Prophet 21 Releases CommerceCenter Version 10.5

An Activant Solution Update

Features

E-mail This Page

CommerceCenter 10.5 Enhances Distributors' Productivity

YARDLEY, PA, December 15, 2004 - Listening to distributors' requests, Prophet 21 developed CommerceCenter version 10.5 to help distributors grow in the evolving business world.

Prophet 21 CommerceCenter - the leading enterprise software solution for distributors - combines the power of SQL Server and the familiarity of Windows in a solution designed especially for distributors. Key features such as: wireless warehouse management, handheld bin management (with PDA integration), vendor quote processing, and customer relationship management (CRM) will help distributors increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating costs while maintaining better business data.

"CommerceCenter 10.5 is full of enhancements that streamline processes and help distributors better manage the information in their solution," said Chuck Boyle, Prophet 21 president and CEO. "Each release of CommerceCenter only helps strengthen a distributor's position in this competitive marketplace."

Item Master Inquiry

Brian Williams knows how important customer service can be to a distributor. Williams, director of I.T. for Industrial Supply Company, a general line supply house, uses CommerceCenter's item master inquiry functionality to provide quick and efficient access to product information that helps increase the value he provides his customers. Providing a single entry point to all key item information with enhanced drill down capability, CommerceCenter 10.5's item master inquiry will help distributors improve data retrieval efficiency by providing inventory information in one concise window.

"CommerceCenter 10.5 item master inquiry gives us a quicker response time," says Williams. "It has been a huge time saver and has improved our productivity. To be able to go to one screen and click around on different tabs and find everything you need is extremely helpful."

Request Quotes

Helping distributors improve efficiency and take control of the entire sales process, CommerceCenter 10.5 also features vendor quote processing. Vendor quote-processing allows distributors to create requests for quotes (RFQ) to suppliers directly from order entry and sales quote entry for special, direct, and non-stock items. In addition, distributors can create and track vendor quotes for multiple vendors for any item from purchasing screen at any time. "We had been doing this process manually," says Williams. "It is a major time-saver to be able to conduct this process through CommerceCenter and has improved our productivity immensely.

"We do a lot of job quotes for contractors and we have to find the best prices from the supplier and quote the customers," says Williams. "This feature allows us to easily track our quotes. It is all right in front of you with CommerceCenter."

Customer Relationship Management

CommerceCenter 10.5 provides distributors with greater efficiency in creating and editing customer contacts as well as improved contact management capabilities. Distributors can assign and create tasks linked to transactions to provide flexibility and control over contact management. CommerceCenter 10.5 offers distributors the ability to create contacts for ship records and shows all contacts created for ship-to records.

"We were using a third party CRM solution," says Williams. "With CommerceCenter 10.5 we can phase out the other solution and do all of our CRM in CommerceCenter. CommerceCenter's CRM functionality has already helped us with our supplier contacts, ship-to contacts, and it allows us to assign tasks, we feel that CRM will allow us become more efficient and save us time."

Wireless Warehouse

In addition to all the features included in CommerceCenter 10.5, Prophet 21 introduces the Wireless Warehouse Management Solution. This complementary product uses wireless technology to streamline all warehouse processes - from picking and receiving, to cycle counting and adjustments. The Wireless Warehouse Management Solution uses a wireless hand-held device communicates with CommerceCenter to send real-time information about picking, receiving, putting away, and shipping inventory for improved accuracy, control, and efficiency.

"Because the Wireless Warehouse Management Solution automates a lot of the tasks many distributors still do with a pencil and clipboard, it allows distributors to reallocate resources to service-oriented tasks," says Steve Horgan, an executive for NSK Industries, an Ohio-based fastener wholesaler. "This technology will enable us to add more SKUs to our warehouse and customers to our database without hiring extra employees."

Other functionality in CommerceCenter 10.5 includes:

EDI 840 & 843: Improve EDI integrations and provide broader document support through sending and receiving of EDI 840 and 843 by requesting and responding to quotes from both the sales and purchasing modules.
Customer Contract Pricing: Become more efficient in order entry while formalizing special sales agreements between a distributor and their customer.
Label Printing: Print labels for items, item tags, bins, pre printed tags and shipping through a seamless integration to the current forms package.
Handheld Bin Management (Includes PDA integration): If you provide vendor managed inventory (VMI) services to your customers, you can efficiently manage in-customer facility bin inventory programs to ensure continuous product availability.
And Much More...

Pricing and Availability

CommerceCenter version 10.5 is currently available. For additional information and pricing, please visit www.p21.com, e-mail info@p21.com, or call 1-800-776-7438, press 1.

About Activant / Legal & Trademark Information

###

Prospective customers are encouraged to fill out and submit the convenient Activant Web Contact Form.