19 November 2009

When Barr Quarries, part of Barr Limited, needed a way to automate their quotation, invoice and delivery note processes for a new sales order and dispatch system, they chose to integrate business automation and report scheduling from ChristianSteven Software.

The Barr group is a large business involved in construction, civil engineering, quarries, road surfacing, waste management, pre-cast concrete and steel fabrication and erection. Projects include major retail developments, schools, hospitals, offices and sports stadia for clients such as the Scottish Executive, NHS Trusts, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Southampton F.C and Leyton orient F.C.

While developing a new sales order and dispatch system for the Barr Quarries division, Bill Ramsay, information systems manager for Barr, saw the opportunity to automate the business’s manual quoting process. “The quarries division generates tens of thousands of quotes and re-quotes each year,” explains Ramsay. “This was a costly manual process that was difficult to track and audit. Our original thinking with the new sales dispatch system was to simply print the quotes using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, but I felt there must be a better solution.”

Ramsay came across ChristianSteven Software SQL-RD while searching online for a business automation suite and realised it could easily be integrated into the new system and used to automate the manual quoting process. Using an off-the-shelf package would also save coding this part of the system from scratch, a task that would have significantly increased delivery timescales.

“We were developing the sales dispatch system on Microsoft SQL Server, and so SQL-RD from ChristianSteven Software was a perfect fit,” says Ramsay. “Especially since it supported data and event driven schedules which would allow us to automate sending e-mails, PDF attachments and faxes, as well as the automated scheduling and delivery of management reports. I could also see how we could use it to enhance the system to include our invoicing and delivery note processes.”

Ramsay downloaded the 30-day trail of SQL-RD. “The software was intuitive and easy-to-use and above all very reliable – it just worked.” After a short pilot and approval from the rest of the team, SQL-RD was configured and integrated into the live system.

The software was intuitive and easy-to-use and above all very reliable

Bill Ramsay, Barr The solution is now a fully operational part of the live system. “This is a key business process and SQL-RD has proved to be very robust, running in-line, in real time with no major issues,” says Ramsay. “Quotations are now automatically dispatched by e-mail or fax as soon as the sales person clicks send, with invoices queued to be sent overnight.”

SQL-RD enables e-mail to be fully customised and personalised. “To our customers and suppliers they look like they have come directly from our sales team,” says Ramsay. “Having a full electronic audit trail of all transactions has also enabled us to significantly cut the time spent resolving and responding to customer or supplier queries.”

In addition, SQL-RD has been used to improve the Barr Quarries delivery note process. “Where we use external hauliers who are only paid when we receive a copy of the signed delivery note, we use SQL-RD to schedule a daily report and automatically e-mail any hauliers with outstanding delivery notes,” explains Ramsay. “This way we ensure our customers receive their deliveries, and the hauliers get paid on time.”

Going forward Barr will use SQL-RD in more of its business areas. “We were able to demonstrate real value to the business in a relatively short space of time, and are still only just scratching the surface of what SQL-RD can do,” concludes Ramsay. “We already have plans to automate processes in a similar way across other Barr divisions, starting with our environmental business. This will further maximise our return on investment in this unique, easy to use and reliable business automation and report scheduling solution.”

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