Problem/Challenge
Solution
Key Features & Benefits

Effective stock management with Sage 200 customisation

Company Profile

Scotia Marine is a wholesaler of seafood products based in Broxburn, West Lothian. The company tends to deal with large customers who then resell the products. They are involved in both domestic and export markets.

Problem/Challenge

Scotia Marine was using a very old version of Sage Line 100. The system was no longer supported by Sage and was heavily customised. They were having serious issues with the product as it kept crashing. On top of this the system was down for an hour every lunch time while maintenance was carried out. There were also several errors in their data which could not be fixed.

The developer who customised Sage Line 100 for Scotia Marine was no longer contactable. As a result, they had no support for the system and did not have anyone available to fix the issues they were having. The company decided that they needed a new system for stability and to stop the excessive down-time each day.

Scotia Marine needed the system to have functionality to deal with their industry-specific inventory management processes. Purchase Orders and Sales Orders had to be calculated based on the number of boxes and weights of these boxes. Traceability was also required on each box starting from purchase through to the sales of the boxes of fish.

Fish

Solution Scotia Marine contacted Eureka Solutions about customising the Sage 200 Suite to have the ability to manage their industry-specific processes. Eureka Solutions are the UK’s leading Sage Developer giving Scotia Marine the confidence that their complex requirements could be met. Scotia Marine order boxes of seafood from their suppliers based on average weight. However, boxes typically arrive weighing between 18kg and 22kg. As standard, Sage 200 is not able to manage the purchase of boxes at multiple weights so customisation of the system was required. Eureka Solutions customised the system to allow Scotia Marine to handle their specific Purchase Order and Sales Order requirements as shown below. Purchase Orders:
Sales Orders:

The serial number traceability in standard Sage 200 was not flexible enough to manage the variables that the seafood industry requires. Eureka Solutions customised Sage 200 so that there was traceability on each box of fish. A unique reference based on criteria such as supplier, palette number and harvest date is created and these could also be reported on if required. Sage 200 has the ability to handle multiple currencies as standard, allowing Scotia Marine to manage their trading with foreign markets. Upgrading from Sage Line 100 to Sage 200 saved the company a great deal of time, as there were no errors in the data and the system no longer crashed, as before. With Sage Line 100 being down for an hour each day for maintenance, upgrading to Sage 200 increased the productivity as users could access the system at all times, when previously they could not. Integration with Microsoft products such as Word, Excel and Outlook again saves users time and it is also quicker and easier to get the desired reports out of the system.

Key Features & Benefits

A robust, modern Business Management System which can grow with the company.
The system no longer crashes and there is no down-time, saving over an hour per day, per user.
A customised order processing solution which meets the specific business needs of Scotia Marine. Without this customisation, the company would not have the ability to process their stock in Sage 200 and would have needed to look at a more expensive bespoke solution. The customisation allows Scotia Marine to manage their operations quickly and easily, without a lot of manual work, which could lead to errors.
Customised stock traceability allows Scotia Marine to trace every order on each individual box. Supplier, palette number and harvest date are all traceable, should there be any recalls required on the produce for any reason.
Sage 200 can manage multiple currencies which was essential due to Scotia Marine’s involvement in foreign markets.
Time saved through integration of Sage 200 with Microsoft products.
Powerful, flexible and easy to use reporting tool gives greater control and analysis allowing Scotia Marine to manage their business more effectively.

For more information on how Eureka Solutions can help your business, either with a standard or customised solution, please contact us to speak to one of our consultants.