Fourth Quarter 2009

Industry focus: Wholesale Suppliers and Distributors

SYSPRO 6.1 -
Simply Smarter

Phillips & Smith strengthens

sales and distribution with SYSPRO

Tangram Surfaces
ahead of the pack

Pilot Brands
integrates distribution countrywide with SYSPRO
 TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT – Phil Duff
CEO’s message
SYSPRO 6.1 –
Simply Smarter!
T
here was an air of excitement in the
SYSPRO offices during the latter half of
2009. For our developers, it signaled the
final months of coding and testing of one of
the most spectacular releases in our 30-year
history.
The combined efforts of our developers and
the inputs of our customers and resellers have
resulted in a product that will test the limits
of your imagination. As you know, SYSPRO
always aims to support and assist our cus-
tomers – and with the launch of SYSPRO 6.1,
we’ve done that by listening to you. Listening
and taking note of your requirements and the
additional capability you would like to see
included in the software.
Literally hundreds of features have been
introduced as a direct result of the feedback
we have received from our customers. The
architecture, feature set, new modules, work-
flow and customization take on a whole new
meaning with SYSPRO 6.1, making quantum
leaps towards Simplifying your Success. You
have made it possible. You communicated
your needs, and we have delivered!
We believe that if our software doesn’t
improve your big picture perspective, if it
doesn’t contribute towards your organisa-
tion’s success, then we aren’t achieving our
goal. Thank you for your enthusiasm and
commitment towards making SYSPRO, our
product and your solution, better than ever.
So, let’s consider some of the capabilities
in SYSPRO 6.1 designed to make your working
lives easier.
One of the most exciting changes is that
SYSPRO 6.1 turns visualization into reality by
1 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4
Phil Duff – CEO, SYSPRO
providing a visible representation of all the
information needed at different role levels
throughout the organization, including real-
time general ledger information which now
provides real-time financial data at any
moment in time.
The enhanced visibility and presentation of
information that comes with SYSPRO 6.1 also
results in a significantly improved user experi-
ence. SYSPRO 6.1 enables the user complete
freedom to organize and view any required
information within SYSPRO in any application.
Best of all, this can be achieved by you, the
end user, with minimal development skills.
SYSPRO 6.1 assists you by focussing on the
exceptions, filtering all the information in your
organization and presenting only what is rel-
evant to you.
Selecting just a few of the most exciting new
features in SYSPRO 6.1, I would like to mention
that the custom panes have been extended
so that you can write a .Net application,
drop it into your own custom pane and it will
interact with the rest of the SYSPRO product.
There really are no limits to how you display
your data or how the information is derived.
You can draw on out-of-the-box templates to
build your own user applications at the touch
of a button and also create brand-new appli-
cations.
The SYSPRO 6.1 infrastructure also ena-
bles information derived from either SYSPRO
Analytics or SYSPRO Workflow Services to be
implemented in any application anywhere
in SYSPRO. For example, the user can view
SYSPRO Analytics or any workflow process
directly in another SYSPRO program such as
Sales Order Entry.

