Goming software aims to eliminate order entry

IISCOVERING a simple, efficient Llway to perform order entry/input has long been a primary focus in the building products industry-and for good reason, since order entry/input is the task that typically generates the highest volume of daily activity.

Over the years, industry-sPecific software companies have introduced new technology to streamline the order process, moving it toward complete elimination of order entry/input at the distributor level.

Before computers, multi-Part forms were introduced which could function as order form, pick ticket, delivery ticket, invoice and P.O. Paperwork was reduced, but not human enor or time wasted on checking stock cards for availability, looking up prices, posting transactions to various logs and contol records.

Computers would helP, but bY the late '70s, due to limited comPuting power, business management software was rudimentary. As comPuters became faster, users could access their systems and check product availability and price in real time. By the mid '80s, entering a sales order led to stock commitment, pricing, margin management, accounting functions, and sales/service level reporting. Firms that entered orders as customers phoned them in avoided paper.

With further advances in comPuting power, software sophistication, and improved computer-to-computer communications, the goal became for the customer to submit an order to the distributor's system. Distributors, suffering from squeezed margins, liked the reduced costs of eliminating double enffy of order information.

Early software relied on the customer dialing into the distributors' system via a modem and searching their inventory and enter order information. The first Customer Remote Order Entry module for the building products industry was introduced in 1987 by Distribution Management tion of powerful personal computers created new prospects for remote order entry. What if the dealer could work up an order or quote on a standalone PC and later communicate that information to the distributor?

Systems, Inc. "We wanted to give our customers the ability to put the order entry function into the hands of their customers, however, in retrospect, very few adopted this approach," recalls DMSI pres. Cal German. "Apparently, due to the requirements it placed on their dealers to have a dedicated workstation, modem connection and training, the logistical hassles of implementation outweighed the value of the service."

A few companies had success with the approach, but had to invest heavily in purchasing the hardware and managing the logistics of installing, training and supporting their dealers.

During this time, Electronic Data Interchange was maturing. EDI created a new method of sending files electronically in a standard format that various C6mputers could pick-up and translate into the proper transaction, such as an order. "It took a big push from the giant retailers to bring EDI to the building material wholesale world," states German. "The technology has been there since the mid-'80s but it wasn't until 1992 that we saw some real movement toward our distributors transacting business with the large retailers via EDI."

Today, EDI is growing as a means of transacting business in high volume accounts. It has been bY far the most successful move toward eliminating the double-entry of orders between retailers and distributors' However, EDI still does not address many unique order situations and is far from being adopted bY mid-size and small retailers.

Through the '90s, software companies and manufacturers such as Andersen and Marvin Windows have devised electronic catalogs and quoting packages, allowing dealers to work uP orders at convenient times and later submit them to distributors. With DMSI's laptop-based Saleslink, introduced in 1993, sales reps could build orders on site and later batch transmit them to the warehouse system.

"We felt our first step toward PCbased order entry needed to be under the direct control of the distributor," remarks German. "The closest we could get to the customer entering the order was through the distributors' sales reps entering orders in the field with the customers. Judging bY how our customers are using this technology, it seems like a viable step toward the ultimate goal of receiving a complete, ready-to-process order transaction without reentry on the distributors' systems."