined processes? Businesses face delays, data integrity issues, and unexpected costs without a structured approach.

Data migration is often viewed as a technical necessity, but it’s much more than that—it’s a cornerstone of business transformation. Whether implementing a new ERP system, consolidating platforms, or integrating data post-merger, the migration process can have profound implications for your organisation’s efficiency, decision-making, and future scalability.

Successful data migration relies on selecting the right data migration tools, assembling a skilled team, and following a well-defined migration process. Defined and repeatable processes create clarity, reduce risk, and ensure alignment with business goals, ultimately delivering value across the organisation.

Why Defined Processes Are Critical in Data Migration

In the world of data migration, chaos is costly. Undefined or inconsistent processes lead to missed deadlines, expensive rework, and dissatisfied stakeholders. On the other hand, structured and repeatable processes ensure that every step is deliberate, measurable, and aligned with organisational priorities.

Efficiency and Predictability

Structured processes streamline workflows, reducing redundancies and ensuring that tasks are performed in a logical sequence. This leads to:

Faster project execution.
Reduction in errors, rework, and delays.
Consistency across multiple phases of the migration, enabling scalability and repeatability.

Enhanced Business Agility

Defined processes allow organisations to adapt more effectively to changes, whether they arise from evolving business requirements, market conditions, or regulatory needs. By embedding flexibility into the process, businesses can accommodate adjustments without derailing the entire project.

Trust and Transparency

A well-defined data migration framework provides clear checkpoints and progress updates, giving stakeholders visibility into the migration’s status. This fosters trust and ensures that both technical and business teams remain aligned throughout the project.

Key Steps in a Successful Data Migration Process

To maximise business and customer value, a structured data migration process should focus on the following critical components:

Strategic Requirement Gathering

Before moving a single byte of data, it’s essential to understand:

Business Objectives: What outcomes is the migration designed to support?
Data Sources and Quality: Where is the data, and how reliable is it?
End-State Vision: What should the data look like in its new environment?

Investing time in comprehensive requirement gathering avoids misaligned expectations, minimises rework, and ensures the migration aligns with business priorities.

Disciplined ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) and Reconciliation

The ETL process is the engine of data migration. A disciplined approach ensures data accuracy and completeness:

Extraction: Establish repeatable routines for pulling data from its source.
Transformation: Apply rules to clean and reformat data to meet the new system’s requirements.
Loading and Reconciliation: Validate that the data has been transferred accurately and meets business needs.

Reconciliation is particularly vital, ensuring that the data in the new system is not just present but functional, enabling stakeholders to trust and utilise it effectively.

Robust Change Management

Change is inevitable in data migration projects. A defined change management process ensures that:

Updates to business or technical requirements are communicated promptly.
Their impact on migration timelines and deliverables is assessed.
Stakeholders are aligned on how to incorporate changes without compromising project goals.

Comprehensive Testing and Documentation

Testing isn’t just a safety net—it’s a proactive tool for risk mitigation. Incorporate:

Unit Testing: Validate each component of the migration process.
System Integration Testing (SIT): Ensure data flows seamlessly across systems.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Confirm that the data supports business operations.

Documentation supports continuity, enabling teams to maintain progress even when resources shift, or projects evolve. It also provides an audit trail for accountability and compliance.

How Kagool Ensures a Hassle-Free Data Migration

At Kagool, we specialise in delivering seamless and efficient data migration projects through structured methodologies. Our expertise covers every stage of the migration process, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum value. Here’s how Kagool aligns with the best practices outlined above:

Comprehensive Strategy Development: We ensure that every migration step is aligned with business objectives, from requirement gathering to deployment.
Advanced ETL Processes: Our automated, repeatable ETL workflows ensure accuracy, consistency, and data integrity throughout the migration journey.
Risk Mitigation Framework: We proactively identify challenges and implement contingency plans to prevent disruptions.
Continuous Monitoring & Validation: Through rigorous testing, reconciliation, and quality assurance, we ensure data is migrated efficiently while maintaining its functionality.
Expert Support & Change Management: Our dedicated teams collaborate with stakeholders to manage changes effectively, ensuring projects remain on track and within budget.

By leveraging Kagool’s expertise, businesses can execute data migrations confidently, minimising risks and accelerating ROI.

How Defined Processes Improve Data Migration Success

A structured data migration strategy creates measurable business and customer value:

Business Continuity and Risk Mitigation

With robust processes, organisations minimise disruptions and reduce the risk of costly errors or compliance breaches. This is particularly critical during the go-live stages when even minor issues can escalate into major problems.

Data-Driven Decision-Making

High-quality data is the foundation of strategic decision-making. By ensuring that migrated data is accurate, complete, and trusted, organisations enable better insights, faster decisions, and improved customer experiences.

Cost Efficiency and ROI

Efficient processes reduce wasted effort, minimise rework, and ensure projects stay on budget. By avoiding unnecessary delays and errors, organisations can more quickly realise the ROI of their new systems.

Customer Satisfaction

A seamless migration of customer-facing data, such as CRM or order management systems, ensures uninterrupted service for customers. Accurate data also empowers customer service teams to deliver faster, more personalised support.

Conclusion: Turning Data Migration into a Strategic Advantage

Data migration is not just a technical exercise—it’s a strategic enabler of business transformation. Organisations can unlock efficiency, reduce risk, and deliver meaningful value to stakeholders by investing in defined, disciplined processes.

As your organisation embarks on its next data migration journey, remember that success starts with a clear plan. Processes aren’t just about getting the job done; they’re about doing it right, ensuring that your investment translates into business success.

Ready to migrate your data seamlessly? Schedule a free consultation with our experts to avoid disruptions and ensure a hassle-free transition.

Ready to migrate your data seamlessly?

Schedule a free consultation with our experts to avoid disruptions and ensure a hassle-free transition.

De-risking Your Data Migration Process with Pulse: A Path to Successful Transition

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 10:30:00 GMT

De-risking Your Data Migration Process with Pulse: A Path to Successful Transition

Data migration is a critical but often underestimated aspect of business transformation, particularly when migrating to complex systems like SAP. Organisations must manage vast amounts of data, transforming it into new formats and structures. The process can overwhelm teams without careful planning, leading to delays, errors, and cost overruns. This blog explores how tools like Pulse can help streamline the migration process, reduce risks, and ensure a smooth transition to your new systems.

Understanding the Customer Pain Points

Many organisations approach data migration with the misconception that it’s simply a task of moving data from one system to another. A common assumption is that if the data works in the old system, it should work in the new one as well. However, this fails to recognise the fundamental differences between legacy systems and advanced platforms like SAP.

Legacy systems often rely on manual intervention to function despite incomplete or poor-quality data, masking underlying issues. However, SAP and similar systems demand high-quality, structured data to automate processes efficiently, creating a significant gap in readiness. For example, Pulse has uncovered extensive hidden data quality issues during the migration process that manual fixes in legacy systems had concealed. The scale of missing and incorrect data required significant enrichment to meet SAP’s stringent automation requirements.

Continuous Data Updates and Complexity

Data migration is rarely a one-off activity. The data that exists at the start of a project is not the same data that will be in place at go-live. Businesses are continually creating new data—new customers, products, transactions, etc. This constantly evolving data landscape means that migration teams must extract, validate, and transform data and repeatedly cycle through these processes. This generates multiple versions of data, creating a huge management burden.

Without proper controls, this can spiral into chaos, where teams are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data fixes and updates. Data requirements frequently evolve in projects spanning 6–18 months as businesses adapt to new processes or regulations. A robust tool like Pulse allows for configuration changes to be implemented centrally, ensuring updates are seamlessly reflected across all data objects without introducing inconsistencies.

The Overwhelming Nature of Manual Processes

Attempting to manage data migration manually, particularly for complex transformations like SAP, are less efficient and riskier. Teams can end up managing hundreds of spreadsheets, each containing different sets of data errors, enrichment requirements, or transformation issues. Every week, new versions of these data sets need to be validated and enriched, which can only become manageable with the right tools and established automated processes.

Programmes that rely solely on manual processes frequently lose control over data quality. Often this leads to delays in test cycles as teams struggle to fix data in time. The result is wasted time and resources, pushing back critical phases like System Integration Testing (SIT) or User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

Moreover, it is likely that to save these time critical activities a solution of “manufacturing dummy data” is suggested. This is a form of “kicking the can down the road” and the fundamental issues behind data readiness are not understood or resolved. In our view this invalidates the solution testing being completed, as it is missing the key component of genuine business data.

Organisations that replaced manual processes with automated tooling reported up to a 30% reduction in project timelines , as tools eliminated bottlenecks and streamlined error tracking.

The Role of Automation and Tooling

The complexity of data migration requires a combination of people, processes, and tools. While tooling is not a silver bullet, it significantly reduces manual effort and accelerates the migration process by automating repetitive tasks. Tools like Pulse , for example, can remove the reliance on spreadsheets and email chains by providing a centralised platform for managing data.

Tooling can automate data extraction, transformation, and validation processes. It can also provide real-time reporting and audit trails, ensuring that teams have visibility into data quality, progress, and errors. This level of automation allows organisations to make data-driven decisions faster, reducing the risk of delays and errors.

Prioritising Data Fixes Through Tooling

One of the most significant advantages of tooling is prioritising tasks based on business needs. In a manual process, teams are often inundated with thousands of data errors but have no way to prioritise which issues need fixing first. Tools can help teams triage data issues, ensuring that the most critical problems are addressed first. For example, an organisation might prioritise fixing data for direct vendors over aftermarket vendors. A good tool allows for this kind of configuration, helping businesses focus on high-impact data objects, thereby preventing bottlenecks during migration.

Harmonisation and Deduplication

Data quality issues such as duplicates and inconsistencies can severely impact operational efficiency in the new system. Legacy systems often contain multiple records for the same customer or vendor, which can lead to errors in reporting and process inefficiencies post-migration.

A robust data migration tool can identify and manage duplicates through harmonisation and deduplication. Advanced features, such as fuzzy matching, help detect potential duplicates even when data is not identical, enabling teams to merge records accurately. For example, harmonisation through Pulse reduced duplicate records by 40% for a manufacturing client, significantly improving reporting accuracy and minimising operational errors.

Reconciliation: Ensuring Data Integrity

Once the data has been loaded into the new system, it’s crucial to ensure that it was migrated correctly. Reconciliation processes compare data between the source and target systems, ensuring no critical information was lost or misrepresented during migration. This is particularly important for financial or manufacturing data, where even minor discrepancies can have a significant operational impact.

A tool like Pulse can automate reconciliation processes, providing businesses with confidence that their data is accurate and ready for use. With this assurance, businesses can avoid operational failures post-go-live, from halted production lines to incorrect financial reporting. We have seen examples where in manufacturing where data reconciliation issues post migration temporarily halted production, costing the company an estimated £100,000 per hour . Using field-by-field reconciliation during migration can prevent such costly disruptions.

Speed and Predictability in Data Migration

The timing of data migration is critical to the overall programme timeline. Testing phases and go-live windows are tightly scheduled, and any delays in data readiness can derail the entire project. Tools can provide the predictability needed to avoid such disruptions by simulating data loads and identifying issues before they become critical.

Tools like Pulse help ensure teams are fully prepared for production loads by consistently validating data and simulating migration scenarios, avoiding last-minute surprises. Simulations conducted via Pulse reduced production disruptions by 25%, providing organisations with accurate load times and effective cutover planning.

The Importance of Data Security

In addition to managing the technical aspects of migration, businesses must also ensure that sensitive data is protected. Data migration tools should offer security features such as data masking to ensure that only authorised personnel can access sensitive information. This is particularly important for organisations handling financial, HR, or personally identifiable information (PII).

Conclusion: Confidence Through Tooling and Process

The key to de-risking your data migration process lies in automation, robust processes, and skilled people. Tools like Pulse provide the backbone of an effective data migration strategy, offering automation, visibility, and predictability. However, even the best tools cannot succeed without the right processes and a team that understands the complexities of data migration.

By investing in the right tooling and building a robust data migration framework, organisations can avoid the common pitfalls of migration projects, ensuring a smooth transition to their new systems and realising the full potential of their transformation programmes.

Microsoft Partner of the Year 2024

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 08:00:04 GMT

Kagool Recognised as the 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year at MCAPS Start for Partners!

We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded the of FY24 Microsoft UAE Partner of the Year. This recognition is a testament to our dedication and innovation in collaborating with the UAE government to develop an advanced AI engine to drive the growth of AI use cases across governmental operations.

Our award-winning project focuses on creating a cutting-edge AI engine in collaboration with the UAE government. Leveraging Microsoft Azure Disconnected Containers for data sovereignty and adopting Azure AI services dedicated to the federal government, we have pioneered a solution that empowers the UAE federal government to rapidly adopt and accelerate the transformation and utilisation of AI technologies.

Central to our achievement is the establishment of an AI-focused platform. By harnessing Microsoft Cognitive Services Disconnected Containers and Azure Open AI PTUs, we have enabled various government entities to harness AI services effectively, fostering the development of tailored AI solutions to meet their unique needs.

This accolade underscores our commitment to pushing the boundaries of technological innovation and our unwavering dedication to advancing AI capabilities within the Public Sector and Government. We are deeply grateful for Microsoft's support and collaboration with various governments. We look forward to continuing our partnership and driving forward progress and innovation in the exciting field of artificial intelligence.

Questions or Media Inquiries?

Email the Kagool media team for more information.

Kagool and METCLOUD form global partnership providing HPE Private Cloud solutions for SAP enterprise

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 07:51:12 GMT

Revolutionising SAP Enterprise Transformation with Secure HPE Private Cloud Solutions and Global Reach

Kagool and METCLOUD Forge Strategic Partnership to Drive S/4HANA Transformation and Secure Cloud Innovation by 2027

As the industry braces for the pivotal year of 2027, where only 31% of SAP ECC users are projected to complete the transition to S/4HANA, Kagool and METCLOUD's strategic partnership is poised to reshape the System Integrator landscape.

Our partnership signifies a commitment to innovation, security, and customer success. Kagool brings extensive experience in enterprise SAP transformation, data modernisation and METCLOUD's specialism in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) infrastructure and cybersecurity. Together, our partnership provides comprehensive consultancy for seamless S/4HANA private cloud implementations. We are excited about the opportunities for this collaboration and look forward to empowering organisations on their transformation journeys.

"Embracing enterprise innovation, security, and customer success, our partnership represents a unique SI value proposition, through uniting industry specialists Kagool and METCLOUD. With Kagool’s expertise in enterprise SAP transformation and data modernisation, combined with METCLOUD's specialisation in HPE infrastructure and cybersecurity, we embark on a journey to empower organisations across the globe in their transformation journeys. We commit to shaping a future fueled by collaboration and excellence."

Dan Barlow, CEO of Kagool

"This is a significant announcement and will be transformational for both organisations. There has never been a more exciting yet challenging time for organisations globally as they wrestle with digital transformation, artificial intelligence, cloud, cybersecurity, regulation, and compliance. Our combined strengths will help organisations navigate this journey to success. "

IAN VICKERS, CEO Of METCLOUD

Key Highlights of the Partnership:

1: Enhanced Data Security and Sovereignty:

The collaboration addresses growing concerns around data security and sovereignty in SAP environments. By leveraging our cybersecurity capabilities and commitment to data protection, the partnership ensures that sensitive information remains safeguarded.

2: Global Reach:

With an established presence across Europe, Americas, the Middle East, and the SEAN region, our partnership extends its impact globally. Organisations seeking private cloud solutions can leverage this extensive reach by accessing cutting-edge ERP and Analytic consultancy and solutions tailored to their specific needs.

3: Leveraging HPE Infrastructure:

Globally, 46% of SAP licenses operate on HPE systems. Our expertise in HPE infrastructure and successful S/4HANA implementations enable us to support organisations seamlessly transitioning to S/4HANA on a private cloud. This move ensures data security and sovereignty, aligning with the highest standards.

If you have questions about our SAP solutions or partnership, reach out for a consultation. We're here to help on your transformation journey.

Pulse: Streamlining SAP Data Migration with Automation and Precision

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:12:10 GMT

Ensuring Seamless SAP Data Migration with Pulse: A Comprehensive Approach

Find out that in today's data-driven landscape, successful SAP Data Migration is critical for businesses aiming to use their data for operational excellence. As organisations embark on digital transformation journeys, the importance of correct, efficient, and complete data migrations has never been higher. Pulse , an SAP Certified Data Migration tool by Kagool, addresses these challenges effectively, from handling complex SAP Data Transformation through to conducting thorough Data Reconciliation in SAP.

What Causes SAP Data Migrations to Go Wrong?

A common challenge in data migration projects, is the lack of specialised SAP data migration tools like Pulse. Generally, there is a complete underestimation of the manual efforts required to manage the end-to-end process. This is particularly problematic in a constantly evolving data and application landscape, where the lack of automation and orchestration can lead to a version control nightmare.

Typically this will look like:

Large scale SAP data migrations can have upwards of 100 data objects, each needing separate extract files with tight version controls.
Additionally, around 20% of these data objects are likely to have data quality issues, needing further version-controlled files for business teams to address.
Another 20% will require enrichment, resulting in even more spreadsheets that need to be carefully managed.
During critical phases like transformation, load, and reconciliation, up to 90% of these objects will likely encounter record errors, potentially leading to the creation of hundreds of additional spreadsheets, typically managed on platforms like SharePoint.
Regular re-extraction of source data to confirm and simulate data loads due to ongoing changes in legacy data.

These complexities make manual management near impossible, often leading to delays and significant programme costs. Specialised SAP migration tools like Pulse are designed to address these challenges and can help to automate up to 80% of these manual efforts, orchestrating the entire process and cutting the need for external version control.

Why Use a Specialised ETL Tool Like Pulse?

Migrating data into SAP systems requires precision in executing interconnected activities, from first extraction to final data loading. Gartner highlights that "remediation of SAP data migrations often reveals hidden complexities and potential pitfalls that can derail even the most well-planned projects." Therefore, using a specialised tool like Pulse is essential for seamless SAP Data Migration.

Key Benefits of Pulse

End-to-End Migration Management : Pulse oversees the entire SAP Data Migration process, integrating every step from data extraction to final loading into SAP. This comprehensive approach reduces risks associated with fragmented migration efforts.
Advanced SAP Data Transformation : Pulse includes powerful data transformation capabilities to map and manipulate data according to SAP and specific business requirements, ensuring that the data is correct and aligned with operational needs.
Predictable SAP Data Loading : Pulse offers non-commit loading functionality, allowing organisations to simulate data loads before executing them. This predictability helps prevent unexpected errors and optimises the final data load process.
Field-by-Field Data Reconciliation : Ensuring data integrity post-migration is crucial. Pulse performs thorough Field-by-Field Data Reconciliation, comparing approved data for loading with the actual data in SAP, finding discrepancies and ensuring operational continuity.
Cross Data Object Validations : Completeness is vital for a successful SAP Data Migration. Pulse conducts Cross Data Object Validations to ensure all related data objects are correctly aligned, offering a holistic view of the migration process and boosting confidence in the migrated data's integrity.
User-Friendly Interface : Pulse features an intuitive interface that empowers business users to manage data cleansing and enrichment tasks efficiently. It also provides comprehensive visibility into task status, enhancing transparency.

