Your ability to harness e-Commerce technologies effectively has enormous potential to transform your business and enhance commercial success and growth.

Your customers and suppliers may look increasingly to closer collaboration, to cut production timetables and minimize disruption to their supply chain. This could involve working via their electronic order and supply chain systems to enable streamlining of operations and to reduce margin for error. Multi-organization research and design teams may need to work collaboratively and to achieve this, you must have efficient, secure systems that can deliver and receive information.

SYSPRO facilitates streamlined, secure electronic data interchange and collaborative commerce through features such Document Flow Manager, e.net Solutions, EDI, Office Automation and Messaging, SYSPRO Workflow Services and various Business-to-Business purchase and sales import and export functions. In addition, SYSPRO's Web Applications are out-the-box solutions which you can run on the Internet/Intranet and easily customize to suit end-user requirements.

Quick response times and accuracy in fulfilling orders are critical to your reputation in a diverse and demanding global market. Automated 24/7 customer order placement and acknowledgment is facilitated via SYSPRO's Document Flow Manager and email. In addition, SYSPRO's e.net Solutions enables the rapid development of applications for mobile devices, so that your sales force can check stock and place orders directly into SYSPRO while out visiting customers, thereby improving order turnaround time.

SYSPRO's e.net Solutions can be extended to integrate SYSPRO with other applications, such as shipping companies' tracking systems to determine the shipping status of customer orders. In addition, e.net Solutions facilitates the integration of SYSPRO with scanning and Smart technologies, thereby streamlining picking and packing processes, as well as inventory stock takes.

If your customers include Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) you can import and easily reconcile vendor EDI releases using SYSPRO's Blanket Sales Order module.

Improve forecast accuracy

While forecasting is, by definition, an inexact science, its purpose is to improve the quality of predictions and thereby enable the fine-tuning of the balance between supply and demand. In forecasting environments where product ranges and configurations are extensive, bills of material are complex and raw material and component lead times are long, improved forecast accuracy is essential to minimizing inventory holding and obsolescence costs without compromising customer service and brand loyalty.

SYSPRO provides tools to enable you to track and evaluate your forecasts, as well as to identify the possible causes of forecast errors. These tools assist you in optimizing your forecasts to produce the best possible outcome with minimum forecast error. The Inventory Optimization suite of modules enables the entry of manual forecasts, as well as the automatic generation of forecasts via a variety of forecast algorithms, including those that compute for trends, seasonality and cyclical events. In addition, the module provides a competition forecasting method (also known as focus forecasting or the tournament method) which attempts to select the most suitable forecast algorithm, based on a selected error measurement and your SYSPRO sales history data. This enables you to compare results to determine which method is the most suitable for any particular item, whether you forecast products at code, revision, release, or warehouse level. A tracking signal is used to indicate when the validity of the forecast might be in doubt; those items with high forecast errors are highlighted and can be reviewed and adjusted as required.

Forecast accuracy depends not only on the regular evaluation of the forecast error, but also on the integrity and nature of the source data. In SYSPRO, forecast accuracy is enhanced through the ability to automatically filter and adjust outliers, as well as to manually adjust forecast base data for quantitative and qualitative factors. Lost sales can also be included in the demand profile.

Furthermore, SYSPRO's proxy functionality enables the forecasting of new products based on the sales history of similar superseded products which is useful in industries where product life cycles are short.

Manage a complex global supply chain

To enable you to fine-tune the balance between supply and demand, SYSPRO provides technology and features that afford visibility to integrated supply chain intelligence and facilitate close monitoring of performance risks. SYSPRO fosters informed decision-making, thereby helping you to meet the challenges of supply chain management and synchronization in a dynamic and complex global environment.

SYSPRO's Inventory Optimization enables the configuration and automated monitoring of KPIs for different nodes in the supply chain, to facilitate the balancing of inventory investment and service. Key elements that drive inventory, such as forecasts, lead times, supplier performance and service levels, are coordinated, tracked and controlled to determine risk, evaluate supplier reliability and calculate optimal safety stocks. This in turn enables the modeling and formulation of more accurate target inventories and appropriate inventory policies, as well as better planning and execution of production, procurement and distribution activities.

