Implementation of Maconomy ERP in Schneider Electric

Information on the customer

Schneider Electric corporation - one of world leaders among the companies providing solutions in the field of transfer and electric power distribution, automation and management of industrial processes.

The company specializes in design, production and equipment installation for transfer and electric power distribution from ultrahigh to low tension. Besides, Schneider Electric renders services in control automation by industrial processes.

Having begun the activity in Russia and the countries of the former USSR already more than 25 years ago, Schneider Electric Ltd www.schneider-electric.ru is subsidiary company of Schneider Electric corporation.

Activity of the company covers two main directions: distribution of the electrotechnical equipment and maintaining difficult engineering projects, including development, installation and maintenance of the equipment.

Schneider Electric Ltd today:

• staff more than 850 people
• representations and branches in 14 cities of Russia
• the main office in Moscow
• logistic center (warehouse and assembly shop)
• plant on production of contactors
• more than 3000 transactions a day
• product range about 180 thousand names

Premises of the project and requirement to a system

Dynamic development of Schneider Electric company caused need to optimize the current management system for the company by implementation of the unified information system. Existence of separate applications on the basis of 1C, MS Access and so forth, did not allow to receive an overall picture of the movement of goods flows and a financial status of business in real time.

A system which would combine both mechanisms of processing of financial information, and planning and sales management and logistics and also the modules of customer relationship management (CRM), project management and e-commerce integrated within a single system was necessary for automation of activity of Schneider Electric Ltd.

"Having carefully analyzed requirements of the organization, we came to a conclusion that a financial and managerial system which would provide possibilities of remote work with the uniform corporate server as our representations actively work in different regions of the country is necessary for us for effective work, but the central office always should obtain the most complete information for effective planning of future activity of the company.

Besides, we offer clients the wide range of goods, the multistage system of discounts in this connection a required system should process effectively large volumes of data in real time and also have reliable mechanisms of tracking of transactions, data storage and backup of information", - the management of Schneider Electric Ltd came to such conclusions.

One more direction requiring automation and integration in an information system was activity of the Center of Technical Support of Schneider Electric which renders the following types of service:

• support of warranty obligations;
• modification and replacement of the equipment;
• fault recovery;
• installation/supervision of erection of installations;
• adjustment and diagnostics of the equipment;
• delivery of spare parts and technical advices.

Terms and process of implementation

1999 of Schneider Electric Ltd makes the choice for benefit of the ERP system of Maconomy for full automation of business management. System implementation was performed by the international consulting company FTS www.fts-eu.com having considerable experience with solutions of Maconomy as in Russia, and abroad.

The implementation project of the integrated Maconomy enterprise management system in Schneider Electric Ltd was complete less than in 6 months: the project was started in October, 1999 and in January, 2000 the company got to work in a system.

First of all were configured and earned modules: Finance, Purchases, Sales and Warehouse. In the next three months earned control block by projects and the production block. Later modules of e-commerce and customer relationship management (CRM) were implemented.

Use of the ERP system in Schneider Electric Ltd

Schneider Electric Ltd uses the ERP system of Maconomy since the beginning of 2000. At the enterprise the following completely integrated modules Maconomy are deployed: Finance, Purchases, Warehouse, Sales, Assembly, Projects, CRM, E-commerce. At the moment, the total number of users of the Maconomy system exceeds 400 people.

Remote users from the logistic Moscow region center, branches in other cities according to the following scheme are connected to the uniform server installed at the central office in Moscow:

Fig. 1. A logical structure of the ERP system of Maconomy unrolled in Schneider Electric company

The module "Finance" of the Maconomy system provides parallel financial accounting by the Russian accounting rules and according to the corporate Schneider Electric standards. Within this module also preparation of financial budgets of Schneider Electric Ltd and their subsequent transfer to a corporate system of budgeting of Carat is performed. Integration into the Russian program for payroll accounting "is implemented by A&T: Salary" AiT Soft companies.

The module "Purchases" is used for formation of purchase orders of the equipment and component parts both for specific client projects / orders, and for replenishment of warehouse stocks of Schneider Electric Ltd. Its logistics chain is closely connected with parent company - with its manufacturing plants and the international distribution centers located in Europe. In Russia the company has the distribution center. From here products get to end customers - industrial enterprises and also to regional distributors and system integrators.

Using the Maconomy system logistics department specialists of Schneider Electric company trace information streams about the movement of goods in parallel and synchronously with their physical movement. It gives the chance to control trade flows and to make changes in them in case of danger of failure to meet time constraints of deliveries.

Also Electronic Data Interchange (purchase orders, a potverdzheniye of orders, shipping notifications of goods, invoices and so forth) between the Maconomy system and corporate information systems of suppliers of Schneider Electric company is implemented that provides the best control of goods flows, reduces the volume of manual entry of information and reduces an error probability.

Process of purchases for internal needs of Schneider Electric Ltd using multi-layer system of an approval of orders depending on type and the amount of purchase is completely automated. The system of internal purchases Internal Purchasing allows to receive a detailed picture of internal costs of the company, to control and monitor processes of internal orders and purchases, and, thus to increase transparency of business.

Fig. 2. Support of logistics and sales

The module "Warehouse" of the Maconomy system provides conducting detailed inventory accounting on projects and storage locations of the equipment and component parts. Schneider Electric Ltd divides all the goods into two big categories: constantly stored and ordered under certain projects. The nomenclature of the company includes more than 180,000 names from which about 10,000 available reside.

