Reality Twin and SAP, Maximo, and M-Files: Digital Twin Alongside Existing Systems

Many industrial facilities already have functioning systems in place: SAP handles maintenance work orders, IBM Maximo manages asset data, and M-Files keeps documents stored. When a digital twin enters the picture, the first question is often the same: does this mean existing systems have to be abandoned? The answer is no. Reality Twin is designed to work alongside existing systems, not to replace them.

Industrial digitalization does not advance by replacing everything at once. It advances by adding the context that is missing from data. This article covers what system integration means at the facility level, what practical benefits it brings, and how implementation proceeds without a heavy IT project.

Why coexistence is better than replacement

SAP, IBM Maximo, and M-Files are systems that have received years of investment: data, processes, and user training. They hold critical information about equipment, maintenance history, and documents. Replacing them would mean a massive change project with high risks and uncertain benefits.

Reality Twin does not compete with these systems. It acts as a visual layer on top of them: data from ERP and maintenance systems is displayed in a location-bound context, directly from the 3D model. Master data stays where it is, and the integration does not change existing processes. The principle is simple: Reality Twin reads data, it does not write it without permission.

This coexistence is also an organizationally safer starting point. When systems continue to operate as before, resistance to change is lower and implementation can be carried out in phases without production downtime.

What combining data means at the facility level

At the facility level, information is typically scattered. Work orders are in SAP, equipment cards in Maximo, drawings in M-Files, and manuals somewhere on a network drive. When a technician needs information in the field, they have to search in multiple places, and the result does not always reflect the actual situation at the facility.

Reality Twin combines these sources into a single location-based view. When a user clicks on a specific pump in the 3D model, they immediately see the related work orders from SAP, the maintenance history from Maximo, and the technical documents from M-Files. Information no longer needs to be retrieved separately: it is there, where the equipment is.

As data sources, Reality Twin supports CAD models, point clouds, P&ID diagrams, 360-degree images, equipment hierarchies, and coordinate data. Combining these creates a complete picture of the facility that is based on measured reality, not design assumptions.

Practical benefits in maintenance and project planning

In maintenance, the single biggest time saving comes from finding the right information quickly. Anssi Pietarinen, Maintenance Manager at Yara Siilinjärvi, describes the experience as follows: “Reality Twin covers the concentrator almost entirely. It streamlines communication both internally and with stakeholders. The accurate and visual 3D model benefits field work planning, for example locating faults and planning installations.”

In a mining environment, documenting valve location data in Reality Twin reduced, as reported by the customer, approximately 2–4 field visits per person per month in that task area. In a user survey conducted by SolidComp in May 2026, the reduction in physical site visits emerged as the most strongly perceived benefit: 28 respondents mentioned it as a concrete benefit, and 22 out of 32 respondents said Reality Twin reduced the need to physically visit the site often or very often. The reduction in field visits and time savings also emerged as the greatest perceived benefits in SolidComp’s customer survey.

Time savings are the second most common concrete benefit in the survey: 25 respondents mentioned it. Among users who were able to estimate a typical time saving per use, the majority estimated it to be at least 15 minutes, and a significant portion estimated the saving to be 30–60 minutes or even 1–2 hours per use. The greatest savings come from avoided verification visits and faster preparation.

In project planning, the benefit is particularly evident when planning changes or new installations in an existing facility. When the 3D model matches the actual as-built state, a designer can immediately see where a new piece of equipment will fit and what surrounds it. This reduces rework and speeds up decision-making. Based on the user survey, planning projects, investments, layouts, and changes is the most common use case for Reality Twin: 24 respondents mentioned it, and 14 respondents considered it their single most important use case. Reality Twin has been shown to support faster projects, safer work planning, and more efficient maintenance.

Regarding SAP integration, SolidComp has collaborated with Neomore to bring maintenance data into the Reality Twin environment. IBM Maximo integration has been validated for asset management and maintenance history. Maintenance Module enables work orders, preventive maintenance data, and spare part history to be displayed directly at the equipment location in the 3D view. Based on the user survey, maintenance system integration and document management integration are clearly the most desired new features, indicating that a large portion of the potential is still to be realized.

Integration without an IT project: how implementation proceeds

One of the most common concerns is that system integration automatically means a lengthy IT project, significant resources, and risk to production. Reality Twin’s implementation is built differently.

In practice, three things are needed from the customer: a contact person, access permissions to the facility, and any existing source material. SolidComp handles data collection, processing, and environment setup. User onboarding takes approximately one week. The entire process can be completed in a matter of weeks, and the customer’s IT team is not required to make a significant effort.

The scope of integrations, update frequency, and visibility rules are always agreed upon with the customer. If SAP data is to be displayed only to certain user groups or for equipment in a specific area, that is possible. Regarding data security, Reality Twin uses role-based access control and supports single sign-on via Microsoft Entra ID. The security architecture is AWS-native and GDPR-compliant, and ISO/IEC 27001 certification is in progress.

Based on the user survey, the biggest barriers to adoption are not ideological or technology-resistant, but practical: access, onboarding, lack of a clear use case, and performance on standard work laptops. It is therefore advisable to start implementation in a limited area or with a single use case, ensure credentials and access are arranged in advance, and show the user a concrete example relevant to their own work. Once the benefit has been verified, expansion is a natural next step.

Reality Twin as part of the industrial data ecosystem

SolidComp’s vision is a unified industrial data ecosystem where information flows seamlessly between systems and is available where it is needed. In this ecosystem, Reality Twin is not an endpoint, but a connecting layer.

In the future, the ecosystem will also expand to real-time sensor data: IoT and SCADA integration via REST API and MQTT is on the roadmap. This means that the same 3D view where you see work orders and documents today could in the future also display the real-time status of equipment directly from the process control system. Based on the user survey, AI-assisted location finding and data aggregation also interest users: the most popular AI use case was finding equipment, valves, pipelines, and functional locations in the model, not general generative AI. This steers development in a practical direction: AI helps find the right object, its related documents, and functional location data faster.

The digital twin evolves from one maturity level to the next: from passive visualization to an integrated information model and further to a multifunctional whole. Maturity levels define what the twin can do at each stage, and implementation can be planned to support the facility’s long-term digitalization goals.

What is essential is that every integration, every added data source, and every new user makes the twin more valuable. According to the user survey, 22 respondents mentioned improved ability to understand a site or its condition as a concrete benefit, and the average willingness to recommend was 8.31 on a scale of 1–10. This indicates that the value is already real, even though there is still room for improvement. When the SAP integration is in place and M-Files documents open directly from a 3D object, facility data is no longer scattered, but is in one place, available to everyone who needs it. That is the practical result of industrial digitalization, not a promise for the future.