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» Overview
» Collaborative Commerce
» Technology
» Technical Features & Benefits
» Functional Features & Benefits
» General Benefits
» Industry Specific Solutions
» Pharmaceutical Industry & FMCG
» Chemical Industry
» Consumer Durables Industry
» Ready Made Garment Industry
» Consumer Goods Industry
» Engineering Goods Industry
» Automobile Industry
» Paints Industry
» Fertilizers Industry
» Cement Industry
» Functionality
» Configuration Phase
» General Phase
» Masters Sub-Phase
» Utilities Sub-Phase
» Sub-Functions Sub-Phase
» Transactions Sub-Phase
Overview
Of the various organizational functions, that Sales & Distribution is the core function where efficiencies and productivity is to be achieved need not be underlined. The key to competitiveness lies in being able to efficiently manage the Sales, Distribution & Logistics, Finished Goods Inventory & Receivables, which are the most critical areas of any business where vast scope for improvement in business efficiency and productivity lies. Open Sesame operates in this space where it integrates the various arms of the Company viz. Manufacturing Plants, Transshipment Warehouses, Sales Offices that are geographically spread all over the Country or World and most crucially the customer chain viz. Distributors, Wholesalers, Institutional Buyers, etc.
Collaborative Commerce
Most of the competitive businesses surviving today’s global market place have adopted ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software systems that automate all the functional activities of their businesses. Thus they have created a level playing field in terms of improvement in business efficiencies and productivity that have resulted by way of implementation of these systems. However all the constituents of the sales and distribution chain like warehouses, distributors, dealers and retailers lie very much outside the purview of the ERP systems of the Company and hence critical business information from these constituents is not available as it happens in the ERP system.
From the above backdrop, OPEN SESAME™ has been developed to address all such issues pertaining to businesses that have geographically spread sales and distribution operations. OPEN SESAME business platform can be used to rapidly develop e-business solutions for diverse industry verticals to automate large swathes of business comprising of varied transaction tasks. Some of the tasks that can be automated are Product Catalog Management, Order placement / order processing, distribution logistics, finished goods inventory management, receivables management, sales force automation and extensive critical business reporting using business intelligence tools like data warehousing and Online Analysis and Processing (OLAP).
Technology
OPEN SESAME™ technology is built on collaborative e-business platform that reaches far beyond the enterprise and traditional desktop applications. This implies that business entities or users, which are geographically spread apart, can be well connected to the system for processing their respective transactions. This scenario requires flexible, open, scalable and networked technologies, which is offered by OPEN SESAME™.
Technical Features & Benefits
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OPEN SESAME™ offers industry solutions, which seamlessly integrate with most of the Enterprise resource solutions like SAP, BaaN, Oracle Business suite & even legacy systems. Integration tools available in Opensesame™ enable smooth integration with these Enterprise Solutions at database levels. Separate tools to integrate with each type of Enterprise Solutions are available in OPEN SESAME™. |
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OPEN SESAME™ can run on any operating system like Sun Solaris, Windows NT, Unix and any flavor of Unix. Apart from that, new enhancements, add-ons and functional features/interfaces are incorporated in OPEN SESAME™ through new product releases, based on the specific customer requisitions. Acumen also offers modifications to existing installations to meet the requirements of the changing business scenarios. |
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OPEN SESAME™ solutions are comprehensive and global by meeting legal requirements around the world, which businesses need to comply with. |
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OPEN SESAME™ incorporates multiple languages, multiple currencies, and multiple time zones. In a scenario where the business operations of a business are spread over several countries and transacted in local languages, it becomes necessary to have user interfaces in local languages based on the geographical location of the user. Thus based on the selected language option chosen by the user, interfaces and reports are displayed in that language. Business documents created in one language can be viewed in another language depending upon the user chosen language. |
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Coming to the implementation aspect, the configuration layer of OPEN SESAME enables easy implementation of OPEN SESAME. This layer also enables the configuration system to map the business processes and work flow of the business model on to OPEN SESAME. |
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OPEN SESAME provides data migration tools that migrate data from databases of existing applications being used by customer to the database of OPEN SESAME™. Data can be migrated from any legacy database and RDBMS using these tools.