SYSPRO 6.1 uses fluid user interface compo-
nents which have been developed to meet
Microsoft Office 2007 User Interface Design
Guideline specifications, providing you with a
more universal and familiar interface. Also, the
improved reporting capabilities in SYSPRO 6.1
provide an integrated, clear and comprehen-
sive presentation of business activities in sup-
port of corporate and operational strategy.
The enhanced Enterprise Process
Management and Business Process Modeling
capabilities in SYSPRO 6.1 enable you to track
strategy, targets and KPIs against your own
or industry-standard performance measure-
ments. These two solutions encompass and
support the metrics, processes and systems
used in an organization to measure, monitor
and better manage business performance.
We believe that if our software
doesn’t improve your big picture
perspective, if it doesn’t contribute
towards your organisation’s success,
then we aren’t achieving our goal.
The centralized administration capability
of SYSPRO 6.1 is another major step forward.
With SYSPRO 6.1, system administration is sim-
pler, quicker and easier because the entire
admin process has been centralized. Instead
of implementing changes on each desktop
individually, the administrator now has a sin-
gle centralized admin console which means
each task is done only once. For example,
.Net applications (or even new versions of
SYSPRO) can be automatically deployed to
all users.
The embedded workflow engine in SYSPRO
6.1 is set to have a huge impact on the effec-
tive management of business processes – and
we are thrilled with the enthusiastic reception
users have given SYSPRO Workflow in the pre-
release presentations done to date. In the
past, our customers have had to rely on third-
party products to manage their workflow,
and consequently those products needed
to be reworked with every SYSPRO upgrade.
Having workflow functionality embedded in
the core SYSPRO product will reduce the cost
of introducing business process management
throughout your organization.
TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT – Phil Duff
Although there is a wealth of enhancements
and new features in SYSPRO 6.1, we have done
our best to ensure that you will be able to work
as before. Before upgrading, I would heart-
ily recommend that you speak to your local
SYSPRO support office or reseller so that you
are able to maximize the benefits offered by
this sophisticated new version of our enterprise
solution.
In designing and developing SYSPSO 6.1, we
took into account the fact that people don’t
want intimidating volumes of data – life is sim-
ply too fast for that. SYSPRO 6.1 assists you by
simplifying the amount of information – pack-
aging and making relevant information visible
at one click, centralising administration and
reducing the need to go outside the SYSPRO
solution to operate your business; with SYSPRO
6.1 we strive to take you one step closer to a
true paperless environment. Along the way,
we aim to help you turn the vision of aligning
business, strategy and IT into a reality.
SYSPRO 6.1 will be launched in March 2010,
so please be on the lookout for more informa-
tion over the coming months. We look forward
to sharing this important phase in our evolution
with you. v
Phil Duff
CEO
SYSPRO
SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4 2
 TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
Overall initiatives in
SYSPRO 6.1
Centralized Administration
SYSPRO is becoming increasingly sophisticated
in terms of flexible set-up and security options.
SYSPRO 6.1 allows you to configure these security
options and customize the user interface at the
role level. There is a centralized administration
application that manages all the security and a
centralized tool that manages all the user inter-
face changes.
Performance Management Information at your
Fingertips
SYSPRO 6.1 allows you to configure any aspect
of the UI in any application to build in dynamic
executive views and/or dashboards. These views
ship with the product as standard and are based
on sophisticated charts, list views or XCelsius inter-
active charts. The views can be dropped into any
application in a few seconds and will be active
immediately. All views are based on real-time
information and can be customized exactly to
your requirements.
Customization and Power-Tailoring
SYSPRO 6.1 allows you to modify the behavior
of any SYSPRO application and to add business
functionality without recourse to development
3 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4
skills. The end result is a highly configurable system
designed to adapt and change as requirements
evolve. These changes are not affected by soft-
ware upgrades.
SYSPRO 6.1 also allows users to present informa-
tion in a highly graphical and aesthetically pleas-
ing approach using a combination of Excel-style
features and XAML Markup code.
Administrators can use highly sophisticated
development tools such as Visual Studio to build
and deploy .NET applications that interact with
core SYSPRO applications and are implemented
as a seamless part of the SYSPRO applications.
These .NET applications need only be deployed
on a central server and will be automatically
deployed to the client computer as and when
required.
Business Process Management and Modeling
Although SYSPRO has always had Business Process
Management tools, these have been taken to a
new level with the introduction of SYSPRO Workflow
Services (SWS), SYSPRO Process Modeling (SPM)
and SYSPRO Implementation Methodology (SIM)
in SYSPRO 6.1.
SYSPRO Workflow Services provides a workflow
engine that is built into the SYSPRO product
and provides the capability of designing and
visualizing the workflow processes modeled on an

