SYSPRO & Microsoft Dynamics NAV integration helps company merger of Bob Martin and Pets Choice
Codeless Platforms today revealed that Bob Martin (UK) Ltd., a supplier of pet healthcare products that was established in 1892, has improved its sales processes and cash flow having installed BPA Platform to integrate its SYSPRO ERP system with TrueCommerce EDI. The company is also using BPA Platform to integrate SYSPRO with Microsoft Dynamics NAV following its acquisition by Pets Choice.
In November 2019 Pets Choice acquired the Bob Martin (UK) Ltd. healthcare factory and Bob Martin brand licence. As a transactional business, it was imperative that customer orders could be processed swiftly and easily, therefore its business systems needed to be updated to accommodate the merger. The company required an EDI SYSPRO integration solution that could transfer orders from customers in the retail sector via TrueCommerce EDI, into a language that SYSPRO could process.
“BPA Platform facilitates the integration between SYSPRO and TrueCommerce, depending on the site location, and converts files from the customer’s system. For example, when we receive an order from a major grocer through EDI, BPA Platform converts them into a file that SYSPRO can read, sends an order acknowledgement, dispatch note and credit adjustments where necessary. BPA Platform checks for new transactions continuously, ensuring we’re efficient in our processing timeframes to keep customers happy. This data transformation and automation element is used by us for at least fifteen of our customers, including all major UK grocers,” explained Andrew Cooke, CFO/COO Bob Martin and CFO Pets Choice Limited.
“We were going to use a particular piece of software that simply transfers an order from a customer into our language for our ERP system, but we realised it was quite archaic and could only achieve that one thing. After scanning the market for options and receiving a recommendation from our SYSPRO provider, Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform was a clear frontrunner. BPA Platform can achieve much more than just a conversion of files and offered the flexibility to be used elsewhere in the business.”
One of BPA Platform’s key attributes that many customers cite is its ease of use. Its graphical interface and drag and drop technology not only make it user friendly, but also relatively easy to implement.
“BPA Platform has a low licence fee, which is always helpful. However, the main benefit to using BPA Platform is that it’s not programmable. You can see where you’re going to drag and drop; you see it all on the screen. It’s so easy to use. It’s much better than other products which require programming analysts to set up. In the SYSPRO arena it’s commonplace to find expensive development options, but this is an ideal alternative. BPA Platform gives us much more flexibility,” explained Cooke.
Having seen how quickly and effectively BPA Platform can be employed to smooth processes and deliver bi-directional information, the next step for Andrew Cooke is to integrate the two ERP systems, to ensure that the two businesses can work more productively.
“We are in the process of integrating the two businesses and consequently two ERP systems, SYSPRO and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. In order to do so, we need to reduce the number of manual data manipulations and hence reduce the number of errors. We know that BPA Platform can already facilitate this with its dedicated connectors, ensuring both systems can be kept up to date without manual intervention,” said Cooke. “BPA platform is going to be an integral component for merging the two systems because it automates an otherwise manual process. For instance, transferring stock between locations over multiple systems is currently performed manually, whereas BPA Platform will automate this in future.”
About Bob Martin / Pets Choice
Pets Choice is comprised of a portfolio of around 20 brands that manufacture and distribute food and treats for both pets and wild animals. The company supplies partners around the globe in the grocery, independent and other pet speciality sectors. It won the Queens Award for Enterprise in International trade in 2017, having distributed to over 54 countries. In November 2019, Pets Choice acquired the Bob Martin (UK) Ltd. healthcare factory and Bob Martin brand licence.
About Codeless Platforms
Founded in 1999, Codeless Platforms is at the forefront of business process automation and rapid application development. We have a proven track record of developing and delivering agile, flexible and robust next generation software solutions, empowering businesses to get the most from their data as well as the ability to respond to the rapidly changing business demands of today. Our knowledge of the marketplace and channel has grown in line with this development and established us as a highly experienced and reputable software company, working closely with partners and software vendors, such as Access, Epicor, Infor, Microsoft, Sage, SAP and SYSPRO. With over 450 global partners, more than 8000 customers use Codeless Platforms’ software solutions, ranging from diverse global organisations to the small local enterprise. The company is headquartered in Poole, UK, with representative offices throughout the world.
