| STELPLAN Upgrade |
| eSTELPLAN, is the next generation
of our widely used STELPLAN product. eSTELPLAN is designed to operate in
an environment where users demand real-time immediate access to a fully
integrated set of corporate databases, as well as a high availability, mission-critical
environment and is the platform for STELPLAN customers to operate on the
Internet utilizing the INVEX product. |
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| The release of eSTELPLAN represents a multi-million
dollar development investment conducted over five years and responds to
the growth of Invera's customers and the new technological advancements
on the Web. This growth has pushed the demand for STELPLAN and its related
products to operate with large databases in an environment that permits
rapid recovery from a system failure while enabling seamless operations
on the Web using INVEX - the Internet Exchange product developed by Invera. |
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eSTELPLAN represents a major technological advancement that maintains
the unparalleled functionality of the field-proven and widely used STELPLAN
platform. Outlined below are some of the major benefits of eSTELPLAN.
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Architecture & Technology  |
| Internet Enabled |
| Rapid adaptability to Internet operations and customer self-service
utilizing INVEX. |
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| Powerful Relational Database Technology |
| Field-proven & scaleable Relational Database Management
System (RDBMS). Customers can select Informix Dynamic Server.
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| Conversion & Upgradability |
| Automated Conversion |
| Allows existing STELPLAN sites to convert rapidly &
easily minimizing business disruptions. |
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| Investment Protection |
| Invera's customer investments in the following areas are
fully protected and upwardly compatible: |
- Business Procedures - Operations, accounting and audit control procedures
- Training - Management, Operational and end-user training
- Hardware - Servers, terminals, printers & networks where possible
but allowing for technological advances
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| Performance & Scalability |
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| eSTELPLAN can be configured with multiple computers for higher
terminal environments. Online response times can be stabilized by processing
batch reports (utilizing Informix) on a replicated database hosted on a
separate computer. |
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| Data Redundancy |
| Each eSTELPLAN transaction in journalized with two-phase
commit. In a case of a system failure, tables are fully recoverable to the
last successfully transaction thereby ensuring data integrity. |
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| Standby Facility |
| eSTELPLAN can be configured with a Primary Server & a
Replication Server (second computer) that mirrors all database activity
taking place on the Primary Server. In the event of a Primary Server failure
operations can be switched to the Replication Server with minimum interruptions. |
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| Disaster Backup |
| Utilizing the Replication Server model, the 2nd computer
may be located in a different building or geographical area to provide a
fully operational disaster recovery site. |
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| Operational Flexibility |
| Non-Stop Operations |
| eSTELPLAN allows availability of the systems for 24 hours,
7 days a week and does not require users to log off the system during data
backups (Users must only log off during the end of month process). eSTELPLAN
performs on-line archiving for near-continuous operations and is a feature
that is not available in STELPLAN due to the lockout of database during
backup periods. |
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| Branch Driven PIO's |
| Utilizing Program Driven Installation Options that may be
set corporately or by Branch. |
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| Streamlined EOP |
| All eSTELPLAN end of period processes have been streamlined
to allow for continuos operational up-time as well less complex operational
procedures. This includes: |
- End of Day - Users no longer have to log off
- End of Week - Has been eliminated
- End of Month Cleanup - Has been eliminated
- Cost Averaging - Users no longer have to log off
- End of Month directory - Is now optional and not necessary for reporting
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| Easy Database Access |
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| The full-strength of the RDBMS provide exceptional functionality
for both data access and manipulation. eSTELPLAN enables rapid database
access using any query or reporting tool that is SQL compatible. |
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In addition, existing archived tables that cannot be accessed in the
STELPLAN database become accessible in the eSTELPLAN database. These includes
Inventory Transactions, Product Statistics, Sales & Cost Journals,
Sales Analysis & Cash Journal History.
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| Business Work-Flows |
| eSTELPLAN has been enhanced to support workflow notification
and messaging to selected recipients based on various business processes.
Specific business conditions initiate workflow messages that are transmitted
to select internal and/or external recipients under 3 advisory modes: notification,
warning, or error. These workflow messages provide feedback to those recipients
regarding the status of the performed events and messages are routed either
through the eSTELPLAN workflow message queue (internal) or email addresses
(external). |
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| eMailing Business Documents |
| All eSTELPLAN business documents such as Quotes, Sales Acknowledgements,
Purchase Orders, Bills of Lading, Mill Test Certifications, Transfer Orders
and Invoices can be emailed directly from eSTELPLAN. |
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| Non-Steel Purchases |
| Non Steel purchases orders are now supported. The ability
to create, print and receive purchase orders for non steel items and the
associated purchase history, Analysis, PO Status and PO Reconciliation for
unpaid items are accordingly available. |
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| Mill Claims |
| A fully functional Mill Claim system is available in eSTELPLAN.
