Systech
Automated Online Price Portal
About the Company
Systech Illinois is a global manufacturer of moisture, gas and oxygen analysers for industries all around the world. They utilise 123insight as their manufacturing and customer management system, with this data being used to populate an Excel based Product Catalogue. These documents are then distributed to their customers each time they made any updates. This was a manual, and therefore time-consuming process, so they wanted to find a better solution.
Solweb had carried out various updates to the reports available within 123insight for them in the past, so Systech were familiar with our skillset and knowledge of 123insight, so it was with this in mind that they approached us to develop an Online Price Portal which was to be directly integrated with their 123insight data, removing the need to manually administer the Product Catalogue
Requirements Overview
The Online Price Portal was to be separated from their current website, with the access being restricted to their customers that they would like to grant access to. Once logged in, each customer should be able to view the full Product Catalogue, organised by instrument, model and associated options and extras, as well as view an area specific to the Product Spares.
The priority was that each customer is viewing the pricing structure that has been specifically set up for them within Systech’s 123insight database, including localised currency and any customer specific discounts that have been applied.
Each customer should also be able to download user guides, as well as access a resource portal, whereby they can export their specific price list, as well as access any additional documents that have been uploaded specifically for them.
Solution
After an initial meeting, we designed a structure that would be the most efficient, and decided that it would be essential to develop several bespoke areas within our WebPortal website administration. This was to ensure that the maintenance of the site could be as simple as possible, with key data being looked up from 123insight to assist with data population where appropriate.
To assist with the website setup, we were also able to extract data from their existing Excel documents, and create an import procedure that allowed the site to be pre-populated, significantly reducing the time required to get everything set up. This data is used to power a responsive website, which is designed to be intuitive and quick to use to customers already familiar with their previous product catalogues. They also run a copy of our DataBridge Data Transfer Service on their database server, which transfers up the latest pricing structure, ensuring customers will always have access to the latest and accurate product prices without any manual intervention. Any changes are automatically updated on the website within a 5-minute interval, and granting access to a new customer is as simple as adding a new contact with a password in 123insight.
Finally, we also developed several administration areas specifically for the marketing department that allows them to upload customer specific documents, and also run website usage reports.
Outcome
We have been very pleased to assist Systech with the setup and development of their Online Price Portal, which opens up their data to each of their customers, and drastically reduces the amount of administration required to generate the catalogue. The addition of the tracking and marketing potential will quickly see this become a valuable tool.
