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Success Story
T. Christy Launches the First Integrated MITS OLAP /
Business Intelligence Solution for Intuit Eclipse on IBM UniVerse
First of many MITS / Intuit Eclipse Integrations
The Company
T. Christy Enterprises, Inc. is a leading provider of products to the
waterworks, irrigation, plumbing, industrial, pool and electric, and
fencing markets, selling exclusively to wholesale distributors that service
these industries. Founded in 1976 by plastics industry pioneer Tom Christy,
the company operates as independent sales representatives, manufacturers
and master distributors of a variety of products and product lines. Its
sales network includes 12 inside sales/customer service professionals and
15 outside representatives and distributors. T. Christy's sales
professionals are supported by 65 employees in its distribution centers in
Anaheim and Sacramento, Calif. The company uses the Intuit Eclipse
distribution package on an IBM UniVerse platform, allowing many of its
customers, distributors and outside sales reps a direct link to their
specific account information and T. Christy inventories. Because wholesale
distributors are constantly searching for ways to empower their inside and
outside sales staff to be more productive, generate more revenue, and save
on expenses. Christy was a ready and willing candidate for the new MITS
Integration for Eclipse. MITS is a powerful OLAP/BI (Online Analytical
Processing/Business Intelligence) solution developed by Management
Information Tools, Inc. (MITI) and now offered by Eclipse to its
distribution software customer base.
The Circumstances
Todd Noe, Christy's MIS coordinator, proudly refers to his IT department as
a "one-man-band," a common designation in many companies running MultiValue
applications, including UniVerse from IBM. His responsibilities include all
systems administration, communications management and e-commerce functions.
He also manages all internal computer and telephone systems for the
company's two locations, and provides technical support for its internal
and remote staff. Noe managed T. Christy's migration to an IBM UniVerse
platform in early 2002, and became an Eclipse customer a few months later
when the company converted its sales data from Sage's MAS90 accounting
package to the Eclipse distribution management solution.
After joining the company about three and one-half years ago, Noe said he
realized early-on that some changes were required to ensure his IT
department ran efficient and lean. "Our biggest problem was getting timely
and accurate sales reports out to our sales force with enough detail to be
helpful, but without the customization and paper usage that made it a
burden for I.T.," Noe explained. "We would run reports once a month, and
they would be mailed or picked up by the sales rep at the office, who would
then leaf through 400-plus report pages. If a rep wanted numbers for a
specific customer in more detail, an additional report would then need to
be run, or even designed from scratch." Noe said it was hard to view
trends, and the reps dreaded having a 12-inch stack of paper to go through
every month. The nationwide companies that represent and distribute T.
Christy's products in the United States were getting the same reports,
which had to be mailed as well.
The Search
Noe and the president of the company, Jon Christy, first heard about MITS
at the Eclipse User's Conference in Denver in early 2003. MITS, the acronym
for Management Information Tool Software, is an Online Analytical
Processing and Business Intelligence (OLAP/BI) suite of products designed
to gather, manage, distribute and analyze data for improved strategic and
tactical decision-making. Intuit Eclipse began to integrate the MITS
solution into its flagship distribution product in late 2002, and soon
thereafter invited MITS to demonstrate the solution at its user conference.
"We walked by the booth, saw a demo of MITS, and were instantly hooked,"
Noe said." We were immediately impressed by MITS' ease of use and depth in
which a company could drill-down into its own data. It seemed
unbelievable." It didn't take long for T. Christy to analyze the product and
make the final decision to implement MITS into the company. "We went live
with MITS shortly after the Eclipse User's Conference because our president
wanted to be the first Eclipse customer to have MITS," Noe said. "We didn't
mind being the guinea pig for Eclipse because we saw how powerful this tool
would be for our sales force, and wanted it live as soon as possible."
According to Noe, the MITS implementation went very smooth because of the
synergy between MITS and Eclipse.
"Eclipse was very supportive from the start, and the staff at MITI was
awesome," Noe said." Any issue that came up was handled very quickly, and
the teamwork between MITS and Eclipse was evident." "The Eclipse and MITI
partnership is designed to support aggressive sales efforts and provide
top-notch after-sales service and support," said Pat Gilbrough, president
of Management Information Tools. "Eclipse has integrated MITS into its core
distribution package, so Eclipse customers will find it a natural fit. Our
staff of engineers and developers at MITI act as an extension to Eclipse's
professional services, offering a high level of installation and on-going
support for all of its new MITS customers."
Intuit acquired Eclipse in 2002
and renamed the company Intuit Eclipse. It is a leading provider of
business management software solutions for wholesale distributors in a
number of market segments, including plumbing-heating-cooling-piping,
electrical, building materials, industrial, janitorial and floor coverings.
The company's flagship product, the Eclipse Distribution Management System,
enables wholesale distributors to increase productivity, revenue and
profitability by managing critical business components, including order
processing, inventory control, accounting, purchasing and customer service.
