Case Study - Multi Site operator with a Legacy POS and a  Cloud ERP

The Problem

• The Legacy POS system provides limited user generated reports for business reporting and management

• The Legacy POS does not provide a full integration to XERO

• Business owner requires live reporting from the POS that mirrors the financial performance in the ERP and more sophisticated analysis that the legacy POS system provides

  • Live pump prices

  • Live volume feeds by product group and average customer fill quantities by method pf payment

  • Store performance KPI's (Shop sales per 1000 litres, promotions performance)

  • Site Wages viewed against site income

  • Live Control variances for each site (stock loss, till variances, wastage)

  • Quality controls KPI's and Health safety and environmental KPI's by site

• The business is growing and there is a need to cap the growth of the administration burden and complexity associated with a larger business

  • reconciliation of many merchant debtors, stock, 

  • monitoring average ray rates across sites

  • Reduce duplication  of data entry (AR, AP, Stock variances)

• Consider additional data sources not considered by the business owner

  • Card Reader data to analyse customer purchasing trends for that channel (counts, avg fill, % of business by product group)

  • Phone system integration to monitor telephone activity

  • Time sheet integration to monitor staff activity

  • Merchant provider data to analyse customer purchasing patterns 

The Solution

• Install and configure an appropriate secure and private data warehouse for the business

  • Replicate all of the required data sources into the data warehouse including ongoing updating direct from the source

    • This means that the live data sources are read only and never modified in any way

    • All aggregation and reporting loads are derived from the data warehouse which ensures the performance of the live business systems are not compromised in any way

  • Aggregate the required data into useful views

  • Publish the data into visualisations customised to deliver the clients requirements

    • Make available user logins and mobile app for viewing and monitoring

    • Create and automate alerts, notifications, reports and visualiation loops

    • Provide URL links of the visualisations for internal publishing to secure websites, TV sources dependant on client needs

• Create a defined Xero API interface for POS data including sales, purchases, stock adjustments, account payments, GST, credits

  • Using POS existing data extracts where possible (or develop from replicated data if not)

  • That runs on a defined schedule, usually after End Of Day processes are complete

The Costs (all in AUD) (indicative as at 2023 and excluding GST)

• The data warehouse cost is dependant upon the size of the data being stored but ranges from $30 pcm (small) to $200 pcm (large)

• The integration to Xero cost is dependant upon the number of transactions being posted into Xero but ranges from $150 pcm (small) to $500 pcm (large)

• The data visualisation cost is dependant on the number of visualisations required but ranges from $200 pcm (small) to $500 pcm (large)

• The other cost is the development time for defining the end solution

  • This is generally a once off up front fee and can range from $750 to $5000 depending on the number and complexity of the integrations required

  • As the business becomes confident in the  data, expect to request more visualisations and  redefine existing ones

    • Generally, minor infrequent changes would be included in the monthly costs quoted above

    • Major changes or enhancements would be quoted but expect them to be in line with the one off development rates described above

• What DOES NOT affect costs

  • Initial on site meet and greet is obligation free and at no cost

  • Number of users, you can have as many as you need at no cost

  • Initial training and onboarding is included (limited to staff that will champion the solution)

  • One on site visit per year to review the solution and results are translating to benefits (i.e. the data is being used proactively)