Improved Communication flow with Sage Line 500

The company
TS Communication Services is a leading UK service provider to the telecommunications and communications industry with a customer base including Nokia, Orange and Cable and Wireless. TS Communication Services is part of Tyco International which, with over 250,000 employees and operating in over 80 countries, is a major multi-national company with a $36 US billion turnover. The Installation and Maintenance Division of TS Communication Services was formed in 1992 by a core team of senior engineers.

The company's head office is in Birmingham with regional offices located at Basingstoke, Livingston and Slough with a further 25 regional bases and depots located around the UK.

TS Communication Services has recently increased in size by taking on contracts for Nokia UK's Hardware Services Division and Cable and Wireless Data Services operation.

"We worked very closely with CPiO's consultants to get this system in and were impressed with their focus and professionalism. It was a tough challenge for all involved, but they made it easy for us to work with them."
Mike Sullivan, Implementation & Development Manager

The challenge
The company was running a UNIX based Proteus system that appeared to be doing an adequate job, supporting the business without a high level of maintenance. However, as TS Communications began to evolve and grow the system began to struggle with the increase in volume of contracts and the dynamic environmental demands that were being placed upon it.

Following a review of the current business systems TS Communications identified that approximately forty per cent of its IT business system was based upon internally developed Microsoft Access databases, written to fill gaps in Proteus functionality. This represented a huge risk to the company and only served to heighten management's focus on identifying a more flexible solution to fit the business.

TS Communications took the opportunity to review its entire business operations. It was an ideal time to learn more about how the company had grown and recognise patterns that could help steer the company in the future. In doing this they could more clearly identify what they wanted from the new business system. A budget was set and a specification document prepared.

The solution
Following lengthy research into the software available on the market four solutions were short listed as a potential 'good fit' for TS Communications. Through a process of elimination the company decided upon a Sage Line 500 solution from CPiO, which they felt offered the most comprehensive fit across functionality and service.

CPiO recommended a broad solution to fit the diverse needs of the business and to facilitate good supply chain management. At the heart of the solution is the Configurator product, designed to cope with the diverse terms and conditions associated with each network service contract. Now a telephone operator can take a call from an engineer anywhere in the UK and immediately call up the unique service script, collecting all of the information needed to be able to process that request. The Configurator then simultaneously flushes that information into a Line 500 sales order for the new part and a works order to record the incoming faulty part ready for repair. Every part now has a serial number to give full traceability and the company has practically eliminated stock loss through this method.

On receiving incoming repairs the part is scanned and booked straight into stock using a Datalinx warehousing system, reducing the manual time spent on booking and moving stock into the right warehouse location. CPiO also implemented an integrated Preactor system to manage production forecasting in the repairs workshop. The solution was completed with high level automated reporting through Cognos Business Intelligence and proactive alert messaging via Orbis.

We used to have to send a fax, and wait for confirmation and
a serial number, before keying it back into our system and
waiting for a confirmation of delivery. But now traceability is
so good that it can all be done automatically through Sage and
the automated email alerts from Orbis"
Mike Sullivan, Implementation & Development Manager

The benefits
TS Communication's management team is united in its belief that it has chosen the right solution for the business going forward and offers solid return of its initial investment. The company needed a system that would help to develop business practice but not stifle or dictate it. In fact, the solution facilitated a long overdue process review and supported some key decisions made by management. The company now has a robust, powerful IT solution that is more flexible, easier to use and is proving increasingly popular with users more so than the previous, unwieldy system.

The most surprising benefit, perhaps, was how quickly TS Communications was using an integrated solution with suppliers, such as warehouse management company Concorde. Good integration was a long term goal for the company but by the end of the implementation period the company was already communicating with its key suppliers, further increasing efficiency and delivering cost savings.

" We used to send a fax to Concorde with the part details on, wait for a phone call back confirming that it had been received, wait for a serial number, re-key it back into our system and then await a manual confirmation of delivery. But now traceability is so good that it can all be done automatically through Sage and the automated email alerts solution from Orbis," comments Mike Sullivan. This has released resource for TS Communications meaning that the company can actually source new contracts without having to increase staffing levels.

The future
When TS Communications went live on the CPiO solution it took the decision to gradually move contracts over so as to identify and deal with any issues quickly. This approach paid dividends as the company did not encounter any major issues that would have prevented the implementation from running smoothly. Now that the system has been in place for a while the company is looking to move all of its contracts across and begin to explore other avenues for improving efficiency.

The company is also poised to install a stock optimisation system from Barloworld Optimus that it believes will further increase the efficiency of its warehousing interests.