White Papers
1. Get the most from your data
Introduction
Data entered into business systems for one purpose can often be used in other ways that can provide significant benefits.
Sales order processing
Companies will generally record customer details including delivery address and an email address for the processing of sales orders.
Labels
The delivery address will, not surprisingly, be used on delivery paperwork, which is often folded and put into a self adhesive plastic pouch and attached to the goods. However an order may consist of several packages. In such cases the entered data can be used to print multiple package labels rather than the storeman writing them by hand. Label printing saves time, reduces errors and projects a more professional image to your customers.
Email is a fast and economical method of communicating with customers. Consider using email to send order confirmations. The order confirmation should specify all items ordered (part number, description, quantity, price), other costs such as delivery charges and the planned despatch date. It can also include terms of sale. This benefits both parties by eliminating any misunderstandings that may otherwise occur and be messy to resolve after the event.
As goods are despatched, an email can be sent to the customer detailing the order number, the parts despatched and delivery information, such as the carrier, the consignment note number and the carrier’s web site. Keeping the customer informed in this way often avoids the need to respond to customer enquiries, which saves everyone time. Instead the customer rests easy having been kept informed of what is happening. The customer can also conduct a web enquiry to a track and trace their goods, a service that most carriers now provide. Again this saves time.
Email can also be used to communicate with customers regarding special offers, new products and shutdowns.
Conclusion
Everyone’s business is different, but we can all benefit from using our data in ways that may never have been envisaged.
2. Workflow Management
Introduction
If you have modern business management software or are considering an upgrade, be aware that many packages now include Workflow Management.
What is workflow management?
In the past priorities were typically decided by running reports and acting accordingly. For example, a report is run to determine sales orders due for delivery up to a certain date and then Picking Slips are released, goods picked and Delivery Dockets/Invoices printed and goods despatched.
However, this only works if reports are run on acted upon. Workflow management is where the business system "tells" the user (based on Username), which activities require their attention. This is a natural improvement from early contact management software that informed users when to follow-up contacts.
This is becoming more and more sophisticated. Other applications of this concept include approval of quotations and purchase orders.
Conclusion
So look closely at your current software to see if this functionality exists and if it does gradually enable modules. However, if you are considering deploying a new system, be sure to investigate your short-listed applications for workflow management features. When you start using it you will wonder how you managed to run your operation without it!!
3. Data Transfer
Introduction
We have moved a long way forward from the early days when only a highly qualified programmer could import and export data.
Reports versus data export
Many applications have made it easy to filter, sort and export records to applications such as Microsoft Excel. Fortunately changes included in Excel 2007 now support an unlimited number of rows, which will be greatly appreciated by many users. Once in Excel, data can easily be sorted, grouped and filtered enabling advanced users to easily conduct what-if analyses.
Data import
This is an area where even the most experienced users must be extremely careful, so much so that many applications allow import only in very few areas in order to prevent unexpected consequences such as violation of data integrity.
Conclusion
So look closely at your current software to see how easy it is to create custom data imports and exports and where possible start exporting and analysing data with other tools. And if you are considering deploying a new system, carefully compare these capabilities to ensure you get the functionality you require.