MRC at Rectella Limited Andy Hughson Commercial Manager.

MRC at Rectella Limited

Andy Hughson

Commercial Manager

Agenda• Who are Rectella?• IT Infrastructure• Reporting options & needs• Why MRC?

• Report Examples• MRC on Blackberry• Stock Man. Case Study• Web Ordering• Benefits• Questions

Who are Rectella?• UK’s leading importer &

distributor of ready-made soft furnishings

• Privately owned limited company

• Established in 1947• 110 employees at head

office in Blackburn• 140 employees in retail• Small office in China

Business Profile• Limited UK production – small amount of MTM• Almost all stock now sourced from the Far East• 6,500 SKUs• Fashion industry – 1/3 range replaced every year

Sales & Customer BaseAnnual Sales• £14 million turnover• 1.2 million units

Customers• 300 accounts, 1300 branches• Chain stores, multiples, mail

order & independents• Matalan, Debenhams, B&Q,

John Lewis, CWS, Dunelm, Littlewoods, BHS

IT Infrastructure• AS400 P10 machine

– Movex v12.5 RPG– Live in August 2003

• 10 Windows servers– MOM– MEX– BPW– Payroll– ADS/Firewall– MS Exchange– Blackberry– Web intranet/extranet– File share server– Backup server

• 2 staff– Applications Support– Technical Support

In the Beginning. . .Reporting options:• AS/400 Query

– Pros:• Useful tool for IT staff

• Ad hoc file contents query

– Cons:• Inefficient

• Experienced IT skills

• Machine resource hungry

• Not an end-user tool

• Inflexible

• No run-time prompts

• Limited formatting

In the Beginning. . .Reporting options:• BPW

– Pros:• Output to Excel

• Quick refresh of saved file

• Offline from AS/400

– Cons:• Relatively complex to set up

• Experienced pivot users

• Not really an end-user tool

• Inflexible

• No run-time prompts

• Limited formatting

Rectella’s Reporting Needs• End-user reporting tool• Run-time prompts• Flexible formatting options• Easy to learn and set up• Efficient data handling• Web browser deployment• Good support services• Relatively inexpensive

licensing

Known Alternatives• COGNOS PowerPlay

– Pros:• Previous IT use/experience

– Cons:• Expensive user licensing

• Limited end-user knowledge

• Similar to BPW methods

• Crystal Reports– Pros:

• Cheap licensing

– Cons:• Little prior experience

• Uncertain scope

MRC – A Brief Encounter. . .• MUA Demo – May 2004• Ticked all the boxes:

End-user reporting tool Run-time prompts Flexible formatting options Easy to learn and set up Efficient data handling Web browser deployment Good support services Relatively inexpensive licensing

• Existing Movex Users:– GBC & Kerrygold

Next steps• Proof of Concept:

– FOC– Setup on Rectella’s AS400

• Online Demo– www.crazybikes.com

Why MRC?• We would be able to create:

– Data warehouse to summarise large files, e.g. OSBSTD, MITTRA– New data tables & new fields in existing Movex tables– New applications for data maintenance and data enquiries– End-user prompted reports– Intranet for report deployment– Extranet/website for customer access

• Simple Low Pricing – Licensed per processor not per user• Dictionary can be configured for end-user report creation• Key Project:TJ Hughes concession management options• Flexible & rapid KPI deployment• “Low-skills based solution with no raw application coding”

Report Examples• Brief look at some

reporting examples– Customer Sales– Best Selling Ranges– Product Placement– Top 20 by Retail Store– Order Source

Ex 1: Customer Sales Report

Prompts: Payer No. / Customer Name / Product Group

Sensitive data

Ex 1: Customer Sales Report

Features: monthly columns, 1 pass of 2005 OSBSTD summary file

Sensitive

data

Ex 2: Best Selling Design/Colour Report

Prompts: None

Ex 2: Best Selling Design/Colour Report

Features: uses 2 summary files, 7 summaries in all

Ex 3: Product Placement Report

Prompts: Design Name, Item Group, Invoice Date Range (Date Picker)

Ex 3: Product Placement Report

Features: 1 pass

Sensitive

data

Ex 4: Top 20 Design/Colours

Prompts: Store Name (Drop-down list)

Ex 4: Top 20 Design/Colours

Features: Dynamic column month names

Ex 5: Order Source Report

Prompts: Customer Name, Order Date Range (Date Picker)

