ISO Compliance Management Automation with Access Dimensions
As a leading supplier and developer of manufacturing solutions, it was imperative that Cimac International adhered to International ISO standards. The requirement was to reduce administrative costs, monitor key cost centres, provide information to key stakeholders in real-time and streamline the ISO compliance management process. It achieved this by automating monitoring and reporting processes in Access Dimensions using Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform.
Primary Applications Used: Access Dimensions, Astec Information systems
“Although software alone cannot ensure that a company meets all its ISO obligations, Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform significantly reduces the time and costs associated.”
Mark Matthams, Finance Director, Cimac International
Automating the Monitoring and Reporting of ISO Compliance Management Processes with Access Dimensions
Company Details
Cimac International provides award winning, impartial solutions that deliver unsurpassed quality and cost effectiveness. The company has worked with some of the world’s major manufacturers. Installations can be found in some of the most efficient manufacturing plants around the globe.
The Challenge
- Achieve internationally recognised ISO standards
- Provide automation and alerting to help the business adhere to compliance
- Identify and contact aged debtors
- Improve response times to critical stakeholders
- Monitor budget movements in real-time and reduce operational costs
The Solution
- Compliance automation
- Become proactive
- Provide access to real-time information
- Manage stock levels across two locations
- Track clients estimations and success rates
The Results
- Aged debtors identified and alerted
- Stakeholders receive information in real-time
- Finance automation and documents produced automatically
To read how Cimac International overcame its challenges please download the case study.
“When we were evaluating Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform we could see the returns that automation and alerting technology would deliver, but we could also see the intangible gains that are often undervalued.”
Mark Matthams, Finance Director, Cimac International
Achieving ISO Standards
Given the global presence that Cimac International has within the manufacturing solutions industry, the company is expected to meet internationally recognised ISO standards. Indeed, the achievement of these standards is something that is crucial to the reputation the company has with its existing and prospective clients.
“Although software alone cannot ensure that a company meets all its ISO obligations, Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform significantly reduces the time and costs associated with this activity,” said Mark Matthams, Finance Director, Cimac International.
Following the implementation of Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform, Cimac International has started to extract further returns from its initial investment.
“From the company perspective of ISO standards, my colleagues and I are constantly identifying new methods in which the automation and alerting functionality can aid the ISO process. This on-going ROI is a sure advantage of Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform.”
Provision of real-time information for Cimac International’s project management team
With offices in Europe, USA, Australia and the Middle East, Cimac International faces the constant challenge of running a truly global project management team.
Access to ’as it happens’ information can mean the difference between being on budget and on time, or incurring unnecessary costs.
“Cimac is becoming proactive rather than reactive to time management and we can optimise resource allocation for real-time situations,” explained Matthams. “To illustrate the proactive nature of Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform, it automatically monitors all our cost centres by querying our Access Accounts system, formatting the information as text and delivering the information via email and SMS to all relevant decision-makers.”
In addition to the real-time benefits that the project team are deriving from the automation and alerting software, Cimac’s head office is using the BPA Platform to enhance the precision of client estimations.
“As the BPA Platform memorises all the tasks we can analyse both the historical and real-time behaviour of our company. For us, this means that estimate probability and success can be tracked with far greater clarity.”
Savings on administration and time costs within the credit control department
Like most market-leading companies operating within a competitive environment, Cimac International is always looking for new ways to reduce the burden of administrative activities. Indeed, decreasing the cost of identifying and chasing aged debtors was something that the company saw as a priority.
“The capabilities of the product enabled us to build a robust task that radically streamlined this particular business process, said Matthams. “It is now the case that the Data Integration and Synchronisation capability automatically monitors invoices that are either overdue or approaching a specific time.”
Although Cimac International welcomes the contribution that the Codeless Platforms’ solution is making towards its competitive standing, and the savings the product has already generated, the senior management team also recognises the intangible gains that are also being provided, such as response times to critical stakeholders.
“Of course, when we were evaluating Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform we could see the returns that automation and alerting technology would deliver, but we could also see the intangible gains that are often undervalued.”
“We understand that our stakeholders require immediate responses to their issues and the product’s ability to achieve this is probably just as valuable to us as eradicating the manual process costs.”
“Cimac is becoming proactive rather than reactive to time management and we can optimise resource allocation for realtime situations”
Mark Matthams, Finance Director, Cimac International
Increasing connectivity
With the company experiencing strong growth and its recent alliance agreement with US based Haden Inc., it was decided that further connectivity between employees, subcontractors and clients was required. With this in mind, the senior management team of Cimac International turned its attention towards other areas of the business with the aim of creating an ‘information rich’ environment.
To illustrate the company’s new level of connectivity, Matthams cited one of the company’s most recently automated processes.
“The latest business process we automated was the generation of budget and build reports. In both instances, the Data Integration and Synchronisation capability interrogates our Access Accounts system, formats the information into a Crystal Report and sends the document via fax and email,” explained Matthams. “Now we can monitor all budget movements in real-time, whilst making sure our clients have the information to work in tandem with our sub-contractors. This has proved invaluable to our reputation as a leading supplier of manufacturing solutions.”
