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398 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age

exchanging data with Summit electronically, Summit January–March 2011; “Summit Electric Supply Drives Business
is able to make a chargeback claim and obtain Transformation Through SAP and ASUG,” SAPInsider (October–
December 2010), and Neetin Datar, “Summit Electric Improves
vendor approval the same day. By fully automating
Chargebacks,” SAP.info, June 18, 2009.
the chargeback process, the company has increased
its chargeback claims by 118 percent over its legacy CASE STUDY QUESTIONS
systems, thereby boosting chargeback revenue as
a percentage of sales. Summit is now able to see 1. Which business processes are the most important
at Summit Electric Supply? Why?
which vendors, customers, and products are produc-
ing the most chargeback revenue.
2. What problems did Summit have with its old
A key lesson from Summit’s ERP implementa-
systems? What was the business impact of those
tion was not to force the new system to look like
problems?
the legacy system. Not only is such customization
expensive to set up and maintain, it can perpetu- 3. How did Summit’s ERP system improve
ate outdated ways of doing business. According to operational efficiency and decision making? Give
Summit’s CIO David Wascom, “We’ve done a lot several examples.
to maintain flexibility (for our users), but still run
within a standard SAP business flow.” 4. Describe two ways in which Summit’s customers
benefit from the new ERP system.
Sources: “Summit Electric Supply Energizes Its ERP 6.0 Upgrade
with Panaya,” www.panayainc.com, accessed July 14, 2012; www.
5. Diagram Summit’s old and new process for
summit.com, accessed July 14, 2012; David Hannon, “Bringing
More Revenue to the Table,” SAP InsiderPROFILES, April–June handling chargebacks.
2011 and “Finding the Right ERP Fit,” SAP InsiderPROFILES,

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