MRC at Rectella Limited Andy Hughson Commercial Manager

Agenda Who are Rectella? IT Infrastructure Reporting options & needs Why MRC? Report Examples MRC on Blackberry Stock Man. Case Study Web Ordering Benefits Questions

Who are Rectella? UKs leading importer & distributor of ready-made soft furnishings Privately owned limited company Established in employees at head office in Blackburn 140 employees in retail Small office in China

Business Profile Limited UK production – small amount of MTM Almost all stock now sourced from the Far East 6,500 SKUs Fashion industry – 1/3 range replaced every year

Sales & Customer Base Annual Sales £14 million turnover 1.2 million units Customers 300 accounts, 1300 branches Chain stores, multiples, mail order & independents Matalan, Debenhams, B&Q, John Lewis, CWS, Dunelm, Littlewoods, BHS

IT Infrastructure AS400 P10 machine –Movex v12.5 RPG –Live in August Windows servers –MOM –MEX –BPW –Payroll –ADS/Firewall –MS Exchange –Blackberry –Web intranet/extranet –File share server –Backup server 2 staff –Applications Support –Technical Support

In the Beginning... Reporting options: AS/400 Query –Pros: Useful tool for IT staff Ad hoc file contents query –Cons: Inefficient Experienced IT skills Machine resource hungry Not an end-user tool Inflexible No run-time prompts Limited formatting

In the Beginning... Reporting options: BPW –Pros: Output to Excel Quick refresh of saved file Offline from AS/400 –Cons: Relatively complex to set up Experienced pivot users Not really an end-user tool Inflexible No run-time prompts Limited formatting

Rectellas Reporting Needs End-user reporting tool Run-time prompts Flexible formatting options Easy to learn and set up Efficient data handling Web browser deployment Good support services Relatively inexpensive licensing

Known Alternatives COGNOS PowerPlay –Pros: Previous IT use/experience –Cons: Expensive user licensing Limited end-user knowledge Similar to BPW methods Crystal Reports –Pros: Cheap licensing –Cons: Little prior experience Uncertain scope

MRC – A Brief Encounter... MUA Demo – May 2004 Ticked all the boxes: End-user reporting tool Run-time prompts Flexible formatting options Easy to learn and set up Efficient data handling Web browser deployment Good support services Relatively inexpensive licensing Existing Movex Users: –GBC & Kerrygold

Next steps Proof of Concept: –FOC –Setup on Rectellas AS400 Online Demo –

Why MRC? We would be able to create: –Data warehouse to summarise large files, e.g. OSBSTD, MITTRA –New data tables & new fields in existing Movex tables –New applications for data maintenance and data enquiries –End-user prompted reports –Intranet for report deployment –Extranet/website for customer access Simple Low Pricing – Licensed per processor not per user Dictionary can be configured for end-user report creation Key Project:TJ Hughes concession management options Flexible & rapid KPI deployment Low-skills based solution with no raw application coding

Report Examples Brief look at some reporting examples –Customer Sales –Best Selling Ranges –Product Placement –Top 20 by Retail Store –Order Source

Ex 1: Customer Sales Report Prompts: Payer No. / Customer Name / Product Group Sensitive data

Ex 1: Customer Sales Report Features: monthly columns, 1 pass of 2005 OSBSTD summary file Sensitive data

Ex 2: Best Selling Design/Colour Report Prompts: None

Ex 2: Best Selling Design/Colour Report Features: uses 2 summary files, 7 summaries in all

Ex 3: Product Placement Report Prompts: Design Name, Item Group, Invoice Date Range (Date Picker)

Ex 3: Product Placement Report Features: 1 pass Sensitive data

Ex 4: Top 20 Design/Colours Prompts: Store Name (Drop-down list)

Ex 4: Top 20 Design/Colours Features: Dynamic column month names

Ex 5: Order Source Report Prompts: Customer Name, Order Date Range (Date Picker) Sensitive data

