Peter Drew Contracts Limited specialise in the supply of uniforms to the security and car parking industry, providing a design, manufacture, stock and distribution service for its customers. The company supply a vast product range providing both a fully managed uniform service and a mail order catalogue.

As part of the managed service Peter Drew provide customers with a stock service along with managing individual wearers, keeping details regarding the clothing each employee uses, entitlement consumption and sizing details. Peter Drew’s previous system offered none of the features associated with a wardrobe management system. Time consuming and complex data extraction and manipulation using spreadsheets was carried out to analyse usage and stock. This ultimately resulted in key management time being taken up preparing reports for customers.

Information is key when providing a managed service as customers constantly call the customer service desk for updates on how much they have spent, to track orders, stock levels etc. These relatively simple requests were slow, manual tasks for Peter Drew.
Peter Drew established that the business needed an IT system to enable them to sustain the planned business growth. An important element of any system would be flexibility as Peter Drew's customers have a variety of requirements regarding ordering, entitlement and delivery. Another essential element was to enable manpack orders to be automated as this was identified as a slow manual task.

Peter Drew are focussed on customer service and envisaged an internet based wearer and wardrobe management system as a tool to increase the level of service that they could deliver. The provision of such a service will also enable the company to provide a managed service to more companies, therefore promoting business growth.

Peter Drew selected Datel's ERP system, Protex, integrated with financials, online wardrobe management and online catalogue. The system covers the full business process from design, production planning, sourcing, stock control, distribution, wearer management, financials, online ordering and reporting. The 10 user system is being delivered as an application service provision (ASP), simply stated the rental of the solutions for a monthly fee.

The online wardrobe management system enables orders to be taken via the web avoiding any re-keying of data. The system collects fundamental data to allow reports and important information to be visible to Peter Drew's customers via the internet. The system provides all the necessary security to allow multiple log-ons with high and low level access to the system along with controlling uniform issue and entitlement.

The key to any system where multiple of individuals are accessing it is that it is user-friendly and intuitive in nature. The web option for ordering has to be faster and as easy as other methods such as fax or email to ensure usage.

Tim Drew, Director, Peter Drew Contracts Limited summarises “As a rapidly expanding company we need to continue to give the high levels of service our customers are used to without systems and people clogging up under all the extra administration. The Datel system will allow us to reduce our input time whilst increasing the level and quality of management information we can give our clients, right down to keeping individual wearer records. The internet based ordering solution allows our clients direct access to data they need from an easy-to-use and secure website. Our sales processing staff are able to access sales, stock and purchasing information instantly making processing, orders and queries quicker and more efficient.”

Tim continues, “I looked at a lot of systems and Datel's was the only one flexible enough to cope with all our clients' varied requirements and our continued growth.