Ship (KORUS Retail)

Situation

"Scrappy automation" - use of separate software products for automation of different fields of business – widespread model of IT infrastructure of the Russian business. And if at the small scales of activity such approach provides convenience and efficiency of work of departments, then in process of enlargement of business, increase in number of data and complication of business processes, it generates low availability of information on a real situation in the enterprise. Specialists of divisions can successfully use the local systems and maintain databases by own requirements, but the company management will obtain information on activity of the company with delays and in the separate type unacceptable for the operational analysis and acceptance of management decisions.

Within ten years many information systems which historically evolved were involved in IT structure of Korablik company, changed on more modern and scalable. Since 2004 as the main accounting system was operated by Treydiks. Also self-written systems which allowed to do automatic supplier orders were used, controlled work with discount cards and so forth. They were integrated, but a lot of time left on their maintenance, besides there was no uniform point of control.

Over time the information infrastructure which developed at that time which represented a combination of software products of different producers became the structural problem limiting possibilities of further development. With growth of the range, floor spaces and active increase in scales of business the Korablik company reached that stage of development when for maintenance of transparency, unified information environment became necessary for flexibility and controllability of the enterprise.

System Selection

When choosing the platform for automation, we were guided by three criteria: first, existence of industry solutions for retail; secondly, reasonable implementation cost; and, thirdly, present and technological effectiveness of a product. These criteria allowed us to select Microsoft Dynamics AX from all possible options.

Sergey Zabrodin, Axapta project manager of Korablik company

Existence of the functional and reliable solution, a large number of successful implementations and considerable experience with retail became the main requirements of Ship to integrator. After in-depth examination of the market, the company management stopped the choice on CORUS Consulting company and own solution of integrator "KORUS|Retail" based on Microsoft Dynamics AX. "KORUS|Retail" - the solution certified by Microsoft - the end-to-end system including the best practices of management of the enterprises and retail. Thanks to participation of experts, western consultants and representatives of the leading companies of the Russian trade, the solution "KORUS|Retail" covers all range of business processes of trade enterprise, provides a broad set of functions, specific to the industry, and fully allows to use the potential of a modern ERP system.

Implementation

The project was strictly limited by the customer on terms therefore the standard technique of implementation underwent changes. In particular, duration of a stage of inspection was considerably reduced, and primary description of business processes was prepared on the basis of standard instructions "KORUS|Retail". Also, the group of people with which project solutions were discussed and affirmed was most limited, and discussion of schemes "as will be" took place using a system prototype – with demonstration of the available functionality.

Need of simultaneous start of a system for all shops of network became the second feature of the project. So the possibility of step-by-step implementation was excluded. At that time the network included about 30 shops, the distribution center and head office.

Corrected under are necessary the customer the methodology of Corus Consulting allowed to maintain intense operation schedule and to implement the project in record time: from the moment of start of works before start of a system in test operation there passed only 3.5 months.

Results

During the project the following business processes of the customer were automated:

•   assortment management;
•   inventory management and system of the autoorder;
•   settlement with suppliers;
•   management of retail sales;
•   pricing;
•   management of a mail system.

As a result, Ship could refuse a considerable part of the separate information systems used in different departments of retail chain stores. With the saved applications integration was carried successfully out, in particular, communication "KORUS|Retail" with the cash Supermag-UKM system for the first time was implemented.

The solution "KORUS|Retail" based on Microsoft Dynamics AX allows us to accumulate and analyze such data which earlier we could not receive, for example, statistics of execution of orders by suppliers or efficiency of purchasing managers. All this will allow us to reduce costs, it is better to work, to provide to buyers better goods at the best prices, so, to develop and expand the presence in the retail market with children's goods.

Robert Sardaryan, project director of Korablik company

Development of a system

Information infrastructure of Ship constantly is supported and develops an internal command of network, and on company management attracts the checked partner to implementation of the largest and difficult projects – Corus Consulting.

Implementation of a corporate portal based on Microsoft SharePoint became one of the first development projects. The corporate knowledge base (documentation, regulations, instructions, library, the FAQ) was as a result created, support of communications between employees, planning of holding internal and external actions, marketing actions, training management of employees and carrying out certifications are provided. The corporate portal became the convenient instrument of accounting and processing of consignment notes and related documents, and thanks to integration of Microsoft SharePoint with the ERP system of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the portal became uniform point of entry for display of the reporting under all information systems of the company.

Using the portal solution we significantly simplified processing of primary documentation, reduced time of processing and the number of paper copies of documents, processing of documentation is conducted in electronic form now. As a result we received uniform storage of primary documentation - acts, invoices, delivery notes - with a convenient search capability and constructions of the reporting.

Robert Sardaryan, project director of Korablik company

The IT management of Ship in details approaches the choice of the directions and arrangement of priorities at development of information infrastructure of the company.

We always estimate previously efficiency of possible optimization. For example, one of the last projects implemented together with Corus Consulting - system implementation of "Data collection terminals for Microsoft Dynamics AX" - was completely counted and reasonable: the result completely justified investments!

Robert Sardaryan, project director of Korablik company

The new solution allowed to make far off transactions with goods in the ERP system via mobile terminals of data collection - it significantly simplified starting information in a system, allowed to reduce paper document flow and risks of wrong input, and also considerably reduced personnel labor costs. For example, by estimates of staff of Ship, goods acceptance from suppliers accelerated more, than twice.

Implementation of the shipping documentation became one of key components in development of our ERP system. Thanks to fast receipt of data from shops in the central system we could customize thinly the system of the autoorder of goods in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Now by the beginning of each working day a system independently creates 800-900 orders – at the same time the accuracy of calculations is very high and practically does not require adjustment. It not only reduction of work of purchasers, but also optimization of stocks, shelf space, increase in turnover.

Robert Sardaryan, project director of Korablik company