organization’s business processes. It is based on
the Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation.
SYSPRO Process Modeling provides preconfig-
ured and modeled process patterns on which
you can model your company’s unique process
requirements. It provides you with a model-driven
architecture that supports management by align-
ing IT with company strategy, business objectives
and sustainability as well as providing a transpar-
ent view of your uniquely modeled processes and
organizational roles.
The SYSPRO Enterprise Analysis Methodology
(SEAM) provides empowered, personalized imple-
mentations. It embraces SPM and provides a
record of all conversations and decisions made
during these cycles. Information can be used to
automatically configure the SYSPRO application
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
and provide insight into the structuring of the asso-
ciated data.
Together, SPM and SEAM provide one source of
the truth and an end-to-end alignment of all enti-
ties in an organization.
Introduction of New Functional Modules
SYPRO 6.1 introduces the following new
functional modules:
• Warehouse Management - this module will
provide a built-in warehouse management
system within the scope of the current SYSPRO
functionality. It will provide the tools for
managing and controlling warehouse tasks
such as picks, putaways and cycle counts
• Quality Management - this built-in Quality
Management system will enable product
quality control by allowing the config-
uration of multiple measurement metrics;
allowable tolerances; as well as inspec-
tion points and frequency per inventory item,
customer, supplier, operation and work
center. These quality control check-
points will allow the collection of
actual physical product data to
facilitate statistical process control, as
well as providing an opportunity for simple
material review in the event of non-
conformance, with the possible outcome
of inventory reclassification or scrapping
• Inventory Optimization - The purpose of the
Inventory Optimization (IO) module is to
provide the tools and processes to optimize
inventory within the SYSPRO product. For this we
need to track and manage the para-
meters that shape inventory and its causes. The
IO Module will make these parameters visible
and controllable and provide the tools to
determine the impact of changing these
parameters on service levels, stock-holding,
delivery performance, and manufacturing or
procurement performance.
Extended Depth and Breadth of Functionality
SYSPRO continues to enhance all aspects of
our functionality with the release of 6.1, by
introducing features such as additional asset
depreciation methods to cater for MARCS
requirements; providing for Stores and Warehouse
transfer requisitioning; Customer Sales Order
Rules; Actual cost tracking; and Manufacturing
units of measure, to name a few. v
SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No. 4 4
 SYSPRO – Global

" SYSPRO 6.1

Talking point
Given all the excitement around the pending launch of Version 6.1, we asked our partners and
customers for their opinions. Here’s what they had to say ….

“The impending release of 6.1 will be another

significant milestone for SYSPRO. Many sig-
nificant enhancements have been made
to core areas of Executive Performance
Management and Business Process Modeling
and Management, including a new work-
flow module. SYSPRO customers have come
to expect incredible volumes of new fea-
tures and functionality in each release, but
I believe most will be simply amazed by the
enhancements being released in 6.1. I have
no doubt this release will drive our sales
expansion across Asia Pacific and continue
to simplify the success of our customers.”
- Shaun Butler, General Manager, SYSPRO
Asia Pacific

“SYSPRO 6.1 will prove to be a truly

“Vision accomplished! It’s one thing to
have a grand vision; it’s something else
altogether to execute and deliver. SYSPRO
6.1 represents the final execution and deliv-
ery of SYSPRO’s fluid interface design; and
what an achievement it has turned out
to be! In fact, 6.1 has gone beyond what
was originally envisioned and has resulted
in delivering an even more powerful, user-
defined means of interacting with our prod-
uct. The fluid interface design delivers a
contemporary, user-centric experience that
will see SYSPRO move forward as a product
and company well into the future.”
- John Fahey, General Manager, SYSPRO
Canada
unprecedented release. The usability is far
superior to previous versions, providing an
appeal which is both visual and practical.
The added technology enhancements,
such as workflow, improved VBScripting,
the introduction of XAML, enhanced SRS
and Document Printing options will help
reduce an organization’s carbon foot-
print. The functional enhancements that
are invasive throughout the product offer
many options for improving efficiency,
extending compliancy and expanding
visibility. SYSPRO 6.1 will truly live up to its
tagline of ‘simplifying your success’…”
- René Inzana, Product Manager, SYSPRO
USA

5 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4

 SYSPRO – Global

“It was good to see the workflow processes

“As I sit in front of my laptop on a typical
English autumn day exploring the features
of the latest version of SYSPRO, I have a big
smile on my face. When SYSPRO launched
Issue 10 in 2008 with a new customizable
interface, I didn’t think that there was much
else they could do to improve it – how wrong
I was! This release is amazing.
being developed, and the input re other
uses was thought-provoking. We are look-
ing forward to a field service module, and
the Quality Management System integration
should be a real bonus.”
- Phillip Lynn, Financial Controller, Goldstein
Eswood Australia

