dr. e sommer
knowledge engineering & systems architecture
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exec summary
  • Senior SAP variant configuration consultant with 12 years of experience and a series of successful implementations; PhD in artificial intelligence
  • Leading expert on variant configuration and the IPC product configurator with almost exclusive focus on firms using product configurators for the last 12 years. Latest experience with SAP ECC 6, IPC 4.0 and ISA 4.0
  • Strong project management skills with over 18 years of professional IT experience
  • Deep hands-on experience with involved technologies and techniques: artificial intelligence, java, web, databases, client/server programming, XML, SAP SD MM PP PS CRM PLM
  • Broad industry experience, ranging from automotive, hi-tech and furniture manufacturing to consumer products, heavy industry and DNA synthesis.
  • Multilingual English, German, French, basic Italian and Spanish, international experience with projects in North America and Europe; EU citizen.
eSommer picture
info at esommer dot net
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education
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1965-1984 Attended German, American & international schools in Germany, Switzerland, the United States, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
1984 Abitur (German baccalaureate after 13 years of primary education) in Bonn; ranking top 10% (grade 2 on a scale from 1 to 6)
1985-1991 Computer Science, with a minor in Computational Linguistics and Communications Research, at Bonn University
1991 Diplom-Informatiker (M.Sc. in Computer Science) Bonn University; ranking top 5% (grade 1 on a scale from 1 to 6)
til April 1996 Dr. rer. nat. (PhD in natural sciences) in Computer Science/ Artificial Intelligence, Dortmund University (Prof. Dr. Katharina Morik) with honors (1 as above).
experience
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1988-1990 Research assistantship at the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD), including publications and representation at conferences & trade fairs
since 1989 Translation of scientific material, including (German to English) the book P. Wisskirchen: "Object-Oriented Graphics", Springer, Berlin, 1990
1991-1996 Research scientist at GMD (Artificial Intelligence Group, industrial applications)
1996-1998 IT consultant in the Caribbean, Germany
1998 - 2002 Senior Consultant, European operations of IntelliCorp, Mountain View, CA, USA
since independent consultant, knowledge engineer & systems architect, esp. product configuration (see Project List)
languages
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German mother tongue
(American) English native speaker (first language, nine years of primary education at American and British schools, 19 years of residence abroad, including six years in the US.)
French fluent (seven years school French, prolonged working and vacation visits to France, projects for french clients)
Italian basics
  • Java
  • Prolog
  • Lisp
  • Visual Basic
  • SAP Variant Configuration: Dependency definition language
    • Constraints
    • Procedures
    • Preconditions & Selection conditions
  • scripting languages
    • tcl/TK
    • Perl
    • Unix shell (sh, csh, bash, ksh, tcsh)
    • awk
    • Frontier (UserTalk)
expert
C(++), ABAP/4, Pascal, Ada, FORTH, FORTRAN fluent
assembly languages, COBOL, PL/1 not my favorites, but some experience
information technology
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Expertise (of varying depth ..)
  • Expert systems aka knowledge-based systems
  • Knowledge & information management
  • Data Mining aka Machine Learning
  • SAP R/3 (SD, MM, PP), esp. Variant Configuration and e-commerce CRM, SCE/IPC
  • Object-oriented design & programming
  • Web tech / e-commerce
    • java servlets & applets, JSP, struts, client/server, etc.
    • cgi
    • apache, IIS, PWS
    • MS SQLServer, Oracle
    • PHP/mySQL, Zope, Python
    • Manila/Radio Userland/Frontier
    • etc.
  • Graphical user interfaces
    • Lisp Machine Flavors
    • HyperNews
    • tcl/TK
    • VB/ActiveX
    • Java Swing, JSP
    • javaScript
    • HTML, DHTML
  • Networking (LAN, WAN, VPN, P2P, Internet)
  • Inter-process communication (RFC, RPC, XML-RPC, SOAP, COM/OLE/DCOM, Corba, ODBC/JDBC, Sockets, Pipes)
  • Business process re-engineering (BPM, process diagrams, Workflow)
Programming see Languages
Text processing etc. LaTex, Emacs, HTML, MS Office, Frontier, etc.
Platforms Unix/Linux/Solaris, Mac, Windows NT/95/98/2000
projects
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11/2008 -- ..
