Reply to Requirements Document

 

This is an edited actual reply proposal for a PumperNickel installation. A lot of the issues covered are common to many Prophet sites.

 

Summary

 

We propose a comprehensive solution to your IT integration needs based around adaption of PumperNickel, our ecommerce connectivity software for Prophet.

 

Background

 

PumperNickel is produced by McPond eCommerce Software.  It has been built from the ground up to solve extension, expansion and connectivity issues for intense users of Prophet. It is closely coupled to Prophet with high speed, licensed connectors. Principal of McPond is David McNeill, who has worked on complex Prophet support since 1990. He has supported and integrated many diverse Prophet solutions with hundreds of Prophet users.

 

Solution

 

Our system implements your suggested solution – Prophet existing functionality utilised and extended, providing fully integrated Web access to Prophet.

 

Web sales front ends for distinct users:

 

Sales reps

  Enter customer name / code

  Get customer profile / preferences / recent orders

  Selects products to order

  Reviews order business rules – minimum orders, promotions, margins etc.

  Commits order.

  Order imports immediately to Prophet

 

System performs post-order processes

Possibilities include…

Notify office-based order staff

eMail order confirmation document to customer

 

Once office staff have confirmed / approved / checked order, and business rules met…

 

System uploads file format to transport company with dispatch instructions.

PumperNickel can create a variety of common business interchange formats, including csv, text, XML, direct database update to SQL, DBF etc.

It can send these files in a variety of automated ways – SOAP, HTTP:RPC, eMail, ftp, Web.   Multiple sends for different carriers are possible.

 

If the transport company make reply information available, this can be imported back into Prophet, or communicated to the customer. Things like consignment note number, expected delivery date etc.

 

 

Architecture

 

The layout of a PumperNickel integrated solution is….

 

Prophet core system on your file server

PumperNickel on the same server, talking to Prophet, tdataset, custom oledb, ft, direct file, ghost and dt connectors.

Broadband internet access – often Jetstream. Fixed IP address. 4th level domain name assigned.

Firewall device or software

 

User on remote device.

Can be any web browser

  Local LAN PC

  Remote office PC

  Home PC

  Internet café

  Laptop over dial up

  Laptop over cellular

  Hand held device over CDMA (Telecom) / GPRS (Vodafone)

  Hand held over local network – 802.11 wireless, café hot spots.

  Browser capable cellphone

 

User logs on to PumperNickel, accesses their pages, which are real time live out of Prophet. Pages include a mixture of static data, live data from Prophet, pictures, forms etc.

 

Because PumperNickel is device independent, and because it is giving live data from Prophet, it does NOT work in offline mode.  You have to be online in order to access the system.  Systems that are offline capable are generally restricted to certain devices, eg Palm, and a subset of business rules, and time delayed data.

 

 

Requirements Checklist

 

 

On the reporting, there are several options.

 

If queries are routine, repeated and structured, eg what products has this customer I’m about to visit been buying this month, or what products has he not bought that he used to buy, or what products is he not buying that other customers in his class are buying, then we would build a web page with the correct business rules, connected to the live data. The user would then only need to enter the customer code to see the report template filled in.

 

Usually a structured query is suitable for field sales force staff, and is aimed at maximising opportunities at the call. Often limited screen space is available to present data, and limited brain processing time is available to interpret data while driving to the visit. Hence present the key performance indicators in a summary format.

 

For a regional or territory sales manager, the questions are more likely to be “what’s going on in my sector”

 

This requires an ad-hoc reporting tool.  The level of tool chosen needs to reflect the user’s skill in using and manipulating it. In rising order of complexity, cost, and potential returns from careful sales effort application, the options are…

 

Prophet standard sales analysis reports from SA module.

Prophet to Excel, then pivot tables & graphs

Prophet Sales Matrix add-on software

Prophet export flat data to other sales reporting / analysis tools

Prophet process flat data through PumperNickel to complex cube, use cubic analysis tool eg Seagate Holos.

Prophet process data through PumperNickel to data warehouse for analysis, then on to EIS Executive Information System.

 

 

Prophet does not implement sales budgets at this time. These can be implemented either in Prophet Flexi-data additional fields (for low complexity budgets) , Excel or in PumperNickel.   The method chosen would depend on the level of detail that the budgets have been prepared in, and need to be reported in.

 

PumperNickel or Excel can facilitate the export of data from Prophet to Word mail merge letters for paper based marketing, based on selection criteria on sales.

 

PumperNickel can perform email based direct marketing (spam) directly from Prophet to customers.  A designer would need to prepare the HTML format page that it is dispatched

 

Other types of reporting, such as the custom aged trial balance, would require a screen and business rules to be configured. This is easily done.

 

PumperNickel is able to read and write Microsoft Access database format, so can move data from Prophet to Access and back.

 

 

Data Capture

 

All fields listed can be captured by Prophet, so can therefore be captured by the PumperNickel web interface.