“The new look and feel of SYSPRO 6.1 is light

years ahead of Issue 10. The customization
and power tailoring tools have added a
dimension to changing SYSPRO functionality
that will provide implementers an almost infi-
nite flexibility to deliver solutions to end users.
“Improved and enhanced role-based secu-
rity features provide the security control
required in today’s business.
“I am impressed by the new functionality intro-
duced within the product, as we have been
considering and recommending other third-
party products to do the same thing. I also
believe it will be advantageous in signing new
business.”
- Trevor Abbott, Company Director, Advanced
ERP Consultants Ltd

“Four new modules and literally hundreds of

improvements to product functionality make
this the biggest release in years and the
arrival of an integrated workflow module rep-
resents a quantum leap forward for SYSPRO.
This workflow module will enable SYSPRO to
control and monitor the whole business proc-
ess and not just its own transactional data. It
will inevitably become one of the key mod-
ules to implement in the future.

“A massive amount of work has also been

done on creating documentation and edu-
cational material to help end users and
implementers understand the new prod-
uct, all of which is already available on the
SYSPRO website.

“The biggest challenge for the rest of us is to

make sure that the new features are used
and not to waste the power of this new prod-
uct.

“Well done SYSPRO!“

- Andy Latham, Technical Director, K3

SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4 6

"
 WORKING WITH SYSPRO – ASIA PACIFIC
Phillips & Smith
strengthens sales
and distribution
with SYSPRO
E
stablished in New Zealand in 1913, Phillips
& Smith (PSL) manufactures, imports and
distributes various fire and safety products
to more than 20 countries, with distribution
offices in Sydney and Auckland.
As a result of significant growth in export
opportunities and increased demands on sales
and distribution, PSL needed a new, improved
ERP solution. While the existing solution han-
dled manufacturing well, the technology was
outdated and was not managing distribution
and sales effectively.
“With SYSPRO’s Inventory Forecasting,
we have improved customer service
levels from 67% to 95%, with 30% less
dollar value in stock...SYSPRO does all
the calculations and hard work for you
and even suggests which products
contribute most to your business. It has
been very successful for us.”
- Ian Phillips,
General Manager of Phillips & Smith
Ian Phillips, General Manager of Phillips &
Smith, says: “We searched for an ERP system to
support future strategy – we had three or four
systems before this – and we chose SYSPRO
from a field of more than 86 different software
vendors.
“The criteria required a solution with strong
sales and distribution functionality, and import
costing was critical. The solution also had to
show a good upgrade path, ease of use and
we wanted best fit for our business without
customization. We are manufacturers – not
IT people – and wanted to focus on the core
business.”
7 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4
PSL’s manufacturing facility is the cornerstone
of its business and there is a high level of com-
plexity, with lead times ranging from one hour
to 18 weeks. The company also services the
New Zealand and world markets which involves
many different standards and catering for end
users, government departments and resellers.
As a result, PSL’s products require a mix of
make-to-stock and make-to-order. The new
solution had to handle this complicated manu-
facturing environment, as well as PSL’s growth
in distribution, with ease.
In addition, the company required improved
visibility of information and modern system
architecture to enable easy custom reporting
and future integration with web-based and
sales force automation applications.
SYSPRO was selected for its flexibility and
broad functionality. According to Phillips, the
increase in importing and distribution of many
of PSL’s products made SYSPRO ideal, with its
strengths across manufacturing, distribution
and financials.
The software implementation came in on
budget and ahead of time. Now, just over two
years on (December 2010) Phillips is satisfied
with the SYSPRO choice.
“We now have stable, accurate financial
results and excellent detailed transaction-
al data. It is an incredibly powerful tool for
Customer Service and Sales people because
they access the precise information they need
there and then. With the old system, Customer
Service people often had to take down a cus-
tomer query manually and return the call later
with the correct answer,” he says.
Users include staff from upper management
through to factory and store people. Sales
people use SYSPRO to access information and
facilitate day-to-day decisions.