Engineering change control promotes a cohesive collaborative approach to product life cycle management with your contract manufacturers; Blanket Sales Orders provides the means to reconcile schedules with your OEM clients, while Distribution Requirements Planning enables optimization of replenishment planning in a distributed warehouse environment.

Production schedule visibility and agility is facilitated through SYSPRO Factory Scheduling, which provides graphical scheduling and sequencing; control methods range from manual manipulation through to true algorithm-based advanced planning and scheduling (APS).

Your larger trading partners may look increasingly to closer electronic collaboration to cut production timetables, speed order processing, reduce margin for error and minimize disruption to their businesses. SYSPRO's internet- and XML-based technologies facilitate the implementation of your collaborative commerce strategies, enabling you to share, process and deliver information securely and efficiently within an extended global supply chain.

SYSPRO provides the means to build service orientated architecture (SOA), enabling flexible version-independent options for integrated web-enabled applications and mobile devices. The system facilitates streamlined, secure electronic data interchange and collaborative commerce through features such as Document Flow Manager, SYSPRO e.net Solutions, Office Automation and Messaging, and various business-to-business import and export functions.

The Web Applications are out-the-box solutions which you can customize to suit end-user requirements. Executive Dashboards provide supply chain managers with relevant KPIs at their fingertips while Event Management facilitates user-friendly configuration of alerts for operational and financial exceptions. Powerful VBScripting and customization features enable flexible views of SYSPRO data, as well as the incorporation of data displays from external systems, in a secure environment.

SYSPRO Office Integration (SOI) facilitates direct secure queries of key operational data from the desktops of enterprise-wide users and trading partners, without the need for the desktop installation or licensing of SYSPRO. Using a Microsoft Office product such as Word or Excel, the user can extract information from SYSPRO directly into the current Office document as text or tables. This connectivity means you can allow customers and suppliers direct access to relevant information in your organization. These powerful features, along with SYSPRO's multi-lingual and multi-currency functionality, promote true global visibility and flow of supply chain information.

SYSPRO provides additional functionality that helps you automate and manage an extended supply chain which may involve participants such as contract manufacturers, distributors and retailers: Trade Promotions Management provides extensive product promotion and pricing flexibility and improved management of deductions and rebates for your dealings with large retailers; and Return Merchandise affords efficient processing, tracking and analysis of customer returns and complaints.

SYSPRO Workflow Services enable you to streamline the execution of your supply chain processes in a consistent coherent flow. By leveraging SYSPRO's powerful technology and features, you can optimize the visibility, communication and exchange of information across your supply chain.

Manage complex warehousing with sophisticated placement and picking procedures

Various tools exist in SYSPRO to facilitate placement and picking within a warehouse. The multiple bins facility and ability to set it on or off at warehouse levels is one of these. Picking by bin, provides for picking lists to be generated in bin numbering sequence.

The Warehouse Management solution provides many more sophisticated rules around warehouse storage, picking and put away procedures.

Manage large and diverse inventories

SYSPRO provides the tools to help you optimize your inventory investment without sacrificing customer service. It enables you to effectively plan and control diverse and extensive product lines in a single or multi-warehouse environment, facilitating the creation of warehouses and bin locations to represent both physical and virtual stock locations.

Whether you stock, sell, purchase or manufacture items by unit, weight, volume, pack or container size, SYSPRO's multiple units of measure per stock item give you the flexibility to accurately record and track stock quantities. Product version control is automated through the Engineering Change Control module, while extensive master data enables you to define parameters for transacting in sales, purchasing and manufacturing.

