City of Hagen - SAP Innovation Awards 2025
The City of Hagen transformed its financial planning by achieving 90% faster budget evaluations, reducing the process from two days to just hours.The city also streamlined workflows and improved financial transparency while using automated reporting and real-time insights to enable more agile, data-driven decision-making. Budget planners now work more independently, creating reports without IT support. More important, modernization brought the level of integration and resource allocation necessary to enhance governance efficiency and responsiveness to municipal financial needs. Entry ID: 5420 Download the DocumentPUBLIC
Entry Pitch Deck
City of Hagen
Government
Boosting government transparency and
efficiency with real-time financial planning
Entry Pitch Deck
City of Hagen
Government
Boosting government transparency and
efficiency with real-time financial planning
COMPANY NAME:
HEADQUARTERS:
INDUSTRY:
WEBSITE:
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
Company information
2
City of Hagen
Hagen, Germany
Government
www.hagen.de (German)
3,500
The City of Hagen represents vibrant diversity between the Ruhr and
Sauerland regions. It is home to Germany’s largest and only state distance-
learning university, boasts 42% green space, and features numerous
nationally significant cultural institutions. Offering everything that defines a
modern metropolis—including pedestrian zones lined with bistros, cafés,
restaurants, and shopping malls—it also gives residents and visitors an
exciting journey through 450 million years of geological history.
With a mission to ensure efficient governance, enhance quality of life, and
build a resilient, future-ready community, the city government prioritizes data-
driven decision-making and modern technology to optimize public services,
improve financial transparency, and support environmental initiatives. It also
actively promotes low-emission zones, invests in a regional hydrogen
economy, and embraces social responsibility—fostering inclusive growth for a
diverse population spanning 146 nationalities.
PUBLIC
HEADQUARTERS:
INDUSTRY:
WEBSITE:
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
Company information
2
City of Hagen
Hagen, Germany
Government
www.hagen.de (German)
3,500
The City of Hagen represents vibrant diversity between the Ruhr and
Sauerland regions. It is home to Germany’s largest and only state distance-
learning university, boasts 42% green space, and features numerous
nationally significant cultural institutions. Offering everything that defines a
modern metropolis—including pedestrian zones lined with bistros, cafés,
restaurants, and shopping malls—it also gives residents and visitors an
exciting journey through 450 million years of geological history.
With a mission to ensure efficient governance, enhance quality of life, and
build a resilient, future-ready community, the city government prioritizes data-
driven decision-making and modern technology to optimize public services,
improve financial transparency, and support environmental initiatives. It also
actively promotes low-emission zones, invests in a regional hydrogen
economy, and embraces social responsibility—fostering inclusive growth for a
diverse population spanning 146 nationalities.
PUBLIC
CHALLENGE: SOLUTION: OUTCOME:
Simplifying budget planning and controlling
3
Of custom code eliminated
with a clean core strategy
Faster planning evaluation—decreasing
cycle time from two days to a few hours
Annual budget managed and optimized
with transparency, agility, and efficiency
95%
City of Hagen
90% €1 billion
The City of Hagen faced mounting challenges in
managing its €1 billion annual municipal budget.
Over time, financial planning became overly
complex, leaving department managers, controllers,
and decision-makers struggling to navigate intricate
processes. Outdated IT systems and slow manual
workflows limited access to real-time financial
insights, and the lack of a clear, data-driven
governance approach hindered efficiency.
Determined to turn things around, Hagen set out to
modernize and standardize its financial planning—
bringing greater transparency, agility, and smarter
decision-making to the heart of city governance.
The City of Hagen modernized financial planning with
SAP S/4HANA and the SAP Analytics Cloud solution
for planning, eliminating 95% of its custom code and
integrating a clean core strategy.
SAP Business Warehouse powered by SAP HANA
enables real-time insights, while automated reporting
and biExport for SAP Analytics Cloud and disclosure
management by bi excellence software GmbH help
reduce budget evaluation time. With this
transformation, the city positioned itself to streamline
workflows, increase agility, and empower stakeholders
with data-driven decision-making and a more efficient
and transparent financial planning process.
The City of Hagen transformed its financial planning
by achieving 90% faster budget evaluations,
reducing the process from two days to just hours.
The city also streamlined workflows and improved
financial transparency while using automated
reporting and real-time insights to enable more
agile, data-driven decision-making.
Budget planners now work more independently,
creating reports without IT support. More important,
modernization brought the level of integration and
resource allocation necessary to enhance
governance efficiency and responsiveness to
municipal financial needs.
PUBLIC
Simplifying budget planning and controlling
3
Of custom code eliminated
with a clean core strategy
Faster planning evaluation—decreasing
cycle time from two days to a few hours
Annual budget managed and optimized
with transparency, agility, and efficiency
95%
City of Hagen
90% €1 billion
The City of Hagen faced mounting challenges in
managing its €1 billion annual municipal budget.
Over time, financial planning became overly
complex, leaving department managers, controllers,
and decision-makers struggling to navigate intricate
processes. Outdated IT systems and slow manual
workflows limited access to real-time financial
insights, and the lack of a clear, data-driven
governance approach hindered efficiency.
Determined to turn things around, Hagen set out to
modernize and standardize its financial planning—
bringing greater transparency, agility, and smarter
decision-making to the heart of city governance.
The City of Hagen modernized financial planning with
SAP S/4HANA and the SAP Analytics Cloud solution
for planning, eliminating 95% of its custom code and
integrating a clean core strategy.
