Streamlining Retail and Wholesale Operations at Cowshed Products Limited with ACS-APT’s Sage 200 Integrations

ACS, as the ERP Solution provider and support partner of Cowshed Products Limited, was tasked with helping the business simplify and automate processes to ensure smooth system functioning and achieve efficiencies across all types of operations in the Retail and Wholesale business. ACS studied and analysed the requirements by speaking with business heads and users, as well as warehouse providers and e-commerce platform providers. This helped ACS understand the challenges faced by the business and the expectations of end users and business heads. Also, talking to third-party service providers such as Warehouse Providers and e-commerce platform providers helped us understand their platforms and the technical requirements for integrating them with Cowsheds Sage 200 ERP System. ACS drew a detailed system integration solution plan, showing the business how third-party systems can be automated through end-to-end integrations running automatically via Windows Services or API-enabled integrations that require no human intervention, eliminating manual handling of transactional data, whether incoming or outgoing.  

• Warehouse and e-commerce System Integrations:

Each warehouse in a different country used different systems to manage clients’ customer orders, Purchase GRNs, and stock/inventory levels. Hence ACS studied their file types and formats, as well as data file delivery methods and preferences. While most providers preferred SFTP file delivery, some were API-compliant. The e-commerce platforms were fairly modern and could provide API-enabled data service files. Accordingly, ACS developed end-to-end, Windows Service-scheduled auto-running integrations for each provider to download the data files and process them into the Sage 200 ERP System. The incoming or outgoing data files were processed through the customer-agreed workflow designed and built in the integrations.

Implementing a fully automated integration helped the business achieve time and cost savings, improving efficiency and making end users' day-to-day work much easier. This helped users focus on other key activities such as reconciliations, checking refunds, stock reporting, and, more importantly, timely ledger closures for period-end accounting preparations.

• Stock Management:

The automation was a major achievement for stock management and reconciliation between the ERP System’s stock holdings and each warehouse’s stock holdings. Where required, users could challenge warehouse providers for missing or under-stocked quantities. This made warehouse providers more accountable for managing stock levels and tracing any lost or damaged stock, including holding them accountable for lost stock where required.

This helped users close purchase and sales orders in the ERP system on time, with more accurate stock levels and valuation.  This resulted in efficient purchase management without investing too much capital in over-purchasing and stocking goods.

• Refunds and Revenue Management:

Due to automated integrations between the e-commerce and warehouse systems, returns and refunds management was integrated automatically. Any returns and refunds reported by the providers (e-commerce or warehouse providers) would automatically be flagged to the end user in the ERP system. This allowed users to check them quickly, including talking to providers and challenging them where necessary for goods deliveries or damaged goods. Genuine refund processing became faster, improving customer satisfaction. This gave users more time to coordinate with their customer care/service team and receive timely updates. It also made the warehouse providers and delivery services responsible and accountable for any missed deliveries or goods damage caused during delivery. Finally, this resulted in fewer returns and refunds, as well as improved service levels from warehouse and delivery service providers.

• Operational efficiency in Commercials and Finance department

Due to the automated system integrations between the Sage 200 ERP system and the service providers' legacy systems, all the integrated processes started working smoothly. This helped the Commercials and Finance teams free up time to focus on other areas of their function, such as the Commercials team spending time talking to suppliers and service providers, focusing on quality products and service procurement at better rates, developing new supply chains, and focusing on business development activities.

The accounts and finance teams could spend quality time reconciling revenue, banking and cash, stock reconciliation & valuations, and, more importantly, preparing management reports in time. This enabled them to coordinate better with e-commerce and warehouse service providers, implement stronger checks-and-balances processes, and make operations faster and more efficient, building a more trustworthy relationship.

This case study explores how ACS-APT has revolutionised commercial and finance operations for one of the world's most prestigious hospitality brands’ Retail and Wholesale business division. Through sophisticated system integrations, automated order processing, and innovative integrated workflow solutions, ACS-APT has empowered Cowshed’s Retail and Wholesale business division to streamline complex multi-regional, multi-warehouse, and e-commerce operations, improve accuracy, and achieve remarkable operational efficiency. The results? Eliminated manual processes, real-time financial visibility, better decision-making by commercial teams across the business, and substantial cost savings.