“Previously, we had poor gross margin and
sales analysis. We couldn’t even get our top 10
customers without dumping high volumes of
data into Excel and doing a lot of manipula-
tion,” Phillips says.
“Now, we are spoilt for choice with the stand-
ard sales reports available and easy develop-
ment and distribution of many function-specif-
ic reports using Report Writer. Previously, it was
difficult to analyze information and we had to
wait until after month-end. Now data is updat-
ed daily, so we view data as fresh as yesterday
– and it’s available at the touch of a button.”
Even PSL’s company culture has been affect-
ed by the new system. By making information
more visible, employees take ownership and
this encourages employee involvement in the
business.
Also, PSL has begun to set goals and account-
ability for people by using SYSPRO’s graphical
tools to simplify these views of data. The com-
pany is also selective in what financial informa-
tion is disclosed.
“The built-in graphs are brilliant – we just cut
and paste the graphs straight in. Dashboards
are color-coded and don’t show figures,
WORKING WITH SYSPRO – ASIA PACIFIC
which drives behavior more than numbers. It’s
concise, simple and visual and has brought
very significant change for us,” Phillips says.
Inventory Forecasting and Stock Management
The new SYSPRO system was introduced
at a time when PSL faced heavy global
competition from commoditization of many of its
products. Low-cost producers – particularly
from China – rapidly changed PSL’s business
model. For example, within a period of two
to three years the price of a 1kg fire extinguish-
er fell by around 70% as China became the
largest worldwide manufacturer of extinguishers.
“With a fall in product prices, we need to turn
over more volume to get the same sales turno-
ver – and this creates complexities for ware-
housing, importing and distributing,” he says.
“Investing in the right stock becomes critical,
as the cost of holding stock is 25% of your stock
value each year.
“Pareto analysis in SYSPRO’s Forecasting mod-
ule dispels any assumptions you may have
about what you think your key products are –
the system does the calculations and shows you
the items that contribute most to the business.
“With SYSPRO’s Inventory Forecasting, we
SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4 8
 WORKING WITH SYSPRO – ASIA PACIFIC
have improved customer service levels from
67% to 95%, with 30% less dollar value in stock
in those product lines we now forecast. It’s also
provided great forward visibility to our suppli-
ers.”
This improvement was achieved in an envi-
ronment where a lot of the company’s resellers
are not stocking as much as they previously
did, forcing stocking requirements back onto
PSL. Meanwhile, sales people always want
plenty of stock so they don’t run out.
“It is very easy to hide key problems by having
a lot of safety stock and excess inventory. If you
start bringing inventory levels down, it reveals
true underlying problems. By using SYSPRO you
have tools such as the supplier performance
report for unreliable vendors, cycle counting
for stock accuracy, forecasting for demand
history and fluctuations. The tools are already
there to bring the stock levels down and get
immediate returns from it,” Phillips points out.
“We were initially skeptical about the con-
cept of inventory forecasting, but SYSPRO took
the ‘too much work’ argument out of the equa-
tion. SYSPRO does all the calculations and hard
work for you and even suggests which products
contribute most to your business. It has been
very successful for us.”
Phillips advises: “Don’t bite off more than you
can chew – we’ve started off with the easiest
product family and are rolling it out one by one
and simplifying as much as possible. It’s very
simple, but it has to be made understandable
to everyone.
“Our ultimate goal will be to use Families and
Groupings, where you can arrange 'collections'
9 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4
of stock keeping units (SKUs) into families and
groupings of similar items. Then we’ll be able to
enter values at top level for a high-level view,
and let SYSPRO disaggregate all the way down
to product level.”
SYSPRO’s close association with APICS (The
Association for Operations Management
– Advancing Productivity, Innovation, and
Competitive Success) has meant that the
best-practice knowledge and techniques of
production and inventory management are
standards within the SYSPRO system, and can
be used by the business.
Training and Customization
PSL loves SYSPRO’s ease of use and
ability to handle complex processes with ease.
Previously, staff often had to access multi-
ple screens for a single piece of information.
SYSPRO is linked, so it is easy to drill down to the
source.
“We have now begun to customize entry
screens – out of the box, there is a lot of infor-
mation and much of it is not required for every
user. Now we are looking at cutting it down for
each operator according to role to take the
unnecessary clutter out,” Phillips says.
Future Steps
The company is looking forward to
further optimizing its use of the system. Phillips
comments: “When we originally installed
SYSPRO, we wanted rapid implementation,
so we imported data from the old systems
and took old processes and ran them on
SYSPRO. However, this was not ideal as we
have not used SYSPRO in the most efficient
way. We are now looking at changing business
processes to use SYSPRO more efficiently and get
more return. The economic downturn gave us
impetus to do that.
“Our next steps will be to focus on eliminating
bad practices and establishing process flows
correctly. SYSPRO’s new Workflow Services will
offer a significant tool for this.
“We are excited about the changes in the
new release of SYSPRO 6.1, which have inspired
us to totally rethink not so much what we’re
going to do, but how we go about it - both as
a business and as a user. SYSPRO 6.1 introduces
many of the tools we were looking for from
outside vendors, and now they will be built into
SYSPRO.“ v

