How an embedded build replaced fragmented ERP exports with a production procurement system — €50M of spend visible in one dashboard, 373 supplier targets scored for M&A.
A mid-sized European manufacturer knew they were spending a lot with hundreds of suppliers, but had no way to see the whole picture. The ERP held the data. Extracting anything usable from it took manual exports and hours of analyst time. They needed one place where procurement decisions could be made, and a foundation for M&A-driven supplier sourcing.
Client Background
This manufacturer operates in a competitive industrial sector, with a supplier base spanning raw materials and services. Annual procurement spend ran above €50M across hundreds of suppliers. The procurement team needed to hold costs, manage supplier relationships, and back the company’s growth-through-acquisition strategy — none of which they could do without visibility.
Leadership wanted answers to basic questions. Who are our top suppliers? Where is the spend concentrated? Which of them should we be talking to about acquisition? The ERP held the data, but nobody could easily get at it.
Challenges
- Fragmented ERP Data: Supplier information scattered across multiple ERP modules with inconsistent naming conventions and duplicate records.
- No Procurement Analytics: Finance could report on spend by cost center, but procurement had no visibility into supplier concentration, category breakdown, or trend analysis.
- Manual Supplier Tracking: Account managers maintained their own spreadsheets to track supplier relationships, creating data silos and version conflicts.
- M&A Blind Spots: The company was actively seeking acquisition targets among their supplier base, but had no systematic way to identify, qualify, or score potential targets.
Solution
I embedded with the company’s team to build a complete procurement intelligence platform:
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ERP-to-Database Integration: Built automated pipelines to extract, transform, and load supplier and transaction data from SAP into a clean PostgreSQL data warehouse. This runs on schedule, keeping the analytics layer fresh.
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Supplier Master Data Normalization: Created matching algorithms to deduplicate suppliers, standardize names, and link related entities across the fragmented ERP records.
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Interactive Spend Dashboards: Deployed ToolJet-based dashboards giving procurement and finance teams real-time visibility into spend by supplier, category, geography, and time period.
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M&A Target Enrichment: Integrated external data sources to enrich supplier records with company information, financials, and industry classification. Built a scoring model to rank suppliers as potential acquisition targets.
Results
- 100% Data Accuracy: Automated validation ensures every record reconciles between ERP and the analytics platform.
- €50M Spend Visibility: Complete, real-time view of all procurement spend in a single dashboard.
- Unified Supplier View: One authoritative record per supplier, eliminating confusion from duplicates and inconsistent data.
- 373 Acquisition Targets Scored: M&A team received a prioritized list of supplier-based acquisition candidates, with 155 qualified as high-priority targets.
- Self-Sufficient Team: The company’s analysts now maintain and extend the platform independently, with full documentation and training provided.
This case study describes a real engagement. Client details have been anonymized to protect confidentiality.