The sequential order id is not per salesperson, it is system wide.

 

For end user data, a separate table would be required to hold this data. It would sit beside Prophet, and be accessible from the web interface. Printed and exported documents would contain all the data.

 

Deferred payment can be accommodated with Prophet’s retention invoices mechanism, although a Flexi table would be required to hold the deferred date. The standard aged trial balance would need a small modification to read this date and age correctly.  We have the large, complex and very expensive tool required to amend Prophet standard reports.

 

Prophet implements transfer as an inter branch transfer, and doesn’t generate a document or id. However we can add these on the front with PumperNickel.

 

 

Issues

 

Can we have a regional code and category linked to each delivery code?

 

For each customer in Prophet, you can have unlimited delivery codes.

Delivery code is a 4 character short code for the address.

The delivery address has 4 lines of text, plus a post code. The post code can be used for encoding various information.

Each order can have a category assigned, which can be used for sales analysis.

Prophet has a head office facility, so that multiple sales accounts can go to one statement account. This can be used for multiple layers of customer sales analysis.

The Prophet report designer can access all of this information for reporting. These reports usually require adaption or creation to your specific requirements.

 

Internal order ID is sequentially generated, but not per salesperson.  Standard reports can list orders in id sequence per salesperson.

What is the internal control you are trying to achieve by numbering sequentially by salesperson?

 

Defferred payment and deferred delivery are two separate issues. 

If you want to implement deferred payment, all order processing and sales analysis is as normal, but the invoice becomes retention, with a customised forward payment due date. The adapted aged trial balance and statements would age the deferrement correctly.

If deferred delivery, then generally it sits in Orders as an incomplete order, the stock is allocated (committed) but not decremented from on hand stock.

Generally sales reports are not linked to debtors reporting, although we have done adaptions in the past where commission payments on sales were conditional on on-time customer payment.

 

Filing initiation to transport company is a core competency of PumperNickel.  Tagging orders so that amended orders are not resent is part of the outbound despatcher.  Resend of failed arrival orders is also possible.  Amended orders can have amendments emailed to the transport manager so late requirements are still communicated.

 

A full set of business rules can be built around the file dispatch mechanism. We currently implement these controls…

Which invoices are to be transmitted for dispatch. See settings to alter these values.

From Invoice Id

Select works forward from this (rolling) invoice id
so all historic invoices do not have to be checked

557692

Charge Account Prefix

 

340

Branch

 

AK

Branch

 

AK

Branch

 

WN

Other defaults:

Status: Complete ; Incomplete ; Historic

Complete

 

Type: Normal ; Standing ; Template

Normal Only

 

Document: Quote ; Order ; Invoice; Credit

Invoices and Credits

 

Printed or Unprinted

Both

 

Posted or Unposted

Both

 

Customer Stop Credit apply

True

 

 

 

 

Source Branch

 

AK Only invoices in this branch (and meeting other criteria) will be transmitted.
See the full list of criteria on the Transmit detail page.

Source Branch

 

AK Only invoices in this branch (and meeting other criteria) will be transmitted.
See the full list of criteria on the Transmit detail page.

 

 

 

Transmit URL for Web Post

http://mcpond.co.nz:8088/~nickel/ppn.exe/postlisten
This setting identifies where to send the transmit batches to, for the Web Post method.
This should be the URL of the remote PumperNickel with /~nickel/ppn.exe/postlisten appended.
(This setting may move to locations.xml)

Basic Authentication Username

abc

Basic Authentication Password

321

Select method

Invoice Category
Charge Account Prefix
Both Methods
Neither Method (will select all)

Choose which method will be used to select invoices for transmit.

Invoice Category

Only invoices in this category (and meeting other criteria) will be transmitted.
Invoice category is entered on the header page of each invoice as it is created.

Charge to Account Prefix

Only invoices for customers with a charge to account starting with this code will be selected for transmit. Because charge account is defined per customer, no editing is neccessary when each invoice is entered, to include it as a transmit invoice.
Charge to Account is entered on the customer maintenance screen for each customer.

Up to Invoice Id

All invoice id's less than this number have been transmitted or are not eligable.
PumperNickel uses this number to track which invoice id to start from, for checking against
selection criteria for transmitting.

Complete

Complete or Incomplete or Both. Controls selection of complete or incomplete invoices.

Make Incomplete

True or False. Once selected, should the invoice be made incomplete, pending return
of invoice from Central with possible changes. This stops the invoice being posted
prior to changes being imported back in.

Posted

Posted or Unposted or Both. Selection criteria for invoices.
Selecting Posted or Both allows invoices to be transmitted even if they have already been
posted. This allows the invoices to be processed successfully at the central end, even if
they have been posted. Any changes
that might be neccessary will need to be done by credit note.

Printed

Printed or Unprinted or Both. Selection criteria for invoices.
Selecting Printed or Both allows invoices to be transmitted even if they have already been
printed. This allows the invoices to be processed successfully at the central end, even if
they have been printed.

