Pragmatik works with 50,000 customers across the country, fulfilling over 1,500 orders daily. Uninterrupted supplies and high quality service impose high demands on the management information system. For many years in a row, the company used a self-written solution. However, Pragmatika's sales increased every year, and the system gradually ceased to meet the needs of a growing business. The management & nbsp; of the organization decided to find a replacement for him in the form of a full-fledged ERP system.
As a result of the tender, the choice fell on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform. For implementation and support of the new information system "Pragmatic" invited specialists from the international consulting company Odyssey Consulting Group. It was important for the project to invite a team with sufficient experience expertise in the field of automation of commercial enterprises. A reliable partner in the person of Odyssey Consulting Group was found, a strong project team was formed, and work on the new corporate system began to boil.
The new management information system supported the key Areas of Pragmatik's activities: organization of supplies and sales of goods for the office, settlements with partners and clients, planning and inventory management. As part of the project, the ERP system is integrated with the management system warehouse and management and accounting system.
To interact with corporate customers and partners, the system provides all the necessary tools: the formation of orders and discounts, reservation of products, control of timing and quality of picking and delivery ; goods, returns management. The payment tools of the system have simplified the control of settlements with suppliers and clients of a trading company. Microsoft Dynamics AX scheduling tools have reduced the company's costs of managing supply chains and sales. In total, over 100 Pragmatika employees use the Odyssey Consulting Group solution.
The company recognizes that the introduction of the new information system management has changed the way the company operates. A vivid example of this is the increase in the efficiency of the employees of the Pragmatik call center. Since the launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the company's performance has almost doubled, which means that the same number of Pragmatic orders are completed much faster and at lower cost. Another interesting point is the reduction of the inventory turnover period by half. It was possible to do this by using the tools of consolidated planning and commissioning of the new warehouse management system available in the ERP system.
« Pragmatik provide reporting tools based on Microsoft MS SQL Server. For example, employees can study sales data for each item and customers for the specified period, obtain information about the delivery schedule by product units, adjust the plan if necessary, set additional discounts for customers based on these data. With the help of the system, the company's employees prepare operational reports on the movement of goods, calculate the required amount of resources to fulfill current and potential customer orders.
"We initially chose a standard strategy for analyzing data and working with reports, and we continue to follow it. We made a data warehouse in SQL Server, we made cubes and the vast majority of reports. Reporting Services and Sharepoint tools help you visualize this data in various formats. Sales representatives work with the report server remotely, says Mikhail Kozyrev, Director of the IT department of the Pragmatik company.
The main goal of implementing ERP -system in the Pragmatic company was to automate sales and procurement processes as much as possible, thereby increasing the productivity of personnel and reducing total costs. Accompanying project tasks were determined by the specifics of the organization's work.
“We have not made any fundamental changes in the system since the launch, rather we have carried out and are carrying out reengineering of the business processes themselves. Making them more efficient better meeting the current needs of the business, in some ways improving”, explains Mikhail Kozyrev. “Essentially, this is point automation, occurring along with the development of the company. But a development that is not revolutionary, but evolutionary.".
For example, during the development project, the capabilities of the ERP system became available to employees operating away from the main office in Moscow. “We organized remote access to the ERP system, and now our sales representatives can register new customers, place orders, change delivery terms”, says Mikhail Kozyrev. — «From the dot In terms of functionality, these are the most significant changes in the system since its launch. I repeat, the rest of the improvements are the optimization of the solution, aimed at increasing the efficiency of our operational processes”.
Some work algorithms systems have changed dramatically, under the real business needs. Pragmatik offers office supplies to companies of various levels. One of the problem areas is interaction with enterprises with a complex organizational structure. Large enterprises include over 1,000 divisions, have several thousand delivery addresses in various regions of the country. On the one hand, the system must take into account the interests of each individual unit, on the other hand, to determine the conditions for working with the company as a whole. Standard tools in ERP turned out to be insufficient, and the project team also modified the solution in terms of pricing and marketing promotions.