Thorough Testing Against Business Requirements

Testing is fundamental to a successful SAP Data Migration. Unforeseen issues can cause significant delays and operational disruptions. Pulse mitigates these risks by enabling extensive testing throughout the migration process, helping find and resolve potential issues early. This approach reduces the likelihood of critical surprises during key programme events, ensuring the best outcomes for the SAP implementation.

Building Stakeholder Confidence by Removing Data from the Critical Path

Pulse provides stakeholders with the confidence that SAP Data Migration will not derail overall project timelines. By combining data transformation, cleansing, enrichment, simulation, and full data loading, along with comprehensive validations, Pulse ensures a reliable migration process. This approach reduces data-related risks and keeps the overall project on track, allowing resources to focus on other critical SAP implementation aspects.

Conclusion

In the complex world of SAP Data Migrations, a robust, specialised tool like Pulse is indispensable. Pulse ensures a seamless, predictable, and reliable data migration process by addressing every aspect of the migration journey, from data extraction to reconciliation. By thoroughly testing against business requirements and providing a user-friendly interface, Pulse enables organisations to migrate their data confidently, keeping it off the critical path and ensuring successful SAP implementation. As Gartner aptly states, "The success of a data migration project is not just about moving data; it's about ensuring that data is accurate, complete, and ready to drive business value."

By using Pulse, organisations can achieve a smooth SAP Data Migration, aligning their data strategy with business goals and enhancing overall operational efficiency . Book a demo with us.

Internal Links to our products:

Pulse: Find and fix your data quality issues

Velocity: SAP data ingestion made easy

External Links:

Check our Pulse product on Microsoft's Azure Marketplace

Check our LinkedIn Pulse - SAP Data Migration's Page

Leveraging Kagool's Offerings for Effective Data Migration in Enterprise Systems

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 10:56:56 GMT

Introduction to Kagool’s Data Migration Expertise

Kagool find its place in today's competitive enterprise landscape, offering seamless data migration which is crucial for supporting business continuity and driving digital transformation . Kagool’s comprehensive suite of data migration solutions are designed to simplify complex migrations, ensuring data integrity and minimal disruption to operations. With tools like Pulse and SAP’s advanced methodologies, Kagool stands out as a leader in delivering tailored migration strategies that meet the unique needs of modern enterprises.

End-to-End Solutions: From planning to execution, Kagool covers all aspects of data migration.
Advanced Tooling: Using the latest technologies, such as Pulse, for efficient migration.
Unified Reporting: Kagool/Pulse centralises data migration reporting, ensuring a single source of truth, even when different stakeholders handle specific tasks.
Customer-Centric Approach: Tailored solutions designed to meet the specific needs of each enterprise.
Three Pillars of Success: Kagool emphasises the importance of People, Process, and Tooling in delivering successful data migrations.

Example of Our Customer Stories:

Why Data Migration is Critical for Enterprises

As enterprises evolve, the need to upgrade systems, merge data, or transition to new platforms becomes inevitable. Data migration is at the core of these transitions, playing a pivotal role in ensuring that data stays exact, accessible, and secure. Whether migrating from legacy systems like Oracle to SAP or upgrading an existing SAP estate to SAP S/4HANA, the success of these initiatives depends heavily on the effectiveness of the migration process.

Data Integrity: Ensures that all migrated data remains secure and valid.
Operational Continuity: Minimises downtime and disruption to business operations.
Compliance: Keeps adherence to regulatory requirements during the migration process.
RACI Clarity: The need for clear roles and responsibilities (RACI) during data migration is critical to avoid last-minute issues and ensure alignment with program expectations.
People, Process, Tooling: All three pillars are essential to deliver a successful data migration, ensuring that each aspect is aligned with program goals.

Example of Our Customer Stories:

Embracing Kagool’s Pulse for Efficient Data Migration

At the heart of Kagool’s offerings is Pulse—a comprehensive data migration tool designed to handle the complexities of enterprise data transitions. Pulse supports deep integration with SAP environments, automates data validation, and provides real-time monitoring, ensuring that the migration process is both efficient and reliable.

Real-Time Monitoring: Track migration progress and resolve issues at once.
Automated Validation: Reduce errors and ensure data accuracy throughout the process.
Seamless Integration: Supports integration with various enterprise systems, including SAP.
Unified Reporting: Pulse offers a single source of truth for all data migration activities, even when responsibilities are shared between different stakeholders.
Process Automation: Pulse automates repetitive tasks, reducing the risk of errors and cutting issues related to version control and manual worksheets.

Example of Our Customer Stories:

Integrating industry frameworks and methodologies to data migrations

Kagool brings robust governance and methodologies to data migration programs to ensure a smooth transition to the new world and keeping data migration off the critical path. Kagool does this with:

Workstream Planning: Kagool’s approach ensures that the data migration workstream is fully integrated with the overall program planning, providing visibility and alignment across all project phases.
Dependencies Management: Kagool ensures that dependencies between various data migration tasks, such as cleansing, enrichment, transformation, and loading, are managed effectively and reported on time.
Artefact Delivery: Industry standard documentation governing the strategy to data requirements to ensure customer requirements are always at the fore and nothing is missed from delivery.

Kagool’s ability further extends to integrating with standard SAP methodologies and processes, such as the SAP Activate Methodology and Migration Cockpit load process. These are critical for automating data transfer from legacy systems and for providing a structured approach to migration projects.

SAP Activate Methodology: Provides a structured approach for planning and executing data migrations.
Migration Cockpit: Uses Data Services and the Data Migration Cockpit for secure and efficient data handling.
LSMW: Used to account for complex business data transformation and load requirements not satisfied by standard load processes.

Example of Our Customer Stories:

Tailored Engagement Models for Successful Migrations

Kagool offers flexible engagement models that cater to the specific needs of enterprises. Whether it's a short-term engagement through the Body Shop model, where expert personnel oversee specific aspects of the migration, or a comprehensive project-based approach, Kagool ensures that each migration is aligned with the enterprise’s goals and timelines.

Body Shop Model: Provides expert personnel for short-term, focused needs.
Project-Based Approach: Full team management for comprehensive, large-scale migrations.
Custom Solutions: Tailored to the specific requirements and timelines of the enterprise.
Business-Owned Cleansing and Enrichment: Kagool recognises that while businesses often own the cleansing and enrichment processes, they may lack the necessary skills and method. Kagool provides the tools and guidance needed to align these tasks with program expectations.
Accountability and Ownership: Kagool emphasises the importance of clear accountability and ownership within each workstream, ensuring that partners and stakeholders are aligned and responsible for their respective tasks.

Competitive Differentiation: Kagool’s Customer-Centric Approach

In the competitive landscape of data migration, Kagool distinguishes itself with a customer-centric approach. Unlike competitors, Kagool focuses on delivering solutions that are tailored to the unique needs of each client. This approach, combined with their advanced tools and methodologies, ensures that enterprises receive a seamless migration experience that is both efficient and effective.

Tailored Solutions: Customised to meet the specific needs of each client.
Advanced Technology: Uses the latest tools and methodologies for effective migration.
Proven Success: Showed record of accomplishment of successful migrations across industries.
Comprehensive Reporting: Kagool’s Pulse centralises reporting, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the migration process.
KPI Visibility: Kagool ensures visibility of the migration workstream through defined KPIs, actions, and data issue tracking, providing stakeholders with the necessary insights to make informed decisions.

How to Get Started with Kagool’s Data Migration Solutions

Interested in a seamless data migration experience? Getting started with Kagool is simple. Visit our Data Migration product page for more information on how our solutions can be tailored to your specific needs. Explore our case study with a leading UK retailer to see how Kagool successfully managed a complex SAP data migration, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum data integrity.

Simple Onboarding: Simple steps to begin your data migration journey with Kagool.
Tailored Consultations: Get advice specific to your enterprise’s needs.
Proven Case Studies: Learn from other successful migrations conducted by Kagool.
End-to-End Support: From first consultation to post-migration support, Kagool ensures a smooth transition.
Process Automation: Kagool’s Pulse ends the need for manual worksheets and resolves version control issues that can hinder a migration’s success.

Conclusion

As enterprises continue to navigate the complexities of digital transformation, effective data migration becomes essential. Kagool’s tailored solutions, advanced tools, and customer-centric approach ensure that your enterprise can transition smoothly, keeping data integrity and business continuity throughout the process. Make the smart choice for your business by choosing Kagool’s proven ability in data migration. Whether you are dealing with legacy systems, integrating recent technologies, or simply aiming to improve operational efficiency, Kagool offers the comprehensive, reliable solutions you need to succeed.

With a strong focus on the three pillars of People, Process, and Tooling, Kagool ensures that every aspect of your data migration is meticulously planned and executed. Our commitment to transparency, accountability, and tailored support means that you can trust Kagool to deliver results that align with your business goals and drive long-term success. Partner with Kagool today and let us help you unlock the full potential of your data with seamless, efficient migrations that set the stage for your enterprise’s future growth.

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External links:

Transform your business operations by integrating your data systems with Kagool’s advanced solutions.

Types of SAP Integration: Enhancing Enterprise Efficiency

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 08:54:36 GMT

To empower businesses to work seamlessly and make informed decisions, integrating SAP systems is crucial. SAP integration enables different software applications to communicate effectively, ensuring efficient and consistent data flow across the organisation. Here, we explore the diverse types of SAP integration, their benefits, and the challenges they present.

Key Types of SAP Integration

1. Application Integration

Application integration involves connecting SAP systems with other enterprise applications such as CRM, SCM, HRM, and more. This ensures that data flows smoothly between different applications, enabling comprehensive visibility and control over business processes.

Examples:

SAP ERP with Salesforce CRM
SAP SCM with Oracle SCM Cloud
SAP HRM with Workday

2. Data Integration

Data integration focuses on consolidating data from various sources into a central SAP system. This allows for a unified view of data, enabling better analysis and decision-making.

Examples:

Integrating data from SAP BW with external data sources
Joining data from multiple SAP modules into SAP HANA
Extracting and transforming data from non-SAP systems into SAP Data Warehouse

3. Process Integration

Process integration aligns business processes across different SAP and non-SAP systems. It ensures that workflows are streamlined and automated, reducing manual intervention and errors.

Examples:

Integrating procurement processes between SAP Ariba and SAP S/4HANA
Automating order-to-cash processes across SAP and third-party applications
Synchronizing supply chain processes between SAP EWM (Enterprise Warehouse Management) and other planning systems

4. Cloud Integration

Cloud integration connects on-premises SAP systems with cloud-based applications and services. This enables businesses to use the flexibility and scalability of cloud solutions while keeping the robustness of their on-premises systems.

Examples:

Integrating SAP S/4HANA with SAP Cloud Platform
Connecting SAP SuccessFactors with other cloud-based HR solutions
Synchronizing data between SAP ERP and cloud-based analytics platforms like SAP Analytics Cloud

5. B2B Integration

B2B integration enables seamless communication and data exchange between SAP systems and external business partners. This ensures smooth transactions and collaboration with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders.

Examples:

Integrating SAP with supplier portals for real-time procurement data exchange
Connecting SAP systems with customer portals for order status updates
Synchronizing inventory data between SAP and third-party planning providers

6. Mobile Integration

Mobile integration allows SAP systems to connect with mobile applications, providing real-time access to business data and processes on the go. This enhances productivity and decision-making for employees in the field.

Examples:

Integrating SAP Fiori apps with SAP S/4HANA for mobile access to business processes
Connecting mobile CRM applications with SAP ERP for real-time customer data
Synchronizing field service data between mobile devices and SAP Service Cloud

Integration Techniques

1. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs )

APIs enable different software applications to communicate with each other. SAP provides various APIs for seamless integration with other systems.

2. Enterprise Service Bus( ESB)

ESB architecture allows different applications to communicate by serving as a message broker. It decouples services, enabling flexible interaction.

Examples:

SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI)
Mule ESB
IBM Integration Bus

3. ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)

ETL processes extract data from various sources, transform it according to business rules, and load it into SAP and non-SAP systems.

Examples:

SAP Data Services
Informatica PowerCenter
Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

4. Message Queues

Message queues enable asynchronous communication between services, ensuring reliable message delivery even if one service is temporarily unavailable.

Examples:

RabbitMQ
Apache Kafka
SAP Event Mesh

Benefits of SAP Integration

Improved Efficiency : Automation of workflows and seamless data exchange reduce manual intervention and errors.
Enhanced Visibility : Real-time data integration offers comprehensive insights into business operations.
Cost Savings : Reduces redundancy and streamlines processes, leading to cost savings.
Better Decision Making : Integrated data sources enable better analytics and reporting, easing informed decision-making.
Scalability : Integration platforms and middleware solutions provide scalable solutions that grow with the organization.

Challenges

Complexity: Integrating disparate systems with different data formats and protocols can be complex.
Data Consistency : Ensuring data consistency and accuracy across multiple systems is challenging.
Security: Protecting data during transfer and ensuring compliance with regulations is critical.
Maintenance: Ongoing maintenance of integrations can be resource intensive.

Conclusion

SAP integration is essential for modern businesses to run efficiently and make data-driven decisions. By using application, data, process, cloud, B2B, and mobile integration techniques, organisations can ensure seamless communication and data flow across their SAP systems. While challenges exist, the benefits of improved efficiency, visibility, cost savings, and better decision-making make SAP integration a worthwhile investment.

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Integrate your SAP systems with ease and take your operations to the next level. Discover how our SAP integration solutions can streamline your processes and propel your business forward.

Kagool’s latest research finds senior IT leaders have major SAP S/4 data migration concerns

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:52:33 GMT

Kagool’s latest research finds that senior IT leaders have concerns over their SAP S/4 data migration.

The main concerns are data quality, data strategy, complexity of data landscape and data governance.

Data migrations are often fraught with issues, complications and delays, causing projects to run massively overbudget. According to Gartner, 83% of data migrations fail or exceed their allotted budgets and schedules.

One particular issue is how late in the delivery cycle data migration problems surface – many programmes become unstuck at the User Acceptance Testing phase, which is often too late to recover in time for the planned go live date.

Dan Barlow, Group CEO of Kagool, explains, “Programmes appear as green throughout the delivery and quickly flip to red without enough time to rescue, and this normally comes with a multi-million pound bill to delay the programme!”

Dan has seen many FTSE250 companies call in Kagool for data migration health checks and rescue missions, as their transformation programmes have hit major problems very late on in the delivery.

SAP support for ECC ends in 2027. Organisations need to think about their migration to S/4 HANA immediately.

Kagool, a consultancy of SAP data professionals, are hosting a webinar on Tuesday 28 March for CIOs, CTOs and Data Managers to guide their data management journey to S/4 HANA, avoiding the main pitfalls resulting in programme failure and delay. The webinar brings Kagool’s best and brightest SAP Data experts together, discussing common Data Migration & Data Management challenges and approaches to solve them. Kagool will look deeper into people, processes, and tooling as key enablers for success - or contributors to failure.

Kagool’s data experts Sean Warner, Head of Data Management / Business Change and Lawrence Vinicombe, Principal Data Consultant, will be hosting this webinar, among other experts.

Lawrence has 10+ years in the manufacturing and consulting sector leading many enterprise SAP data initiatives enabling business growth. Sean has 20 years of experience leading business and data change programmes, supporting data transformation journeys across multiple industries including manufacturing and automotive.

Lawrence highlights, “System integrators will only look to support the Loading of data into a target system, leaving the Extraction, Transformation, Validation and E2E Reconciliation to the business who are not equipped with the tooling, methods and governance to support such a complex requirement. Also, the lack of a full and comprehensive preload cross object Data Integrity Validation process is a major cause for surprises, delays and unpredictability impacting many programmes. CIOs and Programme Directors don’t recognise how much programme risk and dependency is created on the Data Migration/MDM workstreams.”

The data migration webinar explores Kagool’s approach to avoiding the pitfalls that cause major delays to data migration programmes. By putting the right people, processes, and tooling in place at the start of a SAP migration, organisations can ensure a smooth programme, avoiding data migration rescue missions.

Joe Elliott MBE will also be joining as a guest speaker, to give insights from his significant executive expertise, based on his roles in the automotive industry and within Football Clubs. Joe has been a major part of Coventry City Football Club. In 2014, Joe was awarded the MBE for his ‘services to museums’.

To find out more and to register for the free webinar. Find out more by clicking 'Register for webinar' below.

Kagool joins Microsoft as a VIP partner for LEAP event in Saudi Arabia

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:15:36 GMT

Kagool is excited to be Leaping into New Worlds with our Saudi expansion.

Kagool is expanding in Saudi Arabia, adding our data transformation and Azure AI expertise to the many tech innovations happening in this fast-growing region.

To kickstart our expansion, we were invited to LEAP 2023 , as a VIP demo partner for Microsoft, on 6-9 February 2023 in Saudi Arabia. This was the second edition of LEAP, an epic event for the global AI community, all about tapping into the limitless potential of tech to build a positive future.

Kagool could not pass on this opportunity to be a part of the 100,000+ tech innovators and leading experts coming together to connect and explore new ideas. With 172,000 visits, LEAP become the largest ever tech event in history, and the accelerating progress in cutting-edge technologies could not be clearer.

'One of the world’s most influential tech events'

- Fast Company

'The event will have reverberations worldwide and serve as a catalyst as the Saudi government gears up to transform and diversify its economy.'

- Eng. Abdullah Amer Al-Swaha, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology

LEAP addressed pressing issues including the climate emergency, sustainable development, the global health crisis, equality, inclusion, belonging and diversity, all within the bounds of technology. All kinds of people attended, from footballers turned tech enthusiasts to investors with multi-million dollar portfolios. It was featured in WIRED, Bloomberg, and Eye of Riyadah, and our demo’s appearance was even featured in Forbes Middle East’s social media!

Kagool’s involvement at LEAP as a VIP partner with Microsoft was a tremendous success. Microsoft gifted us an award to recognise our efforts in supporting the Microsoft hub with our AI and Digital Twins demo.

We could not be prouder of our team who made this all happen, including those who supported from the backend, as well as the team who attended the event.

Saudi’s Vision 2030 goals

The LEAP event has driven home just how much the region is hungry for growth, and its place at the forefront of technology to make that happen.

With our tech expertise and experience, we can be a key part of the drive to achieve the kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals, including enhancing the Saudi private sector to create a vibrant society, establishing a thriving economy via diversification, and investing in ways to position Saudi Arabia for global trade and competition.

We are excited to be sharing our modern intelligent data platform and AI methodologies with such an ambitious economy, showing specific use cases for industries including oil and gas, retail, and tourism.