Aluminum industry
[Nor/Spain/Worldwide]
VC modelling review and improvement in an on-going multi-country roll-out SAP VC, Pricing, DIMP IS-Mill, material variants
04/2007 -- 11/2008
Electrical equipment
[F/USA/Worldwide]
Responsible for VC integration in one of the largest SAP and most complex variant config projects worldwide, ultimately rolling out to subsidiaries in 140 countries SAP VC, IPC, ETO, MTO, ATO, PTO, IPC advanced mode, order BOMs, sales + purchasing + costing pricing, CRM, mobile sales, SAP PC-UI, cross-company logistics (STO, CCSTO, third-party, intercompany sales)
12/2006 -- 03/2007
Air conditioning systems manufacturer
[USA]
Design, implementation and integration of an extended online pricing tool for complex configurable products SAP IPC, Java, JSP, CRM, SAP VC
01/2007
Food processing machinery
[D]
Consultation of medium size business, low volume/high complexity, on decision about whether to use variant configuration or pure engineer-to-order approach Business process consulting, SAP VC, VC modeling, PP, ETO, pricing (component-based vs. characteristic-based)
02/2006 -- 11/2006
Furniture
[D/NL/F/CH]
VC product modeling expert for implementation and roll-out involving over ten daughter companies SAP VC, BOMs, Routings, Variant functions
02/2005 -- 02/2006
Telekommunications Equipment
[D/USA, worldwide]
Integration of IPC and ISA into an Offer-creation and -management tool for highly complex telecom installations. Successful GoLive Jan 2006. SAP IPC, ISA, VC, Java, JSP, Apache Struts framework, Variant functions, JUnit
02/2005
Biotech
[UK, worldwide]
VC and e-commerce (IPC, ISA, Java, JSP) consulting for the extension of an existing web shop solution and its integration with SAP R/3 SAP Variantenkonfiguration und Preisfindung, ISA (SAP Internet Sales R/3 Edition), IPC
11/2004
Telecoms equipment
[D, worldwide]
Served as VC expert in solution design and specification for a detailed offer. SAP variant configuration and pricing, Batch management, material variants, split valuation
05/2003 -- 01/2005
Automotive
[D, USA]
Systems integration consulting: IPC / VMS (SAP Vehicle Management System) < -- > custom configurator for a global dealer system
  • product modeling
    • KMAT --> VMS Vehicle
  • variant pricing
  • multi-tier client/server architecture
  • UI Design & J2EE / Apache struts / JSP programming
  • systems integration: tight runtime-coupling of SAP IPC and custom configurator, for prices and characteristic values with language- and context-dependant description texts
SAP variant configuration and pricing, IPC, SAP VMS, Java, client/server, EJB, Apache Struts framework, JSP, servlets, JCO, RFC, http POST, IBM WebSphere, DB2
04/2003
SAP
[D]
Quality Management; tester for CRM 4.0, IPC 4.0, PME 4.0 SAP variant configuration and pricing, IPC, PME, CRM
03/2003
IT manufacturer
[D, USA]
Systems integration consulting: IPC, modified SAP Online Store for a B2B website SAP variant configuration and pricing, IPC, SAP Online Store, SAP Internet Sales for R/3, Java, client/server, JCO, RFC, http POST
03/2003
Automotive
[D, USA]
Systems integration consulting: IPC / VMS (SAP Vehicle Management System) < -- > custom configurator for a global dealer system SAP variant configuration and pricing, IPC, SAP VMS, Java, client/server, JCO, RFC, http POST
11/2002 - 06/2003
Power Generation
[D, USA]
PLM, Variant Configuration, systems architecture & integration for integrated offer management and documentation system
  • Variant Configurator Modelling
    • Modeller training (D, USA)
      • Trained and guided up to 10 customer employees and consultants in SAP VC modelling
    • Design of modelling approach
      • multi-level configuration model
      • configurable materials (KMATs)
      • Bills-of-material (BOMs)
      • Classification system
        • Classes, Characteristics, Characteristic values, restrictable characteristics, reference characteristics, multi-value characteristics, soft defaults vs. hard defaults
      • Dependency knowledge
        • Procedures, preconditions, selection conditions
        • Emphasis on use of advanced constraints
    • Design of integration with PDM / PLM system
    • Autogeneration of offer texts
  • Web programming and Backend integration
    • JSP web UI programming
    • Integration of web front-end with backend ERP system, client/server, http POST, JCo / RFC
    • Implemented custom access rights system in JSP UI, based on the SAP Authorization "Concept" (authorization objects and roles)
SAP variant configuration modeling, IPC, SAP PDM / PLM, SD, MM, PP, Oracle, JSP, Java, struts framework, J2EE, client/server, JCO, RFC, http POST, XML, SAP Authorization Concept
09/2002
Low Voltage Equipment
[D, worldwide]
Product modeling Training SAP variant configuration, IPC, MS Visio, SemTalk, Integral, Object-Oriented Design
06/2002
Power Generation
[D, USA]
Concept & demo of an integrated offer management and documentation system SAP variant configuration modeling, IPC, SAP PDM / PLM
05/2002
Automotive
[D]
IPC Java programming consulting & training SAP IPC, Java Swing, JSP, client/server
