Syngenta is one of the world's leading agricultural companies that produces crop protection systems. The company is headquartered in Basel.
The company operates in over 90 countries, including Russia, with branches and offices in Moscow, Voronezh, and 30 other cities nationwide. Syngenta employs more than 28,000 people worldwide.
After each business transaction involving pesticides and agrochemicals, owners, suppliers, and recipients must create a document in FGIS "Saturn", populate it with data from the primary document (from the corporate document management system, ERP), process the submitted data, and ensure its accuracy and timeliness.
Syngenta specialists were spending significant time and resources on manual data entry, with uneven workloads that peaked during the labor-intensive summer season. There was also a risk of errors that could lead to fines.
The primary solution to this problem was the development of an automated system that would eliminate the need to manually duplicate information from primary documents. ICL Services was selected for this project based on its proven track record of successful collaboration with the client.
Key Challenges
- Develop a comprehensive automated solution that eliminates the need to manually duplicate information from primary documents.
- Create an integration service that transforms data from the primary document and sends it to FGIS Saturn via the Saturn API.
- Develop an easy-to-use web interface for monitoring download status and managing potential errors.
The ICL Services team provided complete management of the turnkey development process. Additionally, another company, an external service provider for the client, handled the customization of the SAP ERP system where invoices are generated. The client served as the overall mediator.
A protocol for interaction with the client's SAP contractor was established. The ICL team formulated requirements for the format and composition of the data received from SAP.
The ICL Services team designed and obtained client approval for the solution's user interface. Node.js was chosen as the runtime, with React as the primary library.
At the same time, work was done on the architecture of the solution. A strategy for managing errors in invoice transmission was developed and key development approaches were defined.
The access role model and security requirements for interactions between SAP, the developed solution and FGIS "Saturn" were defined for use by the client's employees. RabbitMQ was chosen as the message broker for guaranteed message delivery and storage from SAP.
During the UAT phase, the client conducted tests in a pre-production environment, resulting in recommendations for system improvements that were quickly implemented.
A major challenge was that real data was only accessible in the production environment. Once the ICL Services team had completed the commercial deployment, they applied a previously developed strategy for gradually commissioning different types of invoices. This allowed them to quickly address errors and minimise additional labour costs associated with correcting potential widespread issues.
Products and technologies
- RabbitMQ
- PostgreSQL
- .NET 7
- C#
- ASP .NET Core
- React
- Docker
- SignalR
Results
- Developed a solution that automates the recording of agrochemical movement invoices in FGIS Saturn.
- On average, about 1000 invoices are processed monthly during the off-season.