The Kagool Team: Data & AI experts

From the Kagool team, we sent Mo Fayez (MEA MD), Toufic El-Eid (GCC Sales Director), Sarg Senthil (IoT Solutions & Mixed Reality Lead), Daniel Lamchahhem Amaro (Data & AI Solutions Specialist) and Sulieman Alramahi (Data and AI Technical Solutions Specialist).

The relevance of the team’s expertise in data, AI, and IoT for Saudi Arabia definitely came through in discussions with all sorts of visitors, including some very high-profile guests.

Our demo, showcased on Microsoft’s exhibition stand, attracted important figures including Ahmed Al Khateeb, the Minister of Tourism, Bandar Al Khorayef, the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, and agents of the Digital Government Authority.

As tourism is at the heart of accomplishing much of Saudi’s Vision 2030 goals, Kagool’s demo focused on a Data & AI use case that enables tourists to discover the City of Diriyah in Saudi. We were proud to receive such positive feedback on this demo, and excited to see it was even featured in Forbes Middle East’s social media.

We are extremely honoured to not only have been invited as a VIP demo partner to the most visited tech event in the world, we have also been gifted this award by Microsoft for all of our contributions to the Microsoft hub at LEAP.

We will sum up LEAP 2023 in 2 words: Absolutely Extraordinary!

What’s next for the Kagool team in Saudi?

This has been a fantastic opportunity for us and the region. It has been a pleasure meeting everyone including the digital government authority of Saudi, and launching Kagool in the Kingdom. We are looking forward to supporting Saudi Arabia in achieving their 2030 vision.

Kagool is excited to be investing heavily in the Saudi region. With plans to open an office, bring on new hires, and start taking on new customers in the region, we are excited to become a part of the Kingdom’s tech economy and Vision 2030 goals.

If your organisation may be interested in working with Kagool in Saudi, please get in touch.

Transform SAP warehouse management by integrating barcode scanners & printers

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 14:40:46 GMT

Handheld devices can give warehouse workers mobility and real-time access to the Warehouse Management System (WMS), increasing their efficiency and accuracy.

Integration of Printers and Hand-held barcode scanner devices (RF devices, Tablets, RFID devices) with the Warehouse Management systems (WMS) plays an important role in a WMS implementation project.

A successful WMS implementation requires businesses to:

identify the right hardware
set up the hardware with process/scenario data in the WMS system
adhere to the security requirement
successfully train end users

Handheld devices are integrated with WMS to provide mobility to warehouse workers and real-time access to the WMS system. Inventory posting and Warehouse movements can be initiated by scanning the barcodes and executed with minimum key inputs on the scanners. This makes warehouse processes more efficient and accurate.

The printer's integration with WMS is important for several key outputs e.g. Handling Unit labels, Shipping labels, Delivery notes, Bill of lading, Picklist, etc.

This blog will discuss key factors to be considered for integrating barcode scanner devices and printers while implementing a SAP Warehouse Management System. Here we have considered SAP Extended Warehouse Management as a reference WMS system to discuss the integration points.

Hardware selection

Printer – Factors to consider:

Type of output - labels / print output
Print output size (e.g. 210 mm X 297 mm)
Printer connectivity requirement – local / attached or remote
Printer type – Mobile or Fixed printers
The barcodes used in the industry should be supported by the device
Required font should be supported by the Printers. True Type Fonts (.ttf) are supported by most printers

Barcode scanner device – Factors to consider:

Operating system – Android / Windows / Apple
Manufacturers – Zebra / Honeywell / Motorola
Type of Scanner – Handheld / Vehicle mounted devices
Browser – Enterprise browser
Form Factor / Display / Keypad / Weight / Rugged
Scanning distance (radio range)
Integration with SAP (standard configuration/flexibility)
Connectivity – Internal (local network WiFi) or External (4G/5G public network)

Hardware Settings

Once the relevant devices are identified and connectivity is established, there are various configurations that need to be deployed on SAP and the device.

Printer configuration - several parameters have to be set in the printer settings. Some of the important ones are Font size, Page size, Page Orientation, Continuous label length, Connection.

Barcode Scanner devices - Browser shortcut needs to be created on the Device Home Screen. The configuration file has to be set up with the URLs of the SAP system. The security policies using Intune Configuration policy have to be applied.

SAP Basis Setting

Application web configuration will give access for barcode scanner device. This will involve service activation / configurations and would need security assessment. It may also need involvement from network team to enable access from various network.

Define SAP printers with appropriate device types. This may also involve installing additional printer drivers in SAP, or new fonts installation if the specific ones are not in place. In cases where Bluetooth printers are used there is no direct integration with SAP, and printers will not be defined in SAP.

Network Setting

The WMS application will be accessed on the barcode scanner devices through the locally installed & configured browser. Based on the network / security requirement, additional ports / web addresses may need to be enabled on the network firewall. In cases where access is required from public network, application URL will need to be exposed to public network and will need defined domains / mapping including additional security configurations.

Security (Single Sign-on)

SAP system will need to be enabled with single sign-on followed by configurations with roles and access. This will protect the system access at all times.

SAP EWM Functional Settings

Print Settings

PPF - related configurations are required to set up determination, scheduling, and start conditions of print actions.

New condition types may need to be configured if existing parameters do not suffice for the process requirement.

SAP Printer, Smartforms / Adobe forms, Number of copies to be used for printing, are maintained in the condition records for a print condition type. On Warehouse scenario execution these are determined and used for printing the required object. Barcode specification is also required to be maintained within SAP EWM for the barcode standard to be used.

Scanner Settings

Display Profile - RF transactions are performed on devices having different screen sizes. EWM display profile can be used to support different devices and their different screen characteristics (screen size, no of buttons, button text length, etc.). A new display profile may be created for the device screen height and width. The display profile is determined using the presentation device entered while logging into the scanner device.

Important configuration should be set up for the User to decide to log off from SAP or restart RF application when a user selects F1 log off on the scanner.

RF Menu Management configuration is required to create user-specific RF menus.

Screen Design

Setting up ITS (Internal Transaction services) to display ABAP dynpro in RF framework. New themes can be set up using the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) which will enable web design. Font sizes, font colour, button (size, position, icons and colours), alignment of screen elements (size and position).

Background images and logo can be attached as a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) object within ITS.

With the latest SAP EWM S/4 HANA version, rendering to SAP Themes and Fiori design is also possible and screens can also be personalised using SAP Screen Personas.

What can Kagool do?

Help transition from a paper-based Warehouse to a Digital Warehouse
Help integrate your hardware efficiently with the WMS system
Scope and Complexity assessment and developing a Roadmap for your digital transformation journey
Selection of the right hardware to match your needs
Security assessment and architecture finalisation
Provide SAP Technical Services – Basis / Architecture / Security and Infrastructure architecture

We helped Cadent Gas modernise their warehouse management processes and transition from paper-based to digital - check out the success story below.

Make better decisions with Power BI dashboards for your SAP data

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 12:28:05 GMT

Build a culture of data driven decision-making with accessible, interactive analytics. Kagool’s product Velocity automates the ingestion of data into the Azure Data Lake from multiple sources, including SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce. Once there, the data can serve customisable, interactive Power BI dashboards, making it easy to find the insights you need .

Kagool voted one of Microsoft’s Top 10 Data & AI Partners

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 12:44:42 GMT

Kagool has been chosen as one of Microsoft’s Top 10 Data & AI Partners in the West/Midwest region of the United States.

Kagool was nominated based on the relationship that has been building with Microsoft since 2016 and the initiatives that we have planned for 2023 and beyond.

About the Top 10 and Kagool

Microsoft has around 100,000 partners in the USA, and out of them all, Kagool has been prioritised as one of their most strategic partners. This speaks to our expertise and the value of our product Velocity, which helps clients get their business data into Microsoft Azure and Power BI. Kagool brings the experience and tooling required to help organisations maximise the value from their investments in Microsoft technologies.

As well as data management and advanced analytics in Power BI, Kagool has built up knowledge around the most cutting edge of Microsoft’s products, including Digital Twins, Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Our Industrial Metaverse solution, which combines these technologies to create an innovative new solution for predictive & remote engineering, has been shown at more than 40 Microsoft Technology Centres across the globe, including Paris, New York, Sydney, and Singapore. Our solution can help companies cut costs and improve productivity, with real-time insights into machinery and automatic maintenance, resulting in reduced downtime and increased performance.

Extend & Innovate

In an effort to bring more rigour, focus, and collaboration across internal teams, Microsoft has started an initiative to work closely with Kagool in 2023 in newly formed West/Midwest Organisational Unit. Kagool is planning a programme of roadshows with Microsoft in early 2023 across the United States, to prioritise our partner relationship.

Another initiative in the works with Microsoft is our joint Extend & Innovate offering. This is all about helping customers extend the value from their Microsoft technologies as much as possible, and enabling innovations using these technologies to gain a competitive edge.

We are planning to hold workshops where customers can expect to learn:

How to create Power BI dashboards to bring your data to life in near real-time
How to automate ERP processes to increase productivity
How to innovate smart solutions and improve customer experiences

We will go through Kagool’s proven roadmap, and some use cases of how these achievements have benefitted our customers.

If that sounds interesting, you can register your interest for these workshops now.

Kagool Newsletter 2022 Q4

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 16:58:39 GMT

Travelling around the world...

We're excited to share our latest newsletter!

We cover lots of exciting news:

Kagool's tour around the world, from the Gartner IT Expo/Symposium in Barcelona, to GITEX in Dubai, to UKISUG Connect in Birmingham

Customer success story - a sports car manufacturer who transformed their SAP data capabilities by connecting it to Microsoft Azure and Power BI

A note from Kalyan Gupta, MD for APAC, about what makes Kagool special

and lots more!

Sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter

Unsubscribe at any time by replying with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.

Kagool grows in the Middle East, anticipating huge opportunities for tech innovation

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:06:04 GMT

Kagool is rapidly expanding its presence in the Middle East, aiming to be at the forefront of the region's aspirations for tech innovation and growth.

Partnered with Microsoft, Kagool has successfully grown its global operations throughout Europe, the US and Asia in the last few years, achieving 100% growth year on year. 2022 saw this expand to the Middle East region, with new offices opening in Dubai and Qatar to support the increasing demand in these places for our data modernisation expertise. To take full advantage of the opportunities here, Kagool is planning to invest $16 million in the region over the next two years.

Group CEO of Kagool, Dan Barlow, has commented about the opportunities and strengths of the Middle East, saying,‘Cloud datacentres have only recently arrived in the region and cloud adoption is accelerating. Kagool’s international experience in accelerating complex enterprises into the cloud means we’re strategically placed to support the huge technology growth aspirations of the Middle East.’

Kagool is perfectly placed to help the region with their data challenges

Kagool has built up a wide portfolio of experience in helping organisations modernise their IT landscapes to enable data driven decisions and processes. We have worked with large and highly complex enterprises, giving us the knowledge needed to form a proven method and roadmap for giving customers predictable and reliable IT implementations, no matter how complex their current systems are.

Our expertise in data makes us perfect to fill that gap in the Middle East market. Mohamad Fayez, Managing Director of Kagool MEA, said : ‘While data is necessary, sifting through the noise to focus on the required information is essential. It is becoming easier to feel overwhelmed by the increasing volume of data that is accessible. Understanding what is critical to the business helps decision-makers evaluate what data counts or should be counted. Kagool’s successful data analytics isolates what matters to the organisation, with a team of industry experts and disciplined tools that pinpoint critical and valuable insights.’

Kagool joined Microsoft to showcase our Industrial Metaverse solution at GITEX

We had a fantastic experience at the GITEX Global exhibition in Dubai this year. Kagool was Microsoft’s demo partner, showcasing our Industrial Metaverse expertise with our tourism use case which leverages IoT, AI, mixed reality, and automations to provide an immersive multiuser collaborative experience of a tourism app. This is just one example of how these advanced technologies can be integrated. From our conversations at the event, we can see there are endless possibilities that a variety of industries could benefit from, including tourism, energy, aerospace, manufacturing, retail, utilities and financial services.

Kagool India is Officially a Great Place to Work

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:40:26 GMT

Kagool has achieved the Great Place to Work certificate for its India operations, reflecting our commitment to giving employees a fantastic workplace culture.

To gain the award, Kagool went through a complex process, including an employee survey which measured five key areas:

Credibility of management
Respect for people
Fairness at the workplace
Pride
Camaraderie between people

Kagool scored 80+ in all of these categories.

Kalyan Gupta, Managing Director for the APAC region, commented: ‘Employees are the key to success of any IT company. To make sure our employees see the benefit of their association with Kagool, we created an ecosystem where people feel more Inclusive and togetherness while they are busy solving complex problems of our Enterprise clients. We took several deviations to traditional ways of working in IT companies to achieve the employee satisfaction which is a step towards growth. That’s one of the main reasons why employees and clients like to work with us.’

Kagool India is building a culture of high performance and trust

This award is a testament to the effort that has gone into cultivating an empowering workplace culture for all our employees. We strive to maintain an atmosphere in which people are free to innovate with new ideas and learn new skills, developing their careers at a very fast pace.

Dan Barlow, Group CEO, explains, ‘Throughout our journey, we have always kept the Kagool culture that makes our organisation different. We place a big emphasis on employee development and growth. We nurture talent into confident and qualified IT consultants who have a holistic view of end-to-end solutions that we build to solve our clients’ challenges. So training and upskilling is a big part of what we do here.’

Our employees seem to agree. Navya Dandaboina says, ‘It’s every day learning at Kagool, and personally I have upskilled myself with multiple technologies with help from the management.’

Prashant Malviya similarly says, ‘the transparency, innovation and investment in people mindset is what keeps me motivated.’

As well as investing in each individual employee, we also work hard to build a strong community at Kagool. One employee Shivam says, ‘If I need to describe my experience at Kagool, it’s fulfilling. I like the open culture where one can reach out to anyone in the organisation for any help. People here are from diverse backgrounds, but while at work, we share one culture.’ This focus on workplace culture makes a huge difference in our staff’s experiences, and this can only ever have a positive effect on motivation and productivity.

India is key to Kagool’s growth

Kagool’s presence in India has been vital to the company’s journey. CEO Dan Barlow has said, ‘Our India operations are key to our current operations and overall strategy, helping us to continue to grow our business 100 per cent year on year.’

The base of highly talented people in India has prompted Kagool to open an office in Pune and another office in Hyderabad in 2022, bringing the total up to three Kagool offices in India. These centres always bring high quality delivery to our customers, as well as improving our internal processes. The importance of this work should not be underestimated.

Kagool exhibits at energy conference ADIPEC with Microsoft

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 12:29:37 GMT

Kagool joined partner Microsoft to exhibit at ADIPEC, the largest energy conference in the world, in October 2022.

The event took place in Abu Dhabi and gave Kagool a great opportunity to get a feel for customer needs in the oil and gas industry in the Middle East.

Sustainability was top on the agenda, as companies are becoming more interested in energy efficiency, both to cut costs and to make their business models suitable for an increasingly climate conscious future.

Industrial Metaverse, Pulse, and Velocity

Kagool and Microsoft jointly demonstrated our expertise in cutting edge technologies including the Industrial Metaverse, involving IoT, Mixed Reality and digital twins. We had some interesting conversations about how this technology can benefit the energy industry, particularly with regards to becoming energy efficient, as well as drastically cutting maintenance costs.

Kagool also garnered interest in our products Velocity and Pulse. Velocity can help integrate business data with Microsoft Azure and Power BI, enabling advanced analytics, data science, automations, and other innovations. Pulse is a data management tool that can de-risk large and complex data migration programmes.

Digital business acceleration with industrialised data modernisation

Group CEO of Kagool, Dan Barlow, gave a talk at the event about how data modernisation can help enterprises become more adaptable for the future. Any enterprise that wishes to benefit from real-time analytics, AI, automations, and any future data innovations will need a solid foundational platform of accurate business data to work from. Once this modern data platform is in place, there are infinite possibilities for how the data can be used to deliver the best experiences for customers, employees and other stakeholders. From energy efficiency to predictive maintenance of equipment to effective business decisions, data is the bedrock that these achievements are built on.

Kagool’s expertise lies in setting up businesses for success by leveraging existing IT investments they have already made to make sure this platform exists and is always kept up to date. We can then help clients make use of the platform to meet their business goals.

Kagool’s experience in the energy industry

Kagool’s experience includes working with Cadent Gas, one of the largest gas suppliers in the UK, to modernise their field service management processes. We used their existing investments in SAP EWM to create a new system where field engineers can quickly order the parts they need using a mobile app, and stock level information is easily accessible and always up to date.

The solution was implemented without disrupting Business as Usual, by building a parallel SAP Template.

The new system has streamlined the process of repairing the gas network, reducing downtime and increasing customer satisfaction.

Read the full case study.

Kagool’s expansion in the Middle East

Kagool’s participation in ADIPEC is part of Kagool’s strategy to grow our presence in the Middle East. The region has ambitious growth and innovation goals, and Kagool is excited to lend our data expertise to help make this a reality.

Kagool expands into Singapore, kicking off at SWITCH exhibition

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:56:24 GMT

Kagool kicked off our expansion into Singapore with a bang, showcasing our data driven digital transformation approach at the SWITCH Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology exhibition in October 2022.

The gateway to the Southeast Asian market

The SWITCH event provided Kagool with a way into the Southeast Asian market. We connected with potential partners, prospects, and government bodies to discuss how we can work together to push the forefront of tech innovation forward.

What became clear was that the market is hungry for data innovation and expertise, as highlighted by the IDC in November 2022. We had some great conversations with enterprises, SMEs and start-ups about their growth goals, and how vital data and process management is to achieve them.

Insights into the tech industry in the Southeast Asian region

We gained valuable insights into where the opportunities lie for IT consultancy in the Southeast Asian market. Competitive organisations in Singapore are making full use of technological advancements including smart systems, AI, cloud computing and the Industrial Metaverse; and the pace at which these innovations are being adopted is only accelerating.

Our robotic arm and HoloLens demo, which illustrated the value of an Industrial Metaverse solution for a remote engineering use case, garnered lots of attention and positive feedback. The solution leveraged AI/ML, IoT, VR, and RPA, all working within Microsoft’s Azure platform. Kagool can bring all these technologies together with the vital key that makes them all work: data. This same demo has already impressed people in ~40 Microsoft Technology Centres around the world, and we’re excited to bring it to SWITCH attendees too.

From our research in the UK and Europe, businesses are facing a variety of challenges with managing their data, the top among these being ERP transformation and data quality. It seems that many businesses in the Asian market may reflect this trend too. Organisations that want to leverage new technologies and stay ready for whatever new innovations are coming next, must have a robust underlying digital infrastructure, capable of supporting a single source of reliable and trustworthy cross-functional business data. For this data platform to be sustainable, it must also be adaptable and easily scalable. From the conversations Kagool had at the event, it seems clear that many organisations would welcome any support in putting such a platform in place successfully and predictably. The platform would then enable infinite possibilities in terms of tech innovations and use cases.

