Studii de caz

Vodafone

Novensys solutions have made inventory operations more efficient at Vodafone Romania

Our client's situation

With over 9.256.000 customers and a yearly growth of 12,8% of the total amount of customers (according to the results publicly announced for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2008), Vodafone Romania is the company that had the greatest impact on the development history of the Romanian Telco industry in the last decade, with several products and services being offered for the first time on the Romanian telecommunication market: the first GSM network in Romania, on the 15th of April 1997, the first 3G services, in April 2005, as well as the 3G broadband HSDPA services, in November 2006. The company yearly strengthens its position as market leader, both by the increasing number of customers and by offering new and innovating services, continuing to achieve a remarkable revenue growth from services even on a mature market, despite of the negative impact on the revenue caused by decisions made by ruling institutions.

The yearly growth in the amount of customers, the constant network expansion at national level (the Vodafone Romania network covers 97% of the population and 81% of the country's territory, while the 3G and 3G Broadband networks cover 232 cities and some 40% of the population), together with the high competition level on the market, have generated the need to implement a tool to allow for a decrease in bureaucracy and in the volume of hard copy documents, for less time and money spent on inventory processes and for faster insight into asset information.

Identifying the solution and implementation partner

Finding a competitive solution, together with a high-performance hardware infrastructure, which would offer a work tool able to address specific business needs, aided the fast identification of an implementation partner, Novensys being first choice. A broad portfolio of software solutions, as well as the specialized hardware offer, the superior know-how level, allowing Novensys specialists to make client specific developments, led to this decision (Novensys is the business partner for leading companies in this industry: Motorola, Psion, Zebra, Current, Avery Weigh-Tronix, Berkel, Carl Valentin, Tally Genicom, Printronix and WhereNet).

"The fact that Novensys specialists promptly answered our requests, that they offered us clear solutions customized to fulfill our specific needs, was a major factor leading to our decision, apart from the fair price - a reason also worth mentioning. In addition, the two implementation teams managed to establish a very good relationship based on empathy, and the Novensys team was very flexible along the entire implementation process", stated Manuela Baloi, Manager, Technology Logistics - Technology Supply Chain Management, Vodafone Romania.

The benefits of the Novensys solutions

In order to optimally answer to specific business requests of Vodafone Romania, Novensys fulfilled the implementation of two own solutions, customized for the Telco sector: Novensys for Assets and Novensys for Inventory.
Novensys for Assets is a tool for the automation of inventory operations of assets and inventory items in the Telco field by using bar code technology. The solution offers different functionalities, such as:  

• master data administration (for users, access rights, locations, categories, departments, states, etc.);
• asset and inventory items management (addition, modification, deletion, transfer, disposal), label printing (for locations or assets) with bar code printers;
• inventories for: categories, locations, employees or category and location;
• depreciation calculation - starting with taking in use of a particular asset until its full entry value has been returned;
• data synchronization (USB/COM, GPRS, Wireless) between data base and mobile equipment, as well as centralization in different types of customizable reports (movement reports, disposal reports, system reports, inventory reports, depreciation reports, etc.) - these reports can be viewed, printed, exported to Excel, Word or .txt files.

By implementing the application Novensys for Assets, Vodafone Romania solved a problem arisen from the increasing number of assets and inventory items of the company, being able to trace and identify them. The company gained:

• accurate information on assets and inventory items;
• security in information handling;
• high-quality sorting of information;
• decrease in workload with inventory procedures, as the application is very user-friendly;
• application compatibility with third party systems;
• insight to management reports on the company's patrimony (asset ledger, asset files and balance, inventory centralization and listing, etc.);
• unique identification of every asset and inventory item by means of a unique identification code, generated by the application and printed on a label to be applied on the item;

The flexibility and scalability of the Novensys for Assets solution (implementation at the Vodafone head office in Pipera) made it possible to develop customer specific customizations, explains Razvan Neacsu, Director Adjunct - Consulting, Development & Support:
"A new function called "File per owner" has been developed on the mobile computers, which shows a list of all assets and inventory items given in use to a certain owner (responsible). After selecting the responsible, the operator can access this list of assets and inventory items given to this person and, by selecting an item from the list, that item is processed for inventory purposes. (...) At the same time, the reporting system has been improved and the application has been integrated with other information systems of Vodafone Romania."
Novensys for Inventory is a solution adjusted for the telecommunication business, offering real time access to information regarding items in stock for different locations and warehouses, a solution which is therefore considered to be a natural completion to the asset management solution. The application allows the automation, tracing and recording of warehouse-specific processes (receipt, storage, inventory and delivery) through mobile equipment and bar code technology (wireless or batch connection between mobile computers and server). Apart from the typical modules for a Warehouse Management Solution (for Management, Monitoring, Inventory, Processing), the solution also contains an additional module for site-specific maintenance operations (additional antennas and devices), which automates the monitoring of operations such as repairs and replacements of spare parts and components on-site. Novensys for Inventory can be connected to ERP systems for master data transfer (devices, suppliers, sites, measuring units, etc.), but also for the automated transfer of data from shipping orders (write-off), receipts etc., by means of text files with data or by direct access to information from other sources.
By implementing this application adjusted for the Telco sector, Vodafone Romania immediately achieved several strong benefits, besides a decrease in bureaucracy and in the volume of hard copy documents. These benefits include:

• the possibility to automatically record the receipt of IT equipment and of devices used in maintaining Telco-specific hardware (antennas, etc.);
• improved storage services and less time needed to transfer and write off items, by monitoring and automating warehousing processes;
• improved stock control accuracy, as well as fewer inventory differences;
• less time wasted on inventory processes by smart scanning of items throughout the warehouse;
• item monitoring and traceability by serial numbers throughout the entire warehousing flow.

„On request of our customer, we developed a replacement option (replacing broken parts by transferring new parts from the warehouse to the sites, shipping the broken parts to the warehouse and making the needed changes in stock), as well as the interface to the management system of the client for automated data transfer. At the same time, we developed a tool for wireless operation (online) for the warehouse at the head office and for batch operation (offline) for the remote locations (sites)", explained Razvan Neacsu, Deputy Director - Consulting, Development & Support.

Benefits achieved by Vodafone

"If i was to choose again a business solution, I would choose the exact same solutions and implementation partner - Novensys. The history with a vendor counts for a lot, but besides that, the response times to our requests were very good and that weighs heavily in a business like ours. At the same time, the communication was flawless and the fact that the Novensys specialists were very fast in solving our problems contributed to the success of the implementation. We had the chance to work with very experienced people, with true professionals, who always came up with new ideas and efficient, targeted solutions. Thanks to these people, as well as to the capabilities of the Novensys solutions, we managed to quickly achieve our initial objectives: automation of asset inventory processes, less time and money spent on inventory processes, fewer errors and fewer employees assigned to the inventory process, control over warehousing operations and over the performance in storage. To sum it up: our processes became more efficient, while we were enjoying the benefits of mobility and of mature and user-friendly solutions", stated Manuela Baloi, Manager, Technology Logistics - Technology Supply Chain Management, Vodafone Romania.

Upgrade for improved efficiency

The implementation process of the Novensys solutions was completed, at first, in 2003-2004 and later we decided to make an "upgrade", both at hardware infrastructure level and at solution level (there were new modules and functions added, new sites were added while extending the replacement operations option). At hardware level, the Symbol PDT devices were replaced by more powerful multi-mode wireless Motorola MC9090 mobile computers, considered to be the optimal choice for the company's specific data and voice communication needs.  
Specially designed to withstand rigorous use in extreme environments, the device offers a superior reliability level, seconded by top technical specifications. Built Equipped with the latest technology, the MC9090 provides support for the richest enterprise applications, empowering mobile workers to capture and access critical business information in real time, enabling flexible connectivity to business applications via LAN/PAN (WLAN radio). The MC9090 offers the latest Intel processor and runs one of the two most robust Microsoft operating systems - Windows Mobile 5.0 or Windows CE 5.0 - giving you the flexibility to select either a familiar feature rich environment or a robust customizable application-specific environment. The ergonomic pistol-grip design offers superior end-user comfort in scan intensive inventory and management applications, while the device features multiple data caption options. The superior autonomy and the advanced options for power management, as well as the reliability offered by the MC9090, enable real time access to mission critical information throughout the supply chain and in scan intensive environments through advanced data capture options.
These features ensure a low TCO and increased efficiency in warehousing and logistic operations, by reducing errors and increasing productivity and profitability.
The main benefits of the MC9090 include:

• Wireless connectivity through integrated 802.11 a/b/g WLAN radios, maximizing field employee productivity and compatible with every WLAN;
• Improved reliability; the device has passed industry's most stringent drop and tumble tests, therefore it dramatically reduces repair and downtime costs;
• Communication option: Bluetooth v1.2 wirelessly print, synchronize and connect to a headset;
• Increased autonomy and extended battery life;
• Modular keyboard, rugged control panel and a display with exceptional clarity and contrast.