Pilot Brands
integrates
distribution
countrywide
with SYSPRO
P
ilot Brands, headquartered in Lake Tahoe,
Nevada, is a leading importer of lamb,
goat and seafood products for the US
market. The company maintains two warehous-
es and five regional sales offices across the US
to sell meat and seafood products to the food
services industry.
Pilot had been using an accounting pack-
age which, unfortunately, tended to ‘crash’ on
a regular basis. Moreover, the system neces-
sitated error-prone manual entries as well as
the extensive use of spreadsheets. In addition,
support for the package declined steadily
and then ceased when the software provider
merged with another company.
Gary Saunders, Pilot’s Vice President of
Operations, comments: “We also felt our exist-
ing system, purchased in 1996, was outdated
given the huge advances made with regard to
remote/internet access.” With warehouses and
offices across the country, Saunders wanted
an integrated solution that would eliminate the
duplication of entries in the various units.
Saunders realized the time had come for
Pilot to implement an ERP software solution.
After extensive reviews the choice narrowed to
SYSPRO. Saunders liked the real-time integrated
nature of the various SYSPRO modules. “I also
appreciated the ability we have to customize
the various inquiry screens without having to
change the source code.” SYSPRO e.net solu-
WORKING WITH SYSPRO – USA
tions and associated Business Objects give
Pilot a marketplace advantage by enabling
the company to tailor the software to meet the
exacting demands of the food services industry.
Pilot purchased SYSPRO software from SYSPRO
reseller S2 Solutions and implemented the solu-
tion on top of Microsoft XP. Today, 20 concur-
rent users use SYSPRO on a daily basis. Almost
immediately after installation, Pilot began to
see improvements in every phase of the busi-
ness. The efficiencies realized by the compa-
ny include: tight real-time integration of sales
orders and remote location inventory for order
fulfillment and invoicing; more timely invoicing
with better visibility, accuracy and manage-
ment of inventory levels; the ability to accom-
modate growth without an increase in staffing
levels; live inventory access for sales people in
the field with a subsequent elevation of cus-
tomer satisfaction; and month-end procedures
which took hours rather than days.
Saunders particularly appreciates the ‘paper-
less invoicing’ afforded by the new software.
Pilot is able to scan all backup documentation
and attach it to sales and purchase orders.
Custom-designed reports, work documents
and even photos are all attached to customer,
supplier and stock query screens via the multi-
media option. With the click of a button these
are available to every staff member.
As with any business, customer satisfaction
is very important to Pilot. With the new soft-
ware in place, field sales personnel are able to
access current inventory figures, enabling them
to provide customers with accurate delivery
schedules. “We no longer have a disconnect
between sales order entry and the warehous-
es,” notes Saunders, who takes special pride
in the custom warehouse system which ties
directly into the SYSPRO software database
through T1 lines.
The custom-designed Warehouse Mana-
gement System, developed by S2 Solutions’
SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4 10
 WORKING WITH SYSPRO – USA
associate Richard Linsdall, uses portable scan-
ners to locate and store the respective prod-
ucts and pallet positions within the warehouse.
“However, we don’t use it to scan individual
cartons as the numerous barcode formats and
number of damaged or unreadable barcodes
slow the process down. Although we still find it
faster to manually record all weights, the solu-
tion has greatly facilitated inventory tracking
and expedited customer shipments,” he says.
Citing another example of the enhanced
efficiencies brought about by the new SYSPRO
solution, Saunders points out that the month-
end close now takes a mere two days whereas
it previously took four to five days. Should
additional time be required (as with year-end,)
11 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4
SYSPRO offers the flexibility to close off (and re-
open) individual sub-ledgers, thereby minimiz-
ing any interruptions to the business.
Commenting on cost savings resulting from
the new SYSPRO solution, Saunders says: “The
biggest advantage would be improvements in
staff efficiency and our ability to outsource tasks
to under-utilized staff anywhere in the country.
The second biggest improvement would be
associated with having a ‘live’ system avail-
able to any and all staff with Internet access.
This has enabled all staff members to make
informed and subsequently improved decisions
with regard to day-to-day transactions – and
this is priceless.” v
 WORKING WITH SYSPRO – UK

