Author Archives: Natalie

10 Ways Inventory Management Software Will Enhance Your Supply Chain

In the post, we are going to reveal 10 cool ways Inventory Management Software can enhance your business’s supply chain and unlock further efficiencies.

New advancements in technology have made it more efficient to manage all aspects of your business, especially supply chain management.

There are so many different elements that function separately within your supply chain that without integrated inventory management software it is difficult to obtain accurate answers in real-time. You can save your business significant time and money by switching to a new inventory management software application that has all the latest technology.

What is an Inventory Management Software?

Inventory management software can be used to monitor the entire supply chain process from start to finish.

It allows you to track materials, inventory levels, production schedules, and customer delivery date all from one source. It provides numerous advantages that will eliminate many of the headaches that come from running a distribution business. Integrated inventory management software is a big investment, but it is definitely one that will pay for itself. Want to know how?

The 10 ways inventory management software can simplify your business

Complete Supply Chain Visibility
The easiest way to simplify your business practices is to consolidate various systems into one efficient and organized solution. Inventory management software achieves this by incorporating all aspects of your supply chain into one central system. Users can log in to view or update the current details on a product instead of having to physically contact various departments for inventory updates. Inventory software programs will show the entire product life-cycle from sales forecast, sales order, purchasing, goods receipt, warehousing through to dispatch and customer proof of delivery.
Easier to Expedite Sales
Your warehouse inventory levels will be more accurate if you are using a comprehensive and fully integrated inventory management software solution. This will allow your sales team to see and trust the current status of a product as they are trying to ensure urgent sales are despatched on time. If time is a critical issue for the customer, your team can assure the customer that stock is available and they are able to meet the desired delivery date.
Less Stock Out Situations
It is challenging for one or two people to manage all of the stock levels if a company has hundreds or thousands of different SKUs. Inventory management software means there will be more employees with access to real-time inventory information. Min/max inventory levels can be set to provide warnings when stock levels of fast-moving items are getting low – reducing the occurrence of stock-outs and stock shortages.
Easier to Track Success of an Inventory Item
Inventory management software will show you the sales totals for each product as well as the profitability of each product that was sold during a particular week or month – in real-time. The key is getting quick and easy access to inventory information – this will give timely information about which inventory items are doing well and which SKUs need to be dropped because they are not earning their keep.
Keeps Costs Under Control
JIT (Just-in-time) inventory is ideal, but unfortunately, it is not always feasible. Inventory management software makes it easier to manage stock requirements in real-time, so you can increase your inventory turns and reduce the amount of product that you have sitting on a shelf whilst maintaining customer satisfaction levels. Making sure that the correct volume of stock, raw materials and spare parts are available whilst not overstocking is of critical importance in any inventory control solution.
Improve Quality Management
Unfortunately, products will get damaged and need to be written off. Mistakes happen, things can be produced incorrectly, and production delays are an unfortunate fact of doing business. Inventory management software will monitor all of these issues, so it is easier to identify problematic trends with a particular product or production line. This will allow quick corrective action to be taken.
Provide Better and Faster Order Fulfillment
Customer satisfaction will suffer if customers are promised delivery by a certain date and the goods are not sent on time. Inventory management software is designed to improve stock levels, provide more accurate delivery dates, and advise on any issues that may prevent an inventory item from being delivered on time. This way a customer service rep or salesperson can immediately advise if there is a problem. Clear communication with your customers and suppliers will go a long way to ensuring on time in full delivery.
Offer More Efficient Update Features and user prompts
A good inventory management solution will have the ability for users to search for superceded products or alternative items. Can you imagine the power of being able to check an available to promise a report on-screen whilst talking to a customer? Then, if the product in question will not be available within your customer’s required timeframe wouldn’t it be great to be able to offer your customer an alternative item from your inventory?
Show the Ageing of a Product
Inventory management software makes it easier to track exactly how long an inventory item has been sitting in the warehouse. This will show you if there is inventory that is “slow-moving” so you can either reduce the price or stop producing/ordering that inventory item. This is also beneficial for fast-moving items, so you can better forecast when you will need to replenish stock.
A More Efficient Means of Communication
Real-time information and dashboard KPI’s should be available to key users. Communication between sales, purchasing and inventory control managers is made easier – because all stakeholders have accurate and timely inventory control information available.

