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A Guide To Inventory Stock Valuation

Inventory has numerous processes and activities associated with it, including inventory stock valuation.

What Is Stock Valuation?

It is an accounting process performed by businesses to establish the monetary value of the stock that lies unsold in the business at the time of preparing financial accounts.

It also helps in calculating the turnover ratio of your stock, which allows more effective planning of inventory/material purchases.

The inventory value is basically the cost you incurred in acquiring it, and to prepare it for sale.

Your inventory value gives you a clearer picture of the financial standing of your company as well.

ALSO READ : Physical Stock Verification and Its Advantages

Costs Included in Stock Valuation

Costs Included in Stock Valuation

At financial year end, a business is likely to have both finished products and work-in-progress along with raw materials.

It is imperative that you know what all of it is worth.

To create a product, you need several different materials and parts, but you also need people to put the product together, electricity, machine consumables, and so on.

1. Direct Labor

This is one of the biggest components of inventory cost.

Direct labor includes wages paid to laborers assembling the products, insurance premiums paid for laborers’ lives, health, and compensation, contributions to pension, and payroll taxes if any.

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2. Direct Materials

These are the actual materials, accessories, and supplies used in production, including any residual materials that are discarded, broken, etc.

Usually, expenses that change with every unit manufactured is a direct expense.

3. Factory Overheads

Any expense incurred during manufacture in addition to the two above, are overheads.

Salaries paid to materials and production managers, QA specialists, etc. are indirect – as they are not directly manufacturing the product.

Other overheads are insurance, rent, utility bills, equipment setup, and maintenance expenses, depreciation of large equipment , minor tools, and so on.

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4. Freight in

The cost of shipping materials and other supplies into the business is the freight in expense.

In case the company offers free shipping of its products to its customers, there will also be a freight out expense.

5. Handling

Picking, packing, labeling – whatever work is needed to ready the product for delivery, is referred to as handling expense.

6. Import Duties

If any supplies used in manufacture are imported, you may have to pay import duty, and that is included in the cost of the product.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Cash Flow Analysis

Stock Valuation Process

The process is pretty simple:

  • A business has an initial inventory of a certain value at the start of the financial period.
  • The quantity of inventory the company can sell in a given period is called Goods Available for Sale
  • These goods are divided into cost of goods sold and balance stock at the end of accounting period. Both these stocks are shown in different parts of the records, so it is essential that the division is done perfectly.
  • Sales are deducted from COGS to arrive at the gross profit, and this figure is displayed on the income statement.
  • The balance stock is displayed in the company’s balance sheet, as a current asset.

Importance of Stock Valuation

Importance of Stock Valuation

  • It affects profit levels as you can charge lower expense to cost of sold products when you value the balance stock at a higher value, and vice versa.
  • As stock value is included in the company’s financial statements, it reflects the financial status of the business.
  • Erroneous value of balance stock gets carried forward to the starting inventory balance in the next period, which means its impact is felt across several financial periods.
  • Inventory valuation forms a major part of the current ratio; if the business has taken a loan, and it is not able to meet the target ratio (acceptable ratio of current assets to liabilities). The lender may ask for immediate repayment.

ALSO READ: What is Stock Adjustment and Stock Transfer?

  • The gross profit can be calculated by computing the COGS and combining it with direct revenue earned. This figure is compared to the sales amount, with the difference being either gross profit or loss. Net income calculation is directly affected by under or over valuation of stock, and hence, you must calculate inventory value accurately.
  • Proper stock valuation can help you impress investors and motivate them to invest in your business; however, be sure to be truthful. Purposefully valuing currency wrongly can land you in trouble.
  • When you choose the right valuation method, you can show your shareholders that they are getting excellent returns on their investment, and they are more likely to recommend your business to other investors.

ALSO READ: What is Negative Inventory and How Can you Prevent it?

  • Inventory forms a huge part of the working capital, so it’s used to arrive at the liquidity level of the business. If the stock turnover ratio is high, it shows that the business is liquid.
  • It can help maintain statutory compliance of regulations regarding treatment of inventories and other accounting policies.
  • Stock valuation may determine the amount of income tax you have to pay.

Stock Valuation Methods

There are three main types of inventory stock valuation used – FIFO, LIFO, and WAC.

Let’s take a look at each of them in detail.

1. FIFO or First-In, First-Out

FIFO or First-In, First-Out

This method assumes that the products are sold in the order they are produced or procured.

So, the oldest products in stock are sold first.

It’s the most widely used valuation method as most business sell goods in the same order they were manufactured or produced.

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Example

A company bought 1000 units of a product at SAR 200 in one month.

They bought 500 units of the same product at SAR 250 in another month.

At the end of the accounting period, they had sold 800 units of the product.

This means they have (100-800) 200 + 500 units on hand.

Using FIFO, the first batch bought was sold, which means, the 800 units which were sold were from the first batch, valued at SAR 200.

Balance:

200 x 200 = 40000.
500 x 250 = 125000.

The ending inventory or balance stock is worth 40,000 + 125,000 = SAR 165,000

ALSO READ: What is ABC Analysis in Inventory Management?

Pros

  • It is popular due to its simplicity, and the cost of every item sold being same, revenue cannot be manipulated.
  • COGS is not impacted by inventory brought forward from previous period
  • Usually, the price arrived at corresponds to actual cost involved
  • The cost matches the actual cash flow as well as physical product flow across the warehouse
  • The input cost is calculated in the order of production of the goods, purchases made at the end of the financial period don’t affect revenue calculations

Cons

  • Prices normally rise over time but sometimes there can be a spike, especially agricultural products
  • Paper calculations may not support actual inflated figures, resulting in income-expenditure mismatch
  • In the case of inflated profits in assumption of regular inflation, heavier tax burden can occur, as compared to other methods.

ALSO READ: What is Negative Inventory and How Can you Prevent it?

