Claudia’s Canine Cuisine

Objective

Accelerate and automate labor-intensive, manual order processing tasks by replacing an underperforming EDI system with a user-friendly EDI solution that integrates seamlessly with Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

Solution

Implement TrueCommerce Transaction Manager for Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

Benefits

• Significantly reduced monthly EDI expenses, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership – ROI was achieved in three months based solely on lower network charges and eliminating other miscellaneous fees
• Improved profit margins by completely eliminating chargebacks from major retail customers
• Greatly simplified the process of adding new trading partners and updating trading partner mapping specifications

“TrueCommerce EDI is the solution to our problem, period. I’m 100% satisfied. We’ve received excellent service right from the start, and we’re confident that TrueCommerce can grow right along with us.”

Pat Magee
Logistics Manager
Claudia’s Canine Cuisine

Background

A skyrocketing volume of orders overwhelmed an inadequate EDI system, which lacked business system integration.
“The original gourmet dog cookie company,” Claudia’s Canine Cuisine was founded over fifteen years ago with one simple goal: to make only the finest dog cookies for our four-legged friends. The Arkansas-based business has gradually grown from a small family operation to a factory and business office employing up to seventy people in peak season and serving some of the world’s largest retailers. As they began transacting EDI with more large customers, Claudia’s Canine Cuisine was increasingly hampered by the limitations associated with their current EDI system. Due to a lack of integration with its QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions accounting system, order processing was largely manual, painfully slow and errorprone.

Too Much Of A Good Thing

A sudden, massive increase in order volume mandated moving to an EDI solution that integrated with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and automated key order processing tasks.

Before implementing TrueCommerce Transaction Manager in 2009, Claudia’s Canine Cuisine had a slow and laborious process for handling incoming purchase orders. Not only was it almost entirely manual, as data from each order had to be typed into QuickBooks, but calculating weights, pallet configurations and other shipping data using spreadsheets was also cumbersome.

Creating an advance ship notice (ASN) was tedious as well. “We had to manually create ASNs and then do the actual shipping,” explains Pat Magee, Logistics Manager. “Processing an order took over three days because we had to do things step-by-step,then send it to the customer, wait to get it back… and then do all the shipping. We had zero integration between EDI and QuickBooks.”

When a new EDI customer sent Claudia’s Canine Cuisine 1,173 purchase orders in one day, its weak EDI system was completely overwhelmed. The company was forced to hire two temporary employees, who worked full-time for a month alongside Mr. Magee to type in the orders and create the ASNs.

Needless to say, that experience prompted Claudia’s to start looking for a new EDI solution. After evaluating seven prospective solutions, the TrueCommerce solution was at the top of the list. Not only could TrueCommerce meet all of their requirements, but Transaction Manager cost considerably less each month when compared to their current EDI solution.

What Took Hours Now Takes Seconds

The TrueCommerce EDI solution automates order processing, greatly improving efficiency, accuracy and speed.

“The TrueCommerce EDI solution has been a life-saver,” states Mr. Magee. “Now I can easily process 200 to 300 purchase orders in about an hour. With the old solution I could do maybe five an hour. It’s as different as digging a ditch with a backhoe versus digging it with a shovel, thanks to the integration with QuickBooks.”

With TrueCommerce Transaction Manager, order processing is now almost entirely automated. Simply by highlighting new orders in the EDI system and clicking “Export,” orders appear automatically in the QuickBooks “Receive” folder. Highlighting them and clicking ‘Turnaround’ converts them to ASNs and sends them back to the EDI outbox. “What was previously a multi-step, manual process is now accomplished with literally one button click,” Mr. Magee summarizes.

Saving Hard Costs As Well As Time

The integrated, automated TrueCommerce EDI solution is much less expensive to own.

The TrueCommerce EDI solution delivers low total cost of ownership, helping Claudia’s Canine Cuisine save money from the outset. “When I started breaking down the cost and time savings for my boss, the bottom line was phenomenal,” affirms Mr. Magee. “Just in network charges and other monthly charges alone, we saved about $20,000 in the first year. Looking strictly at the cost savings on a monthly basis, the TrueCommerce system paid for itself in three months. These savings are ongoing, month after month – and this doesn’t even account for the savings associated with freeing employees’ valuable time for other
important projects.”

TrueCommerce EDI has also completely eliminated chargebacks from customers. “With our previous EDI provider we got chargebacks on a regular basis because inevitably we made errors typing in all those tracking numbers and so on. When you get a chargeback, the profit margin on that purchase order goes to zero, especially on a smaller order. Chargebacks hurt your bottom line,” Mr. Magee explains

“I haven’t had one single problem since we started using TrueCommerce,” adds Mr. Magee. “Not one error, not one chargeback – I think that’s pretty neat.”

A Long-Term Commitment to Success

Dependable support has helped make TrueCommerce a trusted partner for the long haul.

TrueCommerce EDI offers free annual support and trading partner mapping updates free of charge, which further lessens the burden of maintaining an EDI solution. Mr. Magee applauds the TrueCommerce Professional Services team and their attention to his company’s needs, “When I call my service rep with a question, she takes care of it immediately. When we first got started with TrueCommerce, they gave me more time than I ever expected to get. In addition, when we add a new EDI partner– I’ve added three this year already – I call TrueCommerce and they take care of my needs.”

“TrueCommerce EDI is the solution to our problem, period,” says Mr. Magee. “I’m 100% satisfied. We’ve received excellent service right from the start, and we’re confident that TrueCommerce can grow right along with us.”