An automotive parts distributor (with nearly 100 warehouses across the U.S.) utilized a COBOL legacy system for sales, product shipping, and inventory tracking, which had led to a number of business issues.

  • Decentralized points of purchasing, pricing, and inventory tracking.
  • Several discrepancies in pricing on purchase orders due to the manual tracking of supplier prices.
  • No concrete methodology to track discrepancies between the price on purchase orders and invoices.
  • Not all Vendors have EDI, and the non-EDI had different file formats.

Their goal was to streamline processes across all modules by leveraging the use of Oracle Financials, integrating it with legacy systems with minimum interfaces.

The Cyma Solution:

Phase One – Cyma converted all invoice, receivables, order, and inventory data (including warehouse management) into Oracle from the legacy system. We implemented an Advanced Pricing Model to be used with Purchasing and Order Management, and then defined all modifiers and qualifiers based on vendor promotional offers (which involved both customers and vendors).

Phase Two – This included implementing EDI 850 Outbound (PO), 810 Inbound (Vendor Invoices), 855 Inbound (Vendor ASN), and 810 Outbound. Cyma created programs to automatically read the invoice EDI files, match them with purchase orders, and create checks. Non-EDI vendors are processed from different file formats in the same way and were placed on a secured server. RTV (Warranty Return) orders are created with a unique number based on the vendor and invoiced to them.

The client now had solved several issues by converting, standardizing and consolidating its data and systems. Streamlining the entire process has helped the client efficiently manage all its warehouses, inventory, and vendors.