Ex 5: Order Source Report Features: on demand sorting of report output

MRC on Blackberry Custom Reports written for deployment to Blackberry users in retail Simple Deployment to existing menu

MRC on Blackberry Example Safety Stock Report Prompts: –Store Name –Design Name

MRC on Blackberry Run-time Prompts Users chooses their Store from the drop- down store list

MRC on Blackberry Run-time Prompts User enters Design name they are interested in User scrolls to Run button and initiates report request

MRC on Blackberry Report Output Designed to fit the limited screen size Shows Store Number (Movex Warehouse) and Design chosen Shows Safety Stock for each SKU

MRC on Blackberry Report Output Scrolling down reveals rest of data and Grand Total

Stock Management Case Study Challenge 30 TJ Hughes concessions Optimise retail stock profile Limited head office resource Solution Define stock profile rules Schedule MRC summaries Produce net change output Update MITBAL file

Process – Count & Replenish Retail Outlet = Movex Whs API update of physical stock Stock records for each store Weekly count by exception Distribution orders shipped Replenish to Safety Stock

Process – Optimise & Update Net Variance Sales Suggested new stock levels MRC table for stocked ranges Nightly schedule MRC summaries Update MITBAL using WinSQL Review output/ sanity check

Example Output Plan to maintain 6 weeks shelf stock (subject to min/max rules) Curtains: At least 5 sizes 1 from each width Min 1 max 4 Duvet Covers: All sizes Min 2 max 6 Pillowcases: Min 6 max 12 Tiebacks: Min 2 max 4 Valances: Size 3 & 5 only Min 1 max 2

Store Summary – Sanity Check

Web Ordering Requirement: –Low cost B2B website Features: –Order entry –Simple navigation –Accurate product pricing –Up to date stock availability –Order tracking –Invoice audit trail –Account status information –Flexible user security –Product imagery –Customer/Product views

Solutions Considered Intentias e-Sales –Costs: Licenses £39k Development £23k Maintenance £8k p.a. –Pros: Existing Movex integration Existing Movex knowledge –Cons: Licensed per customer/user (100) Costs exclude modifications e-Sales longevity? Rectella Board perception

Solutions Considered MRC –Costs: Licenses £0 Development £21k Maintenance £0k p.a. –Pros: Prior experience with Raleigh No additional license/maint. fees Custom built to our design brief Open nature of design architecture –Cons: No additional out of box website features

User login – multiple users per customer

Welcome screen and notice board

Main account status information Sensitive data

Branch links Sensitive data Sensitive data

Branch status information Sensitive data

Design / Colour / Item Group navigation

Designs available for this customer

(Optional) Colours available for this Design

(Optional) Item Groups available for this Design/Colour

Launch the search

Search in progress

Search results – 10 per page

Add item to shopping basket

Confirmation of addition

Additional information and Design/Colour image

Design description and related item links

Design roomset image

Add item to shopping basket

Quick search on product features

Add item to shopping basket

Review shopping basket

Printer friendly order confirmation

Select delivery branch Sensitive data

Add order number, accept terms and confirm order Sensitive data

Order confirmation

Review outstanding orders Sensitive data

Check order status

Check expected delivery date

Review invoice trail

Filter on outstanding invoices

Review outstanding invoices

Other Features Contact Us page –Inc. map & links Online Demo –Flash presentation Password Maintenance

Extranet Architecture CustomerWeb ServerAS400 Web browser Check price/stock Place order Order progression Review account E-Collaborator Windows server Web page host Apache/Tomcat Data requests Order file origin Windows server E-collab host Order template Order integration Movex OIS275 Order validation Order processing MRC Data tables User security

MRC Benefits Tell it WHAT you want not HOW to do it Custom data dictionaries by dept/user More efficient than Query Less machine resource hungry More flexible than BPW Many presentation options User prompts at run-time Breadth of development scope Excellent helpdesk Good partner relations

Questions?