Recently, Pragmatika specialists launched a new version of the online store, fully integrated with Microsoft Dynamics ERP AX. “Of course, this is not an online store in the classical sense, but a corporate portal where our customers place orders on their own and track their execution”, explains Mikhail Kozyrev. — "The portal is an additional channel communication and interaction with the company's customers".
One of the typical design challenges is improperly organized training of employees. Pragmatik approached this issue with particular care. “There were no problems with learning,” recalls Mikhail Kozyrev. – “Employees approached this process very responsibly, quickly deep into the operation of the system. The key point was productivity labor. Our initial fears that in the first months after implementation, the staff would work much more slowly, were confirmed still in the learning process. But in the course of preparing for the launch, we gradually came out to the same level of performance, and later it was noted a sharp increase. People have fully adapted to the operation of the system, and the execution of processes has accelerated dramatically".
departments where they work. Mastering the system is quite fast. Each unit has corresponding instructions and procedures. Newcomers of the company are helped by a specially created knowledge base, it is stored on the corporate portal Sharepoint. The portal is also used to exchange internal documentation of divisions. “We enrich this methodological knowledge base by documenting all the changes, that occur in the system and processes”, explains Kozyrev. — “Of course, some users complained about some inconvenience of the system. When we launched the salesperson workplace, we were afraid that they would not accept the new interface. In the mobile version, we have tried to further adapt it. This is not the ultimate dream, but at least at least we have no dissatisfaction on the part of employees".
After the introduction of the system, companies often need to re-engage consultants - for projects supporting and developing the system. For for example, it may be necessary to make critical changes to the operation of the solution, for which the in-house specialists do not have enough resources or competencies. “Quickly finding the right team for a project can be rather difficult. For example, our solution differs from the standard version of Microsoft Dynamics AX, so it is important for us to make sure that they are well understood in the subject area, understand the logic of our processes. Then making changes is not delayed, explains Kozyrev.
Within a year after the system was put into operation, Odyssey Consulting Group specialists provided Pragmatik with technical support services. Now the company ensures the work of ERP on its own. “We have accumulated a due the amount of knowledge and experience with the solution, so many issues are now resolved by ourselves. We monitor the performance of our information system very closely. One of the mandatory tasks of developers at the design stage is to ensure that the changes made do not slow down the solution. This happens from time to time, but since we manage this process, we don’t have significant problems related to performance”, notes Kozyrev.
Noting the role of Odyssey Consulting Group consultants in the success of the ERP implementation and development project, Kozyrev emphasized that their contribution is invaluable. “Of course, we have done a lot in order to so that our relationship is successful from different points of view. Summing up the results of the project, you can only look at the cost of implementation or the result, or you can evaluate the work as a whole, analyze how well each stage, each process is organized. In this regard, the contribution of the Odyssey Consulting Groupspecialists to the creation and refinement of the ERP system in the company "Pragmatik" is enormous. And in terms of fulfilling the goals and objectives that we solved as part of the implementation, our story can be considered very successful”.
In conclusion, what can I recommend to those , who only plans projects for the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX? Mikhail Kozyrev advises to communicate more with organizations that are already using the solution. “This is basically the only thing that can help. We went exactly that way. Before the implementation, I met a lot with colleagues, got acquainted with their experience. All the problems they talk about are most often non-unique, distinguishing almost every implementation. If you carefully study their experience and draw the right conclusions, you can avoid serious mistakes. I can say that in some sense, the advice of colleagues contributed to the excellent completion of our project”.
Before the implementation, I met a lot with colleagues, got acquainted with their experience. All the problems they talk about are most often non-unique, distinguishing almost every implementation. If you carefully study their experience and draw the right conclusions, you can avoid serious mistakes. I can say that in some sense, the advice of colleagues contributed to the excellent completion of our project conclusions, you can avoid serious mistakes. I can say that in some sense, the advice of colleagues contributed to the excellent completion of our project”.