2. LIFO or Last-In, First-Out

As you can imagine, this method is the exact opposite of the FIFO method, and assumes that the latest produced or procured goods are sold first.

If we take the same example as above:

A company bought 1000 units of a product at SAR 200 in one month.

They bought 500 units of the same product at SAR 250 in another month.

At the end of the accounting period, they had sold 800 units of the product.

So here, we assume that the last purchased products are sold first; which means, all of the 500 units in the second batch are sold, and 300 units from the first batch are sold.

ALSO READ: Challenges and Benefits of CRM

Ending inventory:

1000 – 300 = 700.
700 x SAR 200 = SAR 140,000

Pros

  • You get tax benefits, thanks to higher COGS and lower inventory balance, especially during inflation – lower earnings on paper, and less tax burden
  • As it accounts the latest cost, LIFO is more aligned with the actual profit figure
  • Profits are lower as the equivalent net income is lesser, and this can help in determining the profitability
  • It is better than the FIFO system, where showing of actual profits is concerned

Cons

  • LIFO is not really practical – more so for products with low shelf life; everyone wants to sell products before they become stale or obsolete
  • By using the latest purchases to determine COGS in accounting, you may have some inventory that never gets sold
  • LIFO is not accepted by several accounting authorities

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3. Weighted Average Cost (or Avg Cost)

Weighted Average Cost (or Avg Cost)

This method takes the average cost of products purchased or produced in a period, and is used by companies that have no variation in their inventory stock.

Example:

A company bought 1000 units of a product at SAR 200 in one month.

They bought 500 units of the same product at SAR 250 in another month.

This means they have a total of 1500 units of the product, for which they paid (200,00 + 125,000) or 325,000 SAR.

The weighted average cost would be SAR 325,000 divided by 1500 units, or SAR 216.66 per unit.

At the end of the accounting period, they had sold 800 units of the product.

This means 700 units remain; the cost of this ending inventory is :
700 x 216.66 = SAR 151,662.

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Pros

  • It’s ideal for companies dealing in large quantities of inventory of identical or very similar items
  • Its more systematic and scientific compared to LIFO and FIFO
  • As only the price is considered, it’s easy to adopt, maintain, and audit
  • It’s an ideal strategy when the products can’t be easily identified and the manner in which they reach the warehouse doesn’t matter.

Cons

  • There is a possibility you may sell products at a loss as the price won’t reflect the actual value if costs spike suddenly
  • There is often mismatch between inventory cost and market price of commodities

4. Specific Identification Method

This method is followed to be able to track the exact cost of each item in the inventory, usually because they are all unique items.

Every single item is identified, marked, and tracked for this method to be successful.

This can be done manually or through electronic tags, scannable stickers with serial numbers etc.

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Pros

  • Highly accurate in calculating actual revenue and profit and for exact number of inventory items
  • Little chance or lost or misplaced inventory
  • Ideal for museums, art houses, etc.

Cons

  • It can be very cumbersome and time-consuming
  • Unique identifiers required for each item to know the cost and the revenue for each item

Choosing the Best Inventory Valuation Method

Choosing the Best Inventory Valuation Method

Your business goals and the market environment will determine the best method for your inventory valuation.

We discuss below the ideal method for a few scenarios:

1. For a Business Expansion Loan

If you want to apply for a loan, it is good to maintain inventory to show as collateral; the higher the value, the happier your lender will be.

The closing balance value of your inventory is an important criteria considered by lenders.

So, you must use the method which will help you show the highest value.

If the prices of inventory have been rising, use the FIFO method, and the LIFO method if they have been falling.

ALSO READ: Key Steps for Successful Demand Planning 

2. To Satisfy Shareholders and Get more Capital

Profitable businesses can attract future investors, and keep current investors happy.

If the market is inflationary, the FIFO method will benefit you, but in a declining market, use the LIFO method.

3. To Save Taxes

To reduce tax liability, use LIFO method – on the assumption that market is inflationary.

ALSO READ: What is Demand Forecasting?

You can see how important stock valuation reports are; it may some cumbersome, but we have the ideal solution for you. Tranquil has a robust inventory management module that can automate and streamline this process, saving your time money, and effort. Schedule a demo to know more!

 

Importance of Fixed Asset Tracking

Every organization, whether a business or nonprofit requires assets for its daily functions and operations.

It is important to maintain them in a good condition so that you get optimal returns on your investment in those assets.

What is a Fixed Asset?

A fixed asset is immovable, and used by businesses to help generate income, and hence also called capital assets.

Examples include land, buildings, machinery, vehicles, equipment, computers, air-conditioners, and so on.

Intangible assets like goodwill, intellectual property, shares, and mutual funds are also fixed assets.

Most fixed assets (except for land) are subject to depreciation.

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What is Fixed Asset Management?

What is Fixed Asset Management

The process of maintaining and tracking the physical assets of an organization is referred to as fixed asset management.

An asset management system can help organizations track and monitor assets, supervise machinery and equipment in several locations, increase the efficiency of operation, reduce maintenance expenses, and maintain a record of assets from acquisition to disposal, including lost, stolen, or retired assets.

In other words, with proper fixed asset management, organizations can monitor vehicles and equipment, evaluate their condition and ensure everything is in order.

It helps them to reduce inventory loss, downtime and failure of equipment, while improving the lifetime value of an asset.

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What is Fixed Asset Tracking?

Knowing where a fixed asset is at any given point in time – or it’s real-time location, is fixed asset tracking.

It is a critical part of asset management, and helps in ensuring that your assets are properly organized.

There are several tools and methods used for asset tracking, and it helps in gaining important information like the present location and condition of a specific asset, its present status – whether free or assigned, and if assigned, to which employee, which assets need maintenance or replacement, and so on.

With proper asset tracking, companies are capable of taking more effective strategic decisions.

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Asset Tracking Vs Asset Management

Asset Tracking Vs Asset Management

Asset tracking is only concerned with retrieving the exact location and condition of a fixed asset.

