Automation of processes

Today’s companies are running on the basis of processes containing their know-how and giving them competitive advantage on the market. Comarch ERP Altum is equipped with a built-in tool - Business Process Management (BPM), what definitely distinguishes this system from among other systems of this type available on the market. 

How does it work? BPM enables complete or partial automation of processes occurring in a company. With BPM it is possible to automate both regular processes characteristic for each company and also untypical tasks, which are specific for each enterprise, e.g., automatic promotion on particular products based on decrease of sales below a previously fixed limit.

 

The method of functioning of the companies is, nowadays, completely different even though they are in the same industry. This issue requires, hence, an individual approach to each company. Apart from the list of automatic processes, which is delivered along with the system, the software provides also an intuitive wizard which enables the creation of own BPM processes. All this makes it possible to automate the most specific and demanding processes characteristic for a given company and its activity.

Many processes taking place in a company require at a given stage that certain decisions be made by an individual, hence they cannot be fully automated. These types of processes are supported in the system via a dedicated special task inbox. Actions initiated by one of the users compel automatically the reaction from other users participating in a given process. The system ensures that a message is sent to the right person and if necessary, it initiates the mechanism for reminding and alerting. Owing to tax inbox and e-mail account integration, BPM enables an easy communication between employees as well as with vendors and customers.

A useful functionality of BPM is the option of defining context-based processes. At the stage of defining a process, an object, in the context of which it is to be run, is assigned to it. This can be, for instance, a customer or an item. Owing to this option, the process can be run in the system, for example, for several selected customers from the level of the open list. This contributes to making a daily work of the users much easier.

Process automation based on Business Intelligence data

Automatic BPM processes can be based in Comarch ERP Altum on the data from Business Intelligence reports. It means that automatic BPM processes are here the specific paths of proceedings dependent on the up-to-date data and forecasts. Owing to this, the system reacts to current situation in a company in an intelligent fashion and undertakes appropriate steps to it.

How does it work? Based of Business Intelligence analytical data, we are finding out that the sales of a given pants model have been systematically falling in a recent month in the Silesian and Lesser Poland regions. The sales forecasts prove that we cannot hope that the situation will turn around. Business Intelligence has observed the problem in time and the BPM process has sent automatic information to a responsible manager about the danger along with a ready-to-implement proposition of action: “The pants price must be reduced in the outlets A and B by 30% minimum.”

 

Processes in sales transactions

Commercial processes are the most essential aspects of a company’s operation. They are often complicated and consist of complex paths of proceeding. BPM enables automating partially or fully such actions as, for instance, quotation, order processing, granting of discounts or complaint handling.

How does it work? A customer returns the purchased item. Based on the changed complaint statuses (taking receipt of item, acceptance of complaint, etc.), the system then redirects automatically the complaint to be handled by the person responsible for the next step or informs the customer about the status of complaint by sending an appropriate e-mail message. The whole complaint process is  this way organized and the customer knows when and where to collect the claimed product.

 

Processes in logistics

With BPM processes, a company may partially or entirely automate the logistics processes, such as: taking receipt and ordering of goods, determining of stock level limits, handling of goods (moving the goods between warehouses, etc.).

How does it work? Due to an attractive promotion, one of the stores sold 6 pairs of the same shoes on one day. The level of stock replenishment fell below the fixed limit. In order to replenish the shortages, the system orders automatically the needed goods by sending appropriate documents to a vendor. The vendor delivers then the goods and the system takes automatically the receipt of the goods into the warehouse and generates the necessary documents. In the next step, the goods are automatically moved to the warehouse in the store.

 

Processes in finances

Many finance management-related processes can be streamlined and automated with the help of BPM. One of the areas, in which the use of BPM may contribute to generating real profits and savings, is the management of overdue payments.

 

How does it work? A process, created in the system, may once in a while send automatically information about the customers behind with payments to those responsible for enforcing payments. Information to make a payment and that further transactions cannot be concluded until payment is made is at the same time sent out to those customers. Once the payment is made, the system unblocks automatically the transactions for a given customer.

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