Training database is the top priority
Sage Accpac ERP is helping ensure this training franchise organisation maintains top quality information on its database...
Priority Management Systems is a worldwide training franchise organisation providing tools, techniques, and training solutions to enhance productivity. The Australian operation has 23 franchise offices in the Asia-Pacific region, spread out over Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.
Over the last 10 years, 75,000 people in this region have successfully graduated from Priority Management’s training programmes. With revenues in excess of A$8 million a year, this company has a significant market share, and has emerged as a serious player in the training field.
Ask Priority Management Systems what their priority is, and they will immediately tell you it is to improve performance, reduce costs, and increase profits for individuals, teams, and organisations.
“When companies were restructuring by laying off employees, instead of sitting in the trenches, we decided to embark on an aggressive campaign of targeted marketing and building customer loyalty. To do that we needed a fully integrated business system, and Sage Accpac ERP, supported by a Windows NT environment, was the answer,” explains managing director Greg Sparks.
With 75,000 clients and 13,000 companies on their databases, tracking and verifying information was crucial to the success of Priority Management’s marketing and order fulfilment process.
Solution
“We had no way, using our separate client database, to verify if the information we had in our accounting database was the same,” says Sparks. “We had to double input everything. Staff resource was enormous with no real results; mistakes were made at every level. We were having stock sent back and we had no integrated tracking system. Having such disparate systems was an operational nightmare.”
Priority Management maintains exhaustive information for every one of their clients – such as what training program they attended, contact information, billing specifics, credit card details, what they purchased, who made the purchasing decision. These details are maintained in their seamlessly integrated Microsoft Visual FoxPro and Sage Accpac ERP databases and can be further drilled down by parent company, by subsidiary company, and address details including department and floor. This detailed information is not only relied upon for their massive mailings, but is an integral part of their order process.
“This was the biggest deal that happened for us," says Sparks. “With Sage Accpac ERP we are able to maintain the integrity of our databases. With the expertise of Sydney-based Enabling, we have a process whereby every order that comes in is verified against the information in our financial system.”
Any discrepancies in information are corrected before the order goes to the warehouse for picking.
“We were never able to do this before and it made a big difference in the way the whole operation runs. We were able to cut back our staff from six to two people to manage the order fulfilment process in the normal season and in the busy season, when activity jumps ten-fold, we now operate with seven from the previous 14; and with a much better level of customer service," says Sparks.
"From an operational perspective, we now know where everything is. Orders are gone very quickly, and with a lot less stress. Although we had a good accounting system, we now have a fully functional business management system with Sage Accpac ERP.”
Results
With 23 franchises shipping directly to clients, efficient management of supplying the materials associated with its training programs seemed to be an impossible to achieve dream. Franchise offices would place their orders and expect Priority Management headquarters to always carry the stock.
“We did not know what they were going to order and we were losing money on overstocking of product that was time sensitive,” says Sparks. The answer was centralised retail.
“The reporting functions that we get out of Sage Accpac ERP has made a tremendous difference. We run stock usage reports to keep track of inventory by season. We now have a much better handle on our stock at any given moment. We have improved our ordering processes as well as cash flow.”
“One of the fantastic features about Sage Accpac ERP is its integration with Excel,” says Sparks. “I have reports that tell me how we are doing and what is going on at my fingertip. You are on top of your costs as they are happening. I know my profit and loss on a daily basis. I can review my accounts receivable and accounts payable on the screen. The extensive General Ledger coding structure enables us to get the kind of in depth reporting that was not possible before.”
Automating their daily and monthly sales report has increased efficiency and productivity. In addition to speeding up processes by bringing information in faster, Priority Management has saved an enormous amount of money by moving to Sage Accpac ERP and integrating its databases.
“Last year we had personnel doing invoicing as a separate job function. Now we have it done at the point of packing, saving not only a person, but also having it done at a lower salary level, amounting to a savings of $14,000 a year. Printing and sending of invoices is done at the warehouse," says Sparks.
"Being able to print on a laser printer instead of a dot matrix will help us save stationery costs (multi-part picking slips & invoices) to the tune of $ 24,000 this year. This came about because we have an integrated system and we are using Sage Accpac ERP to improve our processes all the time."
For more information
Enabling Solutions
www.enabling.net
Ph: 1800 ENABLING
Ph: 1800 362 254
8/7/11_ex_h_nl