04/2002 - 08/2002
IT manufacturer
[D]
Systems integration consulting and training, CRM/IPC -- custom web shop ("shop-in-shop" dealer solution); variant configuration modeling consulting SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SAP CRM, SAP Pricing, IPC, Java, client/server programming, Visual Basic, COM, ASP
04/2002
Telecoms equipment
[D]
Project planning w/ detailed cost estimate for CRM 3.0 implementation with Internet Sales, IPC, product modelling, pricing, low-level integration of IPC with external configurator SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SAP CRM, SAP CRM Internet Sales, SAP Pricing, IPC, Java, C++, JSP, InQMy
3/02
Automotive
[D]
Installation analysis IPC/CRM. SAP IPC
3/02
Gears and couplings
[D]
Feasibility study Port SCE --> IPC. SAP IPC
2/02 - 05/02
Telecoms equipment
[D]
Feasibility study IPC/CRM. Low-level Integration IPC / custom-coded configurator. SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SAP CRM, SAP Pricing, IPC, Java, C++, JSP, InQMy
11/01 - 02/02
IT manufacturer
[CH, USA, D]
Design and implementation of a distributed systems architecture integrating R/3, IPC (SAP Internet product configurator), Trilogy and various in-house applications. SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SAP Pricing, IPC, Java, XML, Soap, Java Client/Server, RMI
06/01 - 10/01
SAP PD/QM
[D]
Tester for IPC and Internet Sales. SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SAP CRM, SAP IS, JAVA
01/01 - 06/01
IT manufacturer
[USA, D]
Participated in design and implementation of sales & distribution mega-architecture integrating R/3, IPC, Siebel, CommerceOne and various in-house systems SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SIEBEL, COMMERCEONE, IPC, JAVA, XML, SOAP
07/00 - 02/01
Automotive manufacturer
[F, UK]
Semi-automation of SAP-based configurator web site for non-SAP product experts
  • Designed and implemented a system that generates SAP VC source code from spreadsheets already in use
    • Variant configuration model source code uploaded to R/3 system
    • Knowledge base generated and downloaded to web site (SAP IPC)
  • Customer is able to modify web site by changing spreadsheets and re-generating knowledge bases -- no coding required.
SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), IPC, VISUAL BASIC, JAVA, JSP
05/99 - 06/00
Furniture manufacturer
[CH, D]
Lead consultant in charge of variant configuration (cross-application SD, MM, PP) and e-commerce (IPC) in from-scratch SAP implementation
  • One of the largest SAP VC implementations in the world
  • Analysis, design and implementation
    • Interviewed product experts, devised uniform modeling approach for entire product palette, incl. reusable components
      • Classes and characteristics, bills-of-material, routings, material masters, condition records, pricing procedures, customizing, constraints, procedures, selection conditions
    • Exemplary implementation for complex product
  • Training and guidance
    • Trained 10 in-house product experts in VC modeling
    • Oversaw and tested their implementations; trouble-shooting and problem solving for hard nuts to crack
  • Liaison
    • Represented the VC 'faction' in implementation matters; integration with SD, MM, PP; handled communication with SAP developers
SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), IPC
11/99 - 02/00
Telecoms equipment manufacturer
[D, S]
Designed B2B architecture that enables manufacturer's customers to configure and procure complex configurable products (R/3 to web to R/3) SAP R/3 Variantenkonfiguration (SD, MM, PP), IPC, WWW
02/99 - 06/99
Automotive
[D]
VC Modeling & SCE (SAP off-line configurator).
  • Analysis, design and implementation
    • Interviewed product experts, devised uniform modeling approach for entire product palette, incl. reusable components
    • Research and design for replacement of in-house configurator with SCE (SAP off-line configurator)
  • Training and guidance
    • Trained 6 in-house product experts in VC modeling
SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP), SCE, SPE
11/98 - 03/99
Gears and couplings manufacturer
[D]
Lead consultant in charge of variant configuration in from-scratch SAP implementation
  • Analysis and Design
    • Interviewed product experts, devised uniform modeling approach for entire product palette
    • Exemplary implementation for complex product
  • Training and guidance
    • Trained 12 in-house product experts in VC modeling
    • Oversaw and tested their implementations; trouble-shooting and problem solving
    • Trained and advised in-house expert to take over lead of configuration project
SAP R/3 variant configuration (SD, MM, PP)
06/98 - 10/98
IT manufacturer
[D, USA]
Systems analysis, design and implementation work for integration of SCE into heterogeneous in-house system SAP R/3 variant configuration, SCE, Java
02/98 - 07/98
Elevator manufacturer
[USA]
Systems analysis, design and implementation work for integration of SCE in the context of a from-scratch R/3 implementation SAP R/3 variant configuration, SCE, Java