Case StudyTrespass achieves substantial growth with newintegrated business management software

“With Microsoft Dynamics AX, Trespass now has a secure, robust and future proof

business system which can be used to develop and grow our business going forward.”

Ian King, Chief Financial Officer, Trespass

Situation

Case Study: Trespass International Sportswear

Trespass had major growth plans but lackedmodern business management software tosupport their expansion.

Established in 1938, the business was originallyinvolved in the design and manufacture ofworkwear and other protective outerwear forlocal businesses and public services.

In the early 1980’s the company recognised agrowing demand for “value for money” winterwear and sportswear to meet the expandingski and snow sport market. The Trespass brandwas created to fulfil this need. Throughaggressive marketing the company grew itsshare both in the UK and Europe, and it isnow recognised as a major brand in thismarket. In 1998 the company launched its surfand street product range to provide a year-round lifestyle brand.

As with all successful textile businesses, thecompany understood that manufacturing inthe UK was not sustainable in the long termand throughout the 1990s production andsourcing moved worldwide but in particular tothe Far East. The company has establishedlong-term relationships with a significantnumber of production facilities overseas and is

able to offer competitively priced products toits growing number of customers worldwide.

In 1998 the company embarked on a gradualopening of its own stand-alone Trespass retailshops in the UKand majorEuropean cities.

In January 2000the companyrelocated to its new purpose-built design anddistribution centre in the heart of Glasgow andin August 2004 completed a major expansionof this facility, tripling its warehousing capability.

Trespass had ageing IBM AS/400 and DOS-based systems running its Wholesale and Retaildivisions. The systems lacked flexibility andthere was no real upgrade path. The Retaildivision’s old DOS-based systems had limitedfunctionality and could not provide accurate ortimely information. Trespass was planning togrow the Retail division from 40 outlets toover 100 outlets in the UK. The businessdecided the time was right to replace both theWholesale and Retail systems and toimplement a fully integrated solution thatwould satisfy all of their requirements.

OverviewCustomer: Jacobs and TurnerLimited, t/a Trespass InternationalSportswear, is a leading designer,marketer and distributor ofsportswear geared towardsoutdoor activities. Headquarteredin Glasgow, it produces and sourcesits products worldwide, and hasretail outlets throughout Europe.

SituationBoth the Wholesale and Retailbusiness systems were inflexible andthere was no real upgrade path orassurance of long-term support.Trespass had major expansion plansfor its Retail division and decidedthat the replacement of bothsystems was a key business priority.

SolutionAfter detailed comparison of manyoptions, the Trespass managementteam selected Microsoft DynamicsAX because of its familiarity,flexibility and configurability. Theychose Integrys Solutions toimplement the system based ontheir years of industry experienceand strong local presence.

Benefits• Increased operational efficiency

• Complete visibility of accuratereal-time information

• Cost savings and improvedbusiness processes

• Improved employee efficiencyand productivity

• Enhanced customer service

• Improved flexibility and adaptability

• Local support providingexperienced and timelyimplementation resources.

Trespass evaluated a number of industry-specific packages for both their Wholesale andRetail divisions. After comparing many optionsthe management team selected MicrosoftDynamics AX for its ease of use, functionalityand flexibility to match their growth with theirbusiness plan. They chose Integrys Solutions toimplement the system based on their years ofindustry experience and strong local presence.

For their Wholesale division, Trespass rejectedindustry-specific packages, which offered a lotof the required functionality but lacked a gooduser interface and flexibility. Instead, Trespassfavoured Dynamics AX, which has the corefunctionality required but is also user-friendly,simple to configure, integrates well with otherMicrosoft products and, importantly, was seenas a ‘future proof’ investment.

For the Retail division, Trespass chose aMicrosoft-based ‘best of breed’ Retail Apparelsolution from Eurostop, a UK company. Thesystems link seamlessly as they are both basedon Microsoft SQL server databases.

Dynamics AX provides the Trespass Wholesaledivision with a solution for their entire supplychain management requirements. Functionalityincludes a rapid sales and purchase order entrymatrix, warehouse and stock management,automated electronic purchase orders,automated stock allocation, financials andautomated links to Customs and Excise.

The Retail division solution provides up-to-datePoint Of Sale terminals at the Retail outlets.These link to a central head office system thatis seamlessly integrated with Dynamics AX,which receives orders to replenish stock foreach of the Retail outlets. Dynamics AXcontrols warehouse and stock management forboth divisions.

Customisations were developed in the keybusiness areas of sales and buying. Buyers cannow place orders much faster and sales co-ordinators can improve customer servicethrough accurate and timely information.

Solution

The combination of MicrosoftDynamics AX’s ease of use,flexibility, fully integratedcentral database andautomation of businessprocesses has enabled Trespassto become a lot more efficient,productive and reduce coststhroughout the business.

