SAP Document Printing Optimization

One of our customers in the nuclear power industry faced daily headaches from printing critical documents with the stock SAP forms (SAPScript). The inherent limitations of that tool for formatting, processing, and development finally became too much to bear, and the customer asked us to develop a better solution.

We solved the problem with coded custom print layouts using Smartforms for key Plant Maintenance (PM) documents, including orders, maintenance plans, and notifications. These layouts allow advanced formatting enhancements that we take for granted in everyday word processing applications—such as indenting, bulleting, and macros to insert predefined text—but that are simply not possible with out-of-the-box SAPScript forms.

As a result of this work, our customer was able to achieve a number of important benefits, including more efficient document creation, formatting, and management; increased readability with fewer errors; and more consistent presentation within and across departments. In addition, the customer is now better able to comply with its regulator's documentation requirements, such as no orphaned signature lines. The Smartforms that we created prevent unwanted line breaks, and enable the utility to print important documents correctly the first time around.