Henning Zeumer.
Procedures are to be simplified, standardised and digitised – these, at any rate, are the objectives of SmartTIC (Smart Testing, Inspection, Certification), a standardised IT infrastructure for integrated operational and administrative processes. The new project is to continue the positive developments already achieved by two previous projects: IS3S (accounting and controlling, the provision of inspection and certification services) and Admin 4.0 (administrative activities such as order acquisitions and bid follow-ups, order initiation and follow-ups, as well as a customer portal).
The new feature of SmartTIC will be that all evaluations can be carried out directly in the SAP system in which all the data are pooled. And the real advantage is this: In this way, the billing of previously provided services or ancillary costs can be speeded up, as the data will automatically be available. “If a lot of manual jobs, such as the transfer of bids into orders, their calculation and, finally, invoicing, can be replaced by automated systems, the processes will run faster and more securely,” says Henning Zeumer, Programme Manager at SmartTIC, before going on to add: “Gone are the days in which the same data had to be transferred multiple times for everything from the order and scheduling right through to invoicing.” And this will benefit all the companies in the TÜV NORD GROUP throughout the world.
SmartTIC users in the inspection and certification fields will benefit, as will users who carry out controlling tasks. As far as they are concerned, the bonus will be relief from routine tasks and the prevention of transmission errors. TÜV NORD Systems General Manager Ulf Theike predicts that any free time generated will quickly be used up and makes a bold statement in respect of one classic TÜV NORD service: “The lift tests of today will be obsolete in their current form tomorrow. Every lift will soon be equipped with sensors. So there’ll no longer be any need to go to the lift. Our experts will then be free to structure their own work and will then, for instance, evaluate sensor behaviour and records to prevent any possible technical defects from arising.”
If you’re impatient to find out about the new IT infrastructure you’re basically going to have to be patient: As was the case with project IS3S, the front-runner is going to be TÜV Nederland, followed by TÜV NORD Czech and TÜV NORD Slovakia. The next company to benefit from SmartTIC will be TÜV Croatia. All the other companies in the Industrial Services business unit will follow until 2021.