SAP Business One and Eralis Job Breathe New Life into Australian Engineering Firm
Success with Eralis Job
Progressive invoicing and profit release option for long-term projects
Rapid employee acceptance as training was easy
One seamless software system that simplified all business processes
Multiple job costing methods
Time and cost savings across the business
Cash flow improvements
When Australian-based Wastech Engineering found it was struggling with an outdated financial system, it turned to SAP Business One and Eralis Job to bring efficiency and flexibility to its financial processes.
Flogging a Dead Horse
Wastech was using an off-the-shelf accounting system to manage its work-in-progress and job costing functions and had re-developed the product far beyond its original capability, creating speed and data integrity issues.
Wastech Managing Director, Neil Bone, says excessive time was being spent on completing the accounts and balance sheets each month. Staff also spent a substantial amount of time developing and maintaining numerous Excel spreadsheets, which were designed to beef up functionality.
Wastech, like many other small to medium sized manufacturers, undertakes lower volume jobs that require some flexibility in the way the job is costed and invoiced.
We were looking for a system that allowed us to buy and bill labor and material directly to the job. The other goal was to eliminate as many Excel spreadsheets as possible, while integrating a large number of other business processes into one package.
A Breath of Fresh Air
Wastech manufactures, installs and services waste and recycle equipment, which means undertaking a lot of jobs that require standard equipment to be customized to suit each installation.
With SAP Business One and job costing for SAP Business One, Wastech now has the ability to record and report the true cost progressively on every job.
“We can now progressively invoice building industry jobs, releasing the profits from long-term jobs to smooth out the profit and loss report on a monthly basis.”
As a result, Wastech is able to sail through the P&L peaks and troughs typically associated with long-term jobs.
Additionally, Wastech required a means of reporting on performance and a clear view of the real-time work-in-progress status.
We now have automated monitoring functionality, which has removed any element of human error and inaccuracy. We are now in a much stronger position to rely on the integrity of the data and the simple reporting brings high visibility across the business.
Clear Cost Savings
Wastech is already recognizing considerable ROI and, as far as Bone is concerned, the business benefits from implementing SAP Business One with Eralis Job are endless.
“Staff have easy access to historical CRM data to help close deals while the implementation of the approvals and alerts system ensures the business runs closer to budgets.”
To further streamline their field service processes, Wastech is now planning the roll-out of PDAs, allowing staff to bill labor and materials to jobs while out in the field, something that is expected to reduce the administration time from 25 to 7 minutes per job.
“With 350 to 400 service jobs per month, the savings will be significant. The knock-on effect is that invoices will go out within hours of job completion, rather than days or even weeks.”
“The increase in cash flow will virtually pay for the upgrade”, adds Bone.
Highlights
Tired of struggling with an outdated, overextended off-the-shelf financial accounting system bolstered by copious Excel spreadsheets, Australian-based Wastech Engineering has used SAP Business One and Eralis Job to bring efficiency and flexibility to its financial processes.
Wastech has effectively replaced its reliance on Excel spreadsheets and complex data extraction processes for one fully integrated job costing system with business management capability. Management has been freed up to focus on more progressive activities thanks to accessible reporting.
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