Conclusion

The availability and complexity of inventory management software have come a long way in the last few years.

New technology has made it easier to monitor your supply chain, make urgent sale stock-out, track an SKU’s success, control costs, improve quality, fulfill orders faster, monitor the age of inventory, and run your entire business more efficiently.

Businesses that invest in integrated inventory control software will be able to stay more competitive and profitable as their business grows.

Want to learn more about Inventory Management Software? Call us on 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] to speak to one of our consultants today.

Implementing SAP Business One? How long should it take?

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The team at Leverage Technologies gets asked this question on a daily basis – “I am implementing SAP Business One – how long should it take”.

Over the last 10 years I have heard companies quote 2 weeks to 12 months (and everything in-between) for an SAP Business One implementation. The truth is that there is no one single right or wrong answer to the implementation timeframes for SAP Business One. Most standard (mid-range) SAP Business One implementations take three months to complete and require 30-50 consultancy days – including reporting.

Let’s take a quick look at some influencing factors:

The number of SAP Business One entities to be implemented – are you implementing a single entity / ABN or multiple different companies?
Data conversion? How much data needs to be converted into the new SAP Business One system and is this data in a suitable format where it can be easily exported from your current legacy solution into SAP Business One?
Reporting? Does your business require user-specific reporting or will your business be able to use the standard SAP Business One reporting?
Development? Does your business require any industry or site specific development?
Add-on solutions – is your SAP Business One implementation partner recommending any specific third-party integrated solutions?
Functional requirements – what broad category of functional requirements does your business have – finance, CRM, manufacturing, distribution?
The number of users and the location of these users (distributed across multiple offices or in a single location)?
The current skill set of users? Are the users skilled at using an ERP / Business Management Solution like SAP Business One?
Project management – will you have access to an internal project manager to help streamline the implementation of SAP Business One?
Cloud Vs on-premise SAP Business One implementation?
The depth of functional requirements – is your business looking to implement a broad level of simple functionality or a very deep functional footprint utilizing all of the modules and configurations available in SAP Business One?

As you can see there are multiple factors which need to be considered before finalizing timeframes and implementation days for an SAP Business One implementation.

It’s a good idea to scope out your SAP Business One implementation and timeframes as a part of your assessment process. This will give you, the customer, a clear understanding of the timeframes and associated investment required to implement SAP Business One. The SAP Business One scope of works will also provide your SAP Business One partner with a clear understanding of functionality and consultancy days required to implement SAP Business One for your business.

Why ERP Project Management is Key To The Success of Your Implementation

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Often overlooked by small to medium-sized businesses during an implementation of ERP Software – do not ignore ERP project management!

Make sure you allocate at least 10% of your ERP implementation budget to project management.

Key elements of Project Management for ERP implementations

ERP Project management is divided into two key elements – your ERP implementation partner project manager (part of the ERP implementation partner team) and your own internal ERP project manager. Even if you have the best external ERP partner implementation project manager always appoint your own internal project manager to assist with the management of your ERP project.

These ERP project managers will have responsibility for guiding the implementation through the various phases, managing scope change, budget control, ensuring decisions are made in a timely manner and reporting progress to the business.

A strong internal project manager will make a huge difference to the timely delivery (within budget) of your ERP software implementation.

Appoint a Project Manager to avoid the following challenges

Very often the delays associated with an ERP implementation relate to the following:

Slow decision making;
Poor planning of meeting agendas;
Unnecessary scope changes;
Unclear scope or poor communication to ERP implementation consultants;
Poor delivery of legacy data.

These issues can be resolved with careful ERP project management – by both the external ERP implementation consultants and your own internal ERP project manager.

Assuming you have chosen the right ERP implementation partner for your ERP software project they will provide you with a good project manager. Now the important aspect is your choice of internal ERP project manager.

Very few Small to medium-sized companies have dedicated IT or project management skill sets in their business. As a result, you will be asking someone in the business to take on the internal ERP project management role as a part-time role for the duration of the ERP software project.

For small to medium-sized businesses this is usually a three to six-month timeline.

What are the key skills required from an ERP Project Manager?

Let’s assume one of your accounting team members is happy taking on the internal project management role for your ERP Software implementation – let’s look at the required skills.

Good communication skills;
Good general business knowledge (accounting, operational and technology);
Highly organised;
Operates well under pressure;
Has the buy-in of senior management;
Is well respected by peers.

