Summary
¦ Enterprise is the latest generation of management software from Wolf Systems.
¦ It’s aimed at manufacturers of trussed rafter and metal-web joists.
¦ All of the business critical information is stored in Enterprise.
¦ Comprehensive management reporting is available from the software to increase efficiency.
Events in the construction industry over the past few years have illustrated the need for suppliers to have a better understanding of their clients’ businesses. In the past, it may have been sufficient to take a longer-term view but today the need for accurate, up-to-date information is paramount. Now, manufacturers and suppliers need to respond in days – or even hours – to their customers’ requirements and they need to have this information at their fingertips.
Recognising the extra burden this places on its customers, Wolf Systems is launching Enterprise – a management system with an unprecedented degree of functionality and flexibility, which allows users to respond quickly to client needs. Although developed from WMS, Wolf’s existing management software package, the new product is so different that we felt it necessary to give it a new identity.
Software evolution
Since Wolf Systems was established in the UK 23 years ago we’ve developed tools and systems to help customers run their businesses more effectively. We have created a series of management systems – first WolfBase, then WolfPro, WolfTrack and, of course, WMS – while at the same time producing structural design packages for roofs, floors and walls.
Enterprise continues this evolution and takes management software to a new level. All of the stages that are crucial to a business are replicated within the system, from the initial enquiry stage, through to quoting for a scheme and the associated price and product negotiations. Orders can be created and call-offs planned allowing production and deliveries to be scheduled and invoices created.
Whilst all of this is useful for the estimator and designer, what is of real importance with management software is how it helps you manage your business. The data logging in Enterprise is so comprehensive that any aspect of business-critical information can be reported on; for example, the number and level of quotes issued, their status and when they need to be followed up and by whom. It’s information such as this that is most useful to manufacturers as it is this that helps them become more efficient and, ultimately, more successful.
Customer input
Like all our products, whether structural engineering software for trusses, easi-joist metal-webs or smartroof roof panels, Enterprise is the result of ongoing dialogue with our customers. Existing WMS users provided us with feedback on areas such as flexibility and the ability to make last minute changes, and this information helped guide our refinement of the system. For trussed rafter manufacturers, the ability to make eleventh-hour adjustments is invaluable as it is common to find that a customer order doesn’t match what they’ve quoted.
For example, a roof or floor design prepared and accepted by the customer is logged into the management system and scheduled for production and delivery. But often when the building is measured to confirm sizes, usually just before manufacture, a small change can occur, requiring a redesign of the whole job. Previously, this could have taken some time but with the improvements made to Enterprise, a manufacturer can make any change at any stage.
This flexibility was developed as a direct result of talking to our customers and working with them. Wolf has a unique advantage in this respect as all of our software is written here in the UK, which means our development team can respond very quickly to requests for improvements and enhancements in the software. Larger projects can also be delivered more quickly because we make more efficient use of our resources with our developers working in this team.
It also helps that the software we develop for our customers is also used by all of our own employees from our design office, admin, sales and customer services staff right through to dispatch who organise deliveries for our customers. By adopting our “own brand” software the company really drives the development process forward.
Improved speed
Another aspect of the WMS software we had been asked to improve was speed – particularly in the process of producing quotations. These days many of our customers have to work to much tighter timescales than in the past, while at the same time they are receiving more enquiries as contractors shop around for the best price. This has meant that manufacturers need to ensure that the process of producing a quotation is as fast as possible.
The improvements to the speed and efficiency of the package have been delivered by “caching” a lot of the information a user would regularly need. Despite improvements to network structures, the process of passing information to and from a central server can be time-consuming; so storing this information locally allows the user the best of both worlds – a networked management application running at desktop speeds.
Enterprise also offers far more flexibility in the scheduling of production and deliveries. Last minute changes need to be handled with the minimum of fuss so we have made improvements to the scheduling system the software employs. This makes adding, changing and editing far easier for the user and much quicker than in previous versions.
We don’t know of any comparable software package that allows the level of manipulation Enterprise now offers – a capability which we believe represents a significant step forward for timber engineering manufacturers.
