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Securing success
with Sage
Line 500
The company
Tidyco
Limited has two divisions, Tidy Hydraulics and
Tidy Technical. Tidy Hydraulics
is a leading
distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic
systems to
the rail, marine, defence and other
general
industry sectors. Established over
20 years ago
the division is a Certified Distributor
for Parker
Hannifin hydraulic hose and fittings
and also
supplies a wide range of components
and
services including hose assemblies,
multi-levels
of kitted parts, seals, clamps, pumps
and
consumables. Close ties to the rail
industry over
the last 20 years have seen the company
involved
in the design, manufacture and installation
of
hydraulic systems in numerous new
builds of
trains and rolling stock.
Tidy Technical offers planned maintenance
for
plant and equipment to all types
of industry.
Planned maintenance gives an ongoing
preventative programme that minimises
breakdowns and costs.
The company has also establised a
flourishing website for on line purchasing
at www.tidyco.co.uk/store and is
a Distribution Partner for Honda
Power
Products, Tangye Jacks and Electrolux
generators and air conditioning units.
"CPiO has demonstrated a good understanding of our business
and has proved a reliable, flexible partner.
We now have a
strong relationship with the team and
work together to get
the results we need from Sage Line 500."
James Tidy, Director
The challenge
During an evaluation of business
processes, Tidyco realised that its
current financial systems were
no longer able to provide the organisation
with the functionality it required
as the business
continued to diversify and grow.
Disparate applications across finance,
payroll and customer
records were proving frustrating
as data was not easily accessible.
Management needed
information that it could quickly
and easily manipulate to help drive
the key business decisions.
The company was running Sage CS/3
on a UNIX platform for its financials
and distribution, whilst
an internally developed Microsoft
Access database acted as a contact
management solution.
Tidyco also operated a stand alone
payroll system, adding to the reliance
on re-keying of
information across the systems.
The introduction of a Microsoft-powered
web sales function on the company's
website further
exacerbated the issue of technology
integration.
The solution
Having used Sage CS/3 for a number
of years, Tidyco wanted to stay with
the Sage product
line to ensure continuity for users
and minimal disruption to its business.
CPiO
recommended the Sage Line 500 system
due to its extensive functionality
and ease of use,
incorporating standard applications
and providing easy transfer of data
within the solution.
Tidyco wanted to continue to operate
its MS Access based contact management
system and
the reliance on a Microsoft engine
for the company website made the
decision to move to
Sage Line 500 running on a Microsoft
platform a logical one.
The implementation of the system
was delivered on time and within
budget by a team of
CPiO consultants. The overall solution
was further enhanced by CPiO's advice
on web
security. CPiO consultants quickly
identified that the Tidyco website
was subject to an
increasing amount of hits from 'hackers',
potentially creating a security risk
to the whole IT
infrastructure. A Watchguard Firebox
700 was installed and the Microsoft
security software
replaced with a more robust solution.
"The
Sage Line 500 'look and feel' has
been
positively welcomed by users. They
find the system
more intuitive and therefore are
inclined to explore
its functionality. We see this as
a positive step
towards really maximising our investment."
James Tidy, Director
The benefits
The introduction of Sage Line 500,
with the integrated payroll module,
quickly began to pay
dividends for Tidyco. Time spent
on re-keying information dropped
significantly and updates that
had previously taken hours could
be completed in minutes. A 20,000
line price update can now
be completed in less than ten minutes,
injecting real flexibility into the
Tidyco-supplier
relationship.
With a common Microsoft platform
across all key IT applications users
are able to access and
manipulate data to strengthen decision
making within the business. Quotations
are automatically
produced by pulling information from
Sage Line 500 into the Tidyco contact
management system,
providing consistency in customer
communication. "Sage Line 500
has really helped drive
efficiency throughout the Tidyco
business. We now have an integrated
IT solution with Line 500 at
its core, giving us the accessibility
to our data that we needed."
The future
Following the success of the implementation
of Sage Line 500, Tidyco is now looking
to maximise
its investment in the system. Continuing
the efficiency drive is key to Tidyco
and they will be
working closely with CPiO to review
the usage of the system. The ability
to scale up the system to
accommodate new users and add extra
functionality sits well with the
company's expansion plans
in the future.
Tidyco is also considering the use
of Enhanced Order Processing to deliver
further efficiency into
the company's telephone and trade
counter business.
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