Turning data into information

Crucial elements needed to implement a successful Business Intelligence Project

April 12th, 2012

Business Intelligence projects depend on information held in business systems and processes.  Effective business systems and processes are fundamentally important to the growth and status quo of any business; therefore it is important that organisations manage these processes effectively to get the most value from them. However, these processes don’t operate in silos. Business processes can have an impact on and can be impacted by the people, technology, information and the working environments that they are part of.  This is why it is imperative that all of these facets are considered when Business Intelligence projects are implemented.

Ignoring or not considering these facets enough could be the reasons why many Business Intelligence Projects fail or do not deliver the ROI value expected.

•    Over Focus on the Technology – Many Business Intelligence projects fall into the trap of being technology led. The technology utilised for gathering and presenting the business information should only be one consideration for the enablement of the project.  

•    Lack of Management Sponsorship – It is crucial that BI Projects are management led. There should also be a nominated project sponsor who has enough power internally to remove any obstacles that may arise. They should understand the company data and systems and ensure the datasets used for analysis are meaningful.

•    Data Clean Up – A business intelligence solution can only be as good as the data held in the business systems it extracts the data from. If you put rubbish in these systems, you will get rubbish out.  So if the data is particularly bad, a data clean up project prior to the business intelligence stage may have to be conducted.

•    Unclear Business Objectives – A clear definition of what is required in terms of business objectives and data outputs is crucial. These should tie in with the key performance measures within the business. Too often lack of upfront planning is the reason why BI Projects do not meet expectations.

•    People Buy In – BI can often expose flaws in the business systems and processes and fixing these flaws requires change and discipline.  Therefore, it is crucial that the people that will be affected by the changes see and buy into the benefit in the BI solution.

Finally it is of paramount importance that ownership and accountability are clearly defined to drive forward the business intelligence solution and implement any changes required to the affected business processes.

 

Eureka Solutions specialise in QlikView Business Discovery software. If you would like any further information on please contact our head office on 01355 581 960 or email enquiries@eurekasolutions.co.uk.

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Web PO New Functionality

March 29th, 2012

Web Purchase Orders for Sage 200
Since the launch of Web Purchase Orders for Sage 200, we have been delighted with all the feedback we have been receiving from the business partner channel. From your feedback, we have added additional functionality to enhance the product and make it work better for businesses:

 

• Project Accounting

Web PO now links with project accounting in Sage 200, allowing the user to assign purchase order lines to specific projects.

 

• Global Project Codes

Automatically assign a global project code to every line on a purchase order. Manually override the global code for specific lines that aren’t associated to that particular project.

 

• User Permissions

Administrator can assign specific permissions to other Web PO users, restricting access to certain purchase orders, ability to enable/disable who can print purchase orders, and control access to amend purchase order date.

 

• Additional Stock and Supplier information

We have now extended the stock and supplier tabs to now include information such as: stock supplier list, supplier contact details and supplier analysis codes.

Try Web PO for Yourself

 

Join us on a Web PO webinar on Wednesday 4th April 2012, at 2.00pm to see the product in action.

Alternatively, try Web PO for yourself at www.eurekashowcase.co.uk

 

For more information on Web PO for Sage 200 or any of our other Sage 200 addons, please contact Alyson McCrum or Tony Davis-Coyle on 01355 581 960.

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Data Exchange New Functionality

March 29th, 2012

Data Exchange for Sage 200

One of our most popular addons, Data Exchange for Sage 200 has seen some new functionality added:

 

• Batch Serial Numbered Items

Import/Export stock with batch serial number for goods received, write off stock, add stock, stock issues, sales orders, and stock transfer.

 

• New Import Capability

Data Exchange now has the ability to import stock issues, sales orders and stock transfers.

 

• Export Price Book

Allows the user to export information such as: Product discounts, stock item discounts, customer discounts, order value discounts and price bands.

 

• Disable Automatic spooling

Ability to disable automatic spooling when sales orders are imported, preventing a shortage of space on your spool file.

 

For more information on Data Exchange for Sage 200 or any of our other Sage 200 addons, please contact Alyson McCrum or Tony Davis-Coyle on 01355 581 960.