This includes the creation & settlement of material mill claims with
the ability to make claims for vendors other than the original vendor you
purchased the material form as well as the ability to print debit memos. |
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| State Code |
| A new State/Province code has been added to the eSTELPLAN
database. This code is intended to facilitate data manipulation when creating
custom reports and queries. |
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| User Defined Fields in Customer/Vendor Tables |
| A new user controlled reference table allows you to define
a customized set of 2-character codes that can be assigned to the Customer,
Customer Ship-To, Vendor or Vendor Ship-From reference tables. The User
Defined (UD) code is optional. It is used for reporting purposes throughout
the Sales and Purchase Order cycles. |
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| Production Scheduling |
| A new Roll action bar option allows the scheduler to move
uncompleted jobs forward to the next scheduled shift. All of the items within
the specified time period (e.g., 5 days) are automatically rescheduled.
eSTELtoll is now integrated with the Production Scheduling module. |
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| Access Right by User Group |
| eSTELPLAN can now control the access to each eSTELview Inquiry
by user group. This allows administrators to provide selective access to
the critical inventory and historical references based on the access rights
of the users. The control access has been applied to the following inquires
within eSTELview: |
- Stock Available
- Stock Reservations
- Incoming Stock
- Tag Inquiry
- PO Inquiry
- Stock List
- Replacement Cost
- Multi View
- Tag Trace
- Inventory Transaction
- Sales History
- Purchase History
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| AIAG Custom Tag Generation |
| A new feature enables users to specify by Customer/Ship-To
the actual contents of the AIAG barcode data blocks (fields). The AIAG format
continues to conform to the B5 and B6 standards, however field configurations
and contents are at the discretion of the user, configurable by Customer
and Ship-To. |
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| The customized AIAG tag format includes the following
features: |
- Change any data identifier code as required by your customer
- Change the printed description
- Select from a table the data that is printed in the data blocks
- Customized at the Customer/Ship-To level
- Ability to suppress the printing of the data identified code
- Ability to exclude the data identifier code from the barcode
- Ability to suppress the printing of the barcode
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| VMI Extract |
| A Vendor Managed Function is available allow to facilitate
the extraction of critical information such as inventory levels, material
on order, reorder points and history for selected products & preferred
vendors. |
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| eSTELfinreps |
| The Financial Reporting has been completely redesigned providing
enhanced flexibility utilizing the MS/Excel tool. This has been simplified
for first time setup enabling users to create financial reports with an
intuitive "Drag & Drop" interface. A formulas tool bar has
been implemented simplifying the formula creation process. Statements can
easily be viewed for any Region, Branch or cost-center with low maintenance
at year-end time. |
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| Customer Pickup Schedule |
| This function has been designed to facilitate the scheduling
and monitoring of Transport carriers and Customer Pickups. The entire process
of scheduling allows you to keep historical records on the arrival and departure
of Transport Carriers at your Shipping Warehouses. |
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| These historical records enable you to track their performance
based on the amount of time the Transport Carrier waited for the material
to be loaded along with the corresponding shipping documents. The application
allows the scheduling of shipments according to Warehouse Location, Date,
Pickup number and Transport Carrier. Multiple Sales Orders can be assigned
to an Appointment number, allowing the shipments of multiple orders for
a specific Pickup. |
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Detailed logging is retained to audit the date, time and name of the
user who created, modified and updated the schedules. Moreover, dispatch
can easily record the arrival and departure of the Transport Carrier to
and from the Shipping Warehouse via action bar options. The date, time
and user name for both the arrival and departure of the Transport Carrier
are retained in the application for historical review and analysis.
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| Customer Part Specifications |
| eSTELPLAN now has the ability to produce material in eSTELpro
using Customer Part Specifications. This enhancement to eSTELpro provides
you with the following features: |
- Allows you to produce material for either a Sales Order Item, a Part
Specification or to a specific Product Item
- Gives you complete flexibility in producing Work-in-Process (WIP)
material by allowing you to enter the expected Group, Size. Grade, and
Dimensions to be produced
- Allows you to change the Specifications on a job without affecting
the Sales Order Specifications
- Allows you to specify the quantity of material to be produced on each
job by Part Specification
- Allows you to view the Expected and Actual Quantities produced for
each Part Specification
- Allows you to print Shipping Tags for finished material produced from
a Part Specification.
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| Hard/Soft Reservations |
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A new Product Installation Option controls whether Allocations created
in Quote Entry are defined as Real Reservations. If the reservations are
not created as actual Inventory Reservations, they are used to cost the
Quote Item and determine the estimated profit. If they are created as
Real Reservations, the Specific or Non-Specific Allocations created for
a Quote Item are actual Inventory Reservations. They can be viewed through
the Stock Available/Reservations inquiries.
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| Profit Verification Function |
| A Profit Verification function has been developed to help
monitor and control the profitability of all Sales Orders as they are initially
entered or later modified. A company-defined Net or Gross Profit Percentage
is used to identify the orders whose profitability is too low. These orders
are put on Profit Hold until they are reviewed and released by the Sales
Manager. |
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| The Profit Verification function includes the following
features: |
- Control of the Order Item Profitability based on a company-defined
Net or Gross Profit Percentage
- Mechanism to put the orders whose profitability are too low onto Profit
Hold
- Verification done at two different stages: prior to printing the Work
Order Form and when the Order Item Price and/or Cost are subsequently
modified
- Printing of a Profit Hold log on the Branch Sales Manager printer
- Ability to inquire on the orders held for profitability
- Ability to release profit held orders once they have been reviewed
- Integration with the Automatic Credit Verification function
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