Magento Navision Integration: Improving Retail Operations and Customer Service
Nottingham Forest Football Club needed to integrate Magento with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and its preferred courier service (DPD), as well as automate order and shipping processes, and improve its retail operations and customer service. Having developed the front end of the Club’s website and introduced Magento as the web store, digital marketing agency PushON recommended and then helped implement Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform for the integration layer between Magento and Navision.
Primary Applications Used: Magento, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, DPD
“Introducing Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform has meant that we’re running at a third of what was originally envisioned for staffing, and it’s working successfully. It’s a complete end-to-end solution.”
Steve Dickman, IT Manager, Nottingham Forest Football Club
Introducing an end-to-end solution for automating order processing
Company Details
Founded in 1865, Nottingham Forest Football Club are one of the longest established clubs in the world. The Club has played its home matches at the City Ground, West Bridgford, since 1898, and was the first English club to spend a million pounds on a player, with the arrival of Trevor Francis in 1979.
The Challenge
- Introduce Magento Navision integration layer
- Find a solution that could manage entire order processes from multiple locations
- Bring retail operations in-house with minimal operating costs and maximum profit
- Manage stock levels across 2 locations – web store and retail shop
The Solution
- Creation of pick lists and shipping labels
- Synchronise data across systems
- Manage stock levels across two locations
The Results
- End-to-end solution for Magento order processing and online/offline sales
- Automatically managed stock locations
- Running at a third of originally projected staffing levels
Introducing integration between Magento and Navision
Over previous years, Nottingham Forest Football Club outsourced all of its retail operations. However, the decision was made to bring this back in-house to take more control and generate more revenue. In order to do this, it needed to update its financial system and introduce a full eCommerce package. Microsoft Dynamics NAV was selected alongside Magento – a leading eCommerce software and platform.
“Having worked for a Microsoft ISV, I knew the opportunities and pitfalls of this project. My objective was to use ‘out of the box’ Magento and Microsoft Dynamics NAV and introduce an integration layer between the systems to negate the differences and allow the two systems to collaborate effectively,” explained Steve Dickman, IT
Manager, Nottingham Forest Football Club.
“My initial reason for pursuing an integration solution was to avoid being in a perpetual upgrade cycle with the products we would be using. From my past experience, I knew what they would face if they made the wrong choices about integration. The option was either a manual flat CSV upload of all sales orders or something that would work as an endto-end solution.”
“My objective was to introduce an integration layer between the systems to negate the difference and allow the two systems to collaborate effectively”
Steve Dickman, IT Manager, Nottingham Forest Football Club
Stock level management automation
The primary location for stock is the financial system (Microsoft Dynamics NAV) and not the shop itself. Therefore, a key consideration was that stock data needed to move freely to ensure that orders could be fulfilled and customers would not be let down due to incorrect stock information. As a result, the Club needed a solution that could manage stock levels across multiple locations.
“We decided that Microsoft Dynamics NAV would be the financial platform, which would hold stock and purchase orders, but the web shop (Magento) would also need to contain current stock levels as this would feed both the physical retail store and web sales,” said Dickman. “They would be taking stock from two warehouse locations, and therefore it was imperative that stock could be moved and systems kept up-to-date with correct stock levels.”
Magento Navision Integration
Having developed the front end of the Club’s website and introduced Magento as the web store, digital marketing agency PushON recommended and then helped implement
Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform for the integration layer between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Magento.
“We use Magento for both retail and web sales. An order will come through and Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform determines whether it is a physical or web sale. This data is then uploaded into Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The BPA Platform then generates a ‘ship to address’ process and creates a cash receipt,” explained Dickman. “It’s a true integration solution for retail which requires no manual administration, until the point that bank statements come in, which then need to be reconciled. It works a treat.”
“It’s a true integration solution for retail which requires no manual administration, until the point that bank statements come in, which then need to be reconciled. It works a treat”
Steve Dickman, IT Manager, Nottingham Forest Football Club
Sales order fulfilment automation
The efficiency of retail operations, with no margin for human error, was a primary goal for Nottingham Forest F.C. In light of this, one of the main processes that it wanted to automate was shipping.
“We needed to be able to ship a product fairly quickly. Football supporters are impatient. They want their shirts as soon as possible so that they have got them before their mates do,” explained Dickman. “In order to achieve this, sales from the website needed to be integrated with our courier service – DPD. The BPA Platform generates pick lists in our warehouse, the products are packaged and then the BPA Platform generates and prints shipping labels ready for DPD to collect. We have also integrated DPD’s tracking system. It’s a complete end-to-end solution.”
Reducing predicted staffing costs
When planning to bring the retail operations in-house Dickman predicted that there would be three people in the warehouse, not including front of house staff and people on the phones. Integrating the eCommerce and financial systems and creating tasks to facilitate the automation of key processes has meant that otherwise vital administration is not required now.
“Introducing Codeless Platforms’ solution has meant that we’re running at a third of what was originally envisioned for staffing, and it’s working successfully,” enthused Dickman. “We’re now looking at bringing hospitality and catering in house. We’ll be extending Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform to cover purchase order processing for perishable items, in addition to the branded clothing and accessories for retail, and we are also introducing an EPOS system into our kiosks and hospitality lounges for the sale of food and drink.”
Codeless Platforms specialises in Magento ERP integration and provides cost-effective and market leading Magento integration services through its drag and drop business process automation and system integration solution, BPA Platform. For more information on how you can integrate Magento with your ERP system and other on-premises or cloud-based business applications, download the brochure below, or call us on +44 (0) 330 99 88 700.