Kagool showcased our proven roadmap to help clients adopt cloud innovations

Our data expertise, combined with our experience in planning and executing end-to-end digital transformation programmes, has given us the knowledge we need to help organisations implement the IT systems needed to deliver results. For example, we have helped Smiths Group transform into a data-driven organisation that can make strategic, informed business decisions from its data insights. Read the full case study.

We can assess an organisation’s IT landscape and business goals, and quickly define a roadmap to help them gain the most value out of their data in the quickest time. We place emphasis on ensuring the platform can scale and grow with the business.

Interested in the events Kagool is doing in your region?

6 insights to optimise your SAP Extended Warehouse Management

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 06:30:00 GMT

To optimise complex warehouse management processes, you need clear, actionable insight into each step.

If you know exactly where and how there is room for improvement at any given moment, you can painlessly adjust your processes to match the changing circumstances, ensuring they are always as efficient as possible.

Use standard KPIs, or create your own to fit your business

Standard Analytical FIORI Applications provided by SAP in S/4 HANA, (for example, Warehouse KPIs – Operations) can be used.

Bespoke Analytical FIORI Applications can also be created using the ABAP CDS Views data source, to perfectly fit your business goals and requirements. Useful KPIs can be configured through SAP Smart Business based on these CDS views and the KPIs can be assigned to related end users. Drill-down options can also be provided to navigate to the underline documents.

6 insights you can gain from Embedded Analytics in SAP EWM

There are countless ways you can use Embedded Analytics to gain insights into your warehouse management processes. Here are 6 examples of how the analytics can be used to make your processes more efficient and cost-effective.

1: Deliver goods efficiently

Gain insights on Outbound delivery orders by seeing their Goods Issue status.

We can see the number of Outbound delivery orders with Goods Issue status “Completed”, and the number of Outbound delivery orders with Goods Issue status as “Not Started”, on a daily basis.

This shows how many deliveries were planned to be delivered to the customer and how many were delivered in reality.

Possible actions would be to plan resources based on outstanding orders and to track Warehouse execution performance in the order fulfilment process. Make sure you are using your resources effectively to complete as many deliveries as possible.

2: Track the status of warehouse tasks

This analytical app gives us insight on the Warehouse Task and their status for different Queues. A Queue is a group of Warehouse Tasks based on Source Activity Area, Destination Activity Area, Bin Access type, or Process Type. Work is assigned and managed in Warehouse using Queues.

Using this app, we can see how many of the Warehouse Tasks are Confirmed, Open, Waiting and Cancelled for each Queue.

Track the percentage of work completion and get insight on the pending work in different areas of the warehouse. This app give you full visibility of task progress and completion.

3: Open Warehouse Task Type per Activity Area

We can use this app to observe the number of Open Warehouse Tasks for each Warehouse Process Type in an activity area. It provides details on the amount of work needed to be done in each Activity Area for different Processes carried out in Warehouse.

Resources can be planned based on the open requests. This app will also assist Warehouse Supervisors to assign Resources to queues.

4: Warehouse Orders Confirmed per Activity Area by User

This analytical app gives us insight on Warehouse Orders from different users across Activity Areas.

We can use this app to check the amount of work done by a user in each Activity Area by confirming the Warehouse Orders.

This will help to track the utilisation of the Warehouse operative and build a complete picture of worker performance.

5: Waves Release Status per Wave Type

This analytical app gives insight on waves with status Initial, Released and Released with Defects for different Wave Types. This helps users to monitor the Wave failures on a daily basis and to track progress on the corrective actions taken to improve the stock situation in Warehouse.

6: Average Receipt Time per Staging Area

This analytical app gives insight on the time taken to complete Goods Receipt in Warehouse per Staging area. This Warehouse KPI is important to plan the number of users/resources required for Goods Receipt processing and to plan capacity of Doors and Staging area.

If the Stock is in staging area for long time, it may result in waiting time of trucks in the yard as the new stock could not be unloaded. It may also cause delays in the supply of urgent parts to production.

Using this app, we can track average time for stock in staging area against the KPI designed for the warehouse. If the performance is not within the limits, appropriate actions can be taken, for example adding an additional forklift for putaway, or providing a better solution for Goods Receipt.

Summary

Optimise your SAP EWM processes to make your business more efficient and adaptable. Real-time analytics can help you to utilise your resources most effectively, resulting in cost savings and customer satisfaction.

If you’d like to find out more about how to implement these analytics solutions, please get in touch at info@kagool.com .

Kagool Newsletter 2022 Q3

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Company growth, customer success, and community work...

We're excited to share our latest newsletter!

We cover lots of exciting news:

Kagool's expansion in the Middle East region, including a note from Mo Fayez, MEA MD

Customer success story - an end-to-end lake house delivery, which saved the client $271k in one year

Our community work with Employability UK, aimed at raising the confidence and skills of young people across Coventry

and lots more!

Sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter

Unsubscribe at any time by replying with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.

Optimise Warehousing processes for Dual-source parts with different Pack sizes

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 10:16:18 GMT

Are you looking to optimise the procurement and picking process for Dual Source parts from an EWM-managed warehouse?

Managing dual-source parts can be difficult in fixed bins in the warehouse. Additionally, storage and retrieval of parts from fixed bins can be challenging if the parts have multiple pack sizes. It can result in Partial picking and exception handling which impacts the overall efficiency and productivity of the warehouse.

This case study is to provide an overview of how to efficiently manage dual-source parts with multiple pack sizes in a warehouse fixed bin. This will ultimately make your supply chain more efficient, cost-effective and resilient.

Process steps

Dual-source parts and different Pack sizes presents some challenges in the warehousing processes. All of these points must be considered for the process to go smoothly:

Products are procured from more than one supplier
Each supplier supplies products with different box quantity
Products are received into Pallets and are stored in Rack storage in the Warehouse
Replenishment is executed from Reserve Rack Storage to the fixed bin
Handling units are not used in fixed bin storage, or Storage of nested Handling units can complicate the picking process from fixed Bin storage
Picking is carried out from the fixed bin in the Warehouse
Production Pick request quantity or the STO/Customer Outbound delivery quantity is not in multiples of box quantity
Over-picking can be allowed within permissible tolerance limit to allow rounding of box quantity

Challenges

Dual Sourced parts have different box sizes, as they are specific to each supplier. This can cause below issues during MRP planning and Warehouse picking, if not managed correctly.

1. MRP is generating requirements based on quota and material master rounding Value. Procurement team to manually update Purchase order quantities based on supplier pack quantity (or box quantity).

2. Fixed Bin Storage does not store the box quantity. Warehouse pick quantity is not in multiples of box quantity. During picking execution, the picker picks the requested quantity following the below approach:

The picker needs to physically open/break the box for picking partial quantities

Picker has to manually intervene and adjust the requested quantity by declaring exception during pick execution

Picking partial box quantity is not desirable as it requires counting which can slow down the picking process. Manually adjusting pick quantity to box quantity by picker the requires additional expertise and is recommended only in exceptional scenarios. Both approaches can result in human errors too.

These approaches have a significant impact on warehouse operations and the end-to-end supply chain.

3. Nested Handling units can be used as a possible solution for rounding the pick quantity to multiples of Box Handling units. However, this complicates the stock management of fixed bins. It requires additional labels at box level and an additional step during picking to confirm the box Handling unit to be picked.

4. The system does not store box quantities. Hence, it is difficult to track boxes in stock and round pick warehouse tasks in multiple box quantity.

How to optimise the process

These challenges can be overcome by automating the rounding of procurement quantity based on supplier pack factor during MRP run. Follow all the steps below to achieve optimisation of the process.

Master Data

Multiple fixed bins are assigned to products in EWM. Each fixed bin stores products with a different box quantity from each supplier. Mixing of stock with different Alternate Units of Measure is prohibited for the system, to ensure that the stock of different suppliers is not mixed. Boxes are represented with the Alternative Unit of measure in EWM rather than the Handling unit. Each Supplier has a specific box quantity which is stored in master data along with an Alternate Unit of measure for that supplier. Alternate unit to base unit conversion is also maintained in the material master.

Inbound

During the receiving process, the Inbound delivery quantity is converted from the ordering / Preferred unit to an Alternate unit of measure specific to a supplier. Handling units are created at the Pallet level. Putaway of the Handling units is carried out in the reserve area. Several boxes in the Handling unit can be seen in the Warehouse monitor (Quantity in Alternate Unit of measure in Physical stock). Physical Inventory can be done at box level using the Alternative Unit of measure.

Replenishment

Replenishment from the Reserve bin to the fixed bin is executed when the total stock at the fixed bin storage type level reduces below the minimum level. Full pallets are replenished from the Reserve storage type to the fixed bin storage type. Bins are replenished without mixing the stock. For example, if the bin consists of Boxes of size 10 PCs (AUoM – SU2), it gets replenished with Pallets with similar box size.

Outbound

Warehouse requests are created in EWM to pick products from EWM. The request can be created for Production supply, Customer sales orders, or Stock transports orders for another plant. Pick tasks are created from the fixed bin for the Warehouse request quantity. A fixed bin with the oldest stock is selected for picking (FIFO). Pick Warehouse tasks are rounded in multiple box quantities to avoid partial picking or opening of boxes. Rounding can result in over-picking of warehouse requests based on the allowed tolerance level. The picker will be presented with the Quantity in AUoM (number of boxes) to be picked from the fixed bin on the scanner. This will speed up the picking process and exception handling will no longer be required. The picker will pick the boxes and will go on to the next item for picking. Once all the products are picked and staged, the goods issue will be posted.

Conclusion

Dual sourced parts can be efficiently managed in Warehouse fixed bins by using multiple fixed bins. Supplier pack sizes can be mapped using the Alternative unit of measure, which will help to identify the pack size in the fixed bins. Rounding can further help to ensure that there are no partial boxes in the fixed bins.

Optimising this process will make your supply chain more efficient, resilient and cost-effective. If you'd like to learn more about how we can optimise your supply chain for your business needs, please get in touch.

Does your SI (System Integrator) partner support your data migration journey?

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 06:00:00 GMT

SAP S/4HANA data migration programmes often face unexpected delays and failures.

Why is this and how can you ensure your data migration journey goes smoothly?

We are seeing a trend in SAP S/4HANA transformation programmes where System Integrator partners (SI) only provide support or take responsibility for loading data into the target SAP S/4HANA, and entire data preparation activities are left on the business. These activities include Data cleansing, Data Validation, Data Enrichment, and Data Harmonisation.

Their view is that the business owns the data, and hence they are accountable for their data. Whilst this is true, the fact is that most business users are not data experts, and we believe they need support from SI partners to guide them with the data transformation journey instead of simply handing over the load templates with 100s of columns to figure out by themselves.

Traditional Data Migration Approach

It is deemed to be a 3-step process commonly known as ETL (Extract, Transform, Load).

Data Extraction: Identify and Extract the required data from the legacy system.
Data Transformation: Transform data from Legacy format to SAP S/4 HANA template.
Data Load: Load the template into the SAP S/4HANA.

Common Challenges with this approach

The main challenges during SAP S/4HANA data migration programmes usually occur during the extraction and transformation stages. Failing to complete any data preparation activities at these stages, will compromise the quality and success of your migration journey.

The most common challenges are:

Lack of understanding of the data required by the business for SAP S/4HANA.
Manual data collection activities are often time-consuming for data owners and rushed.
Lack of ability to perform cross-data object integrity checks.
Difficulty achieving repeatable data migration processes with predictable outcomes.
Laborious and ineffective manual data validation.
Version controlling will be tedious when using spreadsheets for data collection and transformations with the constantly moving datasets.
Unable to analyse the amount data quality issues at the source.
Unable to differentiate the globally shared data vs local entity data.

Failing to account for these challenges can lead to a variety of consequences for your SAP S/4HANA data migration programme. Common issues include:

Programme delays
Multiple data errors identified during data load cycles
Loaded data does not meet the SAP S/4HANA functional requirements
Lack of business confidence in the SAP S/4HANA transformational programme

These are the common reasons why so many businesses come up against challenges during data migration programmes.

Choose the right approach for your data migration

To prevent your data migration from falling into the challenges above, we at Kagool, recommend the following themes are adopted throughout your data migration:

Measurable - measure data statistics to make informed decisions.
Predictable - establish predictable outcomes through clear communication of data requirements and accurate data validations.
Accelerated - identify accelerators that will support efficient processing of data and reporting.
Simplified - create simple processes that can be reusable across projects, migrations and BAU.
Automated – repeatable tasks are automated to provide consistency throughout the programme.
Accountable - engage data owners throughout the full migration process and ensure ownership of data with accurate requests.#

At Kagool, these themes are at the core of our approach to data transformation, and they ensure that your business is provided the necessary support and guidance to complete a successful data journey into SAP S/4HANA.

Summary

A good collaborative relationship between your business and SI partner will promote a proactive environment where everyone is a part of a common goal; to complete your data transformational journey and ensure your new SAP S/4HANA system meets your business requirements.

For information on how Kagool practices the above themes for a successful data migration programme, please contact us at info@kagool.com .

Warehouse Management Deployment in S/4 HANA – Which Option Should You Choose?

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 10:19:36 GMT

There are various deployment options for Warehouse Management implementation in S/4 HANA, and choosing one will depend on several key factors.

This blog discusses the pros and cons of each option, to help you make the right choice for your business.

Whether you want just basic warehouse processing, or you need a best-in-class management solution for high volumes of complex data, there is a solution for your needs.

Embedded EWM

Key business benefits:

Embedded EWM in S/4 HANA simplifies data
Ease of deployment and more cost-effective to handle
Reduce data redundancy with a reduction in master data duplication
Direct integration with ERP documents
Elimination of redundant customising and transactional document

Embedded EWM became an application component within SAP S/4HANA with on-premise edition 1610. This option aims to simplify your data, making it easier and more cost-effective to handle.

Embedded EWM is recommended for small and medium scale warehouses. The solution is ideal for warehouses within the same country as the data centre where the S/4HANA system is hosted. Warehouses with operations in multiple countries or continents may not be suitable, as these need higher response times and data volumes.

Embedded EWM is available in two licence versions. Customers can choose the deployment option based on the application of functionality to their specific business processes:

Basic Warehouse Management provides basic warehousing processes and functions - Inventory Management, Inbound Processing, Outbound Processing, Internal Warehouse Movements, Physical Inventory and Reporting. Basic EWM functionality is included in the SAP S/4HANA ERP licence

Extended Warehouse Management provides additional advanced warehousing functions and process optimisation - Slotting, Wave Management, TU handling, TM Integration, Dock Appointment Scheduling, Labour Management, VAS, Kitting, Cross Docking, Warehouse Billing, Cartonisation Planning, Distribution Equipment, JIT and Material Flow System Integration

Embedded EWM can only integrate to local ERP storage locations in the same system and is not released to integrate with storage locations coming from another ERP system. Future scalability requirements (transaction volume, data throughput) should be considered while selecting this option, as there may be future separate deployment requirements for EWM.

Decentralised EWM on S/4 HANA

Key business benefits:

Can integrate with more than one ERP system
Better future scalability options
Can handle a higher volume of transactions without impacting system performance of other processes
Can be upgraded independently to ERP
Can have independent downtimes for support pack maintenance periods
Decentralised EWM system is operational even if the ERP system is down

SAP introduced a decentralised EWM deployment option in SAP S/4HANA 1809. SAP EWM is deployed on a separate server platform and connected to SAP S/4 HANA or any other ERP. It is the standard deployment option for new decentralised EWM implementations.

Decentralised EWM offers better future scalability options and it can handle a higher volume of transactions without impacting system performance of other processes.

EWM system upgrade cycles are independent of ERP. EWM system is operational even if the ERP system is down. EWM system can also have its independent downtimes for support pack maintenance periods.

Transfer of master data (Material, Batches, Business Partners) from ERP to decentralised EWM on S/4HANA is carried out using IDOC or web service. This is a change from when CIF was used to transfer master data from ERP to EWM systems based on Netweaver or SCM, so if you are currently using Netweaver or SCM, and you want to upgrade to S/4HANA, your master data distribution strategy will have to change for this option.

Decentralised EWM can only integrate to storage locations in other systems; it cannot integrate with local ERP storage locations in the same system.

Stock Room Management

Key business benefits:

Simple and mature solution for warehouses with core basic warehouse management processes

In SAP S/4HANA 1909, SAP released a Deployment option for customers who would like to continue using the warehouse processes with their existing Classic LE-WM installation.

Customers who do not use complex warehouse processes and do not need advanced SAP EWM functionalities would like to have a simple, reliable, and flexible solution with core basic warehouse management processes would benefit from this option.

Stock Room Management is covered by the SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management License. Existing LE-EWM Customers should take care to consider the functionalities that were in their LE-EWM system, but are not included in the license of Stock Room Management.

Basic Warehouse Functionalities of LE-WM in SAP S/4HANA which are also available in stock room management are:

Inventory management
Inbound process
Outbound process
Internal warehouse stock movements
Posting changes
Physical inventory
Reports

Functionalities that were available in LE-WM but are not part of Stock Room Management are:

Task & Resource Management
Value Added Service
Yard Management
Cross-Docking
Wave Management
Decentral Warehouse Management
Warehouse Control Unit Interface

Stock Room Management is built on the same data model as LE-WM. Stock Room Management is intended to facilitate the move from ECC to SAP S/4HANA without performing a full-fledged WM transformation.

Stock Room Management is a part of the SAP S/4HANA release and maintenance strategy, meaning this option will be maintained by SAP for your continued usage. However, SAP is not planning to invest further in Stock Room Management. Stock Room Management has the focus of supporting existing customers with currently used functionalities only. For customers wanting further innovations and increasing warehousing capabilities, EWM is a better option.

S/4 HANA Cloud Warehouse Management

Key business benefits:

Infrastructure investment is not required to own a full-fledged warehousing solution
Provide flexibility to adapt to changing business needs
New capabilities, regulatory changes and best practices can be adopted with a rapid innovation cycle
IT administrative tasks are reduced
Industry-standard basic Warehouse solutions are provided

With release 1811, the warehouse management functionality has been introduced in the SAP S/4 HANA cloud solution. SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Warehouse Management is available to customers as a service with Subscription pricing. In-stack (embedded) Warehouse Management deployment option is available in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Warehouse Management. Currently, there is no decentralised option for cloud.

This option provides flexibility to adapt to changing business needs. New capabilities, regulatory changes and best practices can be adopted with a rapid innovation cycle. IT administrative tasks are also reduced, and investment in infrastructure is not required to own a full-fledged warehousing solution.

Customers who want to run their basic warehouse processes with industry-standard solutions in the cloud can go with this deployment option.

With many new innovations planned in SAP roadmap, this deployment option is expected to grow in future.

