Leonberg, October 30, 2002

The global automotive supplier LuK GmbH & Co., based in the German town of Bühl, has checked its address master data for duplicates and has cleansed the repository containing around 18,000 entries where necessary. caatoosee's iq-server software played a major role.

The decision to perform a thorough duplicate cleansing session was prompted by the introduction of SAP R/3 throughout the LuK Group. Prior to the implementation of the central SAP FI/CO (Finance/Controlling) module, archived data had to be collected from various systems. By deploying caatoosee's iq-server, the company was able to eliminate duplicate data quickly and effectively. "We were extremely happy with the result," said Tobias Bruder, who was responsible for managing the project at LuK. Data-quality assessment was completed within just a few days, following a one-day induction workshop hosted by caatoosee for the benefit of those involved in the project. This session included an in-depth analysis of LuK's special requirements, e.g. the weighting of individual components of the address data as well as discussing potential input and output formats.

As part of the duplicate check, caatoosee's iq-server collects all the data, and then indexes and compares this information with the help of an approach that is based on neural technology. Similar or matching data can be processed and displayed in accordance with customer-specific parameters.

In addition to the one-off duplicate check, caatoosee's iq-server can also be used for permanent data maintenance. In this case, so-called "actors" monitor the quality of data stored within the various databases. As a result, addresses or product data newly entered are assessed as soon as they are added, and similar entries or duplicates are identified immediately.

In addition to this process of so-called information qualifying, which is based on the enhancement of data repositories, the iq-server is also able to automate information e.g. when forwarding e-mails or supply information tailored to specific requirements.

The LuK Group, based in the German town of Bühl, operates as a global supplier within the automotive sector. The Group employs 7500 people at 16 manufacturing locations in Germany, Brazil, the UK, India, Mexico, South Africa, Hungary and the US. The company's product range includes clutches for passenger cars, HGVs, busses and tractors, as well as dual-mass flywheels, pumps for vehicle hydraulic systems, components for innovative transmission systems and converter systems for automatic transmissions.