Dr. Pfleger Arzneimittel GmbH has always been committed to innovation as well as promoting people’s health and quality of life. Consequently, digitalization ranks high on the Bavarian pharmaceutical manufacturer’s agenda. “We want to fully unlock the potential of our data for our business. Everyone in the company should be able to perform analyses using harmonized data from various sources,” says Sebastian Rauh, Head of IT at Dr. Pfleger. “We also want to leverage Artificial Intelligence in the future to gain new insights and create more effective, transparent business processes.”

Data Was Trapped in Silos

The prerequisites for this had to be created first. Dr. Pfleger faced challenges similar to many companies: “We were working with different data silos and reporting tools. For example, our SAP data was reported in isolation from other sources using Qlik Sense. Additional systems were used to create reports for various audiences.” Decision-makers therefore lacked not only universally applicable KPIs for business management but also the ability to perform ad-hoc analyses efficiently.
“This was a significant loss, especially for our SAP data, as it covers critical areas of our value chain. We knew that connecting it with other sources could unlock entirely new business opportunities. However, we were unsure how to approach this project. We faced a mountain of solutions and vendors—the question was, what was the best fit to develop us into a Data Driven Company?”

Data Strategy Provides Clarity

Dr. Pfleger turned to Microsoft during their search. “Microsoft recommended ORAYLIS as a partner, and from that point, things gained momentum.” ORAYLIS started with a Data Strategy Assessment involving all project participants. In the workshop, participants developed the appropriate approach for the data-driven transformation of the business.
“We evaluated Dr. Pfleger’s requirements and objectives and compared them with the current situation,” explains Jens Kröhnert, Principal Solution Architect at ORAYLIS and the creator of this workshop format. “This quickly clarified the right technical solution, the business benefits, and the associated costs.” All results were documented in a management-ready strategy document, which also included an initial flagship project and next steps.

Principal Solution Architect Jens developed the data strategy for the digitalization project with Dr. Pfleger.

MDWH as Technological Foundation

The technological foundation for the first project and future requirements is a Modern Data Warehouse (MDWH) implemented in collaboration with Microsoft Azure Cloud services. “The cloud approach offers cost advantages since all services are used and paid for on demand,” says Jens Kröhnert. “Most importantly, storage and compute power can be scaled independently to any desired level.” This enables a data lake, which serves as the core element of the digital platform, consolidating and providing all structured and unstructured data—including SAP sources—automatically as needed.

SAP Data Seamlessly Integrated

SAP integration is implemented via a connector from Theobald Software. “Our connector communicates directly through the SAP RFC interface, ensuring seamless integration and daily data availability,” explains Niklas Kohlenberg, Sales & Partner Manager at Theobald Software. “Installation and setup are very straightforward. We provide standardized access to the SAP environment, minimizing development and later maintenance work.” Jens Kröhnert from ORAYLIS confirms: “We use these connectors in most of our projects. At Dr. Pfleger, the deployment was straightforward without extensive onboarding or Theobald service support. It’s very easy to handle.”

Power BI Enables New Insights

The new reporting tool is also seamlessly integrated. Following Microsoft’s approach, Qlik Sense is being replaced by Power BI. Microsoft’s analysis service integrates smoothly into the overall solution, allowing every potential user in the company to access data through a unified interface, recombine it, and analyze it using advanced features. At the same time, the company saves on licensing costs.
“All of our departments are excited to link diverse data sources and generate new business value,” says Sebastian Rauh. Looking ahead, he adds: “In the next steps, we want to implement various forecasting scenarios and automated recommendations for action. The MDWH has already provided the technical foundation, so we are looking forward to continued collaboration with the ORAYLIS team.”

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