Alternatively, join us on a Data Exchange webinar where you will see the product in action. Check out the events page for the next scheduled demo.

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What is Business discovery?

March 27th, 2012

By Anna Young

Most would automatically presume that it is another highly complicated BI system which would require the most data savvy analyst at the wheel, churning out data and reports that couldn’t be understood by the average business executive.

In the last couple of years, the complicated stereotype that was associated with a BI system has started to change, with a new force of Business Discovery emerging into the marketplace. This new wave of BI has shoved every business executive back in the driving seat and on the road to business discovery!

Being able to understand the data within your business is a very important concept, made easy by the ease of use of Data Discovery systems. From discovering what products sell well and why to finding new opportunities and strengthening the overall business performance. This is all information that you wouldn’t necessarily set out or expect to find. Instead it is achieved by the Data being consolidated from multiple locations and being centralised and analysed all within an easy to use dashboard.

Each question answered is the start of another journey waiting to commence!

Everyone, from the very top right down to the bottom is able to explore and discover with this new generation of business intelligence. Users wanted control back and that’s exactly what they got. Users now have the ability to question their data in order to make better more informed decisions, based on information that is up to date and relevant. The system gives insight into your business and shows trends and figures that might have originally been hidden by masses of data and confusing reports. Business intelligence is no longer an over complicated system dominated by IT.

Users are able to collaborate and share their ideas and discoveries throughout the business. One of the main points to business discovery is that it delivers information right into the hands of the user. This information empowers each user with the ability to analyse and use it to help solve any problems and in turn boost the overall performance of the business.

Using a system such as Business Discovery takes the user on a journey that will help them to understand and use their data in the best possible way. There is never a wasted journey, only new ways of discovering, learning and moving forward. With Business Intelligence, seeing will definitely make you believe.

Data Discovery: empower your users, enrich your business!

 

Eureka Solutions specialise on QlikView Business Discovery software. If you would like any further information on please contact our head office on 01355 581 960 or email enquiries@eurekasolutions.co.uk.

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Sage 200 Lunch & Learn 17th April 2012

March 27th, 2012

Creating Perfect Partnerships with Sage 200

Lunch & Learn Seminar: An Introduction to the Sage 200 Suite

Sage 200 is a system for all businesses, integral to the smooth running of thousands of companies across the UK including our customer, Edinburgh Zoo. It brings together financials, customer relationship management and business intelligence all in one solution, sharing information across the whole organisation.

Join us at our free ‘Lunch & Learn’ seminar, “An introduction to the Sage 200 Suite”, on Tuesday 17th April 2012 and find out how Eureka Solutions have been the Zoo’s perfect Sage 200 partner.

 

 

Why should I attend?

Whether you are looking to drive business growth or are feeling restricted by your current business system the seminar is an ideal opportunity to see how Sage 200 could benefit your business.

Our experts Danny Broxup from Sage and Gillian Livingstone from Eureka Solutions will be on-hand to take you through the benefits of the Sage 200 Suite.

Event Details

An Introduction to the Sage 200 Suite
Date: Tuesday 17th April 2012
Time: 11.45am – 1.45pm
Venue: Edinburgh Zoo, 134 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh EH12 6TS

For more information please call our head office on 01355 581 950 or email euan.harris@eurekasolutions.co.uk

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New Development: Purchase Order Import Specification

March 23rd, 2012

by anna young

Problem:
One of our clients wanted a quick method of generating purchase orders within Sage 200.  The client had an extensive collection of stock with their purchase orders often containing varying stock combinations and quantities of stock items.

Solution:
Using a hand held scanner device the user was able to scan the barcodes on the goods to be ordered and enter the quantity required to be purchased. (User must have the ability to scan barcodes – Barcode addon for Sage 200 will automatically pick up correct stock item code based on the barcode values in Sage 200.)

Once the item had been scanned the handheld scanner was docked into a PC and details from the scanner were imported into Sage 200 as a new Purchase Order. This process was possible due to the combination of our Data Exchange for Sage 200 addon along with a hand held scanner to create and import purchase orders into the Sage 200 system.

The user created 2 look up files which had a list of all possible suppliers for the Purchase Order and the stock locations for the Purchase Order. This information was uploaded to the handheld device using software provided with the scanner (information remains on scanner until user requires an updated supplier/warehouse list).

