Puma

Key Outcomes

Background

PUMA SE is a leading global sporting goods manufacturer based in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Founded in 1948, the company designs, develops, and markets footwear, apparel, and accessories for sports and everyday lifestyle wear. 

With a presence in over 120 countries, PUMA serves a diverse global customer base through its own retail stores, e-commerce platforms, and wholesale partners. Its portfolio includes performance-driven products for football/soccer, running, basketball, and motorsport, as well as fashion-forward collections under the Sportstyle category. 

As a brand renowned for innovation and speed, PUMA continually invests in digital transformation to enhance agility and customer engagement. The company collaborates with technology providers to streamline operations and empower teams globally — supporting both performance on the field and efficiency in the back office. 

Challenges

PUMA manages its European B2C and parts of its B2B operations using SAP S/4HANA. Job control initially relied on SAP standard tools, particularly the SM36 transaction. In this context, PUMA faced several key challenges:

• Troubleshooting delays due to limited automation for job status updates and log distribution.
• Complex process logic for batch jobs had to be manually converted into technical job definitions and workflows.
• Limited control and transparency for business users over critical batch jobs, as planning, monitoring, and post-processing were centralized in IT only.
• A job planning solution was required that integrated seamlessly into the existing SAP system landscape. 

The Search

To address its SAP job control challenges, PUMA began looking for a background automation solution that would close functionality gaps, improve user autonomy, and reduce IT dependency — without requiring additional infrastructure. The chosen platform had to support seamless integration into the existing SAP environment and align with the company’s strategy of empowering business users to take greater ownership of operational processes.

Stonebranch emerged as the ideal partner. Its Stonebranch SAP job scheduling solution stood out for its seamless SAP integration and strong customer focus — both critical factors in PUMA’s selection. The solution met all of PUMA’s key criteria: deep SAP compatibility, flexibility to support complex job logic, and intuitive usability for business-side stakeholders.

Our strengths — combined with a structured, phased implementation plan — made the SAP automation solution the clear choice to modernize job scheduling at PUMA.

The Solution

The transition from SAP’s standard job planning to the Stonebranch solution was carried out gradually, with each department moving over in a step-by-step process. Module managers were then trained in small groups to ensure they could effectively use the new automation solution.

Following the rollout, the new solution was able to close the requirement gaps identified during the evaluation phase. End users and SAP power users gained the ability to view batch processes within their respective areas of responsibility. As a result, technical and content-related issues are now clearly separated — both in terms of day-to-day operations and in the event of a malfunction. With the Stonebranch solution, business users rarely need to consult IT to resolve questions.

Today, daily work is easier for business departments, which are often no longer dependent on IT feedback, saving time for both sides. For the same reason, the software significantly accelerates troubleshooting and implementing new business processes. The time required to identify and resolve issues has been drastically reduced.

“The Stonebranch SAP job scheduling solution brings business processes and their technical implementation closer together again, makes process flows more transparent, and ultimately contributes to better mutual understanding between IT and business. Based on consistently positive experiences with the implementation of the tool, PUMA is planning further rollouts in its subsidiaries worldwide.”

-Hema Cherukuri, Senior Manager IT SAP Basis, PUMA

The Results

• With the implementation of the SAP-native job scheduling solution, PUMA was able to close critical functionality gaps in SAP job management processes. End users now have greater visibility into batch workflows, which improves transparency and empowers teams across the business. This visibility fostered stronger collaboration between IT and business teams, significantly reducing the need for technical backand-forth to resolve issues or launch new processes.
• The tool enables centralized control over SAP processes across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. By automating both SAP and non-SAP workloads, the platform has reduced manual intervention, streamlined operations, and improved overall efficiency. Centralized monitoring and robust error-handling features further accelerate troubleshooting and ensure reliable performance.
• The implementation has also introduced a no-code interface for job visualization and modeling, making it easier for users outside of IT to engage with and manage batch processes. Backed by reliable consulting and support services, the Stonebranch solution has helped PUMA reduce errors, save time, and bring IT and business closer together.
• Following this success, PUMA is planning further rollouts of the Stonebranch solution across its subsidiaries worldwide.