Accounting ERP & Manufacturing Systems, Epicor Enterprise Vantage & Vista, Microsoft Dynamics™GP, Microsoft Dynamics™NAV,Sage ACCPAC & PFW Second Foundation Consulting - The Accounting Software Specialists

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Hogg Fuel& Supply

On-Line Data is the computer services arm of a group of companies falling under the Hogg Fuels Corporate umbrella. In this corporate group each operating division represents a different industry with its own unique operational needs. These operating divisions include:
• Concrete mixing and delivery
• Corporate Petroleum sales and delivery
• Residential Home Heat Oil delivery
• Lubricant sales and manufacturing
• Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) sales installation and service
• Aggregate sales and delivery
• Fleet repair and maintenance
• Interac Bank Machine transaction acquirer
• Custom Software development house of applications and development tools

Complex Database Structure
For this client group, Epicor E7 was installed in a series of twelve (12) databases, one for the financial applications, seven separate ADM operations databases for the distribution components and an additional four separate subsidiary company databases with all functionality. All seven operations databases are pointed to the one main financial database for AP, AR and GL functions. This technical configuration allows for a truly unique division by division set up and control environment, while maintaining central financial controls.

Divisional Distribution module controls
Each division, being in a separate physical database provided a higher level of security and restricted the thousands of items per division to only be viewable to those that required them rather than being mixed between divisions. Pricing, costing and unique functionality for each division was then more easily configured.

Legacy System Integration
Three separate divisions required Sales Order and Inventory integration with legacy systems for tracking of quantities and for costing purposes. Custom interfaces to these legacy systems were created and fully integrated to e7.

Automated Interco Transactions
Two divisions are configured to automate inter-company keying of related Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, and the related Shipment and Receipt processing. A customer order, once received automatically creates a PO in the E system for the required products, jumps to another database and creates a corresponding purchase order in the second company to match to the sales order. The function repeats itself on the shipment and receipt. Effectively 2/3 of the keystrokes necessary to do this processing have been eliminated. The above integration was achieved in conjunction with using the Auto-PO functionality of the E7 software.

Web based automated customer and vendor transaction processing
As a further extension to the automated divisional PO to SO links, a web based service has been created to allow for automatic integration of transaction between either related or unrelated companies. This service takes the concept of EDI to its logical conclusion.

Rather than having to create uniquely defined transaction sets for new trading partner, a standard Epicor to Epicor conversion routine has been developed. A purchase order initiated in one company can be electronically sent via the internet to a centralize ‘Accounting Exchange’ server which converts the purchase order document into a suitable Epicor sales order format for the destination company. The format once received is automatically imported as a sales order pending verification and taking off hold. The same concept has been used for Shipments to Receipts and Invoices to Vouchers.

The Accounting Exchange service is now being extended to include communication capabilities between selected Epicor transaction sets and other non-Epicor accounting systems. This extension to the service will allow Epicor to act as the hub for this client while providing a gateway for its customers and vendors not currently using Epicor to deal with them electronically. The Epicor solution, being more feature rich in transaction capabilities, will also prompt some customers and vendors to possibly upgrade their systems to Epicor to get the additional functionality.

Accounts Receivable Pre-Authorized Payment Banking Module
A complete new module to E7 was created for the Accounts Receivable module using E7 workbench tool kit and standard SQL functionality. A Pre-Authorized Payment (PAP) module has been created. This module records customer bank account information and permits the handling of pre-approved charges direct from a customer’s bank account. Similar to the Accounts Payable EFT module, the Accounts Receivable PAP module creates a bank format file to auto withdraw from a customers bank account, deposit to the client account and to automatically record the deposit in the E7 system appropriately matching the correct invoices and credit notes. This new module is currently being documented and will be available to Epicor and its VAR channel shortly.

HVAC Job estimating, tracking and billing system Another new module to Epicor is a comprehensive HVAC Job estimating, costing and billing system. The system sits as a front end to the inventory and AR systems. Job estimate templates can be created helping with the quoting and design stage of a project. Once a job is won, the templates are automatically turned into a valid project. Pick slips for inventory are created as are Work orders for the installers. Inventory consumption is recorded against plan as is labor hours. Either at job completion or at defined progress stages, billings can be generated in the Accounts Receivable system for printing and tracking.

Extended eIntelligence Views and drill downs
A further extension of the E7 functionality was the customization of the EIntelligence explorer. The new functionality added to EIntelligence included comprehensive new cross-company/divisional drill down and analysis capabilities. Standard EIntelligence views only hit one database at a time. These new views dynamically can combine data from multiple databases for analysis. In addition to the E7 data, Legacy system data was also linked to new E7 views to be available jointly for analysis.

Overall, the strategic use of E7 functionality in these creative ways for this client makes Second Foundation Consulting’s implementation truly