BAASS August 2007 Newsletter
Upcoming Events:  Accpac Live: End User Conference Burlington September 25 Toronto September 26 London September 27
Welcome to the first issue of our BAASS newsletter. The objective of our monthly newsletter is to inform you of the numerous service offerings and solutions currently available in the market that will empower your businesses to become more efficient, competitive and hopefully, more profitable. We hope you find this and other subsequent issues informative and valuable. In this connection, we encourage your feedback and participation in order to provide a steady stream of information that is important to you. Lastly, we kindly encourage that you provide us with additional contacts in your organization that you feel will benefit from this newsletter. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service. Essential Warehouse Management System Features When it comes to choosing the right warehouse management system (WMS) for your business, it’s important to understand your warehouse needs and the key features that benefit company’s with an integrated WMS system. Key Features to look out for when researching WMS systems include: Complete back end office integration with your accounting system. Substantial gains in efficiency are enjoyed when your WMS system has full integration with the Inventory, Order Entry and Purchase Order Modules. This eliminates the need for duplicate entries between the WMS system and the accounting system. Integration with radio-frequency and bar coding technologies. Radio-frequency (RF) scanners used in conjunction with bar coding allow workers to scan items that picked, packed and shipped or put away. This expedites the amount of time needed to manually mark off items picked on a picking ticket and moves your operation towards a paperless office. Real-time inventory updates. The RF scanners provide the advanced technology to push inventory updates at the time of pick, pack and ship up to the inventory module. This allows your sales and inventory management staff to know what inventory they have on hand at all times. RF scanners also provide instant notification if communication is lost with the network. RF scanners are the preferred methodology in most warehouse environments as they replace the serial scanners that must be synchronized and uploaded on the network manually. With serial scanners your company is precluded from having real time inventory and the risk of data loss is larger. Automation of inventory receipt and put-away. A WMS system should have the capability to track where inventory is at all times. It should include inventory location by bin and quantities stored in each bin. In order to ensure that the proper items are being received, integration with the purchasing system is needed. Purchase orders should flow into the WMS system and reside there until the inventory on that purchase order is received and stored in its proper location. Support for multiple picking methods. Every company does not pick inventory using the same methodologies. How inventory is picked in a soft goods environment such as a clothing distributor would be very different than in a hard goods environment such as an appliance or lumber yard. Some companies even have different picking methodologies within their own warehouse depending on the size, value or type of goods (hazardous-materials) being picked. It is very important to ensure that ensure that the WMS system your company procures has multiple picking methods available. Compliance labeling, EDI integration and ASN labeling are available. More and more customer companies such as Wal-Mart are placing demands on distributors and wholesalers to comply with their standards in order to continue the business relationship. Whether your company has established the need today or may have the need in the future, it is paramount to ensure that the WMS system your company procures has many labeling methodologies available. Advanced Reporting Systems. Most WMS systems include standard reports. However, your WMS should include a robust reporting capability that supports the design of ad hoc reports. This is essential for management so that critical information can be made available in a timely manner to support their business decisions. Advanced BIN Systems. A WMS system should allow for bins to be designated as different types. Some of the different Pickable – meaning goods stored in that bin are available for picking. Non-dedicated – meaning multiple goods can be stored in the same bin. Dedicated – only a particular item can be store in that bin (such as peanut oils). Storage – items placed in these bins are not pickable. Typically the top racking in the warehouse is not a pickable location as it can be dangerous and non-efficient. The goods stored in these bins are used to replenish pickable bins. Virtual bins – most companies unload trucks or stage goods for shipping in virtual bins in the shipping and receiving areas. Automated inventory control features. A WMS system should be able to track inventory and dispense inventory in different methods such as FIFO, LIFO and expiry date. Additionally, it should be automated to allow for replenishment of goods in pickable bins to ensure that order picking does not have to stop as bins needs refilled with items. Scalability. The WMS system being procured should not only meet all the needs of your company today but also be able to fill future needs. Compliance labeling, EDI integration, additional users, increased warehouse space or adding additional locations are a few of the issues that should be considered when looking at how scalable the system is. If you need assistance or would like more information on the steps needed to start the search for a WMS system, please feel free to contact us at info@baass.com. Hopefully this article has provided some insight on preparing your organization to begin a search to improve their warehouse operations to gain efficiencies. Sage Accpac ERP - Canada's #1 Accounting and Software Built in Canada for Canadian businesses, Sage Accpac has been recognized as Canada’s #1 ERP software*. And, with the new release of Sage Accpac 5.4, you now have 267 powerful, new features to help everyone in your business get their jobs done faster and with even greater confidence. For more than 30 years, Sage Software has been meeting the needs of small and midsized businesses