Wincor Nixdorf Portugal has designed a complete IT solution for Galp Energia that integrates not only the NAMOS software application into the service station network of Portugal’s largest oilcompany but also its 1,320 POS and 980 back-office systems.

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he development phase of the mammothproject is now being finalized. By the

end of the year, the first four pilot systemswill go into operation at stations across Por-tugal. The entire rollout in Portugal and Spainis to be completed by 2010.

Much thought and planning have gone into the project – and for good reason: Galp Energia is not only Portugal’s largestmineral oil company but also the largest service station operator in the country. Together with its franchise partners, it oper-ates about 1,000 stations in Portugal andSpain.

When the company first thought aboutmodernizing its systems in 2004, it encoun-tered problems with the introduction of newsystems intended to replace older ones andimprove customer service. This led to thelaunch of the “Tiger Program,” which, among

other things, aimed to install new hardwareand software for the company’s retail opera-tions.

Expertise in delivering service station solutions

Galp Energia sought a solution that wouldfully integrate various service station process-es into its existing SAP environment. Anotherrequirement, says Miguel Pereira, Retail Di-rector at the company, was to have “an openarchitecture and a single contact for the Iber-ian Peninsula,” especially following the com-pany’s acquisition of the Agip and Esso ser-vice stations networks in Spain and their inte-gration into one common network. In short,the company sought a common, standardizedplatform for the front-office and self-serviceoperations in its growing network of servicestations.

A long history of working with two localvendors is the main reason why the Por-tuguese mineral oil company had not consid-ered Wincor Nixdorf previously. “Changingsuppliers and logistics is always complicated,”Pereira says. But as the project became moreconcrete, the company’s interest in WincorNixdorf began to grow, thanks in large part tothe IT solution provider’s reputation for deliv-ering front-office solutions to service stations.In fact, rival service station operator Total isalready using the NAMOS solution.

The NAMOS software is the heart of Win-cor Nixdorf’s “i-SERVICE STATION” solution,which is specially designed for service sta-tions and convenience store operations and ismeanwhile deployed by numerous companiesworldwide. The solution, which uses a compo-nent-based open, multilayer architecture, canbe deployed in station networks country-wide

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T

Project name: Tiger

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Galp Energia GroupC Headquarters: LisbonC Operations: produces, transports,

refines, distributes, and sells crudeoil, natural gas, and oil products.

C Service stations: approximately1,030 in Portugal and Spain

B www.galpenergia.com

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regardless of the type of service station. It wasdesigned with low total cost of ownership, ro-bustness and resistance in mind – all qualitiesrequired in demanding service station andconvenience store environments. In addition,the solution enables a quick and easy integra-tion of functional enhancements and scorespoints through the use of its POS systemsequipped with intuitive, easy to use software.

Galp Energia chose Wincor Nixdorf notbecause of price. “There were definitely low-er-priced offers,” Pereira notes. But none metall the requirements as thoroughly as WincorNixdorf’s. “In the end, the technical perspec-tive and understanding of all our needs tippedthe scales in favor of Wincor Nixdorf,” hesays.

Electronic funds transfer

There was plenty to do, according to NunoFigueiredo Pires, director of the software divi-sion at Wincor Nixdorf Portugal. “We had toimplement an electronic funds transfer solu-tion that included both bank and customercards,” he recalls. “In addition, we needed toestablish an interface between NAMOS andGalp’s central computer system and, last butnot least, to integrate its ‘Via Verde’ fillingservice into the solution.” The filling serviceenables cars to be identified at the fuel pumpby RFID. At the pumps, customers enter theirPIN and can start filling. The amount is debit-ed automatically to their account.

Before rolling out the new technology,Galp Energia tested a prototype NAMOS solu-tion in its own lab. In a next step, the elec-tronic fund transfer components were addedfor ATM integration in Portugal and Spain.Initially, the transfer process for bank andcustomer cards ran on two separate servers.During this process, the central payment solu-tion was converted into a decentralized oper-ation. Today, the POS system in the service

station functions as a server and is directlyconnected with the central server for bothcustomer and bank cards. “This change was areal challenge for architecting the paymentprocess,” Pires says.

Flexibility was essential. Wincor Nixdorfhad less than a month to develop the solution.By mid-March, tests were underway with theprototype. Meanwhile, the company has de-ployed pilot systems at four service stations inPortugal. The rollout will begin following thesuccessful pilots.

The rollout, like the development phase,has been planned in detail, with an assess-ment of local conditions, a compilation of allrequirements and an installation schedule.Such preparation is necessary not only be-cause the hardware will be manufactured bythe Wincor Nixdorf production facility in Sin-gapore, which has a five-week lead time, but

also because of Galp Energia’s tight planning.By early 2010, the company aims to have thenew technology installed in all its service sta-tions. Because of this tight scheduling, thenew and old systems must operate in parallel.

Mutual trust is necessary

“We believe we have a common future withWincor Nixdorf,” Pereira says. “After all, aproject that modernizes an entire IT networkrequires mutual trust.” Galp Energia expectsfast, simple and transparent processes fromthe Wincor Nixdorf solution, as well as im-proved operational and commercial manage-ment for the company. “With this solution, weaim to unify our business processes in servicestations and reduce costs significantly,” headds. “In this way, we will be able to focusmore on customer service and the use of innovative technologies.” C

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