Thomas Schirm, head of the technical department at Regionalbus Leipzig, looks after 160 vehicles at four locations and three bus workshops. In standard operations, nearly all repairs to the buses and coaches are carried out in-house. Essential to this is having a reliable supply of original replacement parts. For this reason, Schirm has connected the COSware workshop management program digitally to the OMNIplus eShop. This makes purchasing replacement parts much easier and more efficient.

"To procure replacement parts in the OMNIplus eShop, we always used to have to switch to a browser and then look for the right parts there,” Thomas Schirm remembers. The details of these were then laboriously entered into the master data in COSware, with a PDF then generated and mailed to EvoBus. At the manufacturer, the data then once again had to be entered manually into the order system. This meant two analogue interfaces were needed during the order process – but other methods would prove much faster and simpler.

A pilot project with a massive effect.
For this reason, Thomas Schirm welcomed the OMNIplus ON commerce experts with open arms when they came to him to suggest participation as a pilot customer in the integration and testing of a new, electronic order process. "Together with EvoBus, we decided to collaborate as a pilot customer using the digital order interface, and got COSware on board at the same time.” This group of three then successfully implemented the "eProcurement” project at breakneck speed.

Parts procurement at the push of a button.
"With eProcurement from OMNIplus, the whole order process has become much more transparent,” asserts Thomas Schirm who, together with a colleague, handles technical purchasing. And how does it work now? "Very simply: at the push of a button,” the department head says joyfully. "You can jump right from COSware to the part search and then import your basket via the interface straight back into the COSware program. And you’re done!”

At EvoBus too, the order is entered directly into the order system and is immediately digitally processed there. "The way it works is very secure and stable. It’s almost like working in a single system,” Schirm confirms. A further advantage: thanks to vehicle documentation, incorrect orders are practically impossible, and parts availability is visible at a glance. Naturally, orders are also digitally confirmed. "Nothing can go wrong any more. I always receive an active response at once,” the specialist is able to report.

"It’s almost like working in a single system."

Thomas Schirm, head of the technical department at Regionalbus Leipzig

Rapid implementation by experts.
So, digitalising order processes like this must be a very laborious process, no? Thomas Schirm remains relaxed. "Implementation took place starting from COSware on one side and from OMNIplus ON on the other. They sort of met in the middle – like building a tunnel, but virtually. We ourselves had to put in very little effort and our collaboration with the OMNIplus ON experts, who always arrived rapidly whenever adjustments were needed or problems arose, was always excellent.”

"We ourselves spent very little effort on the conversion."

Thomas Schirm, head of the technical department at Regionalbus Leipzig

And the costs? "We needed to get a new licence from COSware, but otherwise, it was very cost-effective for us,” Schirm says. The start-up costs for Regionalbus Leipzig were taken on by OMNIplus ON commerce as part of the pilot project. After an initial test run using a separate system, "day X” arrived at the end of November 2021: the switchover to the productive system. "Since then everything has run smoothly – and our eProcurement is also now fully digital.” All’s well that ends digitally, we might say.

If you are interested in an eProcurement connection, contact COS: