Biocompatibles Eyecare Inc is a large manufacturer of contact
lenses, with four subsidiaries in North America alone and operations
worldwide, all relying heavily on form output. Biocompatibles wanted
to change the way in which they did business - to gain a competitive
advantage.
Biocompatibles needed a new approach
to their existing documentation that would improve productivity, be
more efficient, provide significant cost savings and, most
importantly, address the new business model they were introducing.
The new solution had to handle all subsidiaries, avoid code changes
and be implemented within a tight deadline.
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Historically, the
business had dispatched contact lenses to doctors, who then
passed them to their customers. Accompanying the lenses was
a MAPICS produced invoice, on pre-printed stationery.
Seeking to improve both their efficiency and the level of
customer service, Biocompatibles' new business model called
for the lenses to be dispatched directly to the patient,
along with a packing list. The invoice would be sent
separately, to the doctor. |
Mary Ellen Rupe - Director of
Customer Care explains, "We realized that sending the contact
lenses to the Doctor, rather than the patient, meant the patients
were having to wait longer to receive their new lenses. Doctors were
finding it challenging to manage the distribution of lenses to their
patients, so sending the lenses straight to the patient made so much
more sense --- improving the way we did business and our customer's
satisfaction at the same time! The only problem was how to manage
the change internally. We had never produced packing lists before as
all orders were simply dispatched with an invoice."
Biocompatibles' IS Director, outlines
why a change was needed, "We realized the new business model
required much more than just some application reprogramming. We were
already facing programming costs and scheduling delays each time
MAPICS XA was upgraded. This time we wanted to reduce our dependence
on programmer resources. Therefore the solution had to be easy to
implement, use and manage, and give us the flexibility to meet even
the smallest changes." |
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Looking for a rapid implementation,
Biocompatibles turned to their affiliate Custom Systems Corporation
(C.S.C) for assistance and advice. After looking at the options
available C.S.C recommended JacanaForms. "Using JacanaForms
means Biocompatibles have the flexibility and ease of use they were
looking for. They can maintain, update and upgrade their forms
quickly and easily without changes to MAPICS application code."
- Harry Burgh C.S.C.
By using Info Workplace (the
MAPICS/XA report writer) in combination with JacanaForms
Biocompatibles has:
- Eliminated the need to rewrite
their form output each time a MAPICS upgrade is implemented.
- Quickly and easily introduced a
complete electronic forms solution to their business
- Added the ability to reprint
packing lists, which they couldn't do before!
- Introduced multi-language forms
for their Canadian subsidiary
- Introduced Duplex forms
- Customized their MAPICS output to
meet their precise needs adding fields not in the standard
MAPICS output, with no changes to MAPICS application code!
- Introduced US postal barcodes
saving time and money on postage
- Introduced automatic envelope
stuffing using OMR markings on forms
- Doubled their output - instead of
printing just 1200 invoices they are now printing between
1200-1500 invoices and the same number of packing lists - in the
same time frame!
- Achieved their project and
business objectives!
Mary Ellen concludes "The
transition to JacanaForms has been great. The implementation went
smoothly and having an expert on site during the transition meant
the whole project was completed so much faster. We are now looking
to apply the use of JacanaForms to purchase orders and checks, plus
extend its implementation to our overseas operations."
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Momentum's report writer OPEN/DB is also marketed under a variety of derivative names including Info WorkPlace, Midas/Q,
S/RW and R2/D2. The Information Interface functionality itself is the same at comparable release levels.
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