Repairs and Maintenance Case Study

Sales Order Processing System Revs Up Autodata Efficiency Levels
ROCC Computers – IT Partners to Autodata

Overview
IT is a part of almost every day-to-day business life. It enables businesses to work more effectively and efficiently. However, owner’s of forward thinking SME’s today expect more than just efficiency savings from IT as they seek sources of competitive advantage. They see the real value of IT, especially an ecommerce system, is that it enables an organisation to be agile enough to take advantage of new market opportunities and resilient enough to successfully manage growth.

When choosing an IT solution for your business it’s important to get it right, first time. To do this you need to understand the ways in which technology can make your business more effective and how to go about selecting the right system to meet your business needs. You need to select systems that support your business and are capable of growing as your business grows, and that add value to it.

Autodata
Autodata recognises that in its business the customers are the lifeblood of its operation. The better they can manage the relationships they have with them the more successful their company will become. Therefore they rely on IT systems that specifically address the complexities of dealing with their customers on a day-to-day basis.

Established over 30 years ago, Autodata Ltd is the UK’s leading supplier and publisher of technical information for the use in independent workshops for the repair and service of cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Although most of these workshops are non-franchised ranging from fast-fits to a variety of specialists, a growing number of franchised workshops also need information on other manufacturers’ vehicles.

A privately-owned company, Autodata directly employs over 120 people in four countries, of which over 90 are based at its headquarters in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Its primary market is Europe and operates wholly owned subsidiaries in the USA and Australia.
Autodata launched its first Technical Data publication in 1974. Over the next 30 years it extended its range of publications to cover a number of service, repairs and diagnostic subjects including Timing Belts, Repair Times, Engine Management Systems, Service Schedules, Diagnostic Trouble Codes, Wiring Diagrams and many more. Revised editions of its annual titles are produced on a yearly basis and revised editions of other manuals are created as and when they are required. As the market has developed, Autodata has altered its focus to supplying this information not only through printed manuals, but CDs and the internet, which are made available through Autodata, its subsidiaries and a range of independent distributors around the world.

Printed publications now account for only 20% of group sales with electronic media forming the balance. CDs and Autodata Online are principally supplied on an annual subscription with customers receiving regular updates throughout the year.

The market has grown significantly as the trend has been towards taking your vehicle to any garage to get it serviced, as opposed to always relying on the manufacturers service and repair facilities at dealerships.

The Challenge
To facilitate this growth Autodata has been working with a Uniclass system, supplied by ROCC Computers, the local IT solutions and services provider, for over 20 years. The system has undergone a number of modifications during that time and has handled the work effectively. However, Autodata is constantly developing and looking at new ways to improve efficiency and delivery and they identified that the system needed upgrading to maximise the benefits that an integrated IT system could offer across all areas of the business.

In their initial research they looked at a number of off-the-shelf software packages and quickly realised that they would not address the complexity of the business. Having already established a working relationship with Autodata, ROCC were asked to develop a system configured to take account of their requirements. In fact the same ROCC programming team worked on the original project some 20 years ago.

The Solution
The system is being developed in a number of distinct phases in order to manage the process in a way that suits Autodata.

Phase 1 includes sales order processing, invoicing, monthly and year-end sales reporting, warehousing and stock control, and has gone live this year. The sales order processing is able to raise and manage many different types of orders, register how payment has been made into the credit control system with immediate verification, allocate an order from stock and control the despatch system as well.

Phase 2 will provide a sales and purchase ledger.
Phase 3 will manage registrations – linking customer databases. This will make a significant difference to the business as registrations and sales are currently two separate systems with no integration.

The Benefits
The benefits that Phase 1 of this new system has given to Autodata are:

• More user-friendly
• Easier access to information
• Much quicker to use
• Improved efficiency
• Field sales team now able to access data
• Easier to manage payments
• Will accommodate huge growth

When asked to comment on the SOP system designed and installed by ROCC, Lisa Sheil, UK Sales Office Manager at Autodata, said: “ROCC ensured they understood our requirements and business needs. We have worked in partnership to develop a system that will enable our business to keep at the forefront of our marketplace, maintain efficiency and offer an ever improving service to our customers.”

The Future
This system has been designed to accommodate future developments to keep up with the growth of the business. The next planned addition will be a comprehensive Knowledge Base – enabling a help desk to provide a technical support service with easy access to data. After that an e-commerce solution will be introduced to enable on-line ordering. As Lisa Sheil concluded: “IT has become an increasingly important business tool to Autodata and it is vital we ensure that we get the most out of this system by continually reviewing our progress and using the system proactively.”