Supplier and Warehouse details are manually entered, prompting the scanner to perform a look up of each and confirm that both exist (an error message error appears if they do not exist.) After the entries were confirmed, the user was presented with a screen that required them to scan the barcode (with the handheld device) and manually enter the quantity of the required purchase. Several Orders are able to be created by the user without the data needing to be uploaded between each order.

Once all the information is captured, the user will dock the handheld scanner, using the data transfer software within the scanner to transfer the info from a pre-set directory to the location of the CSV Purchase Order import folder on the server. The CSV file was then exported to a specified directory. Each file contains 6 columns – ‘Supplier’, ‘Warehouse’, ‘Barcode’ and ‘Quantity as specified, along with ‘Order Type’ and ‘Line Type’ which will automatically populated.

The Data Exchange addon imports the CSV file from the folder specified and into Sage 200 as a Purchase Order. Data Exchange would then look up the scanned barcode within the barcode table to find correct stock item. A full history of imported files and purchase orders is always kept and stored.

The imported file is created as a new Purchase Order within Sage 200. It contains all of the default supplier and stock item details including pricing – supplier price list or last buying price, depending on the settings on the stock items.

For more details about our bespoke solutions please contact the office on 01355 581 960 or email development@eurekasoutions.co.uk

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New Development: Sales Order Project Accounting

March 9th, 2012

Problem:

At present the current Sage 200 model does not have the ability to link a company’s Sales Order Module to Project Accounting.
One of our clients has requested that we create a solution that would allow them to record their revenue and costs of stock items against projects, whilst keeping the full functionality of Sales Order Processing.

Our Solution:
The solution created would allow the Sales Order Processing for Sage 200 module to process orders to the despatch stage, cancelling the Sales Order and issuing the goods to Project Accounting for Sage 200. This link is not a true link but does allow the ability to issue stock against a project for a stock item. Full functionality of the Sales Order Process for Sage 200 from entering orders through to allocation and despatch can still be processed.

Sales Order Processing:
The Sales Order “Enter new Order Full Form” will be extended to include an additional check box called ‘Project Order’. It will only become active after a customer account has been selected.
On checking the Project Order check box an additional section will be added onto the Sales Order add items screen called “Project Details”. The user must select the project and project item that the Sales Order is for from two drop downs provided – this can be different on each line.
The nominal code will not be affected due to no financials being posted. The drop down list will only show Projects which have a status which allows costs – Project will have stock issued to it.

Despatch Process:
At the point of dispatch, for each line on the order the dispatch note will be confirmed and printed. This in turn will cancel the dispatch, cancel the allocation and cancel the line on the order.
If the last line on the order is cancelled it will also cancel the Sales Order at the same time. As the line is being cancelled it will create a ‘Project Issue’ for the quantity required of that Stock Item to the given Project for that Sales Order line.

This process will be equivalent to manually: issuing a stock item to a project, entering the stock item code, warehouse from the order line and quantity from the order line. The Stock issue can then be billed from Project Accounting as standard. All of the details from the Sales Order line despatch are used to complete the relevant fields.

For more details about our bespoke solutions please contact the office on 01355 581 960 or email development@eurekasoutions.co.uk

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IT solutions experts Eureka Solutions complete “excellent job” for Western Ferries

March 5th, 2012

Western Ferries are best known for providing the popular “short crossing” between Gourock and Hunter’s Quay, Dunoon, on the Lower Clyde.

The ferry company’s vessels ply their trade, delivering locals and tourists – and their cars and buses – to Argyll and the Highlands, whilst connecting Dunoon and its neighbouring villages with Gourock and from there to Glasgow.

What is less well known is that Western Ferries – which employs 60 staff – also provide vital commercial services to more than 300 business customers including household names like BT, Scottish Water, and the Royal Mail. Their ferries provide a vital patient transport link for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

All that business generates financial paperwork for Finance Director Marjorie Beattie. She and her team turned to Eureka Solutions to upgrade their accounting system to the Sage 200 Suite and integrate it with the rest of their IT systems which were being overhauled and updated at the same time.

Marjorie is full of praise for Eureka’s approach to the job.

