Case Study
Overhaul Your Retail Management System
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•Case Study: Overhaul Your Retail Management System
What time is it when your current RMS isn't supported because its supplier is no longer in business? That's right – time to overhaul your RMS system. Bill Maples, director of information systems at Orscheln Farm & Home, a family-owned farm store, was recently faced with this very situation. For years, Orscheln Farm & Home was operating on an RMS legacy system that worked well. But with its RMS supplier out of business and nowhere to turn for technical support, the entire system had to be replaced. Maples was in search of a new RMS system that would both modernize Orscheln's operational infrastructure and grow the company brand.
Orscheln is a family-owned chain of more than 140 farm stores in nine Midwestern states. Maples has been with the retailer since 1990 when he started as a buyer in manufacturing. He transitioned to his current position more than eight years ago. In his early years as director of information systems, Maples used an antiquated legacy operating system for inventory and retail management. Sure, the legacy system met the retailer's business needs; however, it lacked state-of-the-art, mission-critical features including planning optimization and user-friendly features such as a GUI (graphical user interface) Web-based application. Most importantly, it lacked a source for technical support due to its defunct legacy system supplier.
After sending an RFP to 18 companies, Maples and his team chose enterprise software giant Oracle. "Oracle is a very big name with sophisticated software," says Maples. "Orscheln Farm & Home is a progressive company; we want our company to grow, and it's simply not possible to do that with fly-by-night software." The retailer invested in the Oracle Retail Enterprise suite, which was customized since it included many different modular software units. Some of the modules included were RPM (retail price management), RTM (retail trade management), ReIM (retail invoice atch), ReSA (retail sales audit), RDW (retail data warehouse), RDF (retail demand orecasting), SIM (store inventory management), Oracle Retail Allocation, and Oracle ctive Retail Intelligence. The retailer also purchased Oracle Financials to overhaul ts existing financial software.
Click Here To Download:•Case Study: Overhaul Your Retail Management System
