German footwear retail chain selects CA

Computer Associates (CA) announced today that Ludwig Goertz GmbH (Goertz) has implemented an industry-specific procurement management solution based on CA`s Advantage Ingres relational database. This solution offers sustained support in the restructuring of purchasing processes, while providing buyers with crucial decision-making information in a matter of seconds during meetings with suppliers.

With sales of over 300 million euro in fiscal year 2001, more than 3 000 employees and 240 footwear retail outlets in 90 cities, the Hamburg-based Goertz is one of the fastest-selling and highest-profile footwear retailers in Germany and Austria.

At Goertz, the procurement management solution runs alongside Advantage Ingres Enterprise Relational Database on a Windows NT server at the Hamburg company headquarters and on over 20 buyer laptops, and is also linked up with the merchandise management system developed as the host solution by the company`s IT department. Advantage Ingres ensures that all data are managed, replicated and distributed efficiently. Goertz also implemented Unicenter CA-XCOM to transparently synchronise data with the host computer without any additional programming.

The procurement management solution is used by some 20 Goertz buyers, both via workstations in the office and via laptops on the move. A distinction is drawn here between the "creative" buyers on the one hand, and those whose more logistical purchases tend to be made for planning purposes. The solution, based on Advantage Ingres, not only enables both types of buyers to perform order data entry on site at the suppliers` premises, but also provides them with access to vital data, such as supplier master data or budget control information to help them reach decisions. All data are automatically transferred, updated, replicated and distributed as soon as a buyer logs into the corporate network with his laptop.

"We were not willing to make any compromises in selecting a suitable database for our procurement management system. High efficiency with well-developed replication and distribution mechanisms, stability, performance, openness and great integration capability, as well as good support quality, are all particularly important to us. In these areas, CA`s Advantage Ingres Enterprise Relational Database has the advantage over other comparable database systems," says Goertz IT manager, Thomas Koopmann, of the decision to opt for Advantage Ingres.

As Peter Rasp, Country Manager of Computer Associates in Germany, states: "Advantage Ingres is a database management system with integration capability that efficiently covers an extremely wide range of requirements of large-scale enterprises and medium-sized businesses alike."

According to Koopmann: "Advantage Ingres has fully lived up to our expectations and has proved extremely worthwhile. Our procurement management solution is now operating steadily and efficiently - largely thanks to the software from Computer Associates." The company also emphasises that Advantage Ingres "is low-maintenance and requires very little in the way of administration".