SYSPRO
integration manages
the inventory
conundrum at
Dawson MMP

K
eeping a tight rein on inventory is essential
to running an efficient organization, and
the importance of inventory management
increases for companies carrying both finished
products and a wide range of spares for routine
maintenance and repair. No organization wants
to stock more than it needs, but it is essential to
ensure that sufficient items are stocked to meet
customers’ needs. Leading catering equipment
supplier Dawson MMP shows how SYSPRO, inte-
grated with specialist inventory management
software, makes it easier to optimize inventory
and provide excellent service.

Cost management and customer service are

highlighted time and time again as the key
ingredients for a thriving business. Furthermore,
managing inventory levels is a major focus for
many customer-focused organizations. Such
companies understand the need to maintain
sufficient levels of products and spares to meet
customer needs without having money tied up
in excess stock. This is not an easy task without
the right tools.
Reports. SYSPRO integrates seamlessly with a
specialist inventory management system called
Optimiza from Barloworld Optimus.
Working together, these fully integrated sys-
tems help Dawson MMP to meet its supply and
service targets by maintaining tight control of
all inventory items.

Dawson MMP is a prime example of a UK-based
company which sources finished products from
European manufacturers for selling through
dealers and also directly to public bodies such
as the NHS, educational institutions and the
prison service. With long lead times for prod-
ucts, the company must maintain healthy stock
levels so that customers are not left waiting for
their equipment or for service and repair.
The £10 million turnover business is part of the
Ali Group of companies – the largest group of
industrial catering equipment manufacturers
and suppliers in Europe. A long-term SYSPRO
user, Dawson MMP relies on the system to help
it run a slick operation. The company uses
a number of core SYSPRO modules, includ-
ing Accounts Payable/Receivable, Cash Book,
Sales Ledger, Sales Analysis, Quotations and
Customers must have excellent service
Supplying high-quality industrial catering
equipment is only one element of the busi-
ness. In this market after-sales service is just as
important, as end users expect their equipment
to work regardless of the punishing nature of
the catering environment. Breakdowns have
to be repaired quickly and efficiently, and rou-
tine maintenance must not cause unnecessary
downtime because a spare part is out of stock.
This is where SYSPRO plays an important role.
The integrated SYSPRO system keeps track of
the spare parts and helps Dawson MMP to build
stock profiles to optimize the amount of each
item so that it can meet its first-time fix KPI (key
performance indicator). The system allows this
without over-stocking and also prevents cash
being tied up in unnecessary stock.

SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No. 4 12

 WORKING WITH SYSPRO – SYSPRO UK
Steve Gordon, Finance Director of Dawson
MMP, says: “After-sales service is extremely
important. We get in to fix a breakdown within
24 hours and we expect to meet our stringent
KPI of 75% first-time fixes. We must have the right
spares in stock so that our service technicians
can meet this demanding target.”
The integration of SYSPRO and Optimiza is
essential for clear visibility of stock.
“We have five major brands of equipment
and receive a weekly shipment from each one.
The items arrive on a 40ft trailer and can be any
combination of equipment or spares. We put
all of this into SYSPRO using the goods-received
note,” Gordon says.
Data entered into SYSPRO automatical-
ly updates Optimiza, enabling the inventory
management software to calculate the ideal
levels of safety stock and optimal replenish-
ment orders for every product, part and spares
item. It then produces inventory replenishment
recommendations, automatically flagging up
parts that need immediate re-ordering or a
reassessed stock level.
“It is crucial that we have the right stock levels,
13 SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4
particularly as many of the products we sell
have long lead times. We have two types of
stock: finished products – the machines – and
spare parts. We hold 200 lines of machines and
about 17,000 lines of spares," Gordon explains.
The integration of both systems provides easy
access to highly detailed inventory information.
This includes the ability to identify potential
stock-outs, purchase orders that need expedit-
ing as well as highlighting surplus and excess
items. This level of visible detail enables Dawson
MMP to focus on managing these issues.
“The solution helps us maintain optimum
stocks. With it we can avoid holding excess
levels or incurring stock-outs of any item. This
keeps our dealers happy and means that we
can deliver exceptional service. We could not
function without it,” he says.
The company is relocating to a new site soon,
and will maintain SYSPRO as its main IT system.
Dawson MMP is working closely with SYSPRO
reseller K3 Business Technology Group to devel-
op the SYSPRO MRP module as a replacement
to Optimiza. This will take Dawson MMP’s imple-
mentation of SYSPRO to a very advanced level.
“We are very happy with SYSPRO and are all
very comfortable using it. The system is easy
to use and we understand it. By developing
MRP as an inventory management tool within
SYSPRO, we feel that we are taking another
major step forward in developing tools that will
help boost our efficiency,” Gordon says. v