For Complex warehouses operations, the option of EWM on cloud becomes less viable as they need a lot of customisation, quicker response times and constant performance monitoring.

Lean Warehouse Management

Lean Warehouse Management is LE-WM component and is mostly used to pick deliveries in a warehouse where you are not handling any stocks on storage bin level. Inventory management is at storage location level and the system does not update the stock data at storage bin level using the quants. There is no change to this solution and customers can continue to use Lean WM under S/4 HANA for lean outbound process execution.

Conclusion

SAP has provided various warehousing solutions which meet the needs of different types of Warehouses. The right deployment option is pivotal to gaining benefits from the Digital Core capabilities.

You can select the right deployment option for you by evaluating the complexity of warehouses, warehouse volume and throughput, future automation plans, existing system landscape and long-term digital transformation plans.

How can Kagool help?

Kagool provides you solutions for many challenges faced in Warehousing operations.

With our technical expertise and business process knowledge, we can help you benefit from access to the new digital supply chain capabilities in Extended Warehouse Management. We can assist you with:

Scope and Complexity assessment and developing a roadmap for your digital transformation journey in S/4 HANA
Help you to select the right EWM deployment option for your warehouse
SAP EWM implementation - greenfield implementation or migration from SAP WM to EWM
Optimising and stabilising new implemented EWM Solution
EWM integration with MES system, automated systems, different type of RF Devices and printers
End-to-End Supply chain integration with Logistics and Transportation

To see an example of our work on Warehouse Management, find our project with Cadent Gas.

How to Use MuleSoft's Anypoint Functional Monitoring for APIs

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 09:23:17 GMT

APIs create exchange of information, but they also create vulnerabilities. This means tracking the availability and performance of APIs is very important.

This step-by-step guide shows how to use MuleSoft's Anypoint Functional Monitoring to effectively monitor the performance of your APIs.

The Anypoint Functional Monitoring solution enables developers and operators to perform consistent testing of the functional behaviour and performance of their APIs. This can be done throughout the API lifecycle, in testing and production environments.

Anypoint Functional Monitoring keeps track of the health of public and private APIs that are being used in application networks to ensure the applications are integrated correctly, with appropriate alerts set up to warn the developers in case of a failure.

Anypoint Functional Monitoring can address the following questions:

Are APIs available and running?
Is the data collected through API monitoring relevant for performance analysis?
Are the appropriate alerts set up to warn developers about issues?

You monitor APIs by accessing the Functional Monitoring section of Management Center, from the home page of Anypoint Platform.

How to set up a Monitor

Click on Create a Monitor in the Functional Monitoring section of Anypoint platform.

There are three steps to create a Monitor.

Set up the Monitor
Select Endpoints
Set Notifications

Step 1: Set up the Monitor

Give the monitor a specific name, select the location and schedule the time for the Monitor to run. Toggle the Validate SSL Certificate to specify if the monitor needs to use self-signed certifications. Then click Next, as shown in the picture below.

Step 2: Select Endpoints

We need to specify the API we want to test by providing the API’s Endpoint URL along with its http method, optional Headers and give Assertions to verify the response. Multiple assertions can also be added to validate the response. The Assertions could be Status code, Response header and Response body. You can also preview the test by clicking Run now under preview the result of your monitor. Then, click on Next.

Step 3: Set notifications

We can configure a notification alert via an Email, Sumologic etc. Then, click on Create Monitor.

After successfully creating a Monitor, the monitor detail’s view appears, where the bar graph shows the daily average response time of all the tests scheduled.

Monitor details view also have the following actions:

Click ▷ to immediately execute a Monitor.
Click on Edit Monitor to modify a Monitor.
Click on Delete Monitor to delete a Monitor.
Click on the clock symbol to view Monitor History.

Monitor History:

If the Scheduler test run fails or if any issue exists with the API’s performance, an email alert will be sent to the Configured email.

Notification email received for a test failure scenario:

These alerts ensure you are always kept up to date on any issues, so you can resolve them quickly.

Follow these steps to use MuleSoft's Anypoint Functional Monitoring solution effectively. Make sure your APIs are working, and quickly get to the root of any issues that need fixing.

Want to know more? Get in touch at info@kagool.com .

5 Small Actions You Can Take to Support Your LGBTQ+ Colleagues

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 12:15:00 GMT

Happy Pride Month!

Pride month is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and how far we have come in the last few years. However, there is still work left to be done to create a culture of true equality for all, especially in the tech industry.

Why is actively supporting the LGBTQ+ community important?

Discrimination and judgment still affects many LGBTQ+ people. In the UK, more than a third of LGBTQ+ staff have hidden their identity at work because of fear of discrimination, and this number is likely to be higher in other countries where same-sex relationships have only recently been legalised, or are still illegal.

Nearly a third of LGBT young people in the UK would not consider a career in science or tech due to fears of discrimination.
Almost a third of non-binary people, and one in five transgender people, don’t feel able to wear work attire that represents their gender expression.
16% of LGB+ workers feel psychologically unsafe in the workplace, compared with 10% of heterosexual workers. For trans workers the figure is 18%.

We want to create a world where everyone feels safe and comfortable at work, and this should include being open about their gender identity and sexuality if they wish. So the question remains: what can we do to help make the tech industry a more inclusive space?

Whether you are part of the community yourself, or you are an ally, taking the following actions can make a big difference to show LGBTQ+ people that you support them.

Small actions you can do to make a difference

1. Try not to make assumptions

Try not to make assumptions about people’s identities in the language you use. For example, using gender neutral language like partner instead of boyfriend or girlfriend can allow you to chat to people about relationships without assuming their sexuality.

2. Tell people your pronouns

If you feel comfortable, feel free to tell people your pronouns when you’re introducing yourself, both offline and online. This can be as simple as adding ‘she/her’ to your email signature or LinkedIn profile.

This little action will signal to people who may be nervous about expressing their preferred pronouns that you understand the importance of using the right ones. For many transgender and non-binary people, these signals can make all the difference in giving them the confidence to express themselves authentically at work.

However, it may not always be best to ask for other people’s pronouns – someone who doesn’t feel completely comfortable being out at work may struggle with this question, so it’s usually best to share your own pronouns and others will see they can do the same if they so wish.

3. Be visible with your support (even after Pride month is over!)

Try to find a way to show your support for the LGBTQ+ community actively. This doesn’t have to be a big gesture – something as simple as wearing a pride pin at work, or mentioning something pride/LGBTQ+ related over lunch, can be enough to create an environment where people know they will be accepted.

4. Educate yourself

The LGBTQ+ community is a vast, diverse group, encompassing many different identities, experiences and cultures. Taking the time to listen or read about experiences different to your own can make you aware of considerations that you had never even thought about before.

5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

We’re all always learning, and it’s okay if you don’t always get everything right the first time. Heteronormative and cisnormative ways of thinking are so ingrained into many of our cultures that it is very easy to make assumptions or slip up even when you don’t mean to.

The most important thing is that you are trying. So if someone tells you that you’ve made a mistake, try not to get defensive – instead, learn from it, and move on.

Let’s make tech a safe space for LGBTQ+ people

The tech industry has a long way to go before everyone can feel open and comfortable in it. But we are proud to be part of the movement for equality, and we hope you now know some of the ways that you can help the cause.

Happy Pride everyone!

How to use Javascript library in Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC)

Thu, 26 May 2022 16:11:55 GMT

A JavaScript Library in OIC is a collection of JavaScript files bundled in a JAR file.

This is a step-by-step guide to the use of JavaScript functions in OIC along with the use cases of implementing JavaScript library in OIC.

While Importing a JavaScript Library in OIC interface, there are different parameters which we must remember while adding to any integration. This guide will help you to successfully import any library function or program in the OIC interface.

The function return value should be assigned to data type.

This is perfectly valid Javascript function but it can't be registered as a library in OIC because without a named return value the library metadata editor is unable to identify parameters.

Valid Javascript Program for importing in OIC library file, In this case return parameter is named. This change will let the user map the return parameter to a downstream activity.

Importing multiple javascript files in OIC

These are Javascript coded files named binaryToDecimal.js and Square.js which will convert binary integer to decimal and Convert square of an Integer.

BinaryToDecimal Code File

Square of an Integer Code file

If we have multiple library files to import just like the above two examples, a library can be created based on multiple JavaScript files. When multiple files are involved, you should bundle all files into a JAR file and register the JAR file as a library.

After Creating a jar file, we must import the jar file in the OIC interface.

Integration -> Library -> Create

After importing the JavaScript file, you can see input and output parameters are available.

Once it is available in the library of OIC we can use this library in the main integration.

Go to integration and find the JavaScript option in action tag.

Find the related file in the Select a function option.

The Java script library file is ready to add into integration.

The final OIC interface after importing JavaScript file:

1) Integration flow

2) Activity Stream

Kagool Newsletter 2022 Q2

Mon, 16 May 2022 09:11:47 GMT

Global expansion supports tech growth...

We're excited to share our latest newsletter!

This edition focuses on our international presence, particularly looking at what our colleagues in India have been up to this quarter.

We cover lots of exciting news:

New offices opening globally, including the inauguration of the new India office

Birmingham Tech Week, where Dan Barlow appeared on the panel to discuss the growing tech industry

Kalyan Gupta, MD of Kagool India, shares his vision for Kagool’s future

Updates from Learning & Development, including classroom teachings

and lots more!

Sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter

Unsubscribe at any time by replying with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.

Tech Boss Challenge: Inspiring year 12 students across Coventry

Fri, 13 May 2022 10:45:42 GMT

Tech Boss Challenge

We've partnered with Employability UK to launch an innovative new inter-schools competition.

We're excited to be kicking off the first sessions of the pilot Tech Boss Challenge programme, developed by Kagool in partnership with Employability UK.

This brand new programme has been developed to inspire young people in our local community. We want to increase awareness about the kinds of career paths and roles out there, and we're getting the students engaged in thinking about their future careers.

For this pilot version of the programme, we have launched an inter-school competition in Coventry, with Ash Green School, Nicholas Chamberlaine School, and Lyng Hall School taking part.

Building employability skills and career aspirations

We've set the Tech Boss Challenge for the students to get them thinking like consultants. Based on a case study we've created, the school groups will have the opportunity to solve our client's problem with whatever innovative technology and business solutions they can come up with, just like the consultants at Kagool do every day. Each student is encouraged to take the challenge in whichever direction they wish, following their own passions and interests.

The aim of this programme is to increase awareness of the roles and career paths available in the tech industry, and to raise the confidence and aspirations of students.

While may seem like a daunting step for many Year 12 students at this stage in their lives, it's important for them to start building up those life skills that will make them more employable. These skills include everything from organisation and time management to having the confidence required for speaking up in a team meeting. We hope this programme will also encourage them to explore their career options.

Mentors from Kagool

A team of volunteers from Kagool are acting as mentors for the students. We have a range of people from all different backgrounds and career paths, including both technical and non-technical job roles. From people in Marketing to HR, from Analytics to Data Engineering, the students have access to a range of expertise, not only to support them with the Tech Boss Challenge, but also to guide and mentor them with any career questions they may have.

As well as providing expertise and encouragement for the students, this mentoring aspect of the programme has given the volunteers from Kagool a great way to give back to the community. The first sessions were a really enjoyable experience, and we're excited to get to know the students better and see their growth from now until our presentation and celebration event, which will be held at Kagool's Coventry office.

Data analytics and predictive analytics: hot topic discussions

Wed, 11 May 2022 09:37:15 GMT

Kagool’s successful Round Table hosted at The Manufacturer

The event gave us the key points for businesses to consider in the Analytics and Predictive Analytics space.

Solving the most perennial business problems requires companies to evolve their approach to Data and Analytics. Leading manufacturers are applying Advanced Data and Analytics across the value chain - optimising supply chain performance, improving manufacturing flexibility, developing new products rapidly, helping address environmental and sustainability concerns while balancing costs.

Underpinned by a strong data-driven culture, Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics challenge traditional paradigms and enable business leaders to make quicker more informed decisions, breaking down traditional functional and process silos, to unlock new levels of performance.

Key discussion points

1) Justifying Your Advanced/Predictive Analytics Programme can be difficult but can be done if approached correctly

a) Attaching an ROI argument to Advanced/Predictive Analytics can be very dangerous. It’s still a very new area and part of dipping the organisational toe into this area will involve being careful not to stifle experimentation and POCs because of ROI considerations.

b) This can make the fundamental business case for investment very difficult – which is perhaps why starting small, with easy-to-understand use-cases, and being clear on the key KPIs, is so important.

c) Starting small also allows your team to build experience and develop ways of working that support your nascent Advanced Analytics capability.

2) Remember “Success is a relative term”

a) Remember to measure and communicate the value of what you achieve, this helps to justify any future investment asks.

b) Not everything works, but as long teams are learning from their mistakes and incorporating those learnings into future pieces of work – they aren’t wasted initiatives.

c) Having specific, well understood, and well communicated KPIs around failure rates can help with this. These metrics can show volume of work being done to ‘tease out the gems’ as well as setting expectations that failure is part of the journey to value. Shown alongside value metrics, this will communicate the real story of the journey.

3) Humans must remain part of the overall Advanced & Predictive Analytics value chain

a) When building the delivery team, the business has to be involved and invested in the process – as they will be the ones who provide the problems to solve and use-cases to investigate. Ultimately, this is a team sport and siloing your people along organisational lines will not bring the best results.

b) Even when a Predictive or Advanced Analytics solution is deployed, having humans within the value chain remains key to success. The insight and experience humans bring is invaluable in making improvements. For example, in a predictive maintenance process, any recommendations made from a model must be scrutinised by an expert to weed out false positives – as downtime impacts productivity and therefore potentially revenue. Having that checkpoint and a feedback loop into the development team is as important as having enough data to test and train the predictive models in the first place.

c) These kinds of solutions don’t replace people, they simply turbo charge the decision making.

d) Ultimately this is all about improving the quality and speed of decision making – being able to make more good decisions more quickly! And that is the whole point of attempting to become a data-driven digital business.

The Summary:

Start small , so you can get moving quickly and gain experience.

Establish clear ways of working across all the team players needed. The initial simple use-cases will provide the groundwork for this.

Advanced & Predictive Analytics is a team sport. This means any capability must have representatives which reflect the makeup of the whole organisation; siloes do not lead to success.

Aim to show value quickly and measure it – which means any initiative must be directly linked to business problems and goals.

Learn lessons and feed them back into the next iteration. It’s OK to make mistakes but make sure you have the right structure & reporting to show why.

Wash-up, then move onto the next challenge.

Ultimately, this is not an easy journey, but don’t be afraid, the results are worth the effort.

Want to know more about how to optimise your manufacturing business? Check out our pdf downloads below.

Most common data migration challenges & how to overcome them

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:51:41 GMT

Data migration projects often turn out to be more complex than you expect.

Most companies view the ERP system as substantial investment, but when it’s time to take up critical tasks such as data migration, they cut corners.

Understanding different magnitudes and facets of data migration is not simple - you often need an in-depth view of industry, system, and procedures. This is not helped by the variety and volume of data, which is growing at a tremendous rate, making it difficult for organisations to break the complex data silos and drive insights.

A plethora of challenges might arise while migrating data due to anything from a poor knowledge of source data to lack of integrated processes and collaboration. Our poll conducted on LinkedIn suggests the complexity of data estate and the difficulty of defining a data strategy are the two biggest problems faced when implementing a data migration project.

Luckily, Kagool has ample experience in overcoming these challenges. Data management with Kagool gives you data workstreams helping you enhance your IT enabled transformations. Kagool assists your data management activities by employing efficient tools, methodologies and a mixture of business and data specialists to enable an effective, low risk data migration process.

Overcoming the business challenge

So everyone is telling you data is important to your transformation project, but nobody is telling you what good data looks like.

We think a good data stream on a IT enabled transformation project has the following characteristics:

A clear method which balances the risks to data quality and completeness with other project risks
Tooling with the right capabilities is available to ensure the data workstream is executed efficiently and effectively
The stream has the right mix of data experts and business data SME’s, including Data Experts experienced in turning around data streams under pressure
And last but not least, this can be achieved without increasing IT landscape complexity, and at a cost which does not blow the business case

Kagool meet these criteria and deliver great data workstreams to enhance IT enabled transformations.

And the good news doesn’t stop there. When you’re safely live, we can help you to protect your benefits with long term solutions for ongoing data quality management, master data management and data governance, all delivered with the same expertise, pragmatism and tools.

Kagool Announces Global Expansion, Supporting Employment Growth in the Tech Industry

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 07:00:05 GMT

Rapid global growth is projected to continue into 2022.

We’ve grown rapidly in the past couple of years, and we’re projected to continue at the same rate in 2022, providing innovative and exciting employment opportunities in the tech industry both in the UK and globally. As well as opening new offices this month in India and the USA, we have global operations spreading across the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Innovative products

Kagool’s partnerships with Microsoft and SAP , and our unique data management products Velocity and Pulse, are fuelling the company’s growth, by supporting global clients modernise their ERP, Analytics and Integration landscapes through cloud and emerging technologies.

Velocity is Kagool’s industry-leading data migration solution, designed to simplify and accelerate the full end-to-end process of moving data from your source systems to Azure. Developed in partnership with Microsoft, Velocity provides the most efficient way to prepare and configure your data for unlimited analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) use cases.

Pulse was developed to simplify and fully automate the end-to-end SAP migration for large data volumes, so you can increase the speed of delivery while ensuring only complete and accurate data enters SAP. No matter how complex your landscape, Pulse will prepare, optimise, and migrate your data securely. With complete control, real-time visibility and metrics, your teams can monitor, track and report on every step of the process with confidence.

We’re constantly innovative and improving on all our offerings, and our two flagship products are no different. Our latest Velocity updates include adding SnowFlake as a target, and we’re always adding more sources, including support of Oracle, HANA DB and SuccessFactors. We’ve also recently made Pulse available on native Azure, making it easy to directly integrate it with your Azure datasets.

These two products have driven much of Kagool’s aggressive growth policy in the last few years. Dan Barlow, Group CEO of Kagool, said, “Our customers are seeing the value and agility that cloud technologies can bring to their global enterprises and are seeing Kagool as the right delivery partner to achieve business value quickly and effectively. The current overall growth strategy means our business continues to grow 100% year on year.”

He added, “ Currently Kagool has global operations with an employee base of 600 . The company has recently set up a development centre in Chicago, US and is expanding in Qatar next month. We have plans to also expand in South America and Europe. Kagool will explore acquisitions as well in future to expand business into new geographies. By the end of 2025, we are planning to increase our headcount to 2,000 and aim invest about £5 million.”

Employment opportunities

Kagool’s rapid global growth results in hi-tech career opportunities for people around the world.

The company has a unique approach to recruitment, based on giving people the opportunity to prove themselves regardless of their background.

