Delivering a web-based sales order processing for Infor BPCS

Sales order processing for Infor BPCS (and other IBM i / AS400 ERP systems)

Project benefits:

• Harnesses the power of Infor BPCS enterprise resource planning (ERP) application to make it easier for non-EDI customers to do business with AB World Foods
• Runs on the same IBM i as Infor BPCS, therefore no additional hardware or operating system software required
• Delivers intuitive sales order management via web, tablet or mobile device

If you walk up the aisle in your local supermarket labelled ‘World Foods’ looking for ingredients to make an authentic curry, an Asian stir fry or spicy Caribbean jerk marinade then you will no doubt have come across the branded products in AB World Foods’ range of international flavours.

AB World Foods supplies well-known brands – Patak’s, Blue Dragon, Levi Roots and Tabasco – to leading food retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda and a host of smaller retailers throughout the UK and the rest of the World.

Processing and managing thousands of orders per month with tens of thousands of product lines is a business-critical function required by the organisation.

The major retailers have always placed their orders via electronic data interchange (EDI), with the rest of the orders being submitted by phone, fax, email and post for manual processing by AB World Foods’ Customer Services team. No facility was available for smaller customers to place and manage their own orders.

To manage the manufacturing process AB World Foods uses BPCS, an enterprise resource planning solution from Infor, which runs on an IBM i server. Although BPCS provides excellent functionality to manage the processing of EDI orders, AB World Foods wanted to deliver an online, proactive experience for non-EDI customers and internal users.

For AB World Foods, i Order Management has been configured to harness the power of BPCS making it easier for non-EDI customers to do business with them. As i Order Management runs on the same IBM i as Infor BPCS, no additional hardware or operating system software was required.

i Order Management uses the same data, the same platform and the same business logic as in the existing BPCS application, but extends the sales order entry, processing and management functionality across the internet.

i Order Management is an intuitive application that can be accessed via web, tablet or mobile device by internal users, employees on the road and customers.

Customers are now able to enter, view and manage their own orders through the web-based self-service customer portal. Once confirmed, the orders are then added automatically to the Infor BPCS database for review by the Customer Services team in AB World Foods, prior to processing.

i Order Management is also able to handle customer orders that are provided in bulk as an email attachment or Excel spreadsheet. Again, these orders can be validated, corrected and additional information added once imported. Potentially, these orders can go straight into BPCS without any manual intervention.
As i Order Management provides a single point of data entry with an efficient user interface and real-time validation, orders can be entered, managed and processed faster and more accurately by customers and Customer Services staff alike.

Proactive notifications from i Order Management inform customers of order status while the self-service customer portal means customers can also view the progress of their order.

Most importantly for AB World Foods, the i Order Management application has improved customer interaction and satisfaction.

‘i Order Management has provided us with a mechanism to better communicate with customers. Yes, we can process orders more efficiently now, but more importantly, our customers feel more valued as the system has been configured to meet their needs. Our customer service team can now concentrate on delivering a great experience for all our customers as well as a great product’.

Diane Byrne, Customer Service Manager, AB World Foods

Should a customer have a query and contact the Customer Services team, the team now has a complete view of current and historical orders meaning they can resolve any queries quickly and accurately with no need for call back or time-consuming search for information required.

‘Proximity has been able to leverage the existing power of Infor BPCS at AB World Foods and extend it using i Order Management to deliver a modern application that is delivering tangible benefits and a great return on investment’.

David Maskrey, Managing Director, Proximity Enterprise Solutions

Further details about integrating i Order Management with Infor BPCS, Infor LX and other IBM i / AS400 / iSeries -based ERP software to deliver collaborative web-based sales order management can be found on our dedicated i Order Management page.