Inventory optimization functionality aids the sales and operation planning process. Decision-making on desired levels of inventory and customer service is enhanced through the graphical output from its powerful Pareto analysis and forecasting tools. Master information such as order policies, gross requirements rules, lead times, safety stock and minimum/maximum levels assist in planning replenishment. Extensive costing facilities ensure accurate costing of sales, purchase and manufacturing activities. Costing methods are available by warehouse and include the average, standard, last, FIFO, LIFO methods. Furthermore the system provides the ability to track actual and activity-based costs. The custom forms feature gives you the freedom to define your own fields for the capture of details, such as hazardous goods information, enabling you to include these in your queries, reports and transaction documentation. Also, you can add standard notations per item for automatic inclusion in various transactions such as sales orders, purchase orders and jobs, as well as link multimedia files to key data.

SYSPRO's serial tracking and lot traceability features facilitate the tracking of materials from purchase through production to customer, thereby providing you with the tools to manage product recalls, should they occur, and the optional 2-phased receipting for purchased and manufactured products provides inspection control. The Goods in Transit system gives you comprehensive quantity, variance and cost control over inter-warehouse transfers, as well as providing input into SYSPRO's Distribution Requirements Planning. The Stock Take system enables you to select on a range of criteria and continue transaction processing once the physical count is complete, so operations are not delayed while the count is being captured. Import facilities are available and you can run a number of verification and variance reports to highlight stock take exceptions and provide the necessary checks before confirmation.

SYSPRO's integrated nature and powerful reporting and query facilities give you visibility to detailed stock statuses and transaction history, while perpetual inventory costing provides at-a-glance valuation of stock holdings by warehouse and stock code. Queries include summary stock code quantities, such as warehouse on-hand, on-order, available, free, in-transit, in-inspection, allocated and backordered, as well as the ability to drill-down to supporting detail. Extensive reporting is available including detailed kardex movements, identification of obsolete, slow-moving and excessive inventories, as well as reports on summary inventory quantities and exceptions based on various stock level criteria. In addition, the Office Automation and Messaging module provides the ability to create alerts and events which are automatically fired when inventory exceptions, such as 'below minimum' occur.

Plan and manage distribution of inventory and goods in transit

Whether you supply original equipment manufacturers, diverse retailers, after-sales service outlets, or distribute product to your own distribution centers, effective planning and control of your inventory and order fulfillment activities is essential for operational efficiency and maximum profitability. SYSPRO provides a real-time integrated view of business operations, as well as the means to manage large diverse inventories and to plan and execute sophisticated warehouse replenishment and order fulfillment requirements. Efficient replenishment planning and fulfillment per warehouse is facilitated through SYSPRO's Distribution Requirements Planning, multi-warehouse and Goods in Transit functionality. The system caters for warehouse-specific costs and order policies, backorders, inter-warehouse lead times, optional inclusion of transfer costs and detailed transfer documentation. Furthermore, the Goods in Transit system enables detailed control, reconciliation and balancing of inter-warehouse transfers.

Distributors supplying major retailers and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) would be challenged to optimize customer service and expand distribution capabilities without e-business capability. SYSPRO's Web Applications enable you to provide your global customers and remote sales force with the convenience of secure 24/7 access to order placement, as well as to queries on pricing, stock availability, detailed statements and order statuses. In addition, sophisticated automated order placement and acknowledgement is facilitated through SYSPRO's e.net solutions and Document Flow Manager. This is further enhanced by SYSPRO's stock code interchange feature which enables customers to query stock and enter orders using their own part numbers.

Customer order fulfillment is managed through SYSPRO's sophisticated sales order picking and dispatch features, while SYSPRO's Customer Relationship Manager and Return Merchandise Authority modules provide the means to manage, control and analyze customer returns and credits. While simple, extended and contract pricing are standard features of the Sales Order module, the Trade Promotions Management module provides complex pricing functionality for distributors, including promotions, rebates and accruals. The Blanket Sales Order module enables SYSPRO customers to easily update call-off schedules for their OEM clients, as well as to reconcile the cumulative position against their OEM contracts.