This attitude has resulted in a diverse workforce, with 28 different nationalities represented. Sulieman Alramahi, Graduate Customer Success Engineer in Kagool’s UK office, said, “Regarding our workforce, it’s very diverse, and we’ve got amazing offices, where you can be yourself.”

Once in the team, employees at Kagool learn and grow at an incredible rate. Sudeep Vajrala, a Full Stack Practice Head in the India office, said, “I joined Kagool as a full stack developer and within a year I am now heading the full stack practice. This shows that kagool provides a great platform for career development where talent and hard work are recognised and well appreciated.”

Alastair McGuire, who joined as part of Kagool’s Graduate Programme and is now an Integration Developer, reflects this. He says, “It's quite an accelerated scheme, where you'll be doing a lot more than other graduate programmes. For example, what we do here in one year, other graduate programmes probably take three years to do.”

Anuradha Madishetty, Learning & Development Manager, explains how focused the company is on helping their employees in their careers. She says, “Kagool has a wonderful employee-centric work culture which helps us enhance our knowledge.”

Along with this comes a vital commitment to being an inclusive workplace for all. As well as strong ethnic diversity, the company is invested in empowering women in the tech industry. We believe in actively working to break the barriers that women across the globe face, especially in a male-dominated space.

Kagool’s plans for rapid expansion in the next year and beyond will result in more opportunities for people who want to work for a vibrant and fast-growing organisation.

Technical Step by Step Guide: No-code AI training on tabular data

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 17:14:28 GMT

With Microsoft Azure, it's easy to create an AI model.

Today we are going to look at how we can use Azure’s ML Studio platform to build a no-code AI model for tabular data .

Introducing the Kaggle Titanic ML project .

This is a common Machine Learning (ML) practice case where we are predicting which passengers survived the Titanic shipwreck based on features including their ticket class, gender, age and more.

From the Kaggle page we can see the dataset and have a quick look at the features available to us.

1. Create Studio ML Resource

The first thing we need to do is create a ML Studio resource. To do this go to Azure Portal and search for ML Studio. Create a new resource and fill in the details following this Microsoft Guide .

It is a good idea to create a separate storage account for your ML Studio resource.

2. Create a Compute Resource for ML Studio

ML Studio requires a storage account to store Assets and a compute resource to train or inference a model.

During resource creation you should have already created or linked to a storage account.

Let’s create a simple compute resource.

As we are doing a single training program that will be computationally inexpensive, we will use a compute instance.

In your ML studio resource go to Compute -> Compute instances -> New

Give your resource a unique name.

Select an appropriate VM. We don’t need anything fancy for this so we will use a Standard_DS3_v2 resource.

Configure any advanced settings you require; I am going to leave as is for the demo.

Press create and wait for the resource state to turn green and say Running.

3. Import the data

We now have our environment to train a simple ML model.

First, let’s import the dataset for training the model into the storage account connected to our ML Studio resource.

Go to the Kaggle titanic competition page and download the train dataset. We will use this data to train our classification model.

In ML Studio , select Assets - > Datasets -> Registered datasets -> Create dataset

Select from local file.

Give the dataset an intuitive name and select Tabular for Dataset type

Select next, then select workplaceblobstore as the datastore. This uses the storage account associated to the ML Studio workspace. Under the browse option, attach the train.csv file from your local storage and press next.

Leave settings and preview as is.

Leave schema as is. We could set it here, but we will set it in the pipeline instead as this makes it easier to change if we make a mistake.

Select next and create the dataset.

4. Create the project pipeline

Go to Author -> Designer -> New pipeline -> Easy-to-use prebuilt components

Configure pipeline settings:

Select the compute resource created earlier
Set the Draft name to something intuitive
Under Datasets pull in the training data imported earlier

5. Clean and prepare the data for training

In its current format the data would not perform very well when training the model. Some columns have data missing, some columns are non-numeric and some columns will bias the model due to their scale. We need to solve all these problems before we can select and train our model.

1. Set column datatypes

First of all, we need to specify the datatype of all the columns and specify which are features and which is the label column.

Integer values:

From the blocks on the left select Edit Metadata .
Select Edit column from the settings, then select by name in the select columns checkbox.
Select the Age, SibSp, Parch columns* and select Save .
In the Edit Metadata settings, set the Data type to Integer, the Categorical type to NonCategorical and the Fields type to Features

String values:

From the blocks on the left select Edit Metadata .
Select Edit column from the settings, then select by name in the select columns checkbox.
Select the PassengerId, Name, Ticket and Cabin * and select Save .
In the Edit Metadata settings, set the Data type to String, the Categorical type to NonCategorical and the Fields type to Features.

Double values:

From the blocks on the left select Edit Metadata .
Select Edit column from the settings, then select by name in the select columns checkbox.
Select the Fare* and select Save .
In the Edit Metadata settings, set the Data type to Double, the Categorical type to NonCategorical and the Fields type to Features.

Categorical values:

From the blocks on the left select Edit Metadata .
Select Edit column from the settings, then select by name in the select columns checkbox.
Select the Pclass, Sex, Embarked* categories and select Save .
In the Edit Metadata settings, set the Data type to Unchanged, the Categorical type to Categorical and the Fields type to Features.

Label Values:

From the blocks on the left select Edit Metadata .
Select Edit column from the settings, then select by name in the select columns checkbox.
Select the Survived* category and select Save .
In the Edit Metadata settings, set the Data type to Unchanged, the Categorical type to Categorical and the Fields type to Labels.

We should now have a pipeline that looks something like this:

*Integer columns should be data where the values follow a sequential pattern of whole integer numbers. Hence PassengerID is not considered an integer type as we cannot say that a value of 2 holds any relationship to a value of 1. String column should be data where there is no relationship between values. Double columns should contain data where the data can be any numerical value and follows a sequential pattern. Categorical columns should contain only entries that match a set of predetermined values. Label columns should be what we are trying to predict. As this is a classification problem, the label is also a categorical type.

2. Select relevant columns

Next, we will select the columns we think are most relevant to train the model. In this process we are going to disregard some columns we have processed in the last step. This may seem like a waste, but it means that if we come back later and decide to use different features (or create new features e.g. PCA) we already have the features formatted.

Drag the Select Columns in Dataset block into the pipeline and attach it to the last Edit Metadata.

Select Edit column from the settings, then select by name in the select columns checkbox.
Select the Survived, Pclass, Sex, Age & Fare categories and select Save .

We have chosen these as I am assuming there is a strong correlation between each of these features and the chance of survival. In practice, a better approach would to be explore the relationship of each feature with the label, or to train multiple instances using a variety of labels and assess over a validation dataset. For an introduction into no-code ML, simply taking the above features will suffice (but feel free to explore alternate features, you may get a better model performance!)

3. Clean up missing values

Next, we will clean up any missing values from the dataset.

We can see from the dataset source (Kaggle) that the age column contains missing values.

Pull in the Clean Missing Data block and attach Age column.

Leave ratios as they are (we want to replace all missing values) and set the Cleaning mode to replace with median. This will replace any missing values with the median value for the entire column.
Leave the generate missing value indicator column as false.

4. Convert the categorical columns into binary columns

Now we will sort out the categorical columns. Most ML models can’t handle categorical inputs and so we need to format it into a method that they can understand. Azure ML does this by converting each categorical value into its own binary column. For example, the Gender column would become 2 new columns: Male and Female, each with a value of 1 for true. This type of encoding is referred to as one-hot-encoding .

In the pipeline, pull in the Convert to Indicator Values block and select the Pclass, Sex columns.

Select true for overwrite categorical columns as we do not want to retain the original columns after transform (we only want the encoded columns).

5. Normalise the data

Finally, we will normalise the data. The scale of some features (e.g. Age) is much larger than other features (e.g. Sex – Male), which can result in a biased model that puts more weight on certain fields leading to poor performance.

To counter that we normalise all fields so that they are on a similar scale but retain their statistical variance.

Drag in the Normalise Data block and select the Age and Fare columns.
We will leave the transformation method as Zscore.

(Another popular method is MinMax , however this can lead to single outlier records having a major impact on the scaling and affecting the weight the model places on the feature.)

6. Train the model

Hurray! We now have a nice clean dataset that we are ready to use to train a model. #

1. Split dataset into training, validation and testing sets

First, we need to split the dataset into a training, validation and testing set.

The training set will be used to train various models with various hyperparameter values.
The validation set will be used to choose which model is best.
The test set will be used to gain a final performance score for that best model.

We will randomly select 70% of our data to train & validate the model and 30% to test the best model.

Drag in the Split Data block and connect to the normalised data.
Leave the splitting mode to split rows and set the fraction of rows to 0.7 (70%).
Make sure the Randomised Split is set to True.
This will output the training and validation set to the left node and the testing set to the right.

Drag in another Split Data block and connect to the training output from the first split data block.
Leave the splitting mode to split rows and set the fraction of rows to 0.7 (70%).
Make sure the Randomised Split is set to True.
This will output the training set to the left node and the validation set to the right.

2. Select the type of model to train

We are performing a two-class classification problem (survived or did not survive) so we will select a Two-Class Decision Forest Block and drag it into the pipeline.

You could try any alternative two-class model, or even train multiple and validate the best performing model using the validation set.

We will not set any of the model hyperparameters (e.g. number of decision trees ) as we will automate training multiple instances of the model with various hyperparameters, and select which one performs best on the validation set.

Next pull in the Tune Model Hyperparameters block. This performs the process listed above. Attach the model, training data and validation data to the nodes in that order as shown. Set the sweeping mode to Entire grid and the Metric for measuring performance for classification to F-score. Set the Label Column to Survived as this is what we are predicating.

7. Assess the model

Now, when the pipeline runs, we will have a trained model that we can use. Once trained, we will need to assess its performance on the testing data (which it hasn’t seen before).

Pull in a Score Model block from the right and connect the tuned model and test set as shown. We don’t need to make any settings changes here.

Pull in a Evaluate Model block and attach the S core Model output as seen below.

We are now ready to run the pipeline and see what we get.

8. Run the pipeline

Make sure your compute instance created earlier is running.

Select Submit from the top then select create new experiment. Give the experiment an intuitive name and press Submit.

The pipeline will begin running. Wait for all tasks to complete.

Now let’s see how our model performed.

Click on the evaluate model block.
Select Outputs + logs and click the small graph icon.
From here we can analyse the results of the model.

9. Analysing performance

Assessing the performance of a classifier is often highly dependent on the scenario.

For example, if we were diagnosing whether someone should be screened for cancer (label) based on symptoms (features), sending a few extra people (false positives) to be tested when they shouldn’t is not too much of a problem. But we definitely don’t want to accidently refuse someone screening when they should be (false negative).

This complexity is well documented and there are plenty of other online resources on choosing the best performance criteria, so we won’t dive into that here.

For our classifier we will assess the performance based on accuracy . This is the fraction of instances that were correctly classified.

We can see that we have an accuracy of about 75%, which is not bad for a simple classifier.

We can see a threshold bar above the results. This lets us specify the confidence at which an instance will be classified as having survived.

With a value of 0.5 the classifier will set any instances that it believes have an above 50% chance of surviving to survived .

Lets drop the value to 0.3 (30+ % chance of survival will survive) and see what happens {pic 9.1}

Notice that our overall accuracy increase now to 82% & our false negative rate drops, but we now have a higher false positive rate

Finally let’s have a look at the raw data.

Clicking on the Score Model then Output and logs and finally the graph icon we can view the tabulated results (below).
Here we can see for the true result ( Survived ), the predicted result ( Scored Labels ) and the probabilities of those predictions ( Scored Probabilities ) for each instance in the training set.

10. All done!

And that’s it! We have now used the pipeline designer in ML studio to build a no-code classifier to predict whether someone would survive on the titanic.

To summarise the steps:

First, we created a ML Studio resource and set up its dependencies.
We then imported the dataset and created a pipeline project.
After that we cleaned the data and got it ready for model training.
Then we trained a random forest classifier.
And finally, we analysed the model performance.

We have just seen the tip of the iceberg (pun intended…) of what Azure ML Studio can offer.

Once you have a basic classifier trained, explore ways of improving your model performance and let us know how it goes on LinkedIn . A few ideas:

Try different models
Explore PCA and what the best number of features could be
Try an ensemble classifier based upon different classifiers

Good luck!

How to Develop a Strong, High Performing KPI Strategy

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:15:33 GMT

Clear KPIs can give your team direction and motivation.

What is a KPI?

A KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, is a metric chosen to measure your performance.

KPIs can be used to track progress across all levels of an organisation, from the overall business, to each department, all the way down to measuring each individual employee.

Any metric that can be measured and tracked can be a KPI. Here are some common ones from a sales and marketing perspective:

Net profit margin (net profit as a percentage of revenue)
Lead conversion rate (% of website visitors that turn into leads)
Sales conversion rate (% of leads that turn into customers)
Customer retention rate
Employee turnover rate

While there is a lot of overlap in which metrics different businesses set as KPIs, the specific metrics you choose will depend on your department/ business goals.

Why are KPIs important?

The real value of KPIs lies in giving your team a unified direction, and motivating them to progress towards a common goal.

By setting specific KPIs, you can communicate your priorities to your team, allowing them to ensure their daily activities line up with the business aims. If each employee understands what you are collectively trying to achieve, they can make sure their day to day always contributes to the success of the team, however that is defined.

KPIs are also useful as a measure of your performance and whether your current strategies are working or not. If you’re putting lots of work into a campaign or project, you’re going to want to know whether it is achieving the desired outcome. Keeping track of KPIs is an objective way to do this.

Setting specific targets for KPIs can help to inspire new ideas for progress too. For example, aiming to increase website visitors by 10% in a month could be a great way to energise a marketing team to come up with new and exciting ways to achieve this goal.

How to define your KPIs

To truly benefit from the direction and motivation KPIs can give your team, it’s important to set the right ones, but how do you know what the right ones are?

There are so many metrics you could use, it can be difficult to know where to start in defining which to focus on. Here are our top 5 points to consider when you’re going through this process.

1. Start with your business goals and priorities

Consider exactly what you are trying to achieve. What’s the overall goal of the business, department, or team? Once you’ve clearly defined that, it will be easier to translate the goal into KPIs.

For example, if you manage a HR team and your goal is to increase employee satisfaction, your KPIs could include a combination of employee engagement survey statistics, and employee retention rates.

Or if your business priority is to grow as fast as possible, revenue or market share may be better KPIs to focus on for a while than profit margins.

2. Develop KPIs in collaboration with your team

To become a motivating force, KPIs must inspire employees as well as managers. You need your team to buy into them. That’s why it’s often more effective to encourage their input when setting new KPIs, rather than taking a top-down approach. Collaborate with your team to set the KPIs most suited to your team.

3. Consider how many KPIs to set

There’s a fine balance you must strike when considering how many KPIs to set. Too many will negate their benefits, by failing to set a clear direction or priority for your team.

However, putting too much emphasis on only one or two KPIs can lead to your team losing sight of holistic problem solving, and in some instances can encourage employees to ‘game’ the system. For example, if your sales team is instructed to focus on a single KPI, the number of meetings booked with potential clients, the team booking meetings with as many people as possible, regardless of the likelihood of the meetings leading to sales opportunities. The sole focus on one KPI may result in the quality of leads to diminish.

The solution to this problem is to set a small number of KPIs, but also emphasise that these should not be achieved at the expense of absolutely everything else. KPIs can be useful in giving direction and focus, without having to become the only performance indicator taken into account.

5. Keep KPIs under regular review

Even once you have defined your KPIs, they don’t have to be set in stone. A great business will shift its focus when the context or situation changes. So you should always have regular review dates for your KPIs, to ensure they still fit the direction you want to go in.

4. Make sure your KPIs are easily accessible

No matter which metrics you have chosen as your KPIs, they must be easily understandable and accessible to your team if they are to become good motivators. If people can easily view their KPIs in real time and track their progress, they are more likely to take KPI targets into account when planning their daily activities.

Creating a KPI driven culture will boost data literacy throughout your business. With an analytics platform like Power BI, you can create KPI dashboards that are easily accessible, interactive and secure and boost your competitive edge in the marketplace. Data is key and Power BI allows employees to drill down into the underlying data to gain insights and determine how to improve their KPIs, giving them drive and focus in their work and boosting your competitive.

Want to learn how Kagool can help you become more successful by setting up your own KPI dashboards and analytics? Please get in touch .

Data Bytes Video Series - launch!

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:01:12 GMT

Introducing Data Bytes, Kagool's new video series.

These 2-3 minute videos will give you bitesized chunks of knowledge from our data and business experts. We cover everything from analytics to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Find our Data Bytes playlist on Kagool's YouTube channel.

Kagool Newsletter

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:12:56 GMT

Another successful year of growth...

We're excited to share our first newsletter of 2022! Check it out here:

This edi tion takes a look at the last year of activities, including:

Digital transformation programmes, with a special focus on our work with Cadent Gas Limited
Recap of the #UKISUG event in November 2021
New features and enhancements on Kagool’s flagship products, Velocity and Pulse
Kagool’s involvement with charities, including NSPCC and EmployabilityUK
and loads more!

Data Integration with MuleSoft

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 07:00:08 GMT

MuleSoft can be used to integrate various systems and applications effectively and reliably.

What is integration?

Integration is the process of bringing together two or more disparate systems, allowing them to communicate and work together. It also enables the use of external systems effectively and can drive digital transformation for organisations at a faster pace.

As businesses grow, so does the complexity and breadth of their systems. Integrating multiple systems together onto one platform can improve productivity and operational quality, due to improved data and information flows. The benefits of system integration allows the organisation's leaders to make informed business decisions using data from across their whole organisation. This can be done on-demand by the integration platform, saving time and resources.

What is MuleSoft?

MuleSoft’s Anypoint platform is an iPaas (integration Platform as a Service) that supports integrations through API-led connectivity. We use MuleSoft to connect different systems together by building APIs.

Traditional connectivity (not using MuleSoft)

Traditional connectivity was made using point-to-point connections. Point-to-point Integration is where each application is connected to every other application that information needs to be shared with. The project might be considered a success; but what if our team is then tasked to build a mobile app?

We wouldn’t be able to reuse any of our previous work, and the more changes that take place, the more complicated, time consuming, and more prone to failure our solution becomes.

As you can see, we begin to see a “spaghetti code” pattern take place.

API-led connectivity (using MuleSoft)

However, with an API-led connectivity approach, we can reuse the functionality of previously built APIs instead of building from the ground up for every new application. So not only is our first project up and running quickly, but future applications, such as adding functionality for a mobile app, can leverage these resources.

The agility and speed provided allows for project delivery to be up to 3-5 times faster, saving time and freeing up resources. Future integrations have clearer paths to follow, making innovation and functionality improvements easier.

This approach also helps drive transformational changes for your business processes and data, and means when you scale, the APIs we build can scale with you.

Kagool's offering

Here at Kagool, we are MuleSoft Partners for systems integration so we can be trusted to bring expertly crafted API architectures carried out by certified developers to a high standard.

