ARMATURY Group: Higher Profitability of Orders

As a company with the progressive attitude operating in the international market in regard of the segment of industrial fittings we felt the need of change within the entire system of forecasts developed for the future. We searched for innovative methods, which would enable us to establish the effective corporate planning with an immediate analysis of results.

Company characteristics

Our company arose in 2000 by merger of three entities having the experiences and following the tradition of industrial production in the Czech and Slovak markets. During a short time we have obtained an opportunity to take part in complicated projects taking place in the EU, Russia, China and other countries. This has resulted e.g. in the opening of the commercial representation in Moscow and obtaining the certified licences for supplies of all the fittings to the Russian, Byelorussian or Ukrainian markets.
At present, we are concentrating on the development, production, sale and services of industrial fittings, supply of pumps and metallurgical materials, especially, to the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe or Asia.

PRIOR TO BNS INSTALLATION

In view of extension of our business outside the local geographic area we were in need of a new, effective, easily controllable and, above all, flexible management information system. Our objective was to implement such tools which would achieve to replace the existing system of stating the sale results by means of progressive reporting with the direct navigation to variances and causes of their origin.

AFTER BNS INSTALLATION

Navigation Business System (“BNS”) has enabled us immediately to respond to changes and flexibly to prognosticate sales results so that to maintain or increase profitability of orders. General corporate planning in the areas of sales effectiveness, support of the product and customer profitability management has brought positive impact on the financial efficiency and cash-flow.

What was the decisive point

BNS belongs among the verified and globally extended OLAP technologies for planning and controlling. We made acquaintance therewith already during seminars and papers presented by controllers, who had used it in real life. We were then convinced of the system operational qualities in several companies, which had already implemented it.

Implementation procedure

Implementation of the whole system was preceded by commissioning the operational prototype with regard to business data. After that the Navigation Concept was developed and it mapped out the planning processes, specified responsibilities during their creation in the company, and updated them. Then, in the fall of 2003, individual BNS-AB modules began to be incorporated within sharp operation. First, the sale was started, followed by financing, cash-flow and the management profit and loss account. The system was implemented, first of all, above the operational system Navision Financials. Later on, after the implementation of the new system IFS, the BNS was upgraded because of a greater continuity of management information for the company management and the crucial planning processes were updated in respect of the new requirements of the sales management. At the same time the database environment was changed from the original MS SQL to ORACLE.

Results

• In view of the exact and fast planning of the sales efficiency we are able to maximize the order profitability.
  
• Analysis of sales results makes possible the direct navigation to variances compared with original plan and their justification.
  
• Prognoses of sales results can directly respond to the continuously changing market conditions.

Ing. Mgr. Ondřej Benda, financial director:

“Among significant circumstances which were decisive we certainly considered the fact that the management information system of Inekon Systems had been already prepared and ready – so that it need not „to be built from the scratch“, similarly as in case of products offered by other companies. Our intention was immediately to operate with the highest possible effectiveness, instead of losing time required to develop an application. And time is the only thing which we do not avail of.”