Automation

Topic PresenterBarney Stone, Barney Stone SoftwareSteve Cisick, Technology Copilot, LLC

CommCon 2015

Automation

Q: How can you compete and still be profitable?

A: You have to be more efficient!

How?

Use automation to reduce personnel costs.

CommCon 2015

Automation

Find your chokepoints: boring, repetitive and error-prone tasks.

Find ways to automate them:• Built-in Stone Edge processes• 3rd party offerings• Custom code

CommCon 2015

Today’s Agenda

Why Automate?

Barriers to Automation

Automation Examples

Do You Have Examples of Your Own?

Questions

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Why Automate?

Do things faster and cheaperAchieve predictable results in your

businessReduce reliance on people for these tasksReduce errors due to manual operationsRe-purpose employees to higher value

activitiesImprove employee job satisfactionImprove customer satisfaction, grow sales

CommCon 2015

Barriers to Automation

Fear (Unknown / or gone horribly wrong in the past)

RecklessnessToo comfortable with manual operationsAssume it can’t be done or cost

prohibitive.Fuzzy processesOverly complicated processesData accessibility issuesLack of vision

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Built in Automation

Problem Manual processes always used, but Order Manager has

free built in automation

Solution Approval rules to automatically approve imported orders

that can be fulfilled immediately. Auto drop shipping at order import Multi Order View to batch process orders Batch fill backorders. Automated PO Creation Batch label printing for approved orders. Integrated packing slips to eliminate collation of packing

slips/labels

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Auto Importer

Problem Current SEOM is lacking straight forward way to automate

some routine activities.

Solution Auto Importer can automate the following: Order import Process tracking numbers Batch printing Batch send quantity on hand Product importing Drop ship tracking number processing Backorder filling And more

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Auto Importer Benefits

Quantity on hand more current on sales channels. Order changes requested by customer can already be

in Stone Edge. Packing slips ready to process immediately. Tracking emails get into the hands of the customer

sooner. No need to wait for long imports to finish to start

processing orders. No need to manually import orders at odd hours to

prevent massive morning import. Other mundane tasks can be done off hours instead of

needing to tie up system during day. Can be customized to maximize its benefit.

CommCon 2015

Drop Ship Tracking Automation

Problem No easy way to get drop ship tracking numbers into Stone Edge Customers don’t get their tracking numbers in a timely matter (if at all) Drop ship purchase orders in Stone Edge stay open and are never marked

as shipped.

Solution Imports drop ship tracking numbers into Stone Edge directly from supplier

tracking emails.◦ Tracking numbers imported◦ Purchase orders are closed◦ Order marked as shipped

For 3rd party shipping, import tracking numbers directly from UPS◦ Autoload program automatically downloads Quantum view data.◦ Automation platform can pick this up and auto process the tracking.

CommCon 2015

Cycle Count Utility

ProblemStone Edge doesn’t currently have a way to

facilitate real time cycle counting.

SolutionReal time quantity updates.Organizes what gets counted and the timeframe it

needs to be counted.Use with or without scanner.Single or multi-user capable.Organizes list to be counted by sales velocity or

location.

CommCon 2015

Order Fulfillment Automation

Problem Stone Edge doesn’t easily integrate with 3rd party logistics providers for

order fulfillment.

Solution Different methods used depending on the situation.

3PL runs Stone Edge◦ 3PL runs Stone Edge over remote desktop and performs all shipping functions using

Stone Edge.◦ This works well only if the 3PL is open to it.

Text file exchange◦ Exchange text files (order fulfillment, tracking, and quantity on hand)◦ Easy but doesn’t offer real time benefits for error detection, etc.

API integration◦ Most complex way of integrating◦ Near real time, typically the way 3PLs would rather integrate.

CommCon 2015

PO Import / PO Export

ProblemNo way to import or export standard purchase

orders from / to a text file.

SolutionPO Import tool which takes information from

text file and imports them as purchase ordersPO Export which enables text file export of

purchase orders as a new ‘send method’

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Multi-Warehouse Automation

Problem Stone Edge currently doesn’t support multiple warehouses for the

same SKU.

Solution Treat warehouses like drop ship suppliers from main Stone Edge Auto pick the warehouse to send the item from based on custom

business rules. Main warehouse (who imports orders) sends drop ship requests via

text file over drop box. Secondary warehouse pick up orders file and import and process

orders. Secondary warehouses send tracking back to main warehouse who

send out tracking emails. Secondary warehouse send quantity on hand information back to

main warehouse who can display / act on the quantity information.

CommCon 2015

Drop Ship Supplier QOH Automation

Problem Stone Edge doesn’t support drop ship supplier quantity on

hand import / export to shopping cart.

Solution Take supplier feeds, automate import of quantities into Stone

Edge.◦ Email◦ Web Service◦ Text files

Feeds QOH to shopping cart either inside or outside of Stone Edge.

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Stack Monitor

ProblemThe shared stack sucks

SolutionProactively monitor stackSet alert levelsAlerts sent until stack levels shrink below

alert level

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Content Synchronization

ProblemThere isn’t an easy way for Stone Edge to

synchronize content across multiple sales channels.

SolutionCreated methods to synchronize content from

Stone Edge.◦Google◦MyBuys

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Do You Have Examples Of Your Own?

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Q & ACommCon 2015