We design and build the integration solution alongside our other teams and clients, ensuring smooth delivery and agility to change to meet client needs. Being a partner allows us to keep up to date with MuleSoft's latest offerings, so we are able to always offer the best and most up-to-date solutions to you. We can also provide 24/7 AMS support, with a team of certified developers on hand when required.

Want to know more about data integration?

How to use DAX in Power BI - Video

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 07:00:08 GMT

How can you use DAX to make the most of Power BI and make effective data-driven decisions?

What is a dashboard?

A Power BI dashboard is a collection of visuals.

What is DAX?

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is a formula language. You can use DAX to define custom calculations for calculated columns and for measures. DAX includes some of the functions used in Excel formulas, and additional functions designed to work with relational data and perform dynamic aggregation.

DAX is used in:

Analysis Services
Power BI
Power Pivot in Excel

What is the difference between calculated columns & measures?

The main difference between calculated columns and measures is that columns are evaluated at each row, whereas measures are only evaluated at the subdivision level they are plotted at. Columns are calculated each time a data refresh is performed. On the other hand, measures are calculated at each visual interaction which means that unlike measures, column values are not responsive to filter selection or parameters.

Applying fields to visuals

Once measures and calculated columns are ready for usage, you can create a visual. Drag an item from the field tab and drop it in the appropriate section, as shown below.

Want to find out more about how Power BI can help your business goals? Get in touch.

How Power BI Enables Data Driven Business Decisions

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 07:00:07 GMT

How can Power BI help turn your business data into real insights to drive your decision-making?

What is Power BI?

Power BI is simply a data transformation and reporting tool. On top of this, Power BI is an ecosystem of tools and services that convert unrelated sources of data into unified data models with useful and interactive visuals.

There are 2 main components to Power BI:

Power BI Desktop is the windows program used for building data models developing reports.
Power BI Service is the online software as a service offering that hosts reports for viewing, sharing and collaboration.

The main use case of Power BI is to connect to data from various sources, build relationships, write calculations, and build reports and dashboard to visualise the data and gain useful insights.

How can you secure Power BI?

Power BI is one part of Microsoft’s Power Platform offering, so it integrates with your Azure Active Directory. This means that it is easy to restrict who has access to reports. It is also easy to set up data-level security so that users can only see the data they are entitled to see – for example store managers only seeing sales data for their store.

What are the most common mistakes with Power BI implementations?

Every Power BI implementation has its own set of challenges, but there are some we see regularly that can easily be avoided.

The number one issue that leads to slow reports is a result of not focusing on the data modelling. Power BI works incredibly fast with huge data volumes when the model is designed appropriately to suit Power BI’s performance engine. If the data model design is left as an afterthought, inefficiencies will be introduced as developers try to meet end user requirements. These can add up and unnecessarily slow down a report. To avoid this, when working with Power BI make data model design a top priority.

Another common pitfall is trying to use one report to meet the needs of every department in a company. While this is possible, managing it can quickly become a nightmare. Each department likely has its own data and its own requirements. So it often makes sense to logically separate these into separate datasets and reports. This helps the report developers focus on each department’s requirements separately.

Want to find out more about how Power BI can help you build your business strategy? Get in touch and we'll take you through the process.

Kagool Commits to Net Zero by 2030

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 07:45:03 GMT

Kagool is committed to achieving carbon Net Zero by 2030.

baseline/current emissions footprint

Baseline emissions are a record of the greenhouse gases that have been produced in the past and were produced prior to the introduction of any strategies to reduce emissions. Baseline emissions are the reference point against which emissions reduction can be measured. Kagool have not previously assessed or reported emissions, and as such are now using our first reporting period figures as our Baseline figures.

Baseline Year: November 2020 - November 2021

Additional Details relating to the Baseline Emissions calculations

Kagool have not previously assessed or reported emissions, and as such are now using our first reporting period as our Baseline.

In 2020, most Kagool staff moved to Work From Home. Around 20% of staff commute to the office daily, with 80% working from home. As we have 198 Full Time Employees, this means 35 will be working in the office and 163 working from home each day on average. We have instituted a policy to use public transport where possible, which has resulted in only 20% of staff commuting to the office using cars. We have used the GHG Protocols Average Data Method of calculating their commuting emissions.

It is very difficult to exactly quantify emissions for staff working from home, who all work in different environments with different emission levels. Heating, lighting, and electricity usage for homeworkers will vary greatly to the point where we cannot with confidence provide this information. As such, we have liaised with Creative Carbon Scotland, who have advised that the average annual carbon footprint from one full time employee working from home in the UK in 2020 was 146kgCO2e. We have used this figure for our staff for Scope 3 emissions.

Throughout this 12-month period, all services were delivered remotely with no travel to client sites. This means that the only emissions resultant from service delivery were electricity costs contained in our reported Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. As such, our calculated Scope 1 (Direct) emissions were 0.00.

Please see Figure 2 for a full breakdown of what information was calculated for each Scope.

Baseline year emissions: 2020-2021

carbon reduction projects

Remote working

We decided to embed ourselves remotely wherever possible for service delivery. Due to the COVID pandemic, all our customers over this reporting period were happy to comply with this. This resulted in Scope 1 and 2 emissions being reduced significantly.

Office relocation

We recently relocated our office to One Friargate in Coventry. This building is close to city centre and right next to the train station and bus interchange, which has enabled better use of public transport. As a result, we now have 80% of staff commuting to the office via public transport instead of commuting via car.

Heatline scheme

The Friargate building is one of a few buildings which is part of the Heatline Scheme, a low-carbon district heating network for the city centre. Council buildings are heated via 6.6km of buried pipes which bring waste heat from the Waste to Energy plant to the city centre. This is low carbon energy supply option for new developments such as the building we’re in. Overall savings of approximately 1,100 tCO2per year for the entire Heatline scheme compared to the emissions that would result from the connected buildings using conventional gas boilers.

declaration and sign off

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans.

Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.

Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements, and the required subset of Scope 3 emissions have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors.

5 Ways Local Councils Can Cut Costs & Improve Services with a Single View of the Citizen

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 07:45:03 GMT

Local councils can serve their communities more effectively and cost-efficiently with a Single View of the Citizen. Implementing one doesn’t have to cost millions or take years.

This article will go through the what, why and how of implementing a Single View of the Citizen for local councils.

What is a Single View of the Citizen?

Local government agencies hold reams of personal data on their citizens. From home addresses to social care requirements, employment, housing, financial information and more, there’s a lot of valuable information floating around.

However, in most instances, the data is not aggregated or connected in one central system. Different agencies, even different departments in the same council, hold fragments of information on each citizen. If this is never joined up, a holistic view of citizens and the communities they make up is impossible.

A Single View of the Citizen is all about solving this challenge. The aim is to have a single central platform containing all relevant information the local government and its service providers need about its citizens.

This not only leads to more accurate and reliable data, but it also allows for the data to be used more effectively, allowing local governments to better manage their resources while still providing high quality service to their communities, even in a climate of ever tightening budgets and increasing service demand.

Benefits of Having a Single View of the Citizen

A Single View of the Citizen can cut costs, increase service user satisfaction, and ensure the taxpayers’ money is being put to the best possible use. Here are the top 5 ways it can benefit local councils.

1. Efficient resource allocation based on demand

Accurate and up-to-date data can give decisionmakers a holistic view of their community. Demand for each service can be tracked, enabling authorities to accurately assess their priorities plus the needs of citizens in a clear and easily accessible way, while also functioning as a budget tool for cost purposes. Analytics can give a clear view of which services are most in need of resources or funding, and which can afford to continue as they are, enabling decisions to be driven effectively and outcomes improved.

Budget setting can then be based on evidence, ensuring every penny of the taxpayer’s money is well spent on services that will have the most impact on the community.

2. Departments can work together on the same problems

Local authority services are all connected in people’s lives. For example, quality of education could affect levels of unemployment, homelessness, poor health outcomes and even overall life expectancy.

All these factors interplay together so it makes sense for the relevant departments to work together. They can set common goals and share insights with each other, combining in a much more strategic way to maximise their impact.

3. Keep master data for every citizen

Disparate systems lead to inefficiencies that waste the time of council employees and citizens trying to access services. Imagine how much easier it would be if currently disconnected datasets were linked. For example, citizens could simply change their address once after moving house, rather than having to fill in the same forms over and over again to update it for each separate service.

This would not only increase citizen satisfaction by making the process much easier, but it would also lead to more accurate data through one operational and consolidated platform.

4. Prevent fraud

To prevent fraud, local councils must be able to spot patterns and discrepancies in data. For example, cases of fraud costing £2.7 million were uncovered in Wales simply by comparing council tax single persons discount claims to the electoral register.

Fraud detection and response capabilities can be greatly expanded by using a Single View of the Citizen, in which citizens’ data is all accessible in one place using ethical data sharing between services. Comparisons between the data can easily be made and analysed accurately.

5. Preventative measures cut future costs

Prevention is always better than the cure. But how can you tell what outcomes you’re supposed to be looking out for to prevent? Predictive analytics can help in proactive targeting before crisis presents. Using sophisticated data science technologies, the people most vulnerable and in need of support, who arguably could also be considered the most resource intensive to local authorities, can be identified earlier. Help can be given before they reach the point of crisis, improving outcomes for them while again reducing overall cost.

How to Get a Single View of the Citizen

All the data collected by any government agency can be integrated into a modern data platform like Microsoft Azure, then a Single View of the Citizen can be built using this data within the Azure platform. Clear insights can be gleaned even from those who aren’t data experts, by creating Power BI analytics reports, again on the Microsoft platform, which are always kept up to date with near real-time data.

The solution doesn’t have to be a massive one-time cost. Instead of committing to a huge project, local councils can gradually transform their databases, connecting the disconnected over a time to suit budgets, resulting in benefits right away with little investment. This makes the Modern Data Platform a cost-effective, scalable and adaptable solution, fit for the future needs of the council as well as giving a rapid return on investment for the current requirements.

A Single View of the Citizen must prioritise data security. A reliable Modern Data Platform, which invests heavily in the security and safety of your data, is required. The integration tools and partner used to build the Modern Data Platform must also treat security as paramount.

To find out more about how Kagool can help provide innovative, cost effective and secure solutions to your local authority or the wider public sector, please get in touch.

Step by Step Guide: How to Train an AI Model Without Coding

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 07:45:02 GMT

You don’t have to be a coder to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) models.

Many people think you need to be a coding expert to be able to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. But this isn’t true. All you need is an active Azure Cloud subscription, and you can create one in 10 minutes.

In our example we will demonstrate how easy it is to train a model to detect different types of noodles.

The service we’ll use is called Custom Vision, and it allows you to train different AI models with a no-code interface. We will use the Azure Percept DK device to detect the different products.

Azure Percept DK is an easy-to-use platform for creating edge AI solutions. It combines different Azure services (e.g. Azure Cognitive Services and Machine Learning) to deliver real-time audio and vision insights. The device comes pre-built with Azure Percept Studio, a service which makes deploying on this device even easier to do. Find out more about the Azure Percept DK .

Here’s the whole process to create, train and deploy the AI model:

1. Create a custom vision project at www.customvision.ai by logging in using your Azure credentials. Set up your project as shown in the screenshot below:

Project name – Noodles detection
Project description – This model is detecting different types of noodles
Resource (create one if you haven’t already)
Project types – Object Detection
Domains: General (compact)
Export capabilities: Basic platforms

2. Capture or upload your images into the workspace and label them accordingly by clicking on each image and tagging each product as shown below. Using different backgrounds and different lightings will improve your model a lot.

Your tags are located on the left portion of the page as shown below. You need at least 15 tagged images for each product to be able to train the model.

3. Train the model by selecting the Train button. I will be using the Quick training option for this blog but I recommend using Advanced training option for better results.

4. Wait until your model has been trained – it should take around 5 minutes . After the model has been trained successfully, you will be able to export it as different formats or deploy it on the Azure Percept DK using the Azure Percept Studio.

5. Use this tutorial to set up your device . After setting up your device, go to Azure Percept Studio and under the devices section, select your device.

6. Select the vision tab and click on Deploy Project button. Select the project and the iteration you want to use for deployment and click the Deploy model button.

7. Now use the device Ip address to access the Web stream. Your device should be able to detect the different noodles packages!

We have been able to create and deploy an AI model in just 7 easy steps. The capabilities of running AI at the edge are huge.

In a real-life scenario, this model can be used for inventory management purposes to detect different products on shelves. The process can also be automated by attaching the Percept DK device on a drone and setting it to check the stock overnight when the environment is quiet to avoid any potential accidents. This would minimise the time staff must spend on repetitive tasks like checking stock, allowing them to focus on more high-level tasks, making them more engaged and productive in their jobs.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next article about IoT and Edge AI. If you’d like more information about how AI can help make your business more productive, please get in touch.

How Digital Transformation Will Help Solve Climate Change

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 07:45:02 GMT

All organisations must play their part in solving the climate crisis. Digital transformation, which will improve business processes and offerings through leveraging new technologies, will form a vital part of the way we cut emissions and reduce waste.

Reducing unnecessary consumption should be a priority for every organisation. Not only will it make your business more efficient and cost-effective, but it will also reap massive environmental benefits, something that’s increasingly important now sustainability is at the forefront of customers’ minds.

Digital transformation will be a big part of this journey towards creating more sustainable organisations. That means a big push towards leveraging new technologies to create better ways of combining people, processes and resources productively.

This article will cover various examples of digital transformation and how they can help your organisation become more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable, including:

Data & Analytics
Smart Products and the Internet of Things (IoT)
Virtual Reality (VR) and Digital Twins
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Data & Analytics

Our current production and distribution systems produce a huge amount of waste. In the food industry alone, we throw away around 30% of global produce every year, and 75% of this waste occurs during production and distribution. Given how much food production and distribution contributes to climate change, this is a big problem. If food waste were a country, it would have the third biggest carbon footprint , after the USA and China. The message is clear: we have to stop producing far too much, only for it to end up in landfill.

Data & analytics could be part of the answer to this conundrum. Data insights can help us understand exactly how much we need to produce at any given moment. Predictive analytics, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), can be used to calculate what the level of consumer demand will be, taking factors like weather, seasonal trends, consumer preferences, public holidays and average income changes into account. Required stock levels can then be adjusted accordingly, based on these data-backed expectations. This process can be applied throughout the supply chain, ensuring wastage is minimised at every level.

Many areas of business across a wide range of industry sectors can benefit from data & analytics, from ordering car parts to distributing medicines. If every organisation along the supply chain had a clearer idea of exactly how much demand there was for a certain product, wastage could be massively reduced.

Smart Products and the Internet of Things

Everything from heaters to entire buildings can be ‘smart’, or connected to the internet,. More and more innovations are focusing on minimising usage of resources above and beyond what is necessary. For example, a smart building can use sensors to detect how many people are in each room, and adjust the heating, air conditioning and lights accordingly, so an empty room doesn’t have to use up energy unnecessarily.

As well as sensing what’s going on in the present, Machine Learning (ML) can be used to predict use levels and requirements in the future, based on factors like peak times and weather changes.

These kinds of solutions can make offices, schools, and other buildings more energy-efficient, saving on electricity bills and reducing carbon emissions. An added benefit is higher productivity – your employees never have to worry about turning the heating on and off, or having to work in the freezing cold, because the smart building has it all under control.

Virtual Reality and Digital Twins

Transport accounts for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, so reducing the need to travel long distances unnecessarily is surely a good thing for the climate. To emphasise this point, the Fifth Assessment Report released by the IPCC suggested that a ‘substantial decoupling of transport GHG emissions from gross domestic product (GDP) growth’ is necessary to avoid climate disaster.

Enabling more remote work, then, is a priority – especially for sites that are costly and energy-intensive to reach. To take an extreme example, an underground pipeline in Siberia will be difficult and energy-intensive to reach for engineers.

Digital twins can provide the solution. Instead of sending engineers to manually check whether every part of the operation is working, a virtual version of the system can be created and updated in real time with data from sensors about the temperature, vibrations, humidity, and any other relevant metrics. Using a Hololens, tablet, or computer, engineers can easily interact with the virtual version, exploding the parts and drilling down into more information from the sensors, in order to diagnose any problems and act accordingly from wherever they are in the world.

Another use case for digital twins is for training purposes. Engineers can be guided through exactly how to repair systems through interacting with a digital twin and guide using a Hololens. Training can happen effectively from anywhere in the world, reducing the need for travel.

Of course, a digital world cannot replace real life interactions. But the pandemic has proved that with the right access to technology, we no longer need to share the same physical space in every instance that we want to be productive or learn something new. Even just cutting down in-person working by half would make a massive difference to the impact that transport has on the climate.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Making processes more efficient will be great for reducing energy consumption and physical waste. But it’s also important to stop wasting our time, too. If we’re going to solve climate change, we’re going to need to carve out time in our work lives to dedicate to collaboratively thinking, analysing, and acting on the challenge. The problem of climate change is not simple, and it will take more than a day to figure out how your business or team is best equipped to help solve it.

RPA can help to give you more time. It’s all about freeing up employees’ time by giving their most menial tasks to robots. By reducing some of their workload, people will have more time to focus on the more difficult, complex problems.

Not only will this improve productivity, but it will also increase employee engagement and innovation. People can focus on meaningful work, making them more motivated, and they'll have more time available to focus on innovation and solving the company’s current challenges - including climate change.

Conclusion

The climate crisis has never been more urgent or more alarming, but the good news is that we certainly have the tools to fight it. Digital transformation holds so much potential for our society to accelerate its path towards a more sustainable future.

From analytics to smart buildings, from HoloLens's to RPA - technology can help every organisation minimise its environmental impact, while also saving energy and transport costs, and increasing productivity.

If you'd like to explore how your organisation can leverage technology in this way, please get in touch.

Drive Your Business Forward with Data

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 07:45:02 GMT

Is your business sitting on a treasure trove of data?

Cloud technology has enabled increasing amounts of information to be created and stored, and as a result, data volumes have exploded. It’s estimated that 90 percent of the data in the world was created in the last two years.

Data is the bedrock of innovation, but it’s not useful on its own. Its value comes from the informative insights you can gain from it that are then used to make businesses more agile. Trends and insights can be determined and then used to make better decisions and create more innovative products and services. The digitisation of manufacturing, including Industry 4.0, is a good example of how the enormous volumes of data and real-time analysis drive innovation.

However, this data is often sitting in databases untouched. Data is often stored in different formats, in a variety of systems, with many access points. Building, evaluating, deploying, and monitoring data can be a complex process. Firstly, data scientists prepare data for analysis, including cleansing, aggregating, and manipulating it to perform advanced analysis. This is followed by analytic applications where data analysts draw informed insights to promote business transformation.

In a Gartner survey of more than 3,000 CIOs, respondents ranked data analytics and business intelligence as the top differentiating technology for their organisations. The CIOs see these technologies as the most strategic for their companies.