It is a subset of asset management.

Asset management has a wide scope that includes maintenance and analysis of assets, evaluating the assets for accounting purposes, etc.

Fixed asset tracking let us know about the location, condition, and quantity (where applicable) of the physical property of an organization.

Asset management, on the other hand, goes further, including forecasts, evaluation, analysis etc. of the asset for accounting purposes.

Both asset management and tracking help to boost organizational productivity and business operations, and help to save time and money.

Both asset tracking and management solutions are available with cloud-driven and mobile technology, letting you access and update data from any location or device; you can even schedule maintenance for your assets through the software.

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It is important to both track and manage your fixed assets well to succeed in your industry; poor asset management can harm your organization not just in the present, but for your future goals too.

Not having thorough control over your assets can cause you to lose money.

But when you do implement the right asset management software, you can eliminate human error, have more accurate data about loss of equipment, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and maintain compliance with regulations.

This translates into improved organizational efficiency, business growth, and improved revenues.

How to Keep Track of Fixed Assets?

Accurate tracking of assets is a very common challenge for most businesses.

The more assets a company owns and uses, and the more mobile they are, the more challenging the job of tracking them.

For example, you would need to collect information on asset location, who has the asset, and the change in their condition as they move between departments or to external service providers or vendors.

Conventional methods were manually written ledgers and spreadsheets – with risks of human error and outdated information being common.

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Such tracking was therefore not really useful – organizations would lose track of the asset, and be unable to perform regular maintenance, causing quicker replacements – all of this means huge expense, which could have been avoided.

Manual processes may not even help businesses to know how many assets of what type they have and how much expenses they are raking up due to inefficient processes.

Several departments track assets – accounting, purchase, operations, audit, orders, and more.

This is because they need some information on assets to make critical decisions for the benefit of the organization.

Tracking Assets with a Fixed Asset System

By implementing a system for fixed asset tracking, you can have more accurate information related to your assets, and not have to resort to guesswork for important decisions like repairs and replacements.

With robust asset tracking software, organizations today have full control over asset management, even through employee mobile devices.

Thanks to integrated systems which include cloud, mobile scanners and apps, it cuts costs with regard to software and hardware.

ALSO READ: Warehouse Management System and its Benefits

Methods of Fixed Asset Tracking

Methods of Fixed Asset Tracking

Tracking assets can be done in several ways, depending on the needs of individual businesses.

1. Barcode Labelling

Barcodes are widely used in retail, and are also valuable in tracking assets.

In this method, a set of black and white lines are scanned by handheld scanners, or Smartphones, and it is more cost-effective than other methods; its ideal when you don’t require a lot of data to be stored.

They come as printed labels and while they help to track assets, they don’t allow unique identification.

ALSO READ: Why Use a Barcode For Tracking Inventory And Assets?

2. QR Codes

QR codes make asset tracking super easy.

You can have custom code sets, with each capable of storing vast amounts of digital data, like manufacturing date, unique ID, known location, and so on.

Essentially, QR codes identify individual assets, making it easy to track; they also enable restocking of spares effectively and simply.

3. RFID Tagging

Radio Frequency Identification tracking uses radio waves to send digitally encrypted data.

The object to be tracked has a tag, which can be read by the device which picks up its signal.

They are bulkier and more expensive as compared to barcodes, but provide greater security, making them perfect for high-value items.

They are widely used in hospitality, healthcare, museums, theme parks, and other tourist related operations.

ALSO READ: What Are the Stages of Fixed Asset Lifecycle?

4. BLE/GPS

We all use GPS in maps; in asset tracking, it helps safeguard against theft, and can also help third parties like clients, vendors or contractors to locate specific assets.

Bluetooth Low Energy tracking is fairly new but is being increasingly used to track assets.

We use Bluetooth to connect phones with wearables, speakers, etc.

BLE broadcasts beacons that facilitate inter-device communication, and are valuable when you need high battery capacity more than being able transfer a lot of data.

5. NFC Tagging

Similar to RFID, near-field communication covers shorter distances, and can be implemented with Smartphones.

NFC payments are commonly used the world over today.

In asset tracking, it has the advantages of speed, tight security, and efficiency; however, it costs more than other asset tracking methods.

ALSO READ: Emerging Trends in Supply Chain Management

Why is Fixed Asset Tracking Important?

Asset tracking is extremely important as it helps the organization exercise more control over its assets and can supervise them better, especially where performance and valuation are concerned.

By collecting and analyzing this data, you can understand the optimal performance conditions of the asset much better, and it helps in preventive maintenance.

By scanning assets regularly, maintenance personnel can be alerted to what replacements are required, if the performance is as expected or not, potential issues that could cause breakdowns, etc.

Many industries may use industrial buildings or pipe fittings that look similar or other identical assets.

These can be identified uniquely with the help of asset tracking tools, ensuring there is clarity, and it saves time and effort.

ALSO READ: What is Asset Depreciation?

Benefits of Asset Tracking

Benefits of Asset Tracking

Let’s take a look at the benefits of asset tracking in detail:

1. Centralized Information for Asset Audits

With a central hub of information, you don’t have to manually locate assets during your annual or quarterly audits; it’s all there in the database, with exact locations and other pertinent information.

Your team can save a tremendous amount of time as they don’t have to search for specific assets.

2. Proactive Asset Maintenance

Repairing an asset when it breaks down can prove to be very expensive; in fact maintenance of assets can take up nearly half of your operations budget, and 80% of your time.

When you use preventive maintenance methods, like implementing Tranquil Asset Management and Tracking software, you can cut down on these costs tremendously, and free your teams to focus on value-adding activities that spur growth.

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3. Reducing Asset Loss & Theft

This can be an uncomfortable issue, but unfortunately, it happens all too often.

With hybrid workforces, varying employee schedules, and so on, it opens opportunities for theft.

