The World of Corporate MRP systems is full of surprises. If in the late 1990th major ERP market players: Oracle, SAP were trying to realize the strategy of releasing so-called ‘light’, ‘select’, ‘express’ versions of their high-end ERP – the idea is very simple and attractive – if your corporate ERP application could be written on one CD (or several CDs) – why not to try the game when you disable 70% of the functionality and release ‘lite’ version? The real world kind of accepted and a the same time rejected this movement from the up to the down – as would it funny to realize, but the issue was – this is still the same heavy-pace ERP application and its implementation cycle is of course reduced, but not substantially and not enough to fit to mid-size and small companies. Plus – these heavy-weight applications were targeting super and mini computers, when Intel-based Servers achieved and surpassed the performance (and more important price efficiency) of these ‘high end’ computers – the necessity to support multiple OS and DB platforms ceased to exist.

• SAP Business One. SAP understood the necessity to acquire simple, and still powerful MRP/ERP system, which has simple design and as so, reduced implementation cycle. The idea of all-in-one license type is also innovative and probably helps marketing campaign. SAP Business One, when it was marketed by original software development vendor from Israel wasn’t a serious competitor to Microsoft or Oracle – until SAP purchased it and revised its marketing campaign.

• Modern Design. SAP Business One includes CRM module, it is (at least at this moment) excellently integrated with Microsoft Office. Please note that SAP Business One is not (at this time) a subject to Mendocino project – mySAP integration with Microsoft Office/Outlook.

• Production/Manufacturing. While targeted to small and mid-size clientele – SAP BO has production/ERP modules, which makes it attractive for overseas manufacturing facilities of multinational corporations.

• COM Object support. At this moment (2006) this is cool, but Microsoft Business Solutions suggest the argument against SAP Business One – if SAP doesn’t develop its own office solution or at least doesn’t invest into cooperation with Microsoft in the Office application direction – SAP Business One might lose the technology ground by 2010.

• Simplified MRP. We already publicized the idea of deploying simplified ERP for corporate business, the critical is reliable database platform (MS SQL Server is reasonably cheap nowadays and very reliable). The idea is very simple – if you are corporate business and you feel that you should be in rich-functionality ERP realm – implement simplified MRP which has the same reliability parameters, but requires some custom design to fit your business processes.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally. We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico

Accounts payable is just one area of office management where problems arise because of the sheer complexity of transactions, and the vast amount of paperwork that is generated.

A disproportionate amount of time and administrative resources is consumed just getting invoices approved for payment. The problem becomes compounded when invoices are lost when being circulated for clearance and even more time is then lost in the retrieval process.

Typically these documents include purchase invoices from suppliers, sales invoices to customers and purchase orders generated by customers.

Even if missing documentation is successfully recovered from the system, the delay will have caused major inconvenience. If it is not recovered, the effects on business are routinely disruptive, and in extreme cases, disastrous.

TokOpen is a powerful document management and workflow software solution that goes far beyond conventional document capture and storage. Uniquely flexible, the package allows systems to be configured to meet customers’ specific needs.

How TokOpen works

Automated data entry allows invoices to be scanned, indexed and stored in the system, avoiding time-consuming manual entry. Automated reading can take two forms: either header reading (reference number, client name and amount); or full line item reading. Alternatively, invoice information can still be entered manually if required.

Once in the system, invoices are electronically routed through a workflow process that includes notifying all authorised staff when an invoice is waiting for their approval. Online reports are automatically generated where invoices awaiting approval are delayed or missing. These reports are configurable, so they can be set up to cover other factors critical to successful payment completion.

Internal security is built into the system, and access controls ensure that only authorised staff can open invoices or related documents. Audits are automatically maintained on all documents as they progress through the system, so each time they are accessed or amended, time, date, identity and activity details are logged.

Where associated documents are in the system, these are stored in the same file alongside invoices so they can be located quickly and easily. Access can be gained from other systems, in which case folders and documents are displayed in a standard Web browser.

Invoice approval is integrated with the rest of the accounts payable process, and invoices can be accessed via systems like SAP or JDE.

TokOpen in action – a case study

TokOpen is currently being used by a major Japanese multi-national, with multiple office locations in the UK. One office processes purchase invoices for all the other offices in the UK, and they are initially processed using the Oracle Financials system. For all new invoices, a barcode is generated and attached to each document.

An Accounts Clerk then scans all documentation into TokOpen. This is carried out from a dedicated scanning and indexing workstation, using TokOpen Sorting Office.

All documents are stored here and then uploaded on a daily basis to the TokOpen server, which is at another UK office location. Sorting Office reads the barcode and then looks up the original data in Oracle to extract additional index data such as invoice number, supplier number and site code.

Standard browser access

Most documents are retrieved via the users’ standard Web browser, using TokOpen Web, and a total of 260 staff use this means of access. A restricted number of users also have access to the TokOpen Desktop, and access is provided to individuals based on an approval hierarchy.

Invoices are handled using an efficient electronic workflow process. Once scanned, Invoice Status is set to Invoice Received. TokOpen ensures that users can only view documents that have been assigned to them in a particular workflow.

A strict authorisation hierarchy is in place, based on the size of the invoices being handled. So if a member of staff attempts to authorise an invoice that exceeds their authorisation limit, TokOpen automatically routes it to a staff member at the next authorisation level. This continues up the authorisation hierarchy until the invoice reaches a member of staff who has had clearance to sign off that invoice value, and payment is completed.

TokOpen brings together powerful and efficient document management, with easy-to-use, Web-based access.

Tokairo is an international provider of Document Management (TokOpen) and Education systems solutions (TokAM). Tokairo has its headquarters in the UK, with a sister company in the USA responsible for the Americas. http://www.tokairo.com REF=TO2EZ