As an ERP platform for wholesale distributors, Prophet 21® offers many powerful features and digital tools for managing your business. One often-overlooked but extremely valuable capability is adding alerts. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios, and how this kind of automation could help your business become more efficient.
P21 alert basics
Prophet 21 manages alerts in a few different ways. You can set up email notifications and task notifications in the Alert Maintenance window in the System Administration module. You can also find Alert Maintenance on the Maintenance menu.
Alert Maintenance features two tabs, Event and Notification. These help you set up Alerts for a wide variety of conditions that occur within P21™. Essentially, you determine a bit of logic that if X value occurs in a specified field (the Event) , the system should then automatically do Y (the notification).
The screen shot of the Alerts menu (right) provides a rundown of all the different business functions and categories that are available for events. As you can see, it pretty much runs the gamut.
Automated workflows
A lot of processes that occur within distribution businesses rely on employees reviewing items for any red flags, and then moving it to another employee’s queue. Almost all of this can be captured and tracked within P21. By carefully itemizing what requires review — or alternatively, defining what does not require manual review — you can implement an automated process that efficiently relays information.
Here are three common scenarios that demonstrate the value of setting up P21 notifications.
1. Purchasing
When a sale occurs for an item with limited stock, whether it’s online, via email, telephone or in a storefront, P21 can automatically notify Purchasing so it can order more.
2. Shipping
Once an order is shipped, P21 can notify the recipient, as well as the account’s sales rep, should they want to track the order and follow-up.
3. Financial
What if an order submission falls within (or below) a certain profit margin for the item? P21 can notify a manager to follow up with the salesperson. Similarly, P21 can notify the salesperson to check the correctness of the order prior to it being fully processed.
Plan your alerts
Of course, those three scenarios are just the tip of the iceberg. With so many alert options available, organizations need to strategically map out various workflows within their business. It’s important to determine what bottlenecks or process gaps exist that P21 notifications can help resolve.
With careful planning, P21 alerts can dramatically improve the efficiency of how information moves throughout your operations.
To discuss how we can help design and implement an effective and reliable alerts system, get in touch here.
Learn more about other ways we help distributors get the most out of P21.