Experts opine that the majority of major loss from theft happens because of theft opportunities presented to employees albeit inadvertently.

However, when you have a reliable asset tracking software in place, you can oversee your assets properly and make sure that your fixed assets are secure.

Fixed asset tracking also enables you to:

  • Eliminate duplicates
  • Insure against accident and natural disaster liabilities
  • Measure asset performance with regard to its position in its life cycle
  • Comply with regulations
  • Know which employee is responsible for its maintenance
  • Ensure that the temperature and other conditions around the asset are as per the recommendations of the manufacturer or maximum quality standards.

ALSO READ: Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

Conclusion

It is undeniable that tracking assets is a critical activity for any organization.

We have read above the many benefits that are offered by asset tracking software, and the advantages it offers over manual tracking methods.

Tranquil ERP has a robust asset tracking module that not only lets you meticulously track each asset, but also lets you schedule maintenance, and maintain minute details of all your assets from the time they enter your organization, till the time they are disposed or retired. You can ensure they are in optimal working condition, and extend their working life so that you get excellent returns on the money you invest in them. If you’re confused as to how Tranquil can help manage your assets, don’t fret! Simply schedule a FREE demo at your convenience, and we’ll be happy to take you through the software and answer your queries.

 

Challenges and Benefits of CRM

What is a CRM?

Customer Relationship Management is a software that helps businesses manage interactions between potential and existing customers.

It contains detailed information about customers in a database that helps businesses engage better, and support marketing and sales activities, among other things.

The main goal of a CRM solution is to help nurture and close leads, boost sales and spur growth.

A CRM system tracks all customer interactions, simplifying the understanding of the customer lifecycle.

This allows crafting and delivering personalized marketing campaigns to customer personas.

It also allows sales executives, marketing teams, and customer support personnel to be on the same page.

CRM is an indispensable tool that helps organize customer data, but manual data entry can be cumbersome.

However, the solutions available today are more sophisticated and use AI, provide recommendations, etc., which enhance marketing and optimize workflows.

ALSO READ : Challenges in ERP Implementation

Benefits of CRM Platforms

Benefits of CRM platforms

Let’s take a detailed look at the benefits and challenges of CRM.

First let’s discuss how CRM solutions benefit businesses.

1. Personalization

When you provide relevant and personal marketing messages and customer service to customers, you provide an engaging and effective experience, boosting satisfaction and sales.

It is essential that customer data is recorded meticulously; this includes all interactions, their demographics, and buying history.

With these records, customers can avoid repeating their information to service executives; and marketers can conduct targeted marketing.

ALSO READ : Benefits of ERP for Accounting and Financial Management

2. Improved Customer Relationships

With comprehensive customer data available in the CRM database, you have an interactive digital record, including their language preferences, social media profiles, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

It becomes much easier to establish a personal connection with a customer and helps you have the edge in every deal.

Some of the details you can see at a glance are: history of contact, orders, support requests, documents, delivery status, web behavior, notes, and so on.

The majority of purchases depend on how important a customer feels.

CRM gives in-depth customer information whenever you want, allowing you to show them how well you know them, displaying your investment in cultivating their business – and this motivates customers to keep returning to you.

ALSO READ: How Does Landed Cost Affect the Cost of Inventory?

3. Increased Customer Retention

CRM systems help in retaining customers and building loyalty; if you can increase retention by just 5%, you can increase up to 25% in profits.

The software lets you automate tasks and set reminders that allow you to fulfil promises made.

By segmenting contacts, you can identify those you haven’t interacted with recently, and contact them.

Retaining customers is much more economical than acquiring new ones.

After-sales communication can also be automated, allowing you to stay in touch after transactions complete.

ALSO READ : Influence and Importance of ERP System in Different Industries

4. Increased Productivity

By integrating tools like e-sign apps and calendar with CRM, companies can streamline their workflows.

The software can populate forms with customer’s information taken from CRM database to speed up and simply e-signatures.

As employees can perform multiple tasks from a single interface, their productivity is enhanced.

Integration with email and calendar allows them to see their scheduled appointments, customer interactions, and sales pipelines in a single place.

5. Enhanced Profitability

The eventual aim of CRM software is boosting sales and revenue.

This is achieved by:

  • Pinpointing and targeting accounts of higher value
  • Detecting and giving priority to the most promising leads
  • Boosting chances of closing deals by increasing speed
  • Shortening the sales cycle through streaming the whole process
  • Identifying optimal marketing campaigns, sales strategies, and sales executives

ALSO READ : Benefits Of Software As A Service

6. Saving Money and Time

With improved efficiency businesses can cut costs, leading to improved sales.

With automation of routine manual tasks, employees are free to focus on core, value-adding activities.

Moreover, by measuring KPIs, you can recognize deficiencies in your sales process, ineffective campaigns, and unproductive employees.

This means you can resolve issues early on rather than wait till they blow up or you detect them in your quarterly reports.

CRM software also facilitates inter-departmental collaboration, increasing efficiency and decreasing redundant data and discrepancies, which translate into lower expenses.

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7. Compliance with Data Security

Compliance with Data Security

Every country and region have stringent regulations to protect consumer privacy and puts them in control of how their personal and sensitive information is collected, stored, and used.

Businesses that don’t comply with these regulations face hefty fines and other penalties – and leave consumers worried about the safety of their personal information.

CRM software manages data superbly; it helps you to gather and record privacy permissions of customers and leads, manage subscriptions, and send alerts when changes to privacy policies are made.

It maintains a comprehensive record of all the interactions of the contact with your business.

This way, you can be in compliance with regulations and increase customer confidence.

8. Simplified Collaboration

Your CRM software functions as a record of customer contact details, behaviors, interactions, preferences, and notes.

Being a cloud-based software, CRM is always up-to-date; employees can access these records whenever they need, delivering optimal solutions and outstanding service.

The in-built collaboration tools enable multiple individuals to work on the same file at the same time, and they can even track quotes or other document’s progress.