SAP Business Warehouse powered by SAP HANA
enables real-time insights, while automated reporting
and biExport for SAP Analytics Cloud and disclosure
management by bi excellence software GmbH help
reduce budget evaluation time. With this
transformation, the city positioned itself to streamline
workflows, increase agility, and empower stakeholders
with data-driven decision-making and a more efficient
and transparent financial planning process.
The City of Hagen transformed its financial planning
by achieving 90% faster budget evaluations,
reducing the process from two days to just hours.
The city also streamlined workflows and improved
financial transparency while using automated
reporting and real-time insights to enable more
agile, data-driven decision-making.
Budget planners now work more independently,
creating reports without IT support. More important,
modernization brought the level of integration and
resource allocation necessary to enhance
governance efficiency and responsiveness to
municipal financial needs.
PUBLIC
4
With this radical modernization with
SAP S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud,
we’ve removed about 95% of code and
data customizations. This has made
everything faster and easier to maintain,
and it will make us much more cost-
efficient in the long run.
Marco Hasken, Head of SAP Software and Service, City of Hagen
PUBLIC
With this radical modernization with
SAP S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud,
we’ve removed about 95% of code and
data customizations. This has made
everything faster and easier to maintain,
and it will make us much more cost-
efficient in the long run.
Marco Hasken, Head of SAP Software and Service, City of Hagen
PUBLIC
COMPANY NAME:
Participating partner information
Based on forward-looking architectural
guidelines, Sopra Steria, as an
implementation partner, supported the City of
Hagen in the configuration and migration of
SAP S/4HANA. With SAP Business
Warehouse powered by SAP HANA, BI
export, and SAP Analytics Cloud, innovative
budget planning and reporting solutions were
created. Predictive analytics and data
insights offer future potential for more
efficient decision-making processes,
optimized resource allocation, and improved
trend forecasting.
Christoph Schulz-Sacharow, Solution Architect
Planning and Analytics at Sopra Steria
5
Sopra Steria
Sopra Steria, an SAP gold partner, played a critical role in the City of Hagen’s financial
modernization project. As the implementation partner, Sopra Steria guided the city’s
migration to SAP S/4HANA, leading the three-month production cutover and helping ensure
a smooth transition from 20 years of legacy IT.
The firm collaborated closely with the municipal administration to design efficient data
structures and processes, leveraging its expertise in digital transformation and consulting. By
supporting a clean core strategy, Sopra Steria helped Hagen streamline workflows, integrate
real-time analytics, and enhance financial planning efficiency.
PUBLIC
Participating partner information
Based on forward-looking architectural
guidelines, Sopra Steria, as an
implementation partner, supported the City of
Hagen in the configuration and migration of
SAP S/4HANA. With SAP Business
Warehouse powered by SAP HANA, BI
export, and SAP Analytics Cloud, innovative
budget planning and reporting solutions were
created. Predictive analytics and data
insights offer future potential for more
efficient decision-making processes,
optimized resource allocation, and improved
trend forecasting.
Christoph Schulz-Sacharow, Solution Architect
Planning and Analytics at Sopra Steria
5
Sopra Steria
Sopra Steria, an SAP gold partner, played a critical role in the City of Hagen’s financial
modernization project. As the implementation partner, Sopra Steria guided the city’s
migration to SAP S/4HANA, leading the three-month production cutover and helping ensure
a smooth transition from 20 years of legacy IT.
The firm collaborated closely with the municipal administration to design efficient data
structures and processes, leveraging its expertise in digital transformation and consulting. By
supporting a clean core strategy, Sopra Steria helped Hagen streamline workflows, integrate
real-time analytics, and enhance financial planning efficiency.
PUBLIC
COMPANY NAME:
Participating partner information
bi excellence played a key role in the
project's success by enabling modern and
intuitive budget-book generation based on
data from SAP Analytics Cloud. Previously,
this task fell to the IT department. Now,
business users can independently design,
edit, and generate documents with flexibility
and reliability—eliminating the need for IT
support.
Thilo Knötzele, Head of SAP Development and
Products, bi excellence software GmbH
6
bi excellence software GmbH
bi excellence software GmbH, an SAP silver partner, played a key role in the City of Hagen’s
financial modernization by providing biExport for SAP Analytics Cloud and disclosure
management. The solution streamlined and automated the city’s budget reporting and
publishing workflows.
As a result, Hagen can now generate high-quality, legally compliant budget reports
significantly faster—reducing the process from two days to just two hours. By supporting
advanced templates and automation, bi excellence software helped the city improve report
accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility, helping ensure that stakeholders could easily generate
reports without relying on IT support.
PUBLIC
Participating partner information
bi excellence played a key role in the
project's success by enabling modern and
intuitive budget-book generation based on
data from SAP Analytics Cloud. Previously,
this task fell to the IT department. Now,
business users can independently design,
edit, and generate documents with flexibility
and reliability—eliminating the need for IT
support.
Thilo Knötzele, Head of SAP Development and
Products, bi excellence software GmbH
6
bi excellence software GmbH
bi excellence software GmbH, an SAP silver partner, played a key role in the City of Hagen’s
financial modernization by providing biExport for SAP Analytics Cloud and disclosure
management. The solution streamlined and automated the city’s budget reporting and
publishing workflows.
As a result, Hagen can now generate high-quality, legally compliant budget reports
significantly faster—reducing the process from two days to just two hours. By supporting
advanced templates and automation, bi excellence software helped the city improve report
accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility, helping ensure that stakeholders could easily generate
reports without relying on IT support.
PUBLIC