PNS: Simpler and more accurate planning

We intend to continue to be a reliable distributor of press for the entire population of the Czech Republic and a flexible professional partner for publishers. To achieve that we need a uniform, integrated information system for strategic planning and feedback analyses, accelerating, as well simplifying, the independent decision making of responsible managers.

Company characteristics

We offer the all-national distribution of press, namely, the all-national and regional dailies, magazines and non periodical publications to the selling outlets throughout the area of Czech Republic. At the same time we retrospectively inform publishers of the sale and optimize the cost policies with the objective to provide satisfactory availability for the entire population of the Czech Republic. Another line of the company business is the lease of a network of retail shops selling press and complementary goods throughout the area of Czech Republic.

Prior to BNS installation

In 2003 - prior to the installation of Business Navigation Systems (“BNS”) – our planning process did drain a considerable portion of capacity of managers and controlling executive officers. This department had laboriously to integrate data from various primary information systems (economy and finances, trade and distribution) in collaboration with IT department and to convert them to the management superstructure in the shape of overviews, tables or reports processed in MIS Excel environment. The amount of data which had to be processed from different perspectives in order to enable assessment of the current economic situation and creation of the forecast for the next period had thus continuously grown.

After BNS installation

In 2004 all the cumbersome processes were replaced by a uniform information system for planning thanks to which each trained worker may very simply and independently develop plans and at the same time analyze achieved results. BNS rather enables the work with the uniform storage of data, integrating both the information relating to the tactical perspective (e.g. the basic plan and its updated versions, forecasts or simulations results) and the one concerning reality, including the values of calculated variances. BNS users appreciate especially the adjustable depth of viewing which increases the required accuracy of the processed tasks. All the planning and analytical processes taking place in the holding company are faster, more flexible and less time consuming for the responsible persons now.

What was the decisive point

One of the points which decided on the winner in the public tender invited by us to establish a new management information system was its practical demonstration. The short-listed tenderers were charged with the task to convert the files of reports and planning processes from the system utilized formerly in the company to the proposed user’s environment. The main accent was put on its simplicity and comprehensiveness.
Within the framework of reference visits paid to separate candidates our implementation team then paid attention, above all, to the aspect, whether its users were able to work with the system actively, knew how to create the required reports themselves and to which extent they had to rely while creating various modifications on the contractor.
It was just the intuitive control, independence during the following system development, quality references, implementation team and group of trainers which became then the main reason why we selected BNS system supplied by Inekon Systems.

Implementation procedure

BNS installation within the holding company operation was preceded by the pilot project in which PNS employees could test its features. The implementation itself then took less than three months. Separate modules of the system were delivered and accepted gradually and at the end of each stage we had sufficient time to verify the work with the system while utilizing our internal data and comparing the resulting solution with the Navigation Concept. We had been thus able to verify stage by stage that we proceeded in compliance with our own expectations.

Results:

• BNS installation has fulfilled the expectations of PNS Group. Different operation systems which provided to the management its control of the company development and its supervision of the current economic condition in a complicated way have been replaced by the transparent and user’s simple, integrated system.
• Controlling could interconnect the analysis of business results and causes thereof with the development of modelling annual plans and future forecasts.
• Directors of separate divisions receive more accurate information now and are able to decide and plan on its basis more effectively.

Ing. David Štros, controlling manager:

„BNS has considerably simplified our planning process. It has allowed, among others, to simulate e.g. the impacts of particular decisions on the business results. We are able to develop company plans in more variants which we then mutually compare. This has enabled us to accept at all times the most convenient version under the given conditions.
Its other benefit consists in that PNS does not depend on Inekon Systems services and 99 per cent of all the required modifications of the system are successfully completed by our own personnel.“