DBM ( Dealer Business Management ) is an automotive SAP industry specific module.

From the module

name it indicates that this module is related to either the dealerships or dealership organizations. This
module is related to the vehicle sales, workshop management, parts management service and warranty.
Talking Master Data which is the long term core data of the organization. In this module the master data is
like Vehicle, Customer, Parts, Labor Operations and Packages.

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

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

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

 Vehicle Procurement and Logistics

 New and Used Vehicles Sales
 Appointment Scheduling and Service Processing
 Parts Sales and Parts Logistics.

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

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

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

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

For Vehicle Service, There is integrated appointment scheduling process with real-time information on
parts and technician availability with integrated deferred / additional work. It is providing a 360 degree
view for all the customer and vehicle data, which help in preventing the information gaps with providing a
clarity for every step in the process. The process starts with customer inquiry which provide an overview
on the customer and vehicle data details. It continues with the related documents such as service contracts
and service quotations with customers approval. It reaches to the customer’ service request, which contains
the job catalog with the estimated job items and the assigned packages. It moves with the service data
selection which is a graphical overview of relevant labor team capacity. It plans the service advisor using
also a graphical overview for selecting the slots. There is also another graphical reservation for the plan
mobility. It ends with confirming and wrapping up, where it confirms the reliable date to customer with
customer details, requested service, Drop off and pick up date with price information and item view.
In the customer service, It is required to keep the inventory low, while at the same time you need to meet
the customer expectations and keep growing the profit margin. You need to manage all the aspects in the
service parts delivery including parts planning, procurement, storage, delivery and invoice creation. It is
managing a high volumes of parts in multi-brand environment with challenges such as limited storage
space, unpredictable failure and demand on parts and marketing competitions. DBM Module provide end
to end parts processing across all the dealer locations, advanced replenishment planning routines and high
service level with emergency repair.

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

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

SAP DBM basics

SAP DBM is a SAP add on solution for the industry specialized requirement. Simply it’s a SAP industry
vertical solution. This solution is basically used in the Automotive companies.

SAP IS auto is the full version solution for the Automotive companies who’s involved in full life cycle of
the automotive manufacturing to Sales And after sales.

But SAP DBM ( Dealer business Managment ) provides the solution for automotive sales side And after
sale side.

This is basically used by the automotive dealer companies world wide.

SAP DBM covers the following areas and gives a full fledge solution on the requirements of the business:

1. Vehicle sales – mainly in the SD platform

2. Vehicle spare parts sales – mainly in the MM platform

3. Vehicle after sales services – mainly in the CS platform

Can you please explain in detail the complete process of DBM with MM
integration. What are the MM process to be integrated and how can we
integrate them with DBM 8.0.