“We have more than 300 commercial customers, and all our suppliers to think about. We needed to bring our invoicing into the financial IT package in order to eliminate duplication.  The upgrade allowed us to achieve this and also provide a more efficient service for our customers,” explains Marjorie.

“Eureka really provided an excellent service. We had a number of quite intensive training sessions with them. Eureka’s project manager Kyle Kennedy and his colleagues ran everything very well.

“We chose Eureka for the job because we knew they had delivered a project for another company that we know well and they showed a strong understanding of our needs. They have a good reputation for quality.”

Marjorie’s team of five were trained in Sage 200 quickly and the first month’s invoicing went smoothly after the installation was completed in late 2011.

“This was quite a typical installation for a company of the size of Western Ferries,” explained Kyle Kennedy of Eureka Solutions.

“It was important for us to make sure we clearly understood their requirements, and to design an implementation programme that would fit their business most effectively, and without disrupting day to day operations.

“This was done with careful planning and completed with a well thought-out, hands-on approach to training Western Ferries staff to use the system, so that they could do so with confidence from an early stage of its introduction.”

For more information on Eureka Solutions or the Sage 200 Suite please call our head office on 01355 581 960.

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New Development: Inter Company Transfers

March 1st, 2012

by Anna Young, Marketing Assistant

One of our clients wanted to export purchase orders from one Sage 200 company and import these into a different Sage 200 company as a sales order. The original purchase order number needed to be a reference on the sales order.

Our Solution:
Two separate Data Exchange modules were set up, with each one pointing to the two companies in Sage 200. One Data Exchange would export purchase orders from one company and the second would import the purchase orders as sales orders into the second company. The Data Exchange module had a sales order import routine as standard. Therefore the development team created a bespoke export routine for exporting purchase orders. The export routine produced a CSV/xml file with the purchase order details in the correct format for sales order import routine to pick up.  The file included the customer account reference number for creating sales order.
The checkbox added to the purchase order screen, when ticked, will flag up purchase orders that need to be exported. This means the next time Data Exchange runs, it would pick up all the purchase orders with flags checked that haven’t been exported. A CSV file is produced containing all the purchase order details required but in a sale order import format. As each of the orders is exported a second flag will appear to stop Data Exchange from exporting the file again.
The Export file generated was  imported into the second company using the second stance of Data Exchange to create the matching sales order. Each purchase order exported creates one sales order in the second company.
The process only works for new purchase orders. Any amendments to the purchase order once it is exported or imported will need to be updated manually in other Sage 200 company.

Modifying the Stock Record Export routines solved this. When the stock is exported out of the source company, the preferred supplier details can be set to a different supplier account for importing into the second company, using Data Exchange. User nominates the supplier account to be used – same supplier account and supplier price list for default supplier needs to be exported and imported into secondary company.

A new drop down was added into the Stock Export settings for Data Exchange of the default preferred supplier. The drop down displays a list of all the supplier account references within the connected Sage 200 Source Company. The user is able to select which supplier account they want to use for export.
Stock record export routines are amended in Data Exchange. This ensures that any preferred supplier in stock record export file is overwritten with the supplier account selected within the Data Exchange settings. The supplier price list that is exported is also taken from the default supplier specified, along with the lead time, supplier part number, usual order quantity and minimum order quantity.

To find out more about our bespoke work for sage, phone the office on 01335 581 960, or email Alyson McCrum on alyson.mccrum@eurekasolutions.co.uk

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Welcome Tony Davis-Coyle

March 1st, 2012

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Tony Davis-Coyle as Account Manager. Tony brings a wealth of experience with 12 years in the Sage Channel and his primary role will be to focus on the Sage Development area of the business.

Tony will assist our Sage Development Commercial Manager, Alyson McCrum in managing the Sage Channel and promoting our existing products as well as our new products, which include the newly launched Web PO for Sage 200.

“Joining Eureka offers me a new and exciting challenge, working with the Sage 200 Business Partner Channel to promote and sell the wide range of Eureka’s Sage 200 Addons,” explains Tony.

“With new products on the horizon, the future is looking good for end users and BP’s alike.”

If you would like more information on any of our products please call our head office on 01355 581960 or email Alyson or Tony directly.

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