As the communication channels integrate into a unified platform, it helps keep customer interaction consistent regardless of departments.

It gets rid of siloed information between departments, software, and employees, thanks to the cross-channel communication being reliable and systematic.

ALSO READ: Importance of Goods Received Note

9. AI

Today, many CRM solutions leverage AI to deliver recommendations and valuable business insights.

This includes forecasting tools that identify customer data trends to recommend the actions to be performed next, to boost sales.

Challenges of CRM Platforms

Challenges of CRM Platforms

Regardless of the many benefits they offer, the challenges of CRM are also many.

It is essential that organizations consider these before they take the plunge to purchase CRM software.

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1. Siloed Data

We just read that customer data is centralized!

Then how does this happen? This is because, often, different departments use their own preferred CRM solutions.

This leads to siloed information, and problems can arise when sales agents and service agents transfer customers between themselves.

When sales and service departments access different information, customers have to repeat all information, causing annoyance.

Of course, this can be resolved by ensuring that only a single CRM is used across the organization, or by implementing a customer data platform that centralizes information from CRM to give access to all departments.

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2. Data Entry

While CRM software records important customer data, it can be cumbersome to manually enter all the information and maintaining it.

It becomes especially problematic when sales reps have to travel frequently, leaving them with little time to keep on updating the information.

Modern CRM solutions are available, however, that populate customer accounts with data extracted from emails, SMSs, and phone calls, simplifying this process.

3. Adoption Resistance

This is one of the biggest challenges for any organization when it comes to implementing new systems.

It is imperative that top management and business leaders are completely supportive of the implementation and the possible changes that may arise due to the new system, for the implementation to be truly successful.

When the leaders are not supportive, employees could struggle to adopt the new system; the whole purpose of the project is lost in such cases.

ALSO READ: Guide on Cost Reduction Strategies in Procurement 

4. Poor Understanding of the Tool

Unfortunately, some managers view CRM solutions as mere tools of reporting, and use it simply to monitor employee activity and measuring their KPIs.

This can backfire, causing employees to mistrust and dislike the software, and even refuse to be part of the system.

With poor engagement, you will not have the proper data, and metrics won’t mean anything.

Employees may even resort to entering functional or partial information, completely destabilizes the purpose of the CRM software as a central source of truth.

It is very important for the management to patiently explain to the team how the CRM works and how it actually benefits them as well as the company.

5. Cross-department Participation

This is another huge roadblock; some departments may go head-over-heels for the new software, but others may resist and consider it unnecessary.

After all, CRM solutions may not deliver excellent functionality for all the departments, and you could end up with unhappy employees who never wanted this tool.

It would be useful to focus on the benefits delivered to the customer, so that they can get over the grief that their department has not got the better deal as compared to another.

Eventually, everyone wants value addition to their customer base.

ALSO READ: Common Inventory Management Problems and Solutions

6. Lack of Patience

The world we live in is one of instant gratification; everything from food to payments to satisfaction must be instant!

The same goes for software as well.

Immediate results are needed! However, it does not work that way – CRM software takes time for its full potential to be realized.

It takes a few years to get returns on your investment – but in the long run, it’s worth it.

Types of CRMs

CRM systems have undergone transformation and evolution and their functionality has multiplied.

Today, we have different types of CRM like:

  • RevOps – containing speciated features like account management and retention, marketing, and acquiring new accounts.
  • Sales automation – focusing on collecting data and the sales cycle to handle the sales process
  • Sales analytics tool – they study customer information and sales data, offering valuable insights into client rankings and sales pipelines.

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How to Choose a CRM?

How to Choose a CRM?

Before selecting any CRM system, it is important that management defines goals for the CRM, and examines the options available to them.

They can follow these steps to ensure they have the right platform for their requirements.

  • The sales manager should describe what they require the system to include, and their goals to track sales activities.
  • Top management must study and compare different CRM solutions to establish which ones meet their needs the most.
  • Sales management must have a crystal-clear understanding of what their agents do on a daily basis, and the most essential features they need. By knowing employee workflows, it becomes easier to decide the optimal CRM platform to implement in their organization.
  • Sales managers also need to identify the most essential metrics which will let them determine the success of their efforts.
  • It is also a good idea to ask other organizations who have implemented the CRM platform you are considering, for their feedback. How easy was the transition? How effective is the tool? These are some questions to ask.

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Are you confused about the different options in the market? Don’t be! With Tranquil’s powerful customer management feature, you get everything that a CRM does, with much lesser mess and fuss. What’s more, being part of the ERP, you don’t need to worry about integrations, as ERP is a on-stop business solution for all your functions. Do schedule a FREE demo of our software, and we will answer your queries.

 

Warehouse Management System and its Benefits

A Warehouse Management System is a software solution that helps to make the end-to-end supply chain operations more efficient.

It helps in tracking the exact location of each product from the time it enters the warehouse till it is packed and sent to its onward destination.

When the different partners in the supply chain are properly aligned, WMS can track inventory right from the manufacturer, through warehousing, up to the end-user also.

Businesses dealing with inventory on hand and eager to grow quickly should consider implementing warehouse management solutions as they can enjoy numerous benefits of WMS.

The system monitors processes at different levels, improves asset utilization, and boosts operational efficiency and productivity.

ALSO READ: Detailed Guide to Warehouse Automation

Benefits of WMS

Let’s take a look at the key benefits provided.

1. Space Optimization and Reduced Operating Expenses

One of the biggest advantages of warehouse management system is that it helps to optimize the workflow in the warehouse by studying the available floor space, tasks, and characteristics of the materials, and devises how best the space can be used.

It helps eliminate wasting precious floor space and reduces time required for locating products.

This translates into lower costs as there is less movement of material, and quick placement and retrieval of products.

It recommends the ideal locations for storage of products and equipment to lower cost.

They also facilitate rotation of materials, regardless of the rotation rule.

