Customer: Inter-Elektro Group
Scope: Project management, integrations with external ERP systems, back-end Development, front-end Development, coordination/design management, UX/UI design, naming, corporate identity, illustrations
Case study: BAST - Current Stock Database. Product warehouse in the cloud
BAST is a system that integrates 300+ wholesalers and manufacturers in the electrical and lighting industry. The data it exchanges are available to Group Members directly in their ERPs or via a web application we developed.
Inter-Elektro S.A. is a purchasing group established to represent the common interests of the electrical wholesalers belonging to the Group. Currently, more than 50 electrical wholesalers belong to the Group, and their cooperation is aimed at strengthening the position of the entire Group as well as of its individual members in the Polish and European distributor market. The basis of the dynamic development of Inter-Elektro S.A. and the constant strengthening of its position among the leaders in the distribution of electrical materials in Poland is close cooperation with all leading suppliers and the implementation of a number of new and innovative projects.
Project problem: Members of the Purchasing Group, despite participating, do not have the opportunity to benefit from its potential.
Product availability is a key value that every distributor (member of Inter-Elektro S.A.) would like to deliver to its customers. Small and medium-sized distributors are unable to compete on product availability in a market that is becoming increasingly consolidated, with large players gaining a near-monopolistic position over time.
The benefits of integrating Inter-Elektro's members with each other include: gaining the product potential that the Group has at each member, dispersing the costs of integration with Manufacturers, reducing the number of so-called "shelf-stock", i.e. non-rotating products, and thus freeing up money frozen in inventory.
Insight: What if each Member had another large virtual warehouse? A system that integrates Wholesalers, or Purchasing Group Members, with each other and with the Purchasing Group and Electrical Materials Manufacturers.
Share information on the availability of each Member's goods, allowing quick buying and selling of goods between Members.
Inter-Elektro S.A.'s facilitation of group purchasing.
Provide Members through the web interface of the BAST System and API with information about products, in particular, their technical parameters using the ETIM standard.
Increase efficiency in the use of warehouse space, which will translate into lower maintenance costs.
Create reports for Inter-Elektro S.A. to better know and understand current market trends and proactively respond to customer demand.
Ensure a high degree of system security through an advanced system of permissions to individual modules.
Business assumptions
The aim of the project was to create an IT system that will improve the operations of Inter-Elektro S.A. and its individual members by achieving objectives such as:
Key functionalities
The proposed solution is a system for an integrated network of product warehouses that:
It shows the current stock levels of each Group member.
Allows orders to be placed between Members.
It lists information about products.
It collects sales data, which allows planning and negotiating contracts with Manufacturers.
Scheme of operation of the system - information exchanged
Scope of activities:
Integrations:
Comarch, Optima, Comarch XL, Streamsoft Presitż, Subiekt GT,
Dedicated integrations
Planning:
planning, workshops, vision, management
Interface:
UI design, responsiveness, testing, naming, branding
Do you have questions? Would you like to learn more about the offer?
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Project management
Our task is not only to implement the system but also to identify needs, plan activities, design functionalities, make suggestions for system development, periodic presentations. A not insignificant task is also the coordination of the implementation with individual Group Members. All this makes us act as a technological partner, that is, a team whose tasks go beyond "simply" executing the System.
Scheme of work of an interactive nature in the project
UX and interface design
It's about planning the processes that Users will be able to perform and then using a library of elements such as tables, forms, intersections, tabs, drop-down lists, etc., to execute those processes.
To effectively create and develop a system, design as engineering work, requires synthesizing possible scenarios and actions, translating them into interface elements, and then laying them out on screens understandable to the user.
At the same time, in order to give the system character, we designed illustrations on key screens that, referring literally to the essence of the "cloud storage" system, inform the user of what has happened in the system or what the user is supposed to do in the next step.
Improving
We believe that IT systems should emerge organically. Working closely with the Group's management has allowed us to understand the goals not only for this project but also for the Purchasing Group and its individual members. As a result, the system is becoming a key part of the Company's ecosystem. At the same time, the evolution of individual Members is taking place at a pace tailored to the needs and capabilities of each individual Member. The cooperation has been ongoing since 2017, and the CEO's summary of the activities so far is as follows:
"Timeliness, flexibility, availability, professionalism (...)"
"In 2017, we began working with Cognize (KMK Group) on the BAST system. Since then, the project has been developed and managed in an exemplary manner. The distinguishing features of Cognize's (KMK group) work are timeliness, flexibility, availability, professionalism, and most importantly, the ability to present complex programming solutions in an accessible form."
Zbigniew Mastek
President of the Management Board of Inter-Elektro
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