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eTeowin, Distribution Overview
Manufacturers who distribute products and services through retail outlets or
distributor require software solutions that improve communication, stream line
data entry and manage the distribution of catalogues and pricing. e-TeoWin is a communication system
which provides a bridges between the factory and your point of sale
outlets. It’s main objective is to make the processes of sending
information from shops to the factory more easy and economical.
The key process areas covered by eTeowin are:
Sending and Receiving Orders - point
to point communication between manufacturers and their point of sale outlets.
Catalogue Distribution - facilitates
the distribution of the manufacturers catalogue throughout the point of sale
outlets based on a one
to multiple communication policy.
The eTeowin solution also supports web based communication where authorised
members of the manufacturer and point of sale outlets can view the status their orders.
The information is secure and based on authentication that ensure each point of
sale is only provided their specific outlet / company data.
SENDING AND RECEIVING ORDERS
Many manufacturers appreciate that often their are complication with orders
received from remote point of sale outlets. These errors are costly and
result in an erosion of profits.
Time is wasted: The orders, as they are not normalized to the
internal definition of the manufacturer, can be difficult to interpret, and
at best require one or more telephone calls to clarify the correct content.
Return of Goods: When ordering, the factory
and the point of sale outlets do not not always understand each other clearly, and this leads to
the incorrect goods being produced. To rectify this, the outlet or installer
needs to be return the goods while the manufacturer is required to schedule
the replacement items back through the manufacturing process. These
errors or omissions result in higher manufacturing costs, material costs,
transportation charges, delays in project completion resulting in decreased
profits and project cash flow. The effect of errors and omissions also
impact management costs and future projects deadlines.
To solve this problem it is necessary to normalise the orders, meaning that all
point of sale outlets send their orders following the definitions described the
manufacturer. This is achieved by unifying the distribution network with an interactive catalogue, coded and supervised by the manufacturer.
Furthermore, this interactive catalogue is easy to use and provides your
point of sale outlet with a comprehensive estimate and design management
solution that assists your point of sale through the sales process.
eTeoWin is combined with our Teowin "closed copy" estimate and design
solution to provide both the manufacturer and the sales outlet with:
Designing
- the 3D design environment provide impressive visual representation of the
projects, videos, automatic calculations of all dimensions, 3D models and the
ability to open and close doors and drawers to show the interior details to your
clients.
Estimates - estimate calculation is automatic based on the
manufacturers defined pricing policy and provides your sales outlets with the
ability to add items like
installation costs or introduce different discounts or charges.
Drawing Rules - the system can be configured to avoid cabinet
combination that are not possible. The manufacturer is the only members of
the distribution channel that can configure their interactive catalogue and in
doing so set rules for how units can be
combined.
Order Placement - when an estimates have been accepted, the orders can be automatically sent to
the manufacturer following the specification detailed in the catalogue along
with the necessary
information, including the information of special items.
 When
the sales outlet realises a sale, using the interactive catalogue in Teowin, the
estimate and drawing can be to the manufacturer. Since the order is created from
the manufacturers catalogue errors generated by the sales outlet are
significantly minimised.
When the order is electronically sent via the web server so the manufacturer
is able to instantly receive it. If the manufacturer is not connected the order is saved
on the web server until the connection is established.
When the orders are received and checked, the manufacturer can choose to
accept the order or reject them. If the orders are received they are automatically introduced
into the system, with all the necessary information to
manufacture the order, including any special units. Through this method
order introduction is more efficient than manually entering orders.
The communication system can be structured either as:
- deployment with the manufacturers IT department
- as an external web server where the hosting services are subcontracted
and monitored by a third party
In both cases it is possible to create redundancy capabilities so that if one
server fails an other server automatically initiates and take over.
NOTE: When the manufacturer doesn’t want to be connected to the Internet, they can
also normalize the orders and send them through fax.
CATALOGUE DISTRIBUTION
Catalogue distribution is achieved using the same web server environment to send
either new catalogues or revisions. The
functioning is the same as the sending of orders, but in reverse.
When a manufacturer updates their catalogue, the changes are made in TeoWin
Manufacturing and then TeoWin can generate a encrypted package for distribution.
Teowin uses it own encryption standard which means that it is not possible for
rouge recipients to open the file without understanding both the encryption and
have access to internal codes of both the manufacturer and the sales outlet. Once
the catalogue has been defined the manufacturer connects TeoWin and uploads that
catalogue via FTP on the web server. When the web server receives the file,
the file is marked with an "alert" status. Sales outlets who are connected
to the internet will be notified that a new catalogue is available. If the
sales outlet is not connect the web server will notify them once they do
connect. To activate the catalogue the sales outlet simply clicks on the
message window and the installation is automatically executed. Sometimes the changes
made in a catalogue are only valid for a group of shops. In this instance, the
manufacturer can configure the web server in clients groups and define the
destination of the updates based on these groups. In this way, when the
manufacturer wants to realise a selective distribution of the catalogue to
a group of sales outlets, they can instruct the web server to either distribute
the catalogue to a single member, a specific group or the entire distribution
channel.
If the distribution is done selectively, the other outlets are
not warned about the new update.
NOTE: In the case of not wanting an Internet connection, there is also the
option of generating the catalogue with all details using more traditional
methods. |
