Intro
Oz Hair and Beauty are an online retailer selling products throughout Australia.
They have a number of online distribution channels, with the main one being a web store where you can select and purchase hair and beauty products (as the company name suggests).
Anthony runs the business from a Miranda distribution centre, employing up to 5 staff who’s main roles are picking and packing of orders.
Challenges
Like all distributors, the ability to fulfil orders and manage stock on hand is paramount to the businesses success. Inventory Management Solutions come in many shapes and forms, from the very basic right up to enterprise level solutions.
With Oz Hair, they had some specific requirements that an off the shelf solution wouldn’t meet, that being the ability to split packs of product down to single items.
In the hair care and beauty industry, products are purchased as part of a pack i.e. shampoo, conditions, moisturiser all in one pack. What Anthony required was a way that these packs could be split, so they could either be counted as a pack or individual items for sale.
Along with this primary requirement they needed…
- A way in which they could easily scan new stock into the inventory register as it arrives in the distribution centre
- To have an easy tool that allow the scanning of items during the pick and pack process
- The ability to report on stock on hand, in an easy to use manner
So the challenge was to design and develop an inventory management tool that would work the way Oz Hair does.
Solution
When Anthony first approached Digital Fusion we discussed what off the shelf solutions he had looked at and what were their short comings.
The discussion centred around whether he could live with these short comings or if he was keen for Digital Fusion to build him a bespoke solution that worked the way he wanted.
After a number of months of discussion Anthony chose the bespoke route so we set about designing and developing.
Understanding the the business requirements and needs of the client fell to our business analyst, Morgan Chance.
Morgan went through this Analysis and Design phase and completed wireframes, spec document and development plan.
This was then passed over to our developer, Greig Jackson, who went about developing the solution, in collaboration with Anthony at Oz Hair.
This project really suited our agile project management method as it allows Greig and Anthony the ability to quickly make modifications as they were being tested on the floor.
And now we have two solutions...
- One is a desktop application using FileMaker Pro that manages stock on hand, reporting, product error etc (essentially the grunt that runs the business)
- The other is an iPhone app using FileMaker Go that allows for scanning and management of stock as it is pick and packed
The two run harmoniously via the wifi at Anthony's distribution centre and are starting to transform how the business operates.
And best of all, they are running as Anthony wanted, with no compromises around functionality.
There are already plans afoot to develop the solution further.