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OPEN SESAME™ helps businesses to grow operationally, functionally and globally, enabling scaling from small business solution to a large business solution. It operates in client/server environment as well as in a web-based environment, based on the specific requirements. |
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OPEN SESAME™ offers latest security technology for its e-business solutions. These include single sign on where the user can access the application only on user authentication. Role based authorization wherein depending upon the role given to user access is allowed only to those sections of the application for which permission has been granted to access that particular role. Centralized user administration can be provided, wherein users of the system can be created and maintained only by the system administrator. |
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OPEN SESAME™ deploys Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology for data transfer. The following is the list of technologies deployed for developing Open Sesame application:
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Presentation Web browser |
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Windows OS Programming Languages |
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JAVA Script |
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HTML Database |
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ORACLE Microsoft SQL Server |
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IBM DB2 Informix |
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Communication Environment HTTP |
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SOAP Architecture / System |
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UNIX SPARC |
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INTEL WINDOWS |
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MIDRANGE AS/400 |
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MAINFRAME S/340 |
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Functional Features & Benefits
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Highly flexible and can be configured to suit any business model, workflow and any vertical industry segment. |
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Provides seamless integration with wireless based mobile commerce solutions, thus enabling working on pocket PCs and PDAs |
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Provides integration with existing applications like Mango’e’ desktop-based point of sale solutions and other accounting products offered by Acumen. |
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A truly any-time-any-where solution integrating the customer chain with the ERP systems, leveraging on the information and market happenings. |
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Manages the sales, distribution & logistics, finished goods inventory & receivables functions by leveraging on the web-based technologies, thereby improving business efficiencies and productivity at reduced costs. |
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Automates the field Sales force, which is one of the important functional activities of the Sales Department of any business. |
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Provides information on Order Book, Shipments, Inventory and Sales & Receivables at the touch of a button up to the minute across the length and breadth of the business. |
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Efficiency in Order Processing system as time standards can be set & deviations reported. |
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Identification of all fast moving inventories and subsequent storage in nearby locations in a Warehouse, thus cutting down the service time |
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Reduction of the loss of obsolescence to zero as goods can be shipped on First-in-First-Out basis. |
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Improvement in top lines as it helps in
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Avoiding Stock-Out situations
Tracking order cancellation & sales return patterns which enables to remedy the situation. |
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Improvement in Bottom lines as it helps in
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Avoiding locking up of working capital in Slow Moving & Dead Inventories. |
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Rationalization of inventories across the Distribution Chain viz. Depots, Distributors, etc. |
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Sustenance of delivery service levels, thus ensuring prompt and timely delivery through Distribution chain and maintaining100% product availability across the chain while reducing Inventory. |
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Promptness in customer service by the sales force, as they can access complete information regarding stock positions at Warehouses on their PDAs/from the Customer’s desktop. |
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Reduction in transportation costs through effective Truck Management. |
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Provision of stabilized plans to Mfg plants, suppliers & customers. |
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Prioritisation of shipment orders based on the lead period for supplies, helping in timely deliveries to customers. |
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Production need not be on estimates anymore, as the Supplies required are known well in advance and thus planning can be need-based. This helps in avoiding inventory pile-up. |
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Sales performance analysis on multiple parameters or combination thereof like time period, product-wise, geographical-wise and unit-wise. Performance can be bench marked against sales targets with variances reported. |
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Value Creation by enabling businesses to reduce costs, increase revenue; service customers better and reduce chances of sale revenue losses. |
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Conducting on the Internet Sales, distribution, finished goods inventory and receivables management, removing a lot of inefficiencies in the system. |
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Proper production planning based on the availability of real time information on order book positions. |
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Drastic cut in finished goods inventory management with ready availability of pending orders information. |
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Reduction in sales/marketing overheads by cutting all costly methods of communication like couriers and long distance telephony. |
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Better customer service |
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Making available all stocks and goods at all stocking points at the optimum levels which implies goods availability to customers whenever they require and thus serving customers better. |
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Availability of stocks and goods at all stocking points whenever the customer requires thus reducing chances of sale revenue losses. |
General Benefits
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Improvement in the efficiency of warehouses and transporters |
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Reduction in loss of sales due to stock-out situation |
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Reduction in carrying cost of excessive inventory at warehouses |
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Reduction in the incidence of carrying old stocks. |
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Identification of old stock, enabling it to be sold first. |
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Reduction in cost of communication related to sales and receivables. |
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Increase in productive hours of sales personnel due to reduction in time spent on Administrative work. |
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Reduction in the error factors in managing the activity and situations going out of control on the mere excuse of lack of information. For example: A dealer has been given supplies more than their credit limit or their poor credit realization coming to the light of management at a very later stage. A sales person who has done 95% of budget and missing the targets with narrow margin, due to lack of information. |
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Reduction in the sales personnel’s paper work, while increasing their time spent on sales calls. |
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Increased time spent in manageability of issues for managers rather than doing analysis about problems that occurred. |
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Reduction in the sales cycle (from order placement to delivery of goods and invoice) period considerably. |
Industry Specific Solutions
Open Sesame can be deployed for any industry segment, whether it is pharmaceutical, cement etc. These solutions enable all the constituents of the distribution chain viz., manufacturing plant, transshipment warehouses, distributors, dealers and field sales force to work on a single platform.