Sensitive data

Ex 5: Order Source Report

Features: on demand sorting of report output

MRC on Blackberry• Custom Reports

written for deployment to Blackberry users in retail

• Simple Deployment to existing menu

MRC on BlackberryExample• Safety Stock Report

• Prompts:– Store Name– Design Name

MRC on BlackberryRun-time Prompts• Users chooses their

Store from the drop-down store list

MRC on BlackberryRun-time Prompts• User enters Design

name they are interested in

• User scrolls to Run button and initiates report request

MRC on BlackberryReport Output• Designed to fit the

limited screen size

• Shows Store Number (Movex Warehouse) and Design chosen

• Shows Safety Stock for each SKU

MRC on BlackberryReport Output• Scrolling down

reveals rest of data and Grand Total

Stock Management Case StudyChallenge• 30 TJ Hughes concessions• Optimise retail stock profile• Limited head office resource

Solution• Define stock profile rules• Schedule MRC summaries• Produce net change output• Update MITBAL file

Process – Count & ReplenishRetail Outlet

= Movex Whs

API update of

physical stock

Stock records

for each store

Weekly count

by exception

Distribution

orders shipped

Replenish to

Safety Stock

Process – Optimise & UpdateNet Variance

≡ Sales

Suggested new

stock levels

MRC table for

stocked ranges

Nightly schedule

MRC summaries

Update MITBAL

using WinSQL

Review output/

sanity check

Example Output

Plan to maintain 6 weeks shelf stock (subject to min/max rules)

Curtains:

At least 5 sizes

1 from each width

Min 1 max 4Duvet Covers:

All sizes

Min 2 max 6

Pillowcases:

Min 6 max 12Tiebacks:

Min 2 max 4Valances:

Size 3 & 5 only

Min 1 max 2

Store Summary – Sanity Check

Web Ordering• Requirement:

– Low cost B2B website

• Features:– Order entry– Simple navigation– Accurate product pricing– Up to date stock availability– Order tracking– Invoice audit trail– Account status information– Flexible user security– Product imagery– Customer/Product views

Solutions Considered• Intentia’s e-Sales

– Costs:• Licenses £39k

• Development £23k

• Maintenance £8k p.a.

– Pros:• Existing Movex integration

• Existing Movex knowledge

– Cons:• Licensed per customer/user (100)

• Costs exclude modifications

• e-Sales longevity?

• Rectella Board perception

Solutions Considered• MRC

– Costs:• Licenses £0

• Development £21k

• Maintenance £0k p.a.

– Pros:• Prior experience with Raleigh

• No additional license/maint. fees

• Custom built to our design brief

• Open nature of design architecture

– Cons:• No additional “out of box” website

features

User login – multiple users per customer

Welcome screen and notice board

Main account status information

Sensitive

data

Branch links

Sensitive

data

Sensitive

data

Branch status information

Sensitive

data

Design / Colour / Item Group navigation

Designs available for this customer

(Optional) Colours available for this Design

(Optional) Item Groups available for this Design/Colour

Launch the search

Search in progress

Search results – 10 per page

Search results – 10 per page

Add item to shopping basket

Confirmation of addition

Additional information and Design/Colour image

Design description and related item links

Design roomset image

Add item to shopping basket

Quick search on product features

Add item to shopping basket

Review shopping basket

Printer friendly order confirmation

Select delivery branch

Sensitive

data

Add order number, accept terms and confirm order

Sensitive

data

Order confirmation

Review outstanding orders

Sensitive

data

Check order status

Check expected delivery date

Review invoice trail

Filter on outstanding invoices

Review outstanding invoices

Other Features• Contact Us page

– Inc. map & email links

• Online Demo– Flash presentation

• Password Maintenance

Extranet Architecture

Customer Web Server AS400

• Web browser• Check price/stock• Place order• Order progression• Review account

E-Collaborator

• Windows server• Web page host• Apache/Tomcat• Data requests• Order file origin

• Windows server• E-collab host• Order template• Order integration

• Movex• OIS275• Order validation• Order processing• MRC Data tables• User security

MRC Benefits• Tell it WHAT you want not HOW to do it

• Custom data dictionaries by dept/user

• More efficient than Query

• Less machine resource hungry

• More flexible than BPW

• Many presentation options

• User prompts at run-time

• Breadth of development scope

• Excellent helpdesk

• Good partner relations

Questions?