Case study HERMAN Slovakia s.r.o.
Prior to Microsoft Business Solutions – Navision information system introduction HERMAN Company was using several individual applications. Even thought these systems were meeting users’ requirements, their maintenance was more and more demanding. Moreover, the old system was a limiting factor for the company rate of growth from technological point of view.
When the company decided to implement a new information system they set several goals:
- Solve the problem of non-communicating systems and eliminate data entering duplicity;
- Increase reliability and simplify administration of the information system and to enable future communication with foreign subsidiaries;
- Prepare the company for Slovakia joining EU;
- Provide immediate and right information for decision-making process;
- Shorten the average period of order handling and increase the service level;
- To make sources usage more effective.
Another condition was the fact that the new system cannot limit the company in tems of its development and it has to adjust to the existing company processes.
|
Mr. Herman Nagypál, Ing. studied at Vysoká vojenská letecká škola (Airforce University) in Košice. He was working for the Army 6 years, specializing in radio-locating systems. When hi left the army she was teaching at Stredná odborná škola (Vocational School) in Revúca. In 1992 he founded H Company he has been working from the beginning for as its director.
|
|
 |
| |
Solution and contractor selection. Folloiwng a thorough analysis of the market of available systems HERMAN Slovakia s.r.o. Company decided for ERP system Microsoft Business Solutions – Navision. As for its supplier they selected ICOS, a.s. Košice Company granted a certificate of quality in accordance with ISO 9001 standard and is a certified partner of Microsoft Company for the field of company information systems.
High demands. HERMAN Company has gradually improved their business processes over those more than 10 years of their existence. Therefore when the new system was being implemented, they required that their existing know-how was incorporated in that system. Consultants of ICOS, a.s. Košice Company met these demanding requirements, which resulted in several tailored functions of Navision system, which make work of HERMAN Company employees even more effective and make the decision-making process easier for this company’s managers.
Implementation. The implementation of the system started in August 2003 by a complex analysis of company procedures. Because of the range of specific requirements there were high demands placed on contractor’s solving team. The result of the mutual effort of contractor’s and user’s employees was a successful application of Navision system modules, namely: CRM, finance, service, sales and purchasing and inventory control. The routine operation of the system was commissioned on January 9, 2004. The implementation continued with development of special modules of purchasing logistics, advanced automation of warehouse processes as well as of customer support systems. The project was successfully completed in March 2004.
Purchasing optimization. When implementing purchasing logistics an accent was put on automatic generation of request for purchase of individual goods types and spare parts. In connection to that standard functions of ordering were supplemented with new algorithms proposed in cooperation with HERMAN Company. Thanks to the algorithms mentioned sales volume for the previous period, historical period sales figures as well as response time and duration of contractor’s production process are considered when ordering, depending on the goods category. The result of this is inventory state closer to the optimum.
Warehouse system. Via adjustments of the standard warehouse system some sophisticated work procedures were automated, e.g. creating inventory of goods according to their characteristics in relevant compartment or automatic transfer amongst all defined warehouses on the basis of the requirement of sales, optimization of customs and standard warehouses usage optimization included.
Sales. The sales personnel have access to all information on history of sales directly form the customer’s card when in contact the customer given. When entering a new order an automatic check of the due balance. Customer Group employee is also informed on potential overdue leasing payments on the basis of the information sent by a leasing company. Outstanding orders of the customer given are also visible for the employee mentioned. HERMAN Company praises loyalty of their business partners in the form of HERMI system as a bonus. ICOS Company has developed a module for automatic registration of acquired points for the volume of sales and invoices paid due.
Special services. The deal usually does not finish with tools sales. By this act the most important part, i.e. care of the customer starts. Customers of HERMAN Company often work on sites, where it is vital to meet deadlines. And therefore they appreciated service called H Limit, which is not provided by any other supplier in Europe but HERMAN Company. As a part of this service the company delivers spare parts to any place in Slovakia within four hours. And this shows the advantage of solving the service in Navision system. The system monitors time of request reporting, time of response and cycle of tools being borrowed. Moreover, created statistics can show incurred deviations enough in advance so that corrective actions can be taken as soon as possible.
Benefits. The benefit of a new integrated system is that it integrated the database and eliminated data entering duplicity. Reliability was increased and IS administration was simplified. Employees have an immediate access to information, for which they had to wait several days in the past. Thanks to that the company has been successful in continuous improvement of the level of their services provided to customers and more economic usage of human resources. Information system options application lead to gradual reduction of operating costs.
Technology. The solutions was developed on the basis of Microsoft Business Solutions – Navision 3.60 (26 simultaneously working users) technology and Microsoft Business Solutions database was applied – Navision Database Engine, Windows 2000 Server operating system, Payroll and Personnel system HUMAN of HOUR Company integrated with Microsoft Business Solutions Navision.
|
Mr. Libor Mladší, Mgr. studied Specialization Mathematical Informatics at Prírodovedecká fakulta Univerzity Pavla Jozefa Šafárika (Faculty of Natural Sciences of University of Pavel Jozef Šafárik) in Košice. He has been working for HERMAN Company as an information system administrator since 1997. He has created several modules of the previous information system of the company..
|
|
 |
| |
HERMAN Slovakia s.r.o. carries on business activities in the field of trading with professional tools and accessories designed for constructing, machine and assembly companies. Over 12 years of its activities on Slovak market it has successfully withstood heavy competition of large international companies and gained high credit of almost 3,000 customers. The added value of the company is professional service and above-standard services.
ICOS, a.s. Košice has been on the market of complex company information solutions deliveries since 1991. Throughout this almost 13 year period it has implemented several tens of successful projects. The company puts accent on the high quality of provided services and maximum professionalism of their employees. The company was granted a certificate of quality in accordance with ISO 9001 standard and is a certified partner of Microsoft Company for the field of company information systems.
<< Back to "Company Information Systems"