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18.11.08 E’fish’ient Warehouse Stock Control |
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Chan Brothers have recently built a large new chilled fish warehouse in East London. They need a system to keep track of all the pallets of frozen fish using a barcode system. However the MD could find no ‘Off the Shelf’ system that would integrate with the Company’s existing software. We are currently developing a system that will show maps of the three chilled rooms in the warehouse ind indicate when any item of stock is stored. The program generates Picking Lists, Put Away Lists and full Stock Lists. It also integrates perfectly with the existing system.
The system uses a barcode fixed to each pallet which is scanned with the location barcode when the pallet is put away. These barcode pairs are used to update the system, almost in real time.
See Below how the Long Term and the Order Picking Store are shown. Items can be ‘dragged and dropped into the correct location.
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12.10.08 First Aid at Partnership Health |
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Partnership Health, who work with the NHS to reduce Hospital Waiting Lists urgently needed a Patient Booking System so that consultations and operations could begin at their brand new facility in Southampton. Time was of the essence as there was less than a week to develop the system.
Features included:
- Full User Tracking
- Easy to enter Bookings
- Daily Booking Reports
- Summary Reports
A Star completed the system with hours to spare. The system has passed testing and has now gone ‘live’.
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03.07.08 No Slip-Ups with Venues with Banana Split |
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 Banana Split, a leading Events Organiser, needed a venues database which will allow them to find the ideal venue for any function. The database can be searched by Location, Event Type, Number of Guests and several other criteria.
It then displays details including Floor Plans and Photographs of the selected location,
The work is complete and saving Banana Split hours of searching.
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21.07.09 Fuelling Change at KPI Bridge Oil |
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 KPI Bridge Oil are leading Bunker Brokers. This means they can source fuel from around the world for cargo and other large ships. Every day they track fuel prices from around the world. They want their customers to have personalised email telling them about prices in the ports of the parts of the globe they are interested in.
A Star has developed a system that will, not only list the prices but will indicate by colour coding how the price has changed from the day before. If the price has gone up, it will be shown in red, if the same it will be black and if decreased, it will be green. The raw data will be stored in an SQL Server database, allowing a history of fuel prices to be maintained. Every day a new set of data will be added and emailed directly to customers and potential customers.
This has proved to be a fantastic sales tool for the Company. Subsequent work has made the system even more sophisticated, simplifying Data Entry and being able to take several factors into account when displaying prices.
A Star has recently been asked to extend the system to KPI Bridge Oil’s five other offices around the world. Theses are situated in Istambul, Singapore, Chile, New York and Seattle. While the London Office sleeps, data will be entered in the USA and then in the Far East, each office reporting on the oil prices in their area of the world. From each office, emails will be sent to their local customers. This concept turns a National sales tool into an International one, ensuring customers get the very best information on which to to base their sales purchases.
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21.07.09 How well is a road built? |
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 A road can look well made on the surface, but the surface may be only a few millimetres deep. Roads usually consist of several layers of material – but how well is each layer bonded to the next?
Following on the success of CRACS, a Road Repair Inspection system, A Star has been asked to automate SCORE, a system to produce a report on road quality, measured by drilling core samples at different locations. These samples are rigorously tested to evaluate the entire road condition. A Star has been asked to automate the production of these reports so that they can be produced more quickly and be able to be sent as PDF files to the customer.
Phase 2 will mean these files will be available for download over the internet and Phase 3 will allow selected Certificates to be available directly from the Internet.
We are just beginning Phase 1 of this very exciting project.
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23.07.09 Safety Matters – At A Star |
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Winter & Co conduct Fire Risk and Health & Safety surveys throughout the UK. One of the problems they faced was the time it took to type up a survey from the Surveyor’s notes. It was taking one day to do the survey and two to three days to produce the report.
A Star have developed a system using a Laptop where the surveyor completes some simple (Yes/No type) forms and when the survey is complete, the system produces a 60-70 page report detailing all the tests and all the results and automatically generates Risk Assessments describing any areas that need to be corrected.. The reports are produced in Microsoft Word and saved as pdf files which are emailed directly to the Client. Amazingly the report takes as little as 5 minutes to produce in this way, saving 16 to 24 hours of copy typing work.
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03.07.08 Resolving Insolvency for Leigh Adams LLP |
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 Insolvency Practitioners look after ailing companies on behalf of the creditors. They need to account to them for their time and expenses. This takes a great deal of time not only entering time booked but also checking for errors and omissions.
A Star has modified the Time Booking System so successfully developed for Jeff Lermer & Associates to record time and produce specialised invoices and the SIP 9 form required when a Company is in Administration.
The Time booking system distinguishes between work done Pre-Administration and During the Administrative period and produces a detailed analysis of all time booked and all expenses incurred.
The system is now live and working and saving Partners and their Associates hours of time and frustration.
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21.07.09 Effective Time Billing for Jeff Lermer & Associates |
 Jeff Lermer & Associates, a rapidly growing Accountancy Firm needed to track and bill their time. Some time ago, A Star developed a system has proved very effective.
We have recently been asked to develop the system further to allow Standing Order and advance payments to be offset when making up the bills. Credits can be carried forward to balance future income and reports on cashflow, and Staff Costings can be produced on a regular basis.
David Jacobs, Head of SRJ Accountancy Services was shown the system and immediately wanted it installed for his business. “I was particularly impressed by the way it shows all work in Progress;” said David, “ It will ensure that all the work we do is correctly billed.”
It has now been installed and David and his staff are very pleased with the result.
A Star has now developed additional features for the system including different charge out rates for different types of work. We have also produced reports showing detailed breakdown and costings of all work prformed for a selected client thoughout the year as well as an individual daily and weekly summary of all time booked.
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18.08.06 Back to School with A Star |
 Running a Nursery needs a lot of administration. Records need to be kept of children’s addresses and family, the Class Teacher, allergies and special requirements. Letters, invoices and receipts all need to be produced from a very busy school office.
The database was begun by one of the Nursery Admin Team but was far from User-friendly and required new tables, queries and reports to be produced for each term’s intake. A Star upgraded the system so that it really is easy to use.
“The system is much better.” Sue Garcin, Head of Administration –The Chidren’s House.
An upgrade is planned in late 2008 to send mail merge letters and emails to parents and carers for specific class groups which will also be a big timesaver for Sue.
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23.07.09 Stocks Appeal – At Kevin Neal |
 Kevin Neal and Associates are not just Independent Financial Advisors, they also manage several International funds. One of the difficulties they encounter is paying commission to other IFA’s and Introducers.
A Star is currently developing a system that will provide every month for each Broker and Introducer, a full Statement for all commissions due. It also keeps track of the value of all funds invested and has the facility for adding and redeeming stock.
Like all A Star’s Systems, this one promises to be a real timesaver for Kevin Neal.
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