"The Eclipse software platform provides companies with the required
technology to address today's most pressing distribution business
requirements," said Michael Honig, director of Business Development, Intuit
Eclipse. "MITS, therefore, is a natural fit as an enhancement to our
system. It brings easy-to-use reporting capabilities and business
intelligent functionality to our customers that rely heavily on inventory
and sales analysis. And based on the overwhelmingly positive reaction MITS
received at our recent user's conference, I'm optimistic that it's the
right tool at the right time for our marketplace." In addition to
integrating the MITS product with its supply chain solution, Eclipse is
also offering MITI's unmatched OLAP/BI technical expertise to its customer
base. "For over a decade, we've been providing a wide-range of professional
services to help our customers maximize the return on their software
investment," Honig continued. "The alliances we forge help ensure that our
customers are maximizing the latest technologies and best practice
techniques. The MITI organization meets our high expectations. I've been
quite impressed with the quality of customer support and training that the
MITI staff has already provided to our first group of MITS installations."
As the first MITS implementation for Eclipse, T. Christy wasn't disappointed
in the level of customer service received from both companies. The initial
training on MITS was provided by MITI, and Noe said he discovered that the
learning curve for MITS was short and that training new users was a
breeze." We went through the menus in about an hour, and logged each user
in as themselves. As a preliminary exercise, they each chose an area that
they felt was their strongest in sales, and I had them start drilling
around. When they could see their own numbers, curiosity took over, and
they took off."
The Solution
T. Christy is currently using two MITS data cubes: SALES and EXPENSES.
Although Noe plans on building more cubes on his own in the future, these
first data cubes were created jointly by MITI and Eclipse. "Our Accounting,
Marketing, and Sales departments are all using MITS extensively," said Noe,
"as well as many of our executives, including the president, vice president
of sales, national sales manager and operations manager." Noe said that the
accessibility feature of MITS has been the key to its success within T.
Christy. "Our national sales manager travels quite a bit, so needs access
to MITS anywhere, anytime. He can literally sit in the parking lot before a
meeting with a distributor and download a spreadsheet in just two minutes
before he walks in the door. He goes in prepared, with data in his hand to
back up his statements." T. Christy has also given its representatives and
distributors across the company access to their data via MITS, so they can
log in and check their sales data whenever they feel inclined to do so. "In
our industry, it's rare to find a sales rep who is comfortable with a
computer," Noe said. "So, finding reporting package like MITS that they
could learn to use and be comfortable with in just a few minutes is
amazing! "We now have sales reps that build their own reports in matter of
minutes," he continued. "Sales information is shared more readily, while
critical issues are found in matter of minutes instead of days, weeks, or
even months." MITS is the only OLAP solution with true drill-down
capabilities that is native to the MultiValue environment. It leverages the
superior flexibility of the extended relational model, delivering
analytical processing within the same database used by a company's business
applications. MITS performs native extraction using the data dictionary
processing features of UniVerse and other MultiValue implementations,
requires no ODBC, and may be hosted on the same computer as the source
data. Setting up access to the MITS OLAP data is as simple as any other
connection to the MultiValue system.
The Results
Working from a "one-man-band" point of view, Noe is thrilled to report how
much time MITS has saved him in his own job." After installing MITS, I
gained at least eight hours per month in time that I used to spend creating
and running reports," he said. Moreover, Noe estimates that each of
T. Christy's 12 inside sales reps have also saved approximately three to
four hours per month in time they used to spend reviewing reports. "That's
approximately 48 hours of more time collectively that the sales force can
now spend on other activities, including selling," Noe exclaimed. Because
T. Christy is an inventory- and sales-driven company, Noe believes that
"MITS is probably the single-best addition we've made to our Eclipse system
to date. Eclipse gives us unbelievable control of our inventory, and MITS
allows us to view where our inventory is going in a matter of seconds." Noe
also said MITS tops his list technically-from a software development point
of view. "It is by far the most impressive product I've seen: you can
access MITS from anywhere with a Web connection; it's easy for
non-technical users to create their own reports; and it's extremely
flexible in its ability to export into different formats, such as an Excel
workbook or a text file." In conclusion, Noe said he firmly believes that
"MITS is a must have addition to any Eclipse install, period. "MITS is
simply the best in-depth sales reporting tool available. I don't think
there's a faster or easier way to get an accurate picture of what is
happening in sales without MITS. Combining a tool like MITS with Eclipse
and putting it into the hands of our sales force gives them better insight
into product sales, territory performance, and a customer's purchasing
patterns in a few clicks of a mouse."
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Company Profile:
Name:
T Christy Enterprises, Inc.
Distinction:
Leading provider of products to the waterworks, irrigation, plumbing,
industrial, pool, electric, and fencing markets
Vertical Software Provider:
Intuit Eclipse
Database:
IBM UniVerse
Web Site:
www.tchristy.com
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