Buscor (Pty) Ltd. is a holdings company for three affiliated bus services operating in the Lowveld, namely MatsTrans, Hazyridge Transport and Nkamanzi Transport. They also have a training division, Thuthukani Training, and a luxury coach division, ProTours, that services the tourism industry. Buscor has a monthly turn-over of over R13 million and runs a fleet of 280 buses on various routes within the community. They provide employment for about 900-1000 employees, of which approximately 450 are drivers. Although not the biggest bus service in South Africa in terms of fleet size, Buscor prides itself on being the industry leader in terms of engine technology, maintenance costs alone exceed R1.3 million per bus per annum, making the monitoring abilities of a trustworthy financial and maintenance IT infrastructure all the more important.
The Problem
Five years ago Buscor`s previous IT infrastructure consisted of simple spreadsheets through which their workshop activities were managed, while their financial systems ran on a basic, limited bookkeeping package. There was no direct integration between these entities. The isolated pockets of information that the old system provides, caused unnecessary double capturing and wasted time and money, whilst reporting capabilities were non-existent. This made strategic managerial decisions and tendering for routes difficult without the ability to calculate exact running costs of all their buses. Buscor`s significant growth over the following years further necessitated the expansion of their financial planning and management capabilities. At ProTours, efficient Customer Relationship Management became increasingly important. Protours had no existing customer support IT system and needed accurate scheduling and quoting capabilities.
The looming Y2K problem further raised the urgency of Buscor`s problem. Requirements for the solutions therefore needed to include Y2K compliancy and an industry standard client/server architecture running from a SQL Server database supported by windows. Buscor subsequently chose e by Epicor, an award winning ERP product that offers a comprehensive financial module to be implemented at three of their sites. For ProTours, Buscor chose Clientele by Epicor, a comprehensive CRM solution that offers full integration of the front office with back office. Top Tech ERP Solutions, official South African distributor of mid-market software specialists, Epicor, was employed for the implementation of Clientele and e by Epicor and, in conjunction with Cyberstream, developed the important link between Datastream`s maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) package, MP2 and e by Epicor.
The Implementation Process
The full implementation of e by Epicor at all three of Buscor`s sites, as well as the implementation of Clientele at ProTours, went live in just 4 months and the full project signed off and completed after 8 months. The implementation included Buscor`s head office in Nelspruit, where all information is consolidated with the company`s main financials on a daily basis, and encompassed the writing of the link between e by Epicor and MP2. Due to the looming year 2000, little time was left for the customisation that included the development of an interface, and testing and `de-bugging` of the system. Top Tech ERP Solutions` professional expertise not only saw to it that Buscor was 100% Y2K-compliant, but that the integration of e by Epicor and MP2 was a success.
The Solution
It is integral to the successful management of Buscor`s business to know, from an operational as well as financial point of view, exactly how efficiently the workshops are operating. The generation of this information is the responsibility of MP2, and includes modules such as Work Order Generation, Paris Purchasing, Inventory Management, Labour, and tracking of maintenance activities by type, reason and cost. Information generated by MP2 includes stock quantities, shelving periods of stored items, purchase price monitoring and supplier details. All information is integrated into Buscor`s financial system, e by Epicor, through the link that was developed by Top Tech. The combination of MP2 and e by Epicor enables Buscor to measure the exact cost of keeping a particular bus on the road in terms of CPK (cents per kilometer), against budget. The availability of this information on desktop transforms Buscor`s financial planning and monitoring into a transparent and detailed strategic management process. This is made possible by the extensive analysis and reporting capabilities of both e by Epicor and MP2.
Within e by Epicor`s award winning financial suite, proven reliable application take care of integral financial functions such as General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Receivable running on a client/server structure. The information flowing from the General Ledger enables immediate access to critical financial information needed to make quick, strategic decisions.
Through Clientele, Buscor`s ProTours division is able to gather, organize and share critical customer information through applications such as Sales & Marketing, Customer Support and Help Desk, while dramatically improving the accuracy of ProTours` quoting and scheduling capabilities. Both e by Epicor and Clientele`s applications are seamlessly integrated, meaning that information entered through one application is automatically processed and upgraded in others.
Added Benefits
On the financial side, Buscor`s new system offers the added benefits of on-line consolidation in real-time, a dynamic cash flow in terms of the income statement and balance sheet as well as multi-site connectivity of all the sites through the WAN (Wide Area Network) technology. MP2 on the other hand revolutionizes Buscor`s preventative maintenance by enabling them to report in detail the service history of every bus, which parts were used and what actions were taken during the service. A very valuable history is compiled that enables the company to forecast the life cycle of a specific part, when it will need replacement under various driving conditions etc. This enables Buscor to anticipate, predict and avoid the losses incurred through technical breakdowns on the road.
The Future
Due to the technical flexibility and adaptability of both these products running on industry standard Microsoft technology, the possibilities for further integration and development are endless. Buscor envisions the integration of Co-Driver into MP2 and e by Epicor, a peripheral monitoring system that would provide crucial user information, and assist in identifying and monitoring problematic driver habits.
Mike Greer, Buscor`s IT Manager, says:"e by Epicor and MP2 undoubtedly strengthens Buscor`s technological advantage over our competitors. We now have critical management information about our core business available on desktop that we`ve never had before".
Buscor`s MD, Fred Kinnear concludes, "With the information our new systems generates we are able to identify routes that are more viable for servicing through taxi`s, than through our buses. These routes can be handed over to the relevant taxi networks within the community, ploughing back some of the support we have received from them over the years. e by Epicor and MP2 are thereby helping to transform one of Buscor`s most important ideals into reality."
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