E F F I C I E N T

F L E X I B L E

T A I L O R E D

A U T O M A T I C

Babcock Rail
When Babcock Rail needed a more costeffective way of issuing and distributing purchase orders (POs) they chose business automation and report scheduling software from ChristianSteven. The resulting solution paid for itself in less than a year by cutting costs, boosting productivity and increasing business responsiveness. The solution is now being extended to other manual paper processes including the distribution of salary slips and remittance advice. Business Background and Challenge Babcock Rail is one of the UKs leading rail businesses with a reputation for delivering innovative, high-quality rail engineering

eliminates costly manual paper processes with CRD from ChristianSteven Software
services to major customers in the rail industry. Services include feasibility, design, installation, testing and on-going maintenance of track, signalling and control systems, telecommunications, power and associated civil works. The business employs around 1800 people and operates from ofces and depots throughout the UK. Jake Austen, BI Development Manager at Babcock Rail, explains further, We run complex projects that involve a large number of sub-contractors and suppliers. This means we generate up to 30,000 POs a year, and because a large amount of

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C R D - A U T O M AT E D R E P O R T D I S T R I B U T I O N S O F T W A R E F O R C R Y S TA L R E P O R T S

to a signicant cost in specialist paper, printing, postage and preparation time. CRD is the perfect solution for automating and converting this process into secure, personalised electronic distribution. Jake concludes, I am very pleased by how quickly we have been able to deliver tangible benets for the business using the ChristianSteven Software CRD product. I look forward to further leveraging our investment in this exible, easy-to-use and reliable solution. our work can change with short notice we often need to re-issue POs two or three times, which results in us generating nearly 100,000 issues per year. This was obviously a very signicant and costly manual process that involved administrators needing to prepare, print, fax, and le every single PO. Jake began investigating an automated way of issuing electronic POs in PDF format. Babcock Rail uses Oracle-based ERP for most of its business functions; however, the system could not generate POs in the customised format required. For this reason the business was already using Crystal Reports to create more meaningful output. Jake continues, We could use Crystal Reports to generate the raw information for the electronic POs but still needed a dynamic way of automating, customising and scheduling distribution. The Benefits Jake is delighted with the results, The new system has run smoothly with no issues whatsoever. Our administrators can now focus on more value-added tasks and we have been able to save money on printing, paper and faxing costs. In fact the CRD software will have paid for itself in less than The Solution Jake investigated several solutions but chose ChristianSteven CRD software because of its ease of use, exibility, dynamic scheduling, email customisation and integration with Crystal Reports and their ERP System. twelve months. Jake is now using CRD to eliminate other costly manual paper processes across the business, including salary slips and remittance advice. He explains, We post slips to around 700 salaried staff every month. Over the year this equates CRD for Crystal Reports, part of the powerful range of business automation software, alongside SQL-RD for Microsoft SQL Server and MARS for Microsoft Access. Benefits Signicant cost savings and Investment in software paid for itself in 6 -12 months CRD applied to other manual paper processes across the business
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Jake explains, We downloaded the 30-day evaluation copy of ChristianSteven Software CRD in December, put together the business case in January, and had the system up and running in February. It really was that easy to congure and use. And although we have not had any real issues with the software, the customer service and support during the set-up and trial process was very efcient. The business now has a reliable, efcient and automated way of distributing electronic POs using personalised emails and encrypted PDFs. Requirements Automated electronic distribution of Purchase Orders Elimination of signicant and costly manual paper processes Solution that integrated seamlessly with Crystal Reports and Oracle-based ERP, offering dynamic scheduling and email customisation Flexible solution that could be used for other paper processes

increased productivity

ChristianSteven Software Ltd. (USA) 10130 Mallard Creek Road, Suite 300, Charlotte NC 28262, USA ChristianSteven Software Ltd. (UK) 29 Harley Street, London, W1G 9QR, UK

1 (888) 781 8966 +44 (0)845 686 0181 +1 (847) 461 1617 +44 (0)845 686 0181 +44 (0)845 686 0181

www.christiansteven.com

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