Best Business Practices for SAP
Implementation in a Liquor
Manufacturing Company
1. Project Preparation & Planning
• Stakeholder Buy-in: Involve leadership, excise officers, plant heads, sales, and finance
teams from day one.
• Gap-Fit Analysis: Conduct AS-IS/TO-BE study specific to the liquor industry (including
state-wise regulatory compliance).
• Phased Rollout: Start with a pilot plant or state, then scale.
2. Master Data Management
• Material Master: Define excise categories (IMFL, CL, Beer, etc.). Include alcohol strength,
batch numbers, manufacturing date, etc.
• Customer/Vendor Master: Capture state-wise licensing information, vendor registration
details, and excise-department validations.
• Batch Management: Enable full batch traceability from raw material to final dispatch.
• Excise Master Data: Maintain bonded warehouse info, tax rates, and permit templates.
3. Procurement & Inventory (MM)
• Vendor Categorization: Differentiate between local vs interstate suppliers.
• Quality Control on GRN: Mandatory checks for raw materials like ENA.
• Batch-Wise Inventory: Track raw materials and semi-finished goods by batch and location.
• Excise Gate Pass Integration: Auto-generate EVCs/Gate Passes post-GRN or dispatch.
4. Production Planning (PP)
• Recipe Management: Define BOMs per brand, SKU, and state.
• Yield Monitoring: Monitor production losses and compare with permissible norms.
• Excise Register Integration: Auto-capture production/wastage for compliance.
• Line-Wise Scheduling: Enable shift-wise scheduling for bottling lines and subcontracted
units.
5. Quality Management (QM)
• Alcohol Strength Testing: Automated QC for receipts and production.
• In-process Inspection: Validate at blending, filtration, filling, packing stages.
• Certificate of Analysis (CoA): Generate CoA for each finished batch.
6. Sales & Distribution (SD)
• State-Wise Excise Logic: Automate invoice formats, VAT/excise logic by state.
• Bonded vs Non-Bonded Sales: Separate B2B vs consumer distribution.
• Transport Permit Automation: Automate e-permits for dispatches.
• Distributor Management: Align with state-defined distributors and depots.
7. Finance & Controlling (FI/CO)
• Excise Accounting: Map excise duties, VAT, and license fees to GL accounts.
• Costing by Batch/Brand: Enable brand-wise profitability and cost center reports.
• License Fee Amortization: Allocate license fees across periods/state policies.
• TCS, TDS, GST Handling: Configure complex indirect tax structures.
8. Regulatory Compliance & Excise Management
• Excise Reports: Automate FL-1, FL-3, brand-wise quota allocations, and permit
validations.
• State Portal Integration: Enable data exports to excise portals (manual or automated).
• Audit Trail: Ensure non-editable logs for audit-sensitive activities.
9. Analytics & Reporting
• Brand-Wise Sales Dashboards
• Excise Tax Liability Dashboards
• Inventory Ageing for FG and ENA
• Batch Traceability Reports
• Profitability Analysis by Region/Brand/Channel
10. Integration & Extensions
• Weighbridge & Laboratory Integration
• Bank API for Vendor Payments
• IRN, E-way bill integration via ClearTax
• DMS Integration for Distribution Tracking
• CRM Integration for Sales & Marketing
11. Training, Change Management & Support
• Train Plant & Excise Staff Thoroughly
• Deploy role-based dashboards & mobile UIs
• Define SOPs aligned with SAP processes
Optional Add-ons
• Mobile App for Excise Officers
• IoT Sensors for Blending/Filling Monitoring
• Warehouse Management (EWM) for Large Units
