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Counting beans means Heinz moves from the abacus to the
microchip. How technology is helping to ensure cash flow and credit
control.
Many Brits have grown up on Heinz foods. Ensuring that these
products reach the shelves of our shops requires effective supply
chain management. For Heinz this means making sure the goods leave
the warehouse on time, and that payment is received with equal
punctuality.
Monitoring cash flow within a company is an essential task for even
the smallest business. But when millions of pounds are passing
through the company every week, efficient credit control is vital.
Tracking incoming payments and deadlines, updating sales ledgers
and analysing cash flow requires the right tools.
Heinz wanted to be able to fully automate its credit control
procedure and to use a central system to do so. Heinz needed a
system that could produce reports tailored to its customer
base. This meant it needed the flexibility to extrapolate
account details for independent outlets as well as large invoices
for supermarket chains. It also wanted to improve internal
reporting procedures, with the ability to draw off any part of the
system, to separate invoices or brand descriptions.
Heinz began using Exchequer from IRIS
Enterprise Software in 1996 to process customer accounts. In
particular it was looking for a number of features which would help
it boost the efficiency of the customer accounts
department. The team of 9 in the customer sales accounts
department needed a sales ledger to maintain customer records for
800 customers in the UK. With tens of millions of pounds a
month in customer payments passing through the department, Heinz
needed tight control and an efficient method of tracking and
handling invoicing and payment procedures for customers.
The accounting package has facilitated the
department's work in a number of ways. For instance, using an
'alert' system, staff can be warned of approaching payment
deadlines. Contact details and further account information can be
attached to this diary. After an alert, staff can process an
automatic mail merge to follow up invoices due from particular
customers with a letter.
"Exchequer has made the day to day processing of
transactions quicker and easier," said Geraldine Jason, sales
ledger co-ordinator at Heinz. "Account adjustments can be made
immediately without having to wait for the system to be updated
overnight. "Working in real time means that we have access to
accurate account details. If we want a statement on an account we
can get the actual balance, rather than having to calculate any
additional payments made that day."
Heinz also wanted a solution that could produce
ad hoc reports so that data could be extrapolated from any part of
the system and forwarded to Customs and Excise as required.
Internal reporting procedures have also been improved. The
ability to report on a customer's past sales and credit limits
means it is easier for Heinz to analyse trends in levels of sales,
and decide whether to increase credit limits. "Having that
historical information available is a huge benefit to us, ensuring
we make the right commercial decisions."
Exchequer also has a drill down facility
integrated onto the interface which has helped Heinz. "We can go
down to single accounts or invoices from the main sales ledger
which is a quick and convenient way of tracking customer
payments.
Also, we are able to get concise details of any
account within minutes, for internal reporting and customer
contact." continued Geraldine Jason.
IRIS Enterprise Software also developed a
bespoke interface for Heinz, linking their mainframe legacy system
to Exchequer, which is a PC-based application. With several hundred
orders every day, many of which contain over a thousand items, all
order processing at Heinz is performed on a mainframe, but the
credit control system needed to be installed on a Windows NT
network - a completely separate operating system.
"We needed a link between the mainframe and the Windows NT server,
whereby all invoices could be automatically transferred overnight
to the PC-based accounts system. During the day, all money
received could then be entered and allocated into the sales ledger
from the desktop, with the balances automatically updated back to
the mainframe.
Using
Exchequer means we can control 800 customer accounts on a
single system. We also have the flexibility to follow up on
payments, keeping cash flow within the business running. Most
importantly we can offer our customers account details at any level
and provide them with the most efficient service."
Heinz produces numerous products, that are sold
through thousands of outlets and enjoyed by millions of people.
This generates a significant amount of revenue, which needs to be
tracked, recorded and processed as efficiently as possible. Without
the ability to maintain this cash flow the supply chain would be
broken and Heinz's products would not reach our tables.