with a wide range of business management applications and services. As a result, we’re able to provide you with a total customer experience. One that goes beyond our products with a complete range of value-added services and online products – and comes full circle with an unparalleled level of customer service and the support of an entire community. We’re proud that our sharp focus on small and midsized businesses along with Sage Accpac’s experience in the Canadian marketplace has led to our #1 standing. Never before has there been a better time to be a Sage Accpac customer. So, we encourage you to take a few moments to discover why Sage Accpac continues to be Canada’s #1. Use the navigation to the left and right to see what’s new in the latest 5.4 release, view the product demonstration, and listen to our latest radio commercial. You’ll quickly see why Sage Accpac is the perfect choice for your business. * For Canadian enterprises with less than 500 employees. Source: Joel Martin, Vice President, Canadian Enterprise Software, IDC. Understanding Business Intelligence In today’s fast-paced market, those companies that can create competitive advantages and superior strategies will leave their slower competitors behind. Even though today’s technologies allow organizations to create and access massive volumes of data, management normally struggles with what the data means, leading us to the conclusion that technology alone does not resolve business problems. Business intelligence (BI) is the key to bringing together information, people and technology to successfully manage a company or organization. The term business intelligence is relatively new and it is a multfaceted concept that according to some authors, can be described from three different perspectives: Information to make better decisions faster Tools that will convert data into information A management philosophy to make more rational decisions Making Better Decisions Faster The primary goal of business intelligence is to help people (hence the organizations they work in) make better decisions faster. By making better decisions we mean improving any or all parts of the business process.  BI helps by analyzing whether actions are in fact aligned with company objectives.  Since BI is a two-way street, it also has a major role in creating the company’s strategies and plans. Making good decisions and taking action in a timely matter is key in today’s short-life opportunities.  The key is to make not only good decisions but faster than the competition. Another key thing to consider when needing speed in the decision making process is the feedback within the organization.  If rapid access and quick turnaround of information is not possible, then decisions are made with old or no information.  The consequences of making decisions with outdated or no information could be devastating, like loosing key customers or continuing to invest sales efforts in selling products that customers no longer prefer. Converting Data into Information Over the years, companies collect and accumulate large amounts of data.  When business executives and managers need to access useful and relevant facts, they are faced with having to deal with mountains of data which makes it difficult (if not impossible) to make better decisions and fast. BI systems are used to convert raw data into useful information by accessing huge volumes of data and showing only the relevant subsets in a form that is easily understood by the decision maker.  A crucial aspect here is that BI systems allow you to answer your questions almost as quickly as the question is formulated. Often, the challenge for decision makers is not the technology aspect of BI but to define what information is useful and relevant to a decision.  A company’s most important metrics are usually called key performance indictors (KPIs).  BI systems update these KPIs as real world facts happen. A Management Philosophy to Make More Rational Decisions Business Intelligence can be described as an approach to management or a management philosophy. Some authors call it a BI attitude. This approach to management could be characterized as: Seeking measurable quantitative facts (data) about the business Analyzing these facts using methods and technologies Creating models that reveal the cause and effect of operational actions and the effect these have on the company’s goals that were set Trying different approaches and checking the results through continuous feedback Understanding that people are not always rational Making decisions and taking actions based on all of these characteristics Business intelligence delivers tools that allow experience, “gut feelings” and intuition based decisions to be founded on real facts. We will be publishing a series of articles in future newsletters. Our objective is to show examples of how business intelligence will help you make decisions based on real facts and leave to a minimum those un-informed or pure guess decisions.  For more information, please contact us at info@baass.com. Novell Netware and Sage Accpac ERP Update Sage Software will not be certifying future Sage Accpac ERP versions with Novell Netware. Sage Accpac ERP 5.4 will be the last version certified with Novell Netware. We recommend installing future versions of Sage Accpac ERP on certified desktop and network operating systems. Retirement of Payroll Tax Updates for Sage Accpac 5.3 We wanted to be sure you're aware of the following important information about your clients' payroll tax subscription. As of January 1, 2009, tax table updates for Sage Accpac 5.3 will no longer be supported. This means that there will be no January 2009 tax table update for Sage Accpac 5.3. Customers will, of course, continue to receive any 2007 and 2008 updates needed to complete their year-end filing as long as their Payroll Update Plan (PUP) subscription is current as of December 31, 2008. In order to be eligible for January 2009 tax table updates, customers will need to be current on their Payroll Update Plan and be using one of the supported Sage Accpac Payroll versions (v5.4 or 5.5). We will inform all current Sage Accpac 5.3 PUP subscribers about the retirement by mail later this year. If clients have questions about their subscription, they can contact us at 800-642-7693 or CustomerCare.Accpac@Sage.com	Tool of the Month Gap Analysis Worksheet Give Away   Download Excel Sheet