Jim Lawrence
The Ideal Integrated ERP System for the Building Products Supply Trade !
With a bespoke Sales Order system coupled to Sage Line 50, Jim Lawrence were experiencing the archetypal drawback of such custom software - spiralling support costs. Over time, the software developers become less and less interested in updating a unique and outdated system, and exorbitant 'support' charges were the inevitable result. Looking for a standard product which could easily be configured to their exact business needs, Jim Lawrence chose de Facto S5 as their integrated ERP system.
Of especial interest to them was S5's powerful Production Planning features, giving them the opportunity to really tie down Production to see the exact costs of what they produce.
Ideal for Busy Customer Service / Order Handling Environments
For users in a busy Customer Service or Order Handling environment, S5's Customer Service window is the ideal tool. Created specifically to meet Jim Lawrence's needs, the window and its functionality is now a standard feature in S5. All the key areas of information necessary for customer / prospect operations are integrated in one highly configurable screen. To enable the efficient handling of customers, a number of core features are brought together. When the telephone rings, the TAPI system will pop up the caller's information where recognised. Should they not be an existing customer, the PAF Post Code Integration facility will provide major addressing details from the submitted post code. As a result, new prospects or new customers can be created on the fly, with major aspects of the process automated, and others facilitated by the new Account / Prospect Wizard.
For existing customers, the window can display such information as last orders, regular orders, existing orders or customer history. Within the window, the Scratch Pad can be used to directly create an order via the associated Mini-Order Entry screen, where such data as product prices and stock availability can also be accessed. In addition to all the standard data areas, S5's powerful Vistas can be utilised to bring in key user defined views of relevant information to support the users activity.
Secure Online Credit Card Processing
de Facto S5's comprehensive Online Credit Card Processing facilities enable the efficient and secure processing of Credit Card transactions. The system seamlessly integrates with the market leading Commidea WinTi on-line card payment processing system to handle this aspect.
Orders can be pre-authorised, and therefore are not limited to those for immediate despatch. All required credit card details such as expiry date, card holder name etc can be entered and checked, and the system allows credit card control status to be set, such as authorised, declined, expired and so forth. If part of an order is amended, the system can automatically re authorise the card. The system can either establish at what stage the credit card was debited, or can specify when it should be, e.g. debit on despatch.
Credit card refunds are easily handled by S5, with both Customer Not Present (CNP) and Customer Present (CP) scenarios catered for. The entire process is fully encrypted using the secure 128 bit Blowfish encryption algorithm.
Extensive Mailing Control Facilities
de Facto S5's Marketing facilities include extensive mailing control features. Whenever Jim Lawrence create a new prospect or customer in the system, a CRM event is generated so that a brochure is automatically mailed out to the customer. Mass mailings also take place to all customers in their mailing list when a new brochure is produced.
Further features available allow the user to track and record the success of their ads, brochure mailings, and website uploads or downloads via management reports. As always, the integrated nature of S5 allows you to access these facilities throughout the system, whether from a Sales Order, Transport Request or even within the CRM module itself.
Carrier Integration, and Efficient Delivery Management
Delivery management is a key aspect of any Mail Order operation, and Jim Lawrence fully utilise these facilities to ensure efficiency of operations. One example is the automatic calculation of delivery charges, which can be by order weight, or by other specified criteria.
de Facto S5 is tightly integrated into the software systems of major Couriers, such as the Interlink Express system in Jim Lawrence's case. The system can also integrate with Securicor and Taskforce. It also enables any customer with an email address to receive notification of a shipment and its contents on despatch of the goods, as well as the tracking of consignment numbers, and the automatic printing of despatch labels.
Customer Services window provides a single tool for all major customer service activities.