LIFO allows most economical space usage and movement.

FIFO and FEFO help maintain quality of products, preventing them from becoming obsolete.

A WMS is versatile and flexible, helping warehouse managers to make whatever adjustments are required for better employee productivity, right inventory picking, and physical movement management.

ALSO READ: Guide on ERP Software in Warehouse & Fixed Asset Management

2. Inventory Visibility

Inventory Visibility

You can get comprehensive visibility into real-time inventory levels and have an accurate number at any time, estimating supply correctly and eliminating backorders – leading to happy customers.

Modern techs like RFID, barcode scanning, QR codes, and other tracking methods afford visibility, leading to minimal lost or misplaced inventory in the warehouse.

A WMS works closely with ERP software to facilitate forecasting functions when they share information about product performance.

As products get sold, the indication for demand and seasonality are recorded.

Planners can combine the two to make informed decisions about the product mix that will help boost revenues and cut losses.

3. Improved Demand Forecasting

WMS software can help companies gain accurate insights about demand in the near future thanks to the increased visibility into its inventory.

The system considers historic trends and current inventory movements to predict future demand.

Accurate forecasts help warehouse operators to maintain optimal inventory levels. This is one of the most critical benefits of warehouse management.

ALSO READ: What is Demand Forecasting?

4. Effective Labor

Effective Labor

A WMS considers skills of warehouse employees, tasks, equipment, and so on to allocate tasks appropriately.

It can ensure optimized movement in the warehouse, reducing the time taken and increasing labor efficiency.

The tasks can be assigned every day so that employees can perform high-value activities.

With labor forecasting, the WMS assigns tasks every day, creating efficient schedules.

Items can be scanned as they enter the warehouse and move through it, avoiding the necessity of checking it again, and saving time, and making the process of recording fast.

With scanning, you can have accurate picking and deliver better customer service.

Important metrics that analyze staffing can help bring in more cost-effective and productive labor, and improve space and equipment efficiency by assigning work correctly.

ALSO READ: Why Should You Implement Trading ERP Software for Your Business?

5. Efficiencies for Specific Goals

A WMS is capable of prioritizing the important stuff for a specific project, like assigning the best people in the right location, setting the ideal warehouse routes, or targeting specific deadlines.

With labor forecasting, the right employees are allocated to the correct equipment at the ideal time, to enable the most efficient performance of tasks.

Floor simulators are included in modern systems, helping managers to efficiently plan warehouse layouts.

6. Traceability

The ability of WMS to trace inventory materials is one of the important benefits of warehouse management system.

With the use of serial, batch, and lot numbers that indicate the specific item and the group in which they were made respectively, tracing them becomes easy.

You only have the ensure that the incoming goods and outgoing shipments match the specific serial or batch numbers, and you have complete traceability.

It allows for more precise inventory planning and distribution, minimizes redundancy, and offers updated information that can be retrieved for enabling tracing, product recalls, or service maintenance in the future.

ALSO READ: What Is Cloud Data Protection?

7. Optimized Supply Chain

Optimized Supply Chain

A WMS optimizes the internal operations of a warehouse, eventually extending the benefit to the wider supply chain.

In the warehouse, the system streamlines the whole process, from the time goods come in till they are shipped out, making operations more efficient and economical.

Unnecessary activities can be avoided and shipments can be made quickly and accurately.

Enhanced information and processes, cost and time savings can help all stakeholders improve their operations.

When inbound receipts process is improved, delivery times are shorter; it helps delivery partners to use their equipment better, and manage their inventory levels more efficiently.

Accurate, real-time data helps mitigate risk and improve reliability – these benefits customers, suppliers, and shippers.

Customers can get product delivery faster, and upstream customers can plan better.

Inventory management and fulfilment can be aligned to facilitate optimized operations, reduced time and inventory carrying costs.

ALSO READ: Debit Note vs Credit Note

8. Internal Automation

Thanks to warehouse management software, other automation technologies can be easily integrated in warehouses.

With smartphones, the internal assignment of tasks and transition to electronic work from paper can be easily achieved.

Simplified processes deliver accurate information and allow scaling of work.

By integrating mobile, the WMS can help expand input process, as handheld mobile devices (like scanners) can gain access to it.

With automation, you can enhance strategies, and continuously improve your current operations.

Automated picking and packing, AI, robotics, etc. are just some examples.

As a WMS has the features that enable the capturing, communicating, and recording of activities, it supports these strategies.

When integrated with a WMS, barcodes, automated carousels, sensors, etc. can monitor picking and packing, and increase productivity.

Operations can be streamlined and constrictions can be further eased by using automated conveyors and robots.

It also facilitates digital transformation, enabling integration with ERP and other business software.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Modules and Features

9. Improved Auditing and Security

Employees have to use unique user IDs to enter transactions in a WMS, creating an automatic audit trail linking particular employees with specific transactions.

This makes them accountable and lowers the risk of theft and fraud, and allows companies to discover strategies to improve staff behavior like new skills training programs.

As access levels are role-based and user-specific, it prevents unauthorized access to critical data, barring employees from viewing data not required for their tasks.

Your company data is automatically protected from prying eyes.

10. Efficient Shipping Management for Better Customer Service

A warehouse solution can help you plan both inbound and outbound effectively, by adjusting inventory and equipment movement.

You can optimize the data and time of inventory receipt after factoring in available labor and equipment for storage tasks.

You can plan inbound and outbound docks with EMS, integrate with transport management and optimize the supply chain further.

WMS can also help in more efficient picking and packing, as it allows managers to choose the method of picking (wave, batch, zone, etc.) that reduces delays or problems due to poor employee locations or traffic.

These options quicken the order cycle time, improving customer service and building trust and loyalty.

The availability of inventory tracking options allows customers to know exactly where their shipments are at a specific time, and in what manner.

Warehouse management software facilitates a more straightforward relationship between customers and the company with such notifications.

