The crossbase PIM, MAM and cross-media solution in use at KTM AG
Mattighofen, 29/07/2014 KTM AG in Mattighofen, Austria produces and develops race-ready offroad and street motorcycles. KTM products are distributed to more than 1,700 independent dealers and importers by over 26 sales companies. Since 1995, in addition to KTM brand vehicles, the company has also been manufacturing motorcycles under the HUSABERG brand. Since acquiring the license rights to the HUSQVARNA brand in 2013, these have been sold once again under the name "Husqvarna Motorcycles". "READY TO RACE" – to KTM, these three words are more than just a slogan. They represent the company's whole philosophy: to develop vehicles that hold their ground 100% in any race, straight from the factory. From dealer to circuit – straight into the race and heading for victory.
To supply product information (Bikes, PowerParts, PowerWear, SpareParts) for websites and its Dealernet in country- and brand-specific form (be it KTM, KTM USA or Husqvarna), KTM chose the PIM, MAM and cross-media solution from crossbase. In future the company also plans to automate its print publications using the same database. The aim was to create a consistent, central database with easy data maintenance for all markets, media, and communication channels.
Central functions of the solution
ERP interface and data maintenance process
Item master data is transferred daily from the upstream ERP system to the crossbase database via an XML interface. New items are identified accordingly for the data maintenance process. For the marketing view they are classified in the communication structure by brand and country and assigned an extensive range of accessory parts and technical features, for example relating to motor and framework. This task is made easier by formula-based calculation of attributes, e.g. for imperial values and the linking of text, for instance for merged measurements.
Maintenance of product relationships
Extensive maintenance of power parts for bikes was supported with a new dialog for mass linking. Accessory parts or 'related items' that are needed when a particular power part is fitted on a particular bike are also maintained.
Two-way interface to celum image database
Product-specific photos are sometimes added in the PIM first and sometimes in celum. The crossbase and celum image databases are therefore synchronized by a two-way XML interface.
Text management and text generation
The extensive multilingual marketing texts, such as model name, slogan, description text, feature text and so on, are partly generated from the features and reusable text modules, for example the description text for PowerWear or the model name. This substantially reduces the editing and translation workload and improves consistency.
Export for websites and Dealernet with XML exports
Using flexibly configurable XML formats, a customized multilingual export feature was created for KTM for the various communication channels. Special attention was given to avoiding data redundancies during export to keep the volume of information to the low level required.
The XML export feature to supply data to online resources and other communication channels was further developed specifically for KTM. This allows the many requirements to be mapped correctly, creating a uniform yet customer-specific XML standard for third systems (agencies or internal third-party systems).
Other projects involving crossbase
Integration of acrolinx in crossbase text editor, start-up of crossbase Excel configurator, implementation of crossbase print modules for automation of InDesign publications, rollout to subsidiaries.
The application modules and further information
Download reference report