Bedford on the right track
PBM takes a look at the selection and implementation process undergone by timber merchant Bedford Timber in finding the right management software.
Three generations of Melvyn Lines' family are actively involved in the management of Bedford Timber, a company which was established in 1962 by Melvyn's grandfather Geoff. Originally set up as GD Lines and Son as a fencing company which sourced local timber for processing in its sawmill, Bedford Timber Supplies was started in May 1981 to supply timber products to local builders and carpentries.
Evolution
The company has since evolved into a three site timber merchant, comprising two sales outlets and the original 14 acre site where the sawmill and warehousing are located. The company offers a full milling/machining service to all levels of building trade and DIY customers and employs 35 permanent staff. Melvyn, who runs the new branch in Kempston near Bedford, was given the responsibility of sourcing and implementing new management software for the company — the incumbent ten year old system having been deemed 'on its last legs'.
Diary of an installation…
November 2007 — Melvyn starts researching potential systems when a colleague recommends progressive Solutions' bisTrack and sends him a demo CD. After testing the software Melvyn arranges for the progressive sales team to visit.
Unfortunately Melvyn is unable to attend the meeting at the last minute and Progressive's Arthur Duffy and Richard Jones find themselves presenting to Melvyn's father Roger — a self confessed IT novice! However, far from being confused by the demonstration, Roger reports back to Melvyn that the software is both powerful and easy to use.
December 2007 — Directors and key members of Bedford’s accounts and sales team visit Progressive’s office in Runcorn for a closer look at the software. The deal is signed and Ged Griffin from Progressive’s implementation team joins the meeting to get a better understanding of how the Bedford Timber business is run and how the software will be configured for them.
February 2008 — Ged visits Melvyn to extract all the customer, supplier and product data from the merchant's existing system. Two members of staff at Bedford intermittently work on cleansing the customer data (1,200 names) and supplier data (500 names) in Excel ready for uploading to bisTrack. Melvyn tackles the task of cleansing the product data and rationalises a muddled product listing of 8,000 lines down to the correct firgure of 4,000.
March 2008 — Ged provides a ‘shopping list’ to enable Melvyn to obtain quotes from local hardware firms: server, cabinet, PCs, monitors, keyboards, barcodes scanners for the trade counter and printers. Progressive is introduced to the selected supplier, Aegis, who works closely with Ged to meet Bedford's requirements.
May 2008 — Melvyn receives the keys to the new Kempston branch and starts fitting out the new building.
July 2008 — Hardware and software is installed at the Kempston and Bedford sites. Before the system can go live, Melvyn carries out a trial cash sale for every single product in ‘test company' mode to check all prices and barcodes are correct and to ensure there are no problems when the system is live — around three days’ work. Ged trains Melvyn how to use the system and Melvyn in turn trains each of the sales office and trade counter team.
July 21st 2008 — Ged arrives at 8am to oversee the first day of trading using bisTrack. The only minor problem is a printer malfunction at the Bedford site which is corrected within the hour.
"Melvyn keeps a close eye on cash sales going through the system, which is configured to flag up all sales which go through below a certain margin, enabling him to take immediate action if required."
Melvyn admits: "I was surprised how quick and easy implementation was. There wasn't a great deal for me to do really. The software arrived ready for use and Progressive's support desk is there if I need it. I'm starting to call them more frequently now I've mastered the basics of the system and want to use some of the more sophisticated functionality. For example, I source timber from several importers and the cost price fluctuates; I've now got something in place which allows my yard manager to attach paperwork to the actual picking note which tells me who supplied the timber for an order so we can calculate margins and overall profit more easily" The merchant also uses the software to process works orders for the sawmill. With all stock now visible on screen, the sales team pass the order through for finished product to the sawmill, but use the notes function to instruct the yard manager which stock should be used to make up the order. A recent stock-take took half the time it used to, as Melvyn was able to use bisTrack to print out a full stock list for counting.
Benefits
The software's customisable dashboards allow managers to set up their own views so they can monitor the key performance indicators which are most important to them. For example, Melvyn keeps a close eye on cash sales going through the system, which is configured to flag up all sales which go through below a certain margin, enabling him to take immediate action if required.
Another early benefit was a huge reduction in the company's phone bill. "We were constantly calling the yard manager at Bedford on his mobile phone to see what was in stock. Now we have the information in front of us on screen," explains Melvyn.
The software goes live at the merchant's third site in the middle of 2009, taking the total number of users within the company to 20.
© 2009, reproduced courtesy of Professional Builders Merchant.