ALSO READ: What is Customer Lead Time and How Can you Reduce it?

11. Improves Employee Morale

Improves Employee Morale

Implementing a WMS in your company helps in automating cumbersome manual warehouse tasks, boosting the morale of your employees.

When freed from routine tasks, employees can make more efficient use of their time and be more productive.

Employees will know what they have to do and for how long.

With smoother operations, employees are happier at work; when you manage their time better, they don’t have to work extra or overtime, and feel fatigued.

This means they are less stressed, and happier.

A happy employee is a productive employee.

It also helps reduce attrition in the long run.

With increased productivity, you can enjoy improved profitability.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Having an Employee Self Service System

A work environment that is relaxed and orderly makes it pleasant for the employees, eliminating or reducing strife between workers and management.

We don’t claim that a warehouse management solution will resolve every problem with your employees, but it will certainly help in defusing tensions between them and the management.

With a relaxed work environment, they will not have to rush through jobs, enhancing their safety.

All of these factors lead to happy and satisfied workers, further improving your business revenues.

12. Continuous Improvements

Warehouse management solutions are important tech tools that facilitate improvements continuously.

The solution can be deployed in stages, allowing continuous updates with features developed newly in a consistent manner.

They help keep warehouses efficient as they strive to stay abreast of the changing environment.

In fact, it enables warehouses to integrate new processes and innovations as time goes by.

Cloud-based WMS is instantly updated, eliminating the requirement for full-fledged in-house IT professionals – again reducing expenses.

ALSO READ: What is Inventory Cycle Counting and What are its Benefits?

To Wrap Up

Undoubtedly, a WMS solution can help businesses reduce errors, speed up operations, boost productivity, and increase revenues.

However, a new system is usually met with some level of hostility by the end-users, lower-level employees, or even higher management.

Tranquil is experienced in helping companies transition to newer, more effective, cloud-based software to streamline business operations.

We have helped countless businesses undergo radical digital metamorphosis thanks to our expertise and our dedicated team.

Do you want to have an edge over your competition? Check out how Tranquil can help you do just that with a FREE demo! We are happy to answer any query you may have.

 

ERP for Banking Industry- A Detailed Guide

Enterprise Resource Planning is a software tool that is revolutionizing the way businesses function in every industry across the world, and the banking sector is no different.

Banking operations have undergone a sea-change thanks to consumer expectations, and software is a major factor facilitating the change.

What is an ERP for Banks?

ERP for banking industry delivers effective and reliable methods of managing the entire operation by collecting data from all departments.

It gives managers a comprehensive view of the present scenario and enables banks to be more agile, boost efficiency, and fulfil customer demands.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Bank Reconciliation in Accounting

What is Core Banking?

What is Core Banking

Core banking connects all the branches of a bank so that loan management, deposits, withdrawals, and payments can be conducted in real time from any branch regardless of where the customer’s account exists.

It allows the customer to interact with the bank as one entity no matter the location.

This adds convenience for the customers, and offers independence in terms of using their accounts and funds from anywhere they want.

Undoubtedly, this can only be facilitated by advanced technology.

ERP in banking is very effective for finance, accounting, and planning.

Systems already being used by the bank – core banking and other back-office systems for example – are integrated with ERP for greater ease of operations and efficiency.

ALSO READ: How Do ERP and Cloud Computing Differ?

Essential Modules for Banking ERP

Any ERP solution has modules like procurement, HR, finance, production, project management, and so on, which are common to businesses in all industries.

However, the banking sector needs some specific modules which we will talk about below.

1. Asset Management

This is crucial, as customers’ physical assets have to be tracked and monitored by the bank.

It helps to eliminate loss of money and assets and be more efficient in managing them.

It may be necessary to connect different areas together to effectively manage the bank’s assets.

By tracking the life-cycle of the assets from acquisition to retirement or disposal, the bank can know where its assets are at any given time.

Tranquil ERP’s powerful asset management module also helps in scheduling regular servicing and maintenance checks that help keep the asset in top operational condition, and extends its life as well.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Asset Management Software

2. Analytical Accounting

This is vital in banking ERP as it connects all activities with regard to revenue and expenditure.

It is mainly responsible for accounts receivable, accounts payable, and the general ledger, and manages all the transactions and financials of the bank.

It also supports managing the payroll, tax calculation and reporting, and tracking time.

A robust accounting module helps banks to maintain accurate information, and prevent fraud and manual errors.

3. Payment Management

This helps to take care of customer funds in various accounts.

It helps to manage payment approvals encoding, monitoring forex conversions during international transactions, and so on.

ALSO READ: Common Accounting Challenges

Benefits of Using ERP System in Banking

Benefits of Using ERP System in Banking

Banking ERP like Tranquil offers several benefits for both banks and customers.

Let’s take a look at the most impactful benefits:

1. Data-Driven Intelligence

Bank managers can get real-time intelligence and offer customers personalized experiences.

The AI embedded in ERP can help them leverage data to analyze customer behavior and needs.

This allows banks to fulfil customer needs and keep them happy.

This increases customer trust and loyalty significantly.

2. Improved Processes

ERP software automates cumbersome manual tasks and streamlines processes, helping to deploy smart, optimized workflows that make the overall operations more efficient.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Implementation KPIs to Know 

3. Increased Efficiency, Collaboration, and Better Decision Making

All processes are centralized on a unified central platform, making data access easy.

In fact, ERP facilitates smooth sharing of information and greater collaboration across the organization – even with teams working remotely or offshore.

It also provides detailed, varied, and automated report generation.

The chief metrics can be seen on the central dashboard, providing managers with much needed insights.

With all departments on the same page and accessing the same relevant information, it leads to much better decision making.

ALSO READ: How AI transforming ERP? 

4. Live Supervision

Banks have to supervise and handle multiple live operations like digital wallets, ATMs, cash accounting and so on.

