Business Unusual has won the exclusive southern African rights to market Scotland-based Kinross Computer Systems` specialist commodity trading solution, Kit.
The commodities application, to be launched in September, is set to open new markets in southern Africa for Business Unusual, which currently specialises in high-level financial solutions.
An integrated administration and operations management solution, Kit is designed to help physical commodity trading companies to meet the ever-changing and demanding needs of their environment.
Traders in this market are finding they need an all-encompassing solution that meets their needs from the time a bid is made, through to actual shipping of product.
"Kit allows traders to manage the complex business operations in a trading environment," says Business Unusual MD Dion Retief. "It reflects the workflow, operation by operation, of a physical commodity trading company, providing efficient administration."
Retief notes that while the vertical market of physical commodity trading is specialised, it is a global market. Every country has trading companies which need an application to monitor, manage and administer the complex business functions found in the trading environment. Kit can therefore provide business opportunities for Business Unusual at an international level.
Kit was developed using MicrosoftGreat Plains development tools and recommended development standards. It is fully optimised for Microsoft SQL Server and is available for the Great Plains Dynamics and e-Enterprise range of products.
As a VAR, Business Unusual will be responsible for selling, installing, implementing, training and providing support for Kit. Retief notes that Kinross`s expertise in the agricultural commodities trading arena will be complemented by Business Unusual`s in-depth knowledge of trading in steel and wood.
"It`s a reasonably priced product that can cater for between four users and 200," says Retief. "It delivers up-to-date and accurate information to managers and staff from one central source of trading information. It streamlines administration, eliminating duplicate data processing." Kit covers all aspects of a contract lifecycle, including contract administration, position monitoring, stock holding, execution, invoicing and storekeeping. It embraces terminal market, foreign exchange and letters of credit modules.
"Kit allows users to determine which features are required for each department without compromising operation for other departments. It is commodity-neutral and can handle a wide range of commodities. The solution integrates with Microsoft Great Plains financial ledger and can be integrated into any other financial system."
Other features include business alerts, which provide automatic e-mail notification of key business processes to appropriate personnel, internal and external. It provides real-time position monitoring of commodities, contracts, and stock holdings and enables accurate profitability calculations for all contracts -from initial trader estimates through to final general ledger transactions. It also allows for interrogation and manipulation of a company`s trading data.
Among its features, Kit enables users to subdivide a contract into shipment dates and commodity specifications and prices for each shipment period. It enables the movement of a commodity into stock and sales from stock, provides full traceability of all stock movements and offers multiple valuation methods for stock holding.
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