Apply Stop Credit

True or False. Selection criteria for invoices.
True to apply stop credit, which stops transmission of invoice.
False to ignore stop credit, and transmit invoices anyway.

 

 

We can add to these rules with items like, order number can no be blank.

 

Unposted orders can be viewed with the standard Order Status report, by customer, stock or order.

 

Full credit processing is supported by Prophet, either as a credit or as a negative invoice.  Negative credits are not allowed.

Credits show as negatives in sales and inventory reports.

 

Prophet does not support any level of sales budgeting. This would need to be integrated with either Excel, PumperNickel or Sales Matrix.

 

KPI’s would be handled by the various reporting levels as described above.

 

Security to your comfort level. Whitelists, passwords, encryption, certificates.  I don’t expect that higher levels will be required, this is commercial not military grade data.

 

Prophet has no “native” web capability, but PumperNickel is sufficiently integrated as to be seamless.  One of PumperNickel’s key design criteria is to extract efficiency gains in business processing.

 

IT support is by remote access, email and telephone for our system. We expect that you would use your local people for IT hardware, system network and general issues. We provide comprehensive, thorough knowledge of Prophet at an advanced level (we don’t deal with teaching the new receptionist how to print a trial balance).  PumperNickel reports home it’s errors from it’s log files, and is silently remotely upgradeable and restartable.  All configuration is by XML files, which are open access. It makes extensive use of XSLT style sheets, so intermediate to advanced web designers can customise it.  PumperNickel’s internal database format is dbISAM.  ODBC and OLEDB drivers are available for this at extra cost, although they are generally not required. PumperNickel’s other key building blocks are Delphi (Language) , Indy (Internet components), and XML Partner (XML processing), Prophet connectors, plus ten other minor components.  We can lodge source (55,000 lines) in escrow with mutually agreeable solicitors if necessary.

 

 

Test System

 

You can view a test system for remote order entry, at

 

<link deleted - please email a request for the demo login> 

 

This is over a dial up link to the server, so is not always on or very fast.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Complete replacement is not likely to be necessary.

 

An extend and adapt approach will enable you to retain existing systems and value, while moving to more efficient processes.

 

 

Pricing

 

PumperNickel is $10,000.

This covers…

 

It is priced like this because we both need some certainty, but the task at hand is not tightly defined, and we both don’t want to spend weeks defining it. Every implementation requires the core bits that we have spent two years creating, plus the adaptation to your requirements, plus someone skilled to set it up.

 

We prefer to use XP (Extreme Programming) techniques, where we deliver updates to you weekly, and you start using them as you go. This enables the system to evolve to your requirements, rather than being set in stone.

 

Once the system is functioning, we will jointly declare an operation reached point. Modifications forward from there are chargeable on a time required to build basis. Generally we work on $100 per hour for a two person design, code, test and deploy team. Feature creep is frequent with this type of project, and we need to feed the family too!

 

Because the system is online and easily remotely supportable, we charge a maintenance fee for this service. We are also constantly adding new core general features and capabilities for the benefit of all users, and maintenance contributes to this development cost. These improvements can be things like speed, reliability, ease of use, new software technologies etc. Maintenance is 10% of initial cost, so $1,000 per year.

 

PumperNickel can be categorised as niche, very low-volume, highly customised integration software. Currently there are ten live users, so our price, style and approach reflect this.

 

Partners

We are happy work with local Prophet support partners in adapting and implementing PumperNickel.

 

Requirements

You need to have….

Prophet 4.40 DOS , 2.01.00+ Windows with current maintenance

A broadband internet connection with fixed ip & a domain name

A hardware or software internet firewall & someone who knows how to use it

Prophet data connector and file transfer modules, for which they charge $20 per month each.

Remote browser hardware – PC, laptop, handheld, cell phone

Data paths and formats for external partners

Competent internal responsible administrator person

 

Optional items discussed in various scenarios above, are

Microsoft Excel  (version 2003 if you want to use the OLE DB capabilities)

Prophet Sales Matrix system ($1,500)

Prophet Flexidata add on ($25/month)

Prophet Sales Analysis if you don’t already have it ($20/month)

Various data analysis tools, usually around $2,000 upwards.

 

Timing

We would take four weeks to construct our first cut from commencement, and update it weekly or bi-weekly from there forward until completion.

  

Next steps

 

I would be happy to meet you at your premises for a full day of requirements analysis (I have a degree in this area), detailed design, demonstration, people relationships and general brain storming on best approach.  If you are prepared to meet return travel costs (airfare ex Ak, rental car, one motel night), I will not charge any consultancy or time fees. I enjoy the occasional adventure around the country!  

 

 

David McNeill
McPond eCommerce Software
davemc  at  mcpond.co.nz
Buchanan Road
Franklin
New Zealand
Phone 09 292 7212