Your ERP software internal project manager will take responsibility for managing the following elements of your ERP Software implementation:

Budget vs Actual billing;
Scope changes;
Communication between the ERP implementation partner and your business;
Making sure that the ERP implementation partner gets access to the right people, the right technology, and the right data in a timely manner;
Company representation at project meetings;
Expectation setting;
Assist with change management;
Help create system documentation as required.

Conclusion

Appoint a strong internal project manager to manage your ERP implementation. This is another important step in the process of successfully implementing ERP software in a small to medium-sized business.

The team at Leverage Technologies has helped more than 250 Australian businesses grow smart woth Enterprise Resource Planning. Call 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] to talk to an ERP consultant in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

ERP Implementation Roles & Responsibilities Guide: Defining Your ERP Dream Team

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Every ERP implementation requires clearly defined roles and responsibilities for both internal teams (your staff members) and external consultants (your implementation partner).

We have previously discussed some of the key reasons why you need “internal muscle” to implement an ERP system.

In this article, we will review some of the key aspects to defining your ERP “Dream Team” to ensure project success.

Why you need to define ERP implementation roles and responsibilities?

When implementing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Software make sure that you clearly define (at the start of the ERP project) who will have responsibility for which parts of the ERP system implementation.

You also need to define:

ERP implementation team members
ERP project team structure
ERP project team roles

Understand and account for the fact that your team will need to take responsibility for certain parts of the implementation. ERP Training, user acceptance testing, and the system blueprint will all require time and input from your internal team. Set realistic go-live dates so that your team has enough time to do their daily tasks.

Key ERP implementation team roles and responsibilities

Internal project management – your ERP implementation partner will provide project management resource to guide you through the project. Do not underestimate the importance of having your own internal project manager to manage budget, expectations, coordinate training and user feedback, track and follow up on user acceptance testing and report on progress to senior management.

Super users – make sure that you appoint super users to each functional area of your ERP Software implementation (finance, sales, logistics etc.). Super users will take responsibility for coordinating training, user testing and feedback in their department.

Admin superuser –When implementing ERP software you can ensure a lower cost of ownership by training one of your more technical users as a systems administrator. The systems administrator will take responsibility for day to day ERP Software administrative tasks – setting up new users, basic support for user queries, user authorisations and reporting.

Senior management participation – all good ERP Software implementation methodologies refer to the fact that buy-in from senior management is required for a successful implementation of ERP solutions. I would argue that you need more than senior management buy-in – you need senior management input into some key design phases of the ERP implementation. The amount of senior management participation required will depend on the size of your organisation. In smaller companies where the senior management is actively involved in several day-to-day business activities, you will definitely want to make sure that the senior team is involved in the more strategic design workshops. If you do not involve senior management you might spend time configuring your solution only to find out that the end result is not what management wants.

Conclusion

Implementing an ERP needs clearly defined roles and responsibilities of all parties involved.

Ensure that your ERP implementation partner provides a detailed project plan which highlights areas of responsibility for the ERP implementation. How much internal time needs to be allocated to all ERP project tasks and on what dates are some important inclusions in the project plan.

Clearly defining roles and responsibilities are an important step in the implementation of successful ERP software solutions. The ultimate advice is to spend some time on this aspect of your ERP planning to ensure project success.

The team at Leverage Technologies has helped more than 250 Australian organisations with their ERP software requirements. Call 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] to speak to a consultant in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

ERP Software Implementations – making the implementation plan work from start to finish

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When implementing ERP software we all know the importance of the ERP project plan – let’s take a more detailed look at what should be included in your ERP software project plan.

This article has been specifically written for small to medium-sized businesses looking to implement ERP software.

Template ERP Software Implementation Plan

It pays to have an individual serving as the internal / company Project Manager for the ERP software implementation.

Project managers have many responsibilities during an ERP Software implementation and one of the most important is the design and updating of the ERP project plan. The most commonly used tools for ERP project planning (for small to medium-sized companies) is MS Project or MS Excel.

An ERP Software project plan: (Click to enlarge sample)

This ERP Software implementation plan might serve as the basic guide for the project managers, ERP implementation consultants and you – the customer. Note the elements of the project plan –

– Planned start date of activity,

– A description of each activity,

– The hours allocated to each activity,

– The status (started, in progress etc.),

– The customer time allocated to each activity,

– The role of the customer in each activity,

– Who has responsibility for each activity and a general comments section.