For constantly stored names in the Maconomy system functions on automatic replenishment action on the basis of the minimum and maximum inventory levels, an economic order quantity, seasonal fluctuations and other factors are implemented. Automatic reservation and end-to-end tracking of process of delivery is applied to goods delivered under specific orders or projects: from order placement by the client, through the resupplier order, goods at ways, receipt on a warehouse of Schneider Electric Ltd and before shipment to the client.

Other feature of an inventory control is an existence of several regional warehouses in branches of the company which can be replenished with stocks from the central warehouse of Schneider Electric. For them in the Maconomy system the procedure of automatic formation of delivery notes on movement of required goods was configured. Within the warehouse module Maconomy address storage and selection of goods, and integration into scanners of barcodes are also implemented.

The strategy of Schneider Electric in the CIS and the Baltic States is based on cooperation with dynamic partners - distributors, system integrators, installation contractors. Existence of the big customer base (several thousands of the companies) puts high requirements to an information system of administration of sales. The module "Sales" of the Maconomy system is used for processing orders of end customers and distributors of Schneider Electric Ltd on supply of equipment and component parts (150-200 orders a day). The procedure of the centralized administration of the prices, discounts, bonuses and terms of credit for different groups of goods and categories of clients with their subsequent automatic tracking in a system is implemented.

In the conditions of development of modern business by one of key factors of success of the company timely reaction to requirements and needs of clients is. Thus, use of modern information technologies is the key to success, including transition to the web-centric systems and wireless systems. The solution Maconomy for e-commerce, E-commerce represents completely integrated system of orders, working in the online mode through a global network the Internet and allowing to interact in real time with the Maconomy ERP systems database. Proposes this solution to end users a web-centric alternative to traditional methods of registration and order processing and also obtaining necessary information on a current status of orders.

Use of the solution Maconomy for e-commerce in Schneider Electric Ltd allows:

• Quickly and effectively to interact with large customers and distributors, giving the chance to the last to place orders in the Maconomy system in real time by means of the normal Internet browser.
• It is rational to use time of staff of sales department, having exempted the last from input in the system of information on customer orders manually.
• Provide the personalized information representation in the system of e-commerce for each of end users thanks to a control system of access and a layered design of product catalogs.
• Facilitate to large customers and distributors of Schneider Electric of the procedure of order placement, viewing information on a current status of orders, tracking of the enlisted payments, the operating credit limit thanks to an intuitive and user-friendly interface.

"Thanks to implementation in Schneider Electric Ltd of a system of e-commerce Maconomy we could increase significantly the level and service rate of clients that, in turn, has a positive impact on increase in profit of the company and also on image of the company as user of modern solutions in information technology field - the organization of e-commerce through a global network the Internet", - here opinion of the coordinator of the project of e-commerce of Schneider Electric company.

The complex customer orders of Schneider Electric Ltd providing delivery and/or assembly of the unique equipment and providing additional services (design, installation, a commissioning) are processed in the Maconomy system module "Projects". This module provides such opportunities as: maintaining detailed information on complex orders of the company (100-150 projects a month); drawing up budgets (estimates) orders; planning and accounting of work of employees (commercial engineers and assemblers) by projects and tasks (including and the works performed before signing of the contract with the client); accounting of the used equipment and component parts (integration into the modules Maconomy "Zakupki", "Sklad" and "Prodazhi"); drawing of accounts to clients (integration into the module "Finance"); analysis of profitability of orders. Use of project approach to accomplishment of complex orders allows to calculate better the planned and actual profitability of orders and also more effectively to plan all works on their accomplishment.

The module "CRM" is used for automation of work of the center of technical support: registration and further request processing for information and claims of clients (250-300 requests a day on average are registered). Also the E-support function - the web interface allowing clients of Schneider Electric Ltd to register independently requests and claims and to monitor their accomplishment in real time is implemented.

Results of Implementation

According to the results of use of Maconomy in Schneider Electric Ltd within 7 years specialists of finance division so speak of the experience with a system:

"Capacity of Maconomy in the field of information processing is obvious to financial and managerial structures of the company. But important characteristic of any similar system is not only its functionality, but also that, how easily the client can apply these functions, i.e. the organization of a system from the point of view of the user".

It is separately necessary to select one more important feature of the system of Maconomy which in the context of the dynamic and quickly changing Russian reality is represented especially relevant. Such property is the flexibility of a system under which noted in Schneider Electric Ltd, understand as the setup which is most conforming to requirements and specifics of activity of the company, and ample opportunities of scaling:

"For the last 5 years our business grew approximately by 5 times, together with the company the Maconomy system developed and extended, adapting to the changing conditions, providing stability and reliability, allowing us to control our activity, to effectively use resources, to achieve good results and to hold the leading positions in the market. Are sure that in further FTS and Maconomy will be still our reliable partners".

The Maconomy system allowed Schneider Electric Ltd to integrate and optimize all chain of business processes, including the organization of distributor activity, work on projects, budgeting, financial and management accounting and the analysis of financial and economic activity.

Thanks to positive experience of Schneider Electric with the Maconomy system in Russia, implementation of Maconomy was performed in regional offices of the company in Ukraine, Bulgaria and Serbia.