Tangram Surfaces ahead of the pack
B
est known to contractors and consumers
alike by its Centura brand, Tangram Surfaces
was established in 1985 as a wholesale and
retail distributor of ceramic tile and marble prod-
ucts. At the time, the company operated a 2,700
sq. ft. warehouse in Dartmouth, NS.
Rapid growth and success saw the company
expand to 70,000 sq. ft. across three brand-new
warehouses to strategically cover the Canadian
east coast. One area which threatened to restrict
the success was business software. Tangram had
originally installed a popular generic accounting
system and, as the business grew, the limitations
of the software became increasingly trouble-
some. The management team determined that
the computer software must be upgraded or
replaced to enhance staff productivity.
John Walsh, Director of Finance, explains: “There
was a variety of problems with our previous soft-
ware; day-end processing required all the users
to exit the system for approximately an hour every
day; lot tracking was handled by other software
that repeatedly caused problems; and reports
were limited and cumbersome.”
Commenting on the biggest challenge for the
company, Walsh says: “We were forced to allow
inventory quantities to go negative because the
system was oriented towards ‘batch processing’
and didn’t reflect the latest status of available/
on-hand quantities. This caused some big sur-
prises during our annual stock count valuations.
It also meant our sales team could not depend
on stock allocations and frequently promised the
same stock to several different customers.”
The company began seriously investigating
business software alternatives and narrowed its
options down to SYSPRO. Walsh describes how
the selection process unfolded: “The closer we
analyzed the features contained in SYSPRO, the
more we realized what we had been missing,” he
says. “Our General Manager turned to me during
a demonstration of the sales order processing and
declared that features in SYSPRO could potential-
ly double the productivity of his customer service
team!
“Our software decision became quite clear
as a result. We chose the solution with the high-
est return on investment. SYSPRO was ordered in
WORKING WITH SYSPRO – CANADA
September and the company was operating live
on 1 January at all locations.”
He says the results have been ‘magnificent’.
“Inventory quantities are now accurate and
dependable on a real-time basis. Sales staff can
feel confident when committing stock to custom-
ers. Physical stock counts are also dramatically
improved, taking less time with substantially lower
variances. In addition, we now have reliable
‘aging’ for all time-sensitive items in inventory –
which makes it much easier to pinpoint stock to
be cleared.”
The financials have also improved, as landed
costs for shipping and brokerage are automati-
cally apportioned properly to each stock receipt,
ensuring that Tangram’s stock valuations are more
realistic and its sales margins more meaningful.
This means that the company’s monthly financial
reports are dead-on accurate for inventory valu-
ations, with accrued accounts payable matching
to purchasing.
SYSPRO’s margin protection features with built-in
password protection also made a big difference
to the bottom line. Walsh singles out the SYSPRO
back-order review function: “This program makes
purchasing decisions vastly easier than before –
and especially useful to ensure all customer back-
orders are fulfilled on a timely basis with clarity
about what stock is intended for which warehouse
and customer. SYSPRO has dramatically simplified
our lives – far beyond what our previous software
could do. It was the right choice.”
Walsh plans to roll out the latest version of the
software over the next few months to continue
reaping the benefits of SYSPRO’s steady stream of
enhancements. v
SYSPRO Global Talk I Vol 6 No.4 14
Africa and the Middle East UK & Europe
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