“Per season, the Trespass buyingcycle has now been shortened byup to four weeks from six weeksto two weeks. This means buyerscan now place orders much morequickly, monitor their orders inproduction, orders can be receivedearlier and sales co-ordinators cannow improve customer service byproviding accurate and timelyinformation whenever they arespeaking to customers.”

“To update price lists used to take 10 people 20 man days. Thiscan now be done by one person in a day.”

Case Study: Trespass International Sportswear

“Dynamics AX has a strongelement of flexibility. ForTrespass to become moreefficient and productive, it wasimportant to customise oursales and buying processes.Rather than software dictatingour business, using Integrys’detailed knowledge of ourrequirements combined withthe inherent flexibility ofDynamics AX, we now definehow we want to run anddevelop our business.”

Ian King, Chief Financial Officer,Trespass

“Dynamics AX has significantlycut down the time taken toproduce financial statements.With the expansion of thebusiness, producing profit andloss statements for each costcentre in SAGE was proving anever increasing drain on mytime as the same operation hadto be performed for every costcentre. In Dynamics AX profitand loss statements for all costcentres can be generated byexecuting a single operation andis completed within seconds.”

Donna Carroll, Accountant,Trespass

Increased operational efficiency

The integrated system now manages allinventory and supply chain managementprocesses. Major operational efficiency andproductivity improvements have been achievedthrough streamlining and automating businessprocesses and eliminating duplication of effort.For example, the allocation routine is now anautomated overnight process rather than afull-time job.

Rapid implementation supports expansion

The Retail division can rapidly replicate theirbusiness model when they need to expandinto new regions or grow through acquisitions.A recent acquisition, Nevisport, was movedonto the new system in under three weeks.

Visibility of information

Trespass can now access real-time, up-to-dateinformation across the entire business. Forexample, while entering orders, sales co-coordinators now have immediate visibility ofall in-season stock information. Customerservice has improved as the system is now adynamic tool to enhance sales co-ordinators’ability to add value, maximise sales opportunitiesand satisfy customer requirements. Associatedinformation can now be viewed from onescreen such as stock views to see the full sales,purchase and stock history per style.

Cost savings

The financial system is now fully integratedwith the supply chain making it far easier toperform currency reconciliations showingoperating profit. Operating in a multi-currency,multi-country environment, calculating gainsand losses used to take up to eight days amonth, whereas with the new system it can bedone the same day. Now the finance teamuses their time to analyse business data andadd value rather than re-key data.

Improved employee efficiency

The new system offers a single view ofcustomer data, enabling employees to accessrelevant information easily on one screen, andmany processes are now automated. Forexample, to update price lists used to take 10people 20 man-days. This can now be done byone person in a day. Sales co-ordinators cannow save time by running dynamic queries onstock levels in response to customers’ andsales agents’ queries enabling far enhancedcustomer service and satisfaction.

Local support providing experienced and

timely implementation resources

Based in Central Scotland, Integrys hasextensive industry experience and was on hand24/7 to do the implementation and respondrapidly to queries. This resulted in a speedy,hassle-free implementation which went live innine months from the start-up phase.

In the next phase of the project Trespass plansto roll out advanced warehouse automation,web-enabled customer order entry portals andlocal language documentation for enhancedcustomer satisfaction.

Flexibility

Trespass can now be much more reactive andresponsive to customer demands. The systemis very easy to adapt and configure for newbusiness requirements. Real-time informationcan now be easily accessed by all appropriatepeople including Trespass personnel, customersand sales agents. Integration with otherproducts (such as the Langdon Customs andExcise System) is also very straightforward,which saves further time and money.

Benefits

Case Study: Trespass International Sportswear

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About Integrys Solutions

Case Study: Trespass International Sportswear

Integrys is Scotland’s most experiencedprovider of services for solutions based onMicrosoft Dynamics AX technologies,including Microsoft Dynamics 365 forFinance & Operations. With our in-depthproduct knowledge and long experienceof working with Scottish-basedbusinesses, you can trust us to provideexpert advice and hands-on support.

Integrys is a fully certified Microsoft partner.We were the first organisation in Scotland tobe accredited to deliver Microsoft DynamicsAX and can draw on the support of Microsoft’s local team of solution specialists,whenever necessary, to achieve our customers’business goals.

Founded in 2002, we have been deliveringsolutions based on Microsoft Dynamics AXever since the product was launched. Wehave extensive experience of working withmanufacturing, distribution and project based companies.

Integrys is a privately-owned business based at the Eurocentral industry hub, betweenGlasgow and Edinburgh. From thisconvenient, central location on the M8motorway, we can easily reach customers right across Scotland, providing a personal and responsive level of service.

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Trespass International Sportswear