Document Management

Why would anyone bother with document management? Quite common in the Legal Industry where multiple documents are associated with each matter and it is important to quickly retrieve information based on key word searches.

Document Management is also growing in popularity where there is a need to quickly retrieve source documents such as proof of purchase and delivery of goods. From an environmental point of view, it makes sense to quickly recycle documents rather than storing them for years in filing cabinets and archival storage.

Many business software systems these days have some inbuilt document management capability. Unfortunately from what we've seen, they tend to fall short on the usability and don't seem to flow seamlessly with the process flow of the host application.

When looking for an appropriate Document Management System, it is important to consider the following factors:

• Multi-level security of the stored documents
• Ease of use including rapid retrieval of documents in the most appropriate and logical flow
• Secure destruction of deleted documents
• Compatibility of working with all common document types

The best document management systems are able to be configured to work so closely with existing business software that it would appear to be part and parcel of the host system. For example, when drilling down on a list of customer sales invoices, you can retrieve the customer's purchase order and your freight consignment note.

More information: Axsapt

Taking Stock of Your Accounts

Most accounting systems can handle general business needs without too much fuss. As long as your business sells straightforward products using a simple pricing model, then it's probably OK to stick with a run of the mill accounting system.

But what if your products have:

• multiple units of measure
• serial and lot tracking with expiry dates
• different costs at each location
• more than one stock keeping bin location in each warehouse
• barcodes for each packaging unit
• the need to track costs by FIFO, Weighted Average Cost and Standard Costs
• more than one dimension such as Colour, Size, Season, Width and Depth and the pricing varies for each of these attributes
  
• Volume Pricing or Discounts by date range for both Sales and Purchases
• Complex cost calculations that include foreign and local freight charges, agent handling fees, duty, warehousing fees, insurance all allocated on the basis of weight, value or cubic volume
  

If you're using a run of the mill accounting system and your business has complex stock requirements, you're probably using spreadsheets and word processing and many error prone manual procedures just to get your invoices out the door.

More information: Axsapt

Are Company Procedures Worth It?

Growing businesses tend to adopt more complex processes over time as the workload is spread among staff to improve throughput.

As more staff come on board they need to be educated quickly on those processes and expectations otherwise mistakes can be made that will affect profits. The bigger the company the more likely that related tasks can be segregated among individuals and teams. The success of projects will ultimately depend on tasks being done correctly and within time constraints.

Many companies adopt formal written Policy and Procedures Manuals, Checklists, Knowledgebases and Flowcharts but to ensure compliance there must be supervision and regular audits and reviews. The success of this approach depends on the clarity and accessibility of these documents and the diligence and personality of the staff entrusted with following step by step procedures.

These days, modern business software systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have configurable workflow that can automate these tedious processes. Workflow helps by breaking down complex tasks and assigning those tasks to staff or teams and encouraging them to perform those procedures in the right order. If a procedure doesn't get actioned in time, Notifications or Alerts are redirected to other team members or supervisors.

The benefits of a Workflow system is that less training and supervision is required and the quality of output should improve as strict standards are enforced and measured against benchmarks.

More information: Axsapt

Examples

How to Grow New Business

The Rio Tinto / Stern Hu bribery trial in China is a reminder of one way of growing a business that may have risky consequences.

A better approach would be the traditional method of ensuring you have great products (or services) at reasonable investment and back them up with responsive customer service.

With the basics covered, increasing sales involves promoting your product and highlighting the benefits of dealing with your business over your rivals.

To grow profitably it's best to focus on your complementary services and product quality and deep knowledge in your chosen field. Building credibility involves contributing to your industry and associates and providing useful advise to your customers and prospective clients.

Seminars, Trade Shows, Newsletters and other useful communications are great ways to educate your marketplace about your expertise in recommending and implementing your time and money saving products or services.

Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) systems are excellent in managing your promotional activities and measuring the success of each campaign so that you can successful replicate what works well and ditch what doesn't.

More information: Axsapt

Are Your Manual Systems Up To Spec?

Changing over to a new accounting system is often considered a good way to improve cash flow and profitability. For example, tighter stock control and better forecasting will result in lower stock holding costs as just enough stock is held to avoid stock outs and reduce the incidence of stock shrinkage.

Great in principle, but before implementing a new software system, you should ensure there are adequate internal controls in your manual systems to complement the software systems. Examples include:

• Transport registers and security checkpoints at the warehouse gates
• Cheque and cash received registers

Segregation of duties is also important with medium to large organisations. This is where the custody of assets (stock, cash, debtors, fixed assets etc) is a separate function to the authorisation of transactions involving these assets. Examples include:

• sales order takers and stock control
• cash receipts and sales invoice/credit
• cash payments and creditors control
• payroll and human resources

Other areas that will reduce risks include:

• Providing "blind" Stocktake Sheets and Cash Count Sheets i.e. without expected values
• Surprise cash counts of random tils and petty cash
• Random stock counts of specific product lines or location.

Axsapt Business Software Consultants can help you identify the potential risks within your business and recommend appropriate changes to your systems (both manual and computerised) to reduce those risks.

More information: Axsapt

Sybiz Roadmap for 2010

This week, Sybiz Business Partners from around the world attended the Sybiz International Conference at the Seaworld Resort, Gold Coast in Queensland.

Sybiz this year celebrated 35 years in business and showcased 2010 product releases including Advanced Job Invoicing, Genesis BRM (Business Relationship Marketing): a CRM for small to medium businesses and Visipay 10.0 a powerful multiuser Payroll and Human Resource Management System.

The new Vision.Net, Sybiz's next generation release for it's Flagship Vision Accounting System was also announced. The initial core release is expected 2nd quarter 2011.

More information: Axsapt