It is important that the project plan is updated on a regular basis and those roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. It is important that completed tasks are tested and verified. It is no use ticking an item off the project plan as completed to find out later during the project that the item has not been completed to specification or to the desired outcome. This is one of the major tasks of a project manager – verify that the items marked as completed are actually ready for go live.

Conclusion

There are a number of different roles and responsibilities during an ERP Software implementation. The ERP Software implementation plan should highlight these responsibilities and “required by dates”. Let’s not forget that as the customer you have a number of key responsibilities during implementation.

Make use of a good, updated project plan to manage your ERP implementation and to ensure that all parties are aware of their roles and responsibilities.

Need help planning and implementing your ERP? Call 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] to speak to one of our consultants in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Dashboards, KPIs and MS Excel Pivot tables – do it yourself reporting with SAP Business One HANA

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This is part two of our blog and YouTube posting about writing your own reports in SAP Business One. In part one of this blog we discussed writing queries using the Query Generator. Now let’s consider dashboards, KPI’s and MS Excel Pivot table reporting for SAP Business One.

Dashboards, KPIs and pivot tables can be created in the MS SQL Server or the SAP HANA version for SAP Business One. There are specific features associated with pervasive analytics and interactive analysis that are only available in the HANA version of SAP Business One. I want to focus this discussion on the HANA pervasive analytics and interactive analysis because the HANA version of SAP Business One takes self-service (write your own reports) to a whole new level. Let’s take a more detailed look at what’s available:

KPI’s and dashboards: SAP Business One HANA offers a number of standard KPIs and dashboards that a user can immediately add to their HANA interface.

To add or create additional KPI’s and Dashboards (SAP Business One HANA):

1. Open up SAP Business One HANA Pervasive Analytics.

You will notice a number of standard KPIs and dashboards that are really useful. There are about 40 standard KPIs and Dashboards to choose from. Examples include:

Total sales amount
Purchase analysis
Top 5 customers by sales amount
Stock turnover
Sales opportunity count

SAP Business One HANA – Pervasive Analytics:

2. Decide whether you want a standard KPI / dashboard or you want to create your own. If you choose a standard KPI or dashboard simply choose the one you want and add it to the list.

3. If you want to write your own KPI or dashboard: When you log into SAP Business One HANA pervasive analytics you have access to three options – New KPI, New Dashboard and New advanced dashboard. Let’s consider the KPI and Dashboard options. Remember that our focus is on the ability for you to write your own KPI’s and Dashboards. As an example let’s write our own sales KPI. Click on the “New KPI” button, then click on Analytic view and sales revenue analysis. SAP Business One HANA pervasive analytics now opens up a number of fields that you can use in your new, user created KPI. Simply drag the fields that you want to report on into the relevant KPI value and KPI date dimension areas.

SAP Business One HANA – KPI Designer:

The ability to design your own KPIs and Dashboards is best demonstrated in a video.

SAP Business One HANA – Pervasive Analytics – Creating your own KPI’s and Dashboards:

SAP Business One also offers Interactive Analysis – the ability to build your own pivot table reporting without any prior technical knowledge of the SAP Business One datasets. Once again SAP has done the hard work for the user by making the relevant fields available in pivot table format. The user simply has to drag and drop the information they want into the report format.

Thanks to the team at SAP and SAP Business One HANA – self-service reporting is available here and now.

SAP Business One Multiple Currencies – saving you time and money.

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If you have customers from all over the world transacting in different currencies, you might find it challenging to convert this into your company base currency for Accounting purposes.

SAP Business One is capable of handling many different currencies and converting them back into your company base currency, provided that the correct exchange rates etc. are entered for the relevant dates.

Leverage has recently developed and released a new add-on to SAP Business One which will, on schedule or demand, go to the internet and download the latest currency exchange rates for your defined list of currencies, meaning that your transactions will always be valued at the current exchange rate.

SAP Business One Multiple Currencies

How does the SAP Business One multiple currencies add-on works?

Once run, the currency grabber finds the defined feed site for your exchange rates and checks each of the currencies and rates to add. Once complete, the exchange rates will be available in your SAP Business One system.

This is another great example of a small, easy to implement solution for SAP Business One – saving you time and money by automating another business task.