The Company
Based in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, Sumari Business Systems Limited is a company specializing in the provision of system solutions for the Metal Finishing industry. Founded in 1995, Sumari evolved as part of a management buyout from Metsys Systems Ltd (part of the Metsec Group), an organization providing services mainly in the manufacturing sector.
Sumari's solutions are based on Metfin, a vertical market application developed in DataEase for the Plating and Finishing Industry. A complete set of services is offered together with this system, including the provision of hardware, networks, system setup and support.
According to Su Chadda, Sumari's Director, "the plating and finishing industry is a much larger sector than one would first consider as virtually all objects we deal with on a day to day basis are or have components which are plated/finished, from kitchen utensils, jewellery and computer equipment to cars, airplanes and ocean liners."
"These companies need to conform to a number of industry specifications such as ISO9002 and Metfin provides the means of storage and maintenance of information required. It also keeps track of orders throughout the production process, from administration and production through to manufacturing. It allows users to check and increase the plant's productivity, assess costs, improve the quality process and help with capacity planning."
The Challenge
Sumari had been working with DataEase DOS since version 2.4 and 40 out of their 80-client organisations were using a mix of DataEase DOS 4.53 and 5.16 to access Metfin. The other 40 were using FoxPro for DOS.
With DOS systems rapidly becoming obsolete and finding compatibility issues with the latest operating systems, together with customer demand for a Windows version of Metfin, Sumari and Sapphire decided to perform the conversion to DataEase 6.
Su explains: "Having first looked at moving to Visual Basic with its huge learning curve, we decided to stay with DataEase. We knew and liked DataEase, and were really pleased with version 6's new functionality."
According to Andy Rose, Sapphire's Project Manager responsible for the conversion, "Sumari's brief constituted a two phase approach: Phase 1 required a One-to-Two Conversion, Sapphire's term to describe a conversion from DOS to Windows plus development, where the existing system is revised, any necessary improvements made and new functionality is added. This would port their standard DOS Metfin application to a more enhanced and efficient Windows equivalent which was to be called Metfin II. In Phase 2 Sumari and Sapphire will work together to perform the installations of Metfin II on their customer sites making any customisations when required. In fact it means Sapphire would become Sumari's 'Technology Partner'."
The Solution
In just 120 days Sapphire performed the conversion, completing Phase 1. Andy continues: "We were able to make improvements on both the underlying logic and coding of the original system and to introduce additional (typical windows-based) functionality such as drop down menus, customised e-mail buttons, and picture fields. One of many key functions built into the MetFin product itself was a central parameter table, which provided instant change across the database to the customer's details and settings. This, along with a number of other centrally controlled installation parameters allows Sumari themselves to implement the application much more quickly, which is a benefit to all."
A team of 3 people were involved in this project and a fourth will be performing the installations and customisation in Phase 2.
Su comments: "We are really pleased with the finished system as it includes quite a number of new features - users can now include photographs or drawings of parts and zoom in to see them in detail, and are able to do automatic faxing and e-mailing at the click of a button".
The benefits
In converting Metfin to DataEase 6, Sumari exceeded their customer's expectations by providing them with a Windows system superior to any other vertical application in the market.
And by contracting Sapphire to help perform the conversion, Sumari was able to benefit from the expertise of Sapphire as authors of DataEase and save valuable time which could then be dedicated to the commercial aspects of their business.
Sumari is delighted with Metfin II and is now planning to extend their system to the Web for online orders and online order tracking. They are also looking at WebPublisher II which will enable their applications to be accessed via PDA's. Sumari's broad and vast knowledge of the manufacturing and computer industries can weald great advantages, from transferring data from existing systems to a compter-less bar coding station, linked to the server via wireless technology, making shop floor data capture easy.