Here is a brief overview of industry specific solutions that is offered by Open Sesame deployment.
Pharmaceutical Industry & FMCG
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Maintenance of stocks on the basis of expiry dates. |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
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Provision of trip sheets for entering sales on each sales trip. |
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Online Maintenance of tour program schedules for medical representatives/field sales force. |
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Download Open Sesame For 3PL PPT File |
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Download Open Sesame For Pharmaceutical Companies PDF File |
Chemical Industry
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Offers solution to enable sales offices to issue dispatch schedules to warehouses for dispatching stocks to distributors/dealers |
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
Consumer Durables Industry
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
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Tracking & processing of sales enquiries generated through service dealers and maintenance of sales record pertaining to the number of appliances sold. |
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Maintenance of promotional schemes. |
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Download Open Sesame for Fast Moving Consumer Goods PDF File |
Ready Made Garment Industry
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Interfaces with Infrared bar code readers, which is extremely important for retail trade in this industry. |
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
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Maintenance of promotional schemes. |
Consumer Goods Industry
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
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Maintenance of promotional schemes. |
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Provision of trip sheets for entering sales on each sales trip. |
Engineering Goods Industry
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
Automobile Industry
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Linking of manufacturing plants with automobile show rooms. |
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Tracking of inventory positions of automobile spare parts at dealers end. |
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
Paints Industry
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Maintenance of promotional schemes. |
Fertilizers Industry
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
Cement Industry
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Tracking of primary, secondary and tertiary sales data |
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Upload of sales data by distributors and dealers while maintaining their own accounts and invoicing systems without duplication of work for doing the same and ensuring stock position updates in the database. |
Functionality:
The entire open sesame application is categorized under two broad functional components: Configuration Phase & General Phase. Configuration phase, as the name implies refers to the basic configuration of the application as per your business workflow, which is the prime pre-requisite for operation of the core modules of the open sesame application. General Phase on the other hand is dependent on the configuration phase, which comprises of all core modules, customized accordingly to ensure smooth transaction processing.
Configuration Phase:
Being a primary phase, this phase typically starts with selecting your specific industry, associated entities and defining the workflow that logically depicts your sequential transactions in your sales & distribution hierarchy. The next stage involves creating your head office, configuring your centralized or a de-centralized sales network that typically involves assigning key functions to different entity levels (Head Office, Sales Office etc).
Apart from that, there are few other optional features that are aimed to enhance the customization and flexibility level of the software, making it more industry adaptable and user friendly. This typically involves customization of certain basic options like Date & Number format, pricing method, product attributes, look & feel of the application, etc. However the uniqueness of this phase is enabling customization of the basic nomenclature (screen names, messages etc) of the software as per your specific requirements or translation of nomenclature from one language to the other (system supports 21 languages).
General Phase:
After completion of configuration phase, the next phase is the General phase, which further consists of various sub-phases, comprising of certain core modules under each sub-phase. The listing of various sub-phases is as follows:
• Masters Category
• Transactions
• Utilities
• Sub-Functions
• Master Reports
• Transaction Documents
• Transaction Summary
• MIS Reports
Masters Sub-Phase:
This phase typically involves user registration, sub-user registration, and customer registration at the initial stage and later involves creation of product master, price master, tax master, etc. All this is accomplished by a series of modules, which provides the base for the subsequent core phases (Transactions).
Utilities Sub-Phase:
This is a value addition phase consisting of a series of modules like Mail Box, Message Board, etc aimed to enhance the productivity of the employees in particular and the organization in general.
Sub-Functions Sub-Phase:
This phase comprises of a series of modules, which acts as prerequisite for operation of other core modules.
Transactions Sub-Phase:
As the name implies, this is the final and the crucial phase of Open sesame wherein all key transactions governing your organization’s business logic is accomplished in the respective modules, referred as transaction modules. Some of the typical transactions involved in day-to-day business operations are order posting, amendment, approval, transfer etc. A notable feature governing the functional logic of various transaction modules is the interdependency between each module, which is primarily dependent on the respective work flow option as selected earlier in your work flow module (configuration phase). However, the accessibility of any transaction module is primarily dependent on the pre-requisite data entries in its associated master phase modules, with key data getting retrieved from these modules, thus simplifying data entry and processing time for that transaction module under consideration.
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