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Anthurium Exports
– Database-Driven Client-Server Application for Centralized
Process Management
Increased volume of operations made it difficult to synchronize
data through a manual process for Anthurium Exports Pvt. Ltd.
- a Mauritius based flower exporter. High rate of error and
reduced performance due to redundant processes was a serious
hindrance to business. Anthurium Exports was looking for a solution
that would dynamically manage its data for growers, packers,
and clients. In this effort, the company teamed with Icreon
to develop the Anthurium Exports software. The application provides
user-friendly modules for Growers and the Head Office, which
in turn, is responsible for managing Grower and Client operations.
Driven by a central database, these modules are used to generate
reports, and invoices for clients along with the facility to
process monthly sales data and pay growers, accordingly. Growers
can store data for availability of flowers, while the Head Office
can accept & allot client orders to growers. Apart from
this, the system provides a whole range of security, backup,
and data recovery features to ensure smooth management of business-critical
data.
Customer Profile
Anthurium Exports is a leading exporter of flowers in
Mauritius. Dealing with a vast variety of flowers, the company
collaborates with Growers in Mauritius and supplies flowers
to native and foreign clients.
Business Requirements
Anthurium Exports wanted to convert the entire data
entry process from a manual ledger system to an automated and
dynamic process. This implied that changes in data would be
reflected throughout the system. The application was required
to synchronize activities between the Head Office and the Growers
through e-mails and alerts, which in turn would streamline processes
right from receiving client orders to packaging and dispatching
flowers.
Solution
Benefits
Centralized data management
Maximum
process automation
Automatic
alerts and reminders to allow easier follow up of issues
Multi
level application security to eliminate data pilferage
Technologies Used
Windows 2000 Advance Server with SMTP
SQL
SERVER 2000
Visual
Basic 6
Crystal
Reports
Microsoft
Transaction Server (MTS)
Remote
Access Server (RAS)
Requirements
Anthurium Exports Pvt. Ltd. was following a manual ledger based
management system for keeping records of Growers who supplied
flowers to the Anthurium Exports. The Anthurium Exports Head
Office would receive client orders but information on the availability
of flowers was confirmed through phone or fax from Growers.
Due to lack of information at the right time, the Head Office
was not able to allot orders judiciously to Growers. The entire
process of receiving and allotting client orders was extremely
redundant. Operations such as, lists for Picking, Packing and
Master Box Strapping were maintained manually. There was no
synchronization of data between Head Office and Growers.
To streamline these activities, Anthurium Exports wanted to
deploy an application that would manage data centrally, maintain
records for growers, produce invoices for clients, and generate
reports on availability of flowers, sales and other such information.
Icreon identified the key problem areas for Anthurium Exports
and proposed the development of a database driven application
that would synchronize data and assist in proactive management.
Managing Business-Critical Data
to Enhance Business Continuity
The transactions at Anthurium Exports involve Growers, Packers,
and the Anthurium Exports Head Office. A series of processes
are followed to form a complete weekly cycle that starts every
Thursday. The application has been designed to synchronize and
manage these processes.
Suppliers of flowers known as Growers have one or more Farms.
Each farm is divided into different Sections and each section
is managed by Gardeners. A section can have a variety of flowers,
which are segregated into various categories. The gardener counts
the availability of each variety by size and the supervisor
compiles a list of stems available. Once these lists are compiled,
the grower sends a list of available varieties to the Head Office.
The Head Office maintains the availability lists for various
Growers. The Head Office updates this list every Thursday. From
Thursday onwards, the Head Office starts taking orders from
clients and allots these orders to a grower or group of growers
depending on the availability of the ordered varieties. A packing
list is prepared as per the client order. The client can define
the size and color of the trays. Prices are charged according
to these specifications. The Head Office then prepares and sends
invoices to clients. At the end of the month, the growers need
to be paid depending on the sales of each grower. Every month,
the Head Office generates monthly sales register and sends the
packing list to the growers with details of the varieties that
were packed in different trays. A Master Box Strapping list
defines the trays that make up a Container/Master Box. After
packing, flowers are sent directly to the client or a driver
from the Head Office collects the orders and takes it to the
airport for shipping to clients. Packers at the farm get a bonus
according to the number of trays they pack and this data is
used while preparing the payroll data for packers.
The Anthurium Exports software has been designed to synchronize
and manage all activities performed during this cycle. There
are two basic modules for Anthurium Exports – Grower and
Head Office.
The Grower Module is responsible for managing the list for available
varieties of flowers in each section and paying packers according
to the number of trays they pack. This module sends updated
availability lists to the Head Office through the Remote Access
Server (RAS). RAS is responsible for synchronizing activities
between the Grower and the Head Office modules. Growers can
generate various reports to view the summary of sales by variety,
size, packing date, cutting date, and expedition date. They
can also view revenue breakup by section and payment breakdown
reports. The entire data remains in-sync with the operations
performed at the Head Office.
The Head Office Module manages both Growers and Clients. It
provides comprehensive and easy-to-use features to allow the
Head Office administration to manage data dynamically. One of
the major functions of this module is that it maintains the
availability lists for different Growers. This facilitates the
allotment of orders to Growers, depending on client specifications.
Apart from this, the module provides features to generate invoices
for clients, and maintain the inventory or availability list
data, based on the new lists sent by the Growers and the orders
that are shipped to the clients. To pay the Growers, the system
provides the facility to generate the Monthly Sales Register.
The Head Office Module monitors can monitor the availability
status, by generating various reports. Growers and Head Office
need to interact constantly to ensure that data retrieval and
restoration takes minimum time.
To enable high performance, we suggested developing the application
on a 3-tier architecture. |
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The Grower and Head
Office modules have been developed using Visual Basic 6, and
uses the RAS to synchronize operations. Microsoft Transaction
Server (MTS) is the middle layer that manages the request/response
speed between the backend - SQL Server 2000 database, and the
front-end.
Summary
Shifting a manual process to an IT enabled process has streamlined
the entire business lifecycle for Anthurium Exports Pvt. Ltd.
Icreon worked on this project through a Mauritius based consultant,
who was the liaison between Anthurium Exports and Icreon.
By eliminating the obvious glitches of a manual process, Icreon’s
Anthurium Exports solution has ensured complete automation of
processes such as receiving orders from clients, authenticating
product availability, and securing data through backup &
recovery features. Automating the entire work process for Anthurium
Exports, the application has enabled the organization to meet
its objectives of synchronizing operations while maintaining
data integrity and reliability over a distributed setup. |
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