WebFOCUS Mobile Helps AJ Logistics’ On-the-Go Customers

From Locating Warehouses to Managing Deliveries and Inventory, WebFOCUS Provides a Competitive Edge

AJ Logistics is a premier provider of custom warehousing and logistics services, such as project management; order fulfillment; custom warehousing; and furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) installations nationwide. Within the growing field of third-party logistics services, the company is known as a “last-mile” service provider because it offers its clients warehouse services near their move-in locations.

For example, if a retail chain is opening a new store in a mall, AJ Logistics manages the receipt, storage, and delivery of all necessary furniture, fixtures, and equipment in a nearby warehouse; maintains a running inventory; and coordinates deliveries to onsite contractors and installation crews as needed.

The company operates in a highly competitive market, and must differentiate itself by delivering superior service and support to its clients. This includes keeping them fully informed of the status of their projects by allowing them to easily monitor deliveries, inventory, and other critical activities.

AJ Logistics distinguishes itself with a WebFOCUS-based operational reporting environment that automates bids, billing, collections, invoicing, payments, and shipments. Customers use the self-service reporting system to access up-to-the minute information about each project. Because the majority of clients spend most of their time away from the office at various job sites, Information Builders’ advanced mobile business intelligence (BI) capabilities are leveraged to make vital information available not only through PCs, but also via any mobile device, such as smartphones and tablets.

With the WebFOCUS BI platform from Information Builders, AJ Logistics is improving coordination, collaboration, and visibility into many types of complex logistics scenarios. The customer-facing, web-based BI system streamlines key workflows, reduces operating expenses, optimizes customer service, and ensures consistent on-time performance – making AJ Logistics a true business partner to its customers.

"We like WebFOCUS because it lets mobile users both query and update a database via native browser apps," says Greg Johnston, CIO at AJ Logistics. “It also gives us real-time access to our inventory data with a complete security architecture that permits us to isolate each customer’s proprietary information."

Building a Flexible Reporting System With OLTP Capabilities

As a midsize company, AJ Logistics processes 1,000 to 2,000 projects every year. To manage this level of activity and streamline the execution of many simultaneous projects, Johnston used WebFOCUS Maintain to create an inventory control system that lets clients track all of their projects through a single web-based application.

WebFOCUS Maintain, an application development environment for building transactional web-based applications and connecting them with WebFOCUS reports, is an ideal way to create a closed-loop BI application – so customers can both query and update information about orders, deliveries, and inventory in the warehouse. A closed-loop BI system permits both reads and writes to the underlying database, providing business users with the information they need to make decisions while also updating the associated operational data.

WebFOCUS provides a multi-level security architecture that integrates with AJ Logistics’ operating systems, database management systems, and web servers. Administrators can manage and define user access according to user groups, departments, and roles with information controlled down to the data-value level, so that each customer can only see the content they are entitled to see. This security architecture protects sensitive information while speeding up reporting functions.

Real-Time Mobile Access to Data

Customers love the convenience – one click is all it takes to perform common functions, such as running activity reports and generating invoices. They can view their inventory by part number, description, vendor, PO number, quantity, weight, and shipping information, and schedule items for delivery at the date and time of their choosing.

In many cases, their queries trigger multi-step workflow processes that update inventory tables, schedule deliveries, notify project managers, and direct activities at third-party warehouses. The system presents documents on demand, including bills of lading, packing lists, inspection forms, delivery ticket information, and receiving reports that list the weight, quantity, and condition of all items in inventory.

"Users can see their own data, retrieve it, make selections, and update the database accordingly," Johnston says. "A single customer might have a dozen projects going at one time. Instead of dealing with many warehouses and systems separately, WebFOCUS gives them a consolidated view of all pertinent activity."

The BI system also helps internal staff as they locate suitable warehouses, negotiate rates, and coordinate the receipt and delivery of freight, fixtures, and equipment. Other internal personnel use it to manage the order-to-cash cycle, including invoicing customers, managing collections, and paying the warehouses.

Extending BI to Mobile Workers

To give customers more flexibility and mobility, AJ Logistics is enhancing the WebFOCUS application to work on a variety of smartphones and tablets, such as Android, iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry devices. "Our users are not the type of people who sit at a desk," explains Johnston. "They are often foremen or general contractors, working at a hotel or job site, overseeing other workers and tradespeople. It’s much easier for them to place an order using their iPhone than it is to boot up a laptop computer or return to the office.

"They are constantly interfacing with plumbers, carpenters, carpet layers, and lots of other personnel at the job site. They need to know things like how many rolls of carpet are in the warehouse. Having this kind of information available on the iPad and iPhone has been a big timesaver for them."

Johnston says the initial mobile version works great on Apple devices and he continues to refine it for other types of smartphones and tablets. He is working with Information Builders Professional Services to develop a mobile interface that provides a device-specific user experience on each type of phone and tablet, with native menus, controls, and HTML5 charting. Using WebFOCUS Active Technology, the BI app can support the common gestures of each native platform and also conform to any type of browser (including Safari, BlackBerry, and Opera).

With more than a dozen logistics companies vying for a finite pool of customers and contracts, AJ Logistics depends on innovative technology like this to keep its services competitive. "WebFOCUS brings us more business," Johnston says. "Our competitors tend to have canned software that is difficult to change and customize. We are constantly working to improve our functionality. Information Builders’ technology is a big part of that cycle."

Boosting Efficiency for Internal Staff

In addition to helping AJ Logistics win new business, WebFOCUS enables the staff to perform its core duties more efficiently. For example, the accounts payable (AP) department depends on a WebFOCUS application to make sure warehouse bills are accurate.

"The AP staff used to spend a lot of time scrutinizing bills to make sure they had the right information about items, rates, and delivery dates," Johnston explains. "If there were problems they contacted the customer. Now WebFOCUS tracks each transaction and provides automated checks and balances, so it is much easier to audit invoices.

"As a result we have been able to reduce our AP staff, from two people working all day on these activities to one person working half a day each week. Best of all, we are more responsive to customers. When we get invoiced the bill gets audited in two or three days rather than two or three weeks."

AJ Logistics uses WebFOCUS ReportCaster to schedule and run reporting jobs at night, conserving IT resources during prime-time hours. This automated reporting system is another example of how the BI platform helps the company to improve service levels, optimize productivity, and reduce costs. By empowering customers and employees to retrieve and unify information from across the enterprise, they always have the information they need to keep projects on schedule.

"We like to follow the George Jetson approach – press one button and everything works," Johnston concludes. "In the tech industry, new software and equipment comes out all the time. WebFOCUS is a very good tool because it helps us to evolve our technology platform and offer unique capabilities to our customers."