Unlock your data

To determine the best tools and processes to digitally transform your business, many questions need to be asked:

What kind of data does your business use?
What kind of working methods do you prefer?
What kind of data sources are you using?
What are your key business performance indicators?

After answering these questions, many data and analytics leaders are increasingly implementing self-service capabilities to create a data-driven culture throughout their organisation. This means business users can more easily learn to use and benefit from effective analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) tools, driving favourable business outcomes in the process.

Create a data-driven business

Big Data, Business Intelligence, and Business Analytics are all familiar terms in today’s world, but what do they mean to your business? Before planning a successful and sustainable business strategy, a number of key factors need to be considered:

Active buy-in and interest from top managers - Building a data strategy requires multi-level organisational buy-in to contribute energy and resources.

Understand what business metrics are needed to enable easier decisions – what key data do you need to make the business more successful? To make data useful, you need to define key business metrics for each area of the organisation.

Use analytics to help employees, not just customers – knowledge about your business doesn’t just improve customer service levels. it can also help with internal processes and ensure employees benefit from best business practices.

Be flexible but maintain consistency across departments – data is often stored in silos throughout the business and collated in a piecemeal way. By focusing on a data strategy, the collation of data becomes more streamlined. This enables unified data analysis across departments.

Explain analytical choices and understand how problems are approached – data does not exist without people, systems and processes. By understanding how and why these all interact, you better understand key data analytics, thereby enabling more informed, strategic business decisions.

Harness the power of data in your business

By collecting and analysing your data, you will provide valuable insights to future trends and future proof your business in a challenging and ever-changing world. The information you need will be at your fingertips exactly when you need it most.

Kagool can help you figure out how to make your business more efficient, cutting costs and increasing productivity. We’ll talk you through the processes and benefits of data driven business decisions. If you’d like to chat, or if you just want more information about using your data more effectively, please get in touch.

Benefits of Using a Modern Data Platform (MDP) for Data Management

barlowdan6@gmail.com (Kagool Inc) — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 11:15:15 GMT

A Modern Data Platform (MDP) lets you integrate, manage and distribute your data exactly when and where you need it.

There are massive benefits to using an MPD to enable better data management. Your business processes and decisions can become more efficient, innovative and cost-effective with the capabilities of an MDP like Microsoft Azure . Here's our top 13 benefits of using one.

1. Autonomy of Scale

Your organisation’s ability to scale is pivotal in the modern world of business. If your legacy system can’t adapt to changes in your operations, it’s quite literally slowing you down and losing you valuable business. Rapid change and quick yet informed strategic motions are the cornerstone of organisations that lead instead of follow.

2. Reduced Management and Increased Productivity

Your employees need easy access to the relevant data to perform their tasks well. If accessing data is a pain, they’re going to be less productive and satisfied. A strong MDP solution like the Azure Modern Data Platform can solve this with very little maintenance or administration. This means that you can focus on innovation and growth in your business, instead of the grind of merely maintaining basic function.

3. Increased Security

As the modern currency in business, data is extremely vulnerable and security sensitive. That’s why you need top of the line security that is up to date, maintained in real time, and can address potential threats as (or even before) they happen. Fortunately, Microsoft invests billions of dollars into their cyber security, making Azure some of the safest technology on the planet. You can protect your data and your customers’ data with minimal cost and time spent.

4. Technological evolution

The business environment is constantly and rapidly changing. To stay competitive and up to date in that world, your organisation has to use modern technologies and tools. That can include everything from advanced analytics in Power BI reports, to holograms and digital twins in training courses.

5. Cloud based arena

By using a cloud based modern data platform, you cut out the costs of storing data on-premise. This includes not only the actual storage costs, but also the spending required to keep it secure and protected. Additionally, when you’re on the cloud, you no longer have to compromise on speed, accuracy and efficiency like you do when you’re relying on physical storage limitations.

6. Efficient data processing

Your organisation’s ability to forecast and plan can only ever be as accurate and up to date as the data you’ve analysed. If your current data processing or analytics solutions are not up to the task, it’s time for a change. Data integration will help you process information better and, as a result, do better business.

7. Better decision-making capabilities

Making informed choices backed by data in near real time gives you the edge necessary to compete in a modern playing field. Being in control of your most recent data and analytics lets you work proactively and reactively to information.

8. Future proofing your business

From various AI solutions to predictive algorithmic data, you can use data modernisation as a foundation for growth through adaptive infrastructure and foresight into the organisation's development and future.

9. Database stability

With cloud-based data storing, your data is not only secure, it's also completely stable and safe. Software malfunctions and ERP faults are minimised with a database that you can rely on 24 hours a day.

10. Comprehensive customer service

The knock-on effects of using an MDP to improve your business can be felt all the way through to your customer satisfaction. Your organisation becomes better at doing what it should, improving the level of service you are able to provide.

11. Flexibility within the database

Technology is adaptive, and the Microsoft Azure platform is especially so. No matter what the future requirements of your organisation may be, there are constant developments and protocols within the MDP that allow for shifts in business and technical advancements.

12. Intuitive GUI (Graphic User Interface) Systems

The interfaces we provide are user friendly and offer maximum functionality with zero need for data science experience or coding. This makes the task of managing your organisation's data easy and hassle free.

13. Reduced Cost and Increased Time Savings

At the end of the day, a truly great business decision has to benefit your bottom line. Spend less, and save more time, with an efficient data modernisation solution.

Want more information about moving to a MDP? Kagool can help you do it right. Please get in touch to find out more.

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 08:33:55 GMT

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming increasingly commonplace in modern workplaces.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that automates all the mundane, repetitive tasks humans used to have to do, instead passing that mundane work onto software bots. So, say your company makes cars, and you need more tyres to be ordered every time stock is running low. Once upon a time, the job of checking inventory and ordering enough tyres to make more cars fell upon human hands. But today, RPA can take care of all that for you.

That’s just one example, but the use cases of RPA are endless, especially if you start using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (MI) in tandem with RPA. When used effectively, it can cut costs, reduce errors and make your employees more productive. And it’s relatively quick and easy to implement.

Which Processes Can Be Improved by Robotic Process Automation?

RPA is amazing at automating certain kinds of tasks, but it can’t do everything. To use it effectively, you’ve got to know what it’s suited for - and what it’s not.

The key thing to know here is that RPA is not, despite its name, actually made of robots - or at least not the kind you might imagine. It's made up of software bots, which can do simple tasks including:

'read' information in documents
fill in forms
update databases
send invoices

If you use Artificial Intelligence (AI) within your software bot, you can also use it to do more complicated tasks:

recognise speech
organising unstructured data (this could be anything from text messages to pictures)
understand a conversation and reply (like a chatbot)

So those are the tasks that RPA can do. But what kinds of processes can they automate?

For RPA to be suitable, a task must be:

Rules based - if you can give clear, unambiguous instructions about exactly when and how to perform the task, that probably means it follows logical rules. And if there’s anything a software bot can do well, it’s following rules.
Repeatable – The task must follow the same process every time you do it. If the way you carry it out changes each time you do it, it might be too complicated for RPA.
High volume – A task that only needs doing once a year probably isn’t worth the effort of automating it. The transformative potential of RPA lies in tasks that employees currently hate having to make time for frequently.

Case Study: Zuellig Pharma

A simple example is checking invoice emails and paying them. A software bot carry out this process end to end:

scan emails for ones related to invoicing
examine attachments and extract the relevant information
carry out payment

Healthcare company Zuellig Pharma used RPA to carry out this exact process. They’re one of the largest healthcare companies in Asia, supplying more than 350,000 medical facilities with distribution, digital and commercial services. Millions of people rely on its services, so they’ve got to work smoothly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company needed to create a more efficient ordering process, so clients could get exactly what they needed to treat patients.

To this end, Zuellig Pharma put into place a new system with RPA at its centre. It automated the whole ordering and billing process end to end. The impact of this is clear even from looking at just one part of the process: receiving customer order emails and moving the information into spreadsheets and PDFs. Before RPA was implemented, that task fell onto 20 employees who had to do it all manually every day. Now, those employees can forget about this menial task and focus on value-added tasks across the business. And the process is more reliable now too - because RPA doesn’t have to take time off or deal with pandemic related crises, orders can be processed 24/7 without ever needing delays.

Want More Info About How RPA Can Help Your Business?

Kagool can help you figure out where RPA can make your business more efficient, cutting costs and increasing productivity. We’ll talk you through the whole process. If you’d like to chat, or if you just want more information about the benefits of RPA, please get in touch.

Is There A Rush to Move to S/4HANA Now?

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 12:11:57 GMT

As we near the end of 2021, several factors are coming together to form a perfect economic storm.

In Britain, the BREXIT agreement and the COVID pandemic have further exposed a number of pre-existing issues for UK Plc, a prime example being a shortage of HGV drivers and the associated supply chain problems.

If there was ever a time for a “transformational ERP system” to be making waves, it should be now. But SAP’s S/4HANA offering still hasn’t broken through.

Recent research from the SAP Insider Group has found:

around 40% of SAP customers are still working out what to do about S/4HANA
30% further SAP customers have no plans to adopt S/4HANA yet

So most of SAP’s customer base is unsure about its flagship solution. That’s hardly wholesale adoption.

Why is SAP still failing to convince customers of the value of moving to S/4HANA?

Why Are Businesses Reluctant to Move to S/4HANA?

Firstly, the major stumbling block with S/4HANA is that it’s an evolutionary rather than revolutionary improvement from ECC6. The underlying tech is a step change, but what the solution actually does isn’t all that different. The additional speed and simplicity only has so much real value.

It’s telling that organisations can often discuss how much they’ve invested in SAP over the years, but few can talk in quantitative terms about the payback it’s given them. This isn’t SAP’s fault, but it clearly adds to the aura of these solutions being a cost of doing business rather than a true contributor to growing the bottom line.

S/4HANA doesn’t do much to change this perception. And SAP’s attempt to address this through their Value Engineering recommendations are usually about as credible as promises written on the side of big red buses.

If the real business reasons to implement S/4HANA can’t be crystalised within a couple days of trying, it’s likely there aren’t any. And with budgets being tight and getting tighter, the sheer expense of delivering SAP S/4HANA doesn’t help either.

You May Not Need to Move to SAP S/4HANA Now

Many of our customers, when faced with this conundrum, are putting S/4HANA to one side and actively considering other ways to extract more immediate value at the lowest possible cost. This isn’t just about kicking the can down the road, it’s about doing the right thing for the business now while getting fit for S/4HANA on their own terms. Given ECC6 is supported until 2027 and a lot can change in five or six years, is there really such a rush to move now?

SAP’s short term strategy of pushing S/4HANA at all costs, while understandable, doesn’t really consider their customer relationships. Surely providing a path to S/4HANA while maintaining revenue from maintenance contracts is preferable to no revenue at all? SAP may argue this is exactly what RISE with SAP is all about, but when one looks into that offering more closely, it’s unclear how it benefits anyone other than SAP.

This may be behind SAP customers beginning to drop SAP altogether. There have been well publicised recent wins for UNIT4 and Oracle over SAP incumbent in ERP selections in the British public sector.

This is wasteful in our opinion, as we suspect pushing S/4HANA for immediate implementation rather than taking a more considered and lower cost extend and innovate approach may have damaged SAP’s chances. Given the projected spend on Oracle, we see this as a lose-lose for both SAP and the British taxpayer.

At Kagool we strongly believe that SAP ERP is best in class and deserves to be in our customer’s landscape. What we struggle with is single minded focus on S/4HANA at the expense of all other options. And it’s becoming clear customers are struggling with this too.

Alternatives to Upgrading Now: Kagool’s Extend and Innovate Model

So, if we agree there isn’t a rush to migrate to S/4HANA, our view is that investing in capabilities that add value of themselves and making the most of existing assets is an eminently sensible strategy.

Having S/4HANA isn’t a prerequisite for adding value to your ERP. We can give you all these capabilities without the need for S/4HANA:

Cloud migrations
Process improvement and standardisation
Data quality and management initiatives
Use of modern data platforms over ERP
Implementation of automated testing
Modernisation of integration
Use of PaaS platforms to host custom code

And once all these are in place in SAP ECC6, you can take the final step to S/4HANA once you’re ready.

This approach avoids the risk of trying to force a transformational shift with a complex major programme that has to be funded up front. It instead allows a roadmap to be shaped around smaller, lower cost and faster moving packages of work which can be funded as needed. This adds an element of agility and flexibility that would be unheard of during a major ERP implementation.

Many of our customers are beginning to agree with this viewpoint as they look to extend the life what they have and take sensible steps to innovate around that core. It’s not a popular view with SAP, but it’s something that must be part of any strategic conversation in this area.

This is exactly the story we see with one of our customers. After careful consideration of a proposal for a new implementation of S/4HANA provided by a global systems integrator (GSI), they decided the business disruption, time to deliver and cost simply didn’t justify the benefits on offer.

The strategy is now to sweat their existing ECC6 assets and run a program of continuous improvement of process and infrastructure in the short-medium term. Part of this continuous improvement will also likely include standardisation of their ECC process wherever possible with an eye on the eventual jump to S/4HANA. This means by the time they get to making the final step, which is unlikely to be before 2025, they can take the lowest cost, least invasive and disruptive route to S/4HANA.

This is a great example of extending and innovating based on existing building blocks. Shaping the S/4HANA campaign to your needs, not that of any outside influencer.

To be very clear, we’re not saying don’t move to S/4HANA. We just believe customers need to work to their own timeline and no one else’s.

At Kagool, we have the Business, Data and Technical experts who can help shape and deliver your SAP Extend and Innovate roadmap. Our focus is helping our customers deliver real business value from their existing SAP investments, preparing for the next step at their own pace.

If you’re unsure where your SAP journey is headed next and want some independent advice, please get in touch.

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Why Experienced Data Migration Consultants Are the Key to Successful SAP Data Migration Projects?

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP, are crucial for streamlining operations and enabling data-driven decision-making. However, one of the most underestimated and misunderstood aspects of SAP implementation is data migration.

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At Kagool, we've led and rescued numerous SAP programmes across the globe, and we know what makes data migration succeed. It starts with recognising data migration as a core strategic capability.

What Is Data Migration in SAP?

Data Migration Lifecycle Chart

Why Experience Matters

The first people to spot system configuration issues are often the data migration consultants. At Kagool, our experienced consultants know how to identify red flags, such as missing SAP transports and configurations, or inconsistent source data—before they derail the project.

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Defining Ownership: Who Owns the Data?

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Collaboration Across Teams

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A Broader Skill Set

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Process, People, and Technology: A Balanced Trio

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The Cost of Getting It Wrong

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What Success Looks Like

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Final Thoughts: Data Migration Isn't a Task. It's a Discipline.

If you're starting an SAP transformation, don't just plan for data migration—partner with Kagool to do it right.

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Related Resources

Driving Warehouse Logistics Transformation with Kagool and SAP EWM

Introduction ﻿

The ability to manage logistics with speed, precision, and efficiency is no longer optional – it's critical.

As companies strive to enhance control, visibility, and scalability in their supply chains, adopting logistics automation technology like SAP EWM (Extended Warehouse Management) is essential to adapt to industry trends, optimise operations, and meet ever-evolving customer demands.

This blog highlights how SAP EWM addresses current logistics challenges, the key supply chain approaches businesses must adopt, and why partnering with Kagool is crucial for manufacturing, retail, and service businesses to transform their operations.

Trends and Challenges Transforming Logistics

The Kagool Story: Leading the Way in SAP EWM Expertise

Case Study: Transforming Logistics for a Leading Gas Supplier

Kagool's Expertise in Product-led, Customer-led, and Service-led Supply Chain Approaches

Product-led Supply Chain

Customer-led Supply Chain

With rising customer expectations for speed, accuracy, and transparency—especially in

Service-led Supply Chain

Kagool's Expertise in the UAE Market

Case Study: Enhancing Logistics for a Leading UAE Retailer

Why Choose Kagool for Your Supply Chain Transformation?

Transform Your Logistics Operations with Kagool and SAP EWM

Ready to Take the Next Step? ﻿

How to Ensure a Successful Data Migration with Defined Processes

Introduction: Transforming Data Migration into Business Value

Did you know that 83% of data migration projects exceed their planned budgets due to poor planning and undefined processes? Businesses face delays, data integrity issues, and unexpected costs without a structured approach.

Why Defined Processes Are Critical in Data Migration

Efficiency and Predictability

Enhanced Business Agility

Defined processes allow organisations to adapt more effectively to changes, whether they arise from evolving business requirements, market conditions, or regulatory needs. By embedding flexibility into the process, businesses can accommodate adjustments without derailing the entire project.

Trust and Transparency

A well-defined data migration framework provides clear checkpoints and progress updates, giving stakeholders visibility into the migration’s status. This fosters trust and ensures that both technical and business teams remain aligned throughout the project.

Key Steps in a Successful Data Migration Process

To maximise business and customer value, a structured data migration process should focus on the following critical components:

Strategic Requirement Gathering

Disciplined ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) and Reconciliation

Robust Change Management

Comprehensive Testing and Documentation

How Kagool Ensures a Hassle-Free Data Migration

How Defined Processes Improve Data Migration Success

A structured data migration strategy creates measurable business and customer value:

Business Continuity and Risk Mitigation

With robust processes, organisations minimise disruptions and reduce the risk of costly errors or compliance breaches. This is particularly critical during the go-live stages when even minor issues can escalate into major problems.

Data-Driven Decision-Making

High-quality data is the foundation of strategic decision-making. By ensuring that migrated data is accurate, complete, and trusted, organisations enable better insights, faster decisions, and improved customer experiences.

Cost Efficiency and ROI

Efficient processes reduce wasted effort, minimise rework, and ensure projects stay on budget. By avoiding unnecessary delays and errors, organisations can more quickly realise the ROI of their new systems.

Customer Satisfaction

A seamless migration of customer-facing data, such as CRM or order management systems, ensures uninterrupted service for customers. Accurate data also empowers customer service teams to deliver faster, more personalised support.

Conclusion: Turning Data Migration into a Strategic Advantage

Data migration is not just a technical exercise—it’s a strategic enabler of business transformation. Organisations can unlock efficiency, reduce risk, and deliver meaningful value to stakeholders by investing in defined, disciplined processes.

As your organisation embarks on its next data migration journey, remember that success starts with a clear plan. Processes aren’t just about getting the job done; they’re about doing it right, ensuring that your investment translates into business success.

Ready to migrate your data seamlessly? Schedule a free consultation with our experts to avoid disruptions and ensure a hassle-free transition.

Ready to migrate your data seamlessly?

Schedule a free consultation with our experts to avoid disruptions and ensure a hassle-free transition.

De-risking Your Data Migration Process with Pulse: A Path to Successful Transition

De-risking Your Data Migration Process with Pulse: A Path to Successful Transition

Understanding the Customer Pain Points

Continuous Data Updates and Complexity

Introduction

Ready to Take the Next Step?