ERP systems are flexible and capable of being integrated with other systems, enabling the supervision of such live bank operations.

5. Increased Security of Data

ERP systems like Tranquil are usually cloud based, and have numerous security provisions like robust firewalls and multi-step authentication to minimize the risk of data breach.

A centralized database is easier to monitor, and access restriction (of retired or terminated employees) can be implemented quicker.

Admins have excellent visibility to the system, enabling them to identify attempts of unauthorized access or other suspicious activities almost instantly.

6. Reduced Operational Expenses

ERP software helps in reducing expenses and overheads associated with operations – allowing you to have a leaner budget.

Banking ERP streamlines every process, monitoring them closely to thwart or quickly rectify operational disturbance or downtimes.

Potential issues are identified and fixed before they can cause big damage, and thereby cuts operational costs.

ALSO READ: What is Landed Cost and How to Calculate It? 

7. Multi-currency Management

Multi-currency management

Tranquil ERP software supports multiple currencies and languages, enabling banks to operate smoothly in several countries and perform international transactions.

This also helps users get live updates on rates of currency transaction, support currency exchange, handle international customer accounts, and so on.

It is especially useful for customers who hold multi-currency accounts, as one account can be used to transact in multiple currencies.

It eases the uses of electronic payment methods, and helps to offer the use of their preferred currency to invest and transact, delivering convenience to customers and keeping them happy.

ALSO READ: Debit Note vs Credit Note

8. Real-time Transactions

In an ERP system, everything is recorded and displayed in real-time – so you can say goodbye to delays.

Withdrawals, online payments, deposits – any transaction – is recorded in the ERP system.

Transactions conducted by customers from anywhere are instantly updated.

Automated records management and generation of invoices, properly designed (and automated) invoices and so on, help to reflect the bank’s operational status.

In addition to recording transaction details, ERP software helps in generating and communicating monthly statements easily, accurately, and quickly.

ALSO READ: Common HR Mistakes and Tips to Avoid Them

9. Saves Time

Tranquil ERP saves you precious time, with a one-stop solution that lets you manage all of your transactions in a very short period of time.

With its project management module, you can easily schedule tasks for your employees, manage shifts, and allocate roles effortlessly.

It also helps to ensure that you meet your deadlines and completes tasks and projects within the allocated time and budget.

10. Financial Insight and Regulatory Compliance

ERP in banking sector enables banks to try out new models of finance and business, and help them comply with regulations and laws both domestic and international.

After all, as a financial institution, a bank has to comply with several industry rules and government regulations.

Tranquil incorporates the regulatory standards and helps banks to comply with the stringent regulatory compliance requirements.

This makes ERP solutions not just an option but a necessity for more efficient management, but aligned with the needs of security and authority.

ALSO READ: What is Asset Depreciation and Why is it Important?

How Does an ERP For Banks Help the Bank Find New Business?

How Does an ERP For Banks Help the Bank Find New Business

ERP systems continuously collect data from all departments, analyzing them and providing valuable financial insights.

This helps bank managers to reduce risk and maximize ROI.

As ERP collects and assembles the information speedily, it decreases the time and cost associated with developing new financial products.

It can also be used to deliver personalized, improved customer service to increase their happiness and loyalty.

Happy customers become advocates for the business and are highly likely to recommend the bank to friends and family.

ERP solutions are valuable not just for banks but for all types of financial institutions.

The real-time information provided by ERP software enables the organization to be more efficient, cut costs, work faster, and be more competitive in the market.

ALSO READ: What is Delivery Performance and How Can it be Improved?

Limitations to ERP in Banking

Limitations to ERP in Banking

As with everything, there are certain limitations or drawbacks of ERP for banking.

It is up to you to weigh the benefits against the limitations and take an informed decision.

  • Implementing the solution in multi-branch banks can take a long time; also, it is desirable that the organization is at a certain level of maturity to implement ERP so that it can be planned and executed more efficiently.
  • There can be opposition towards moving to a new system within the organization. Most people don’t want to step out of their comfort zone, and change the way they work. ERP software necessitates a change in the way banking operations are carried out. It is recommended that you talk to your employees and involve your main specialists in the decision-making process from the outset to make the process simpler, and have people who will support you at the lower management rungs itself. It will help to create an eagerness to learn rather than arouse fear and suspicion in a new system. You can conduct training sessions that will help your teams get accustomed to using the new system, and can adjust the sessions according to seasons of peak activity so that your main work does not get disrupted.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Implementing ERP for Oil and Gas Industry

  • Being part of the Finance sector, it is highly likely that security and compliance requirements may change in the middle of implementing the ERP software. This could necessitate some extra work, expense, and training. Some updates may automatically be included with the new system too. In any case, it is crucial for banks to be continuously up-to-date with security and compliance regulations.

To Wrap Up

As in any new system, minor irritations and challenges are bound to be there.

However, ERP is essential for the banking industry, as it significantly helps to improve security and overall efficiency, and can be a huge asset when it comes to having an edge over your competition.

The advantages certainly outweigh the limitations by a vast margin.

The financial outlay that you may be required to make in the outset, will be offset by the cost savings you can achieve in the long run.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Modules and Functions 

ERP solutions like Tranquil help you boost productivity and take your operations to the next level. If you’re still unsure about the necessity or effectiveness of ERP for your bank, simply schedule a FREE demo of Tranquil ERP. We are pleased to answer all of your questions!

 

A Complete Guide To Payroll Migration

Payroll processing is one of the most important and complex business processes.

SMEs tend to use manual methods and spreadsheets or outsource it to a professional; however, both methods are susceptible to numerous errors.

ALSO READ: Need of Having HR & Payroll Management Software in SMEs

What is Payroll?

It is the process that involves the calculation of salaries to employees after making adjustments like employee contributions if any, taxes, loan EMIs, bonuses, meal coupons, and so on, for a specific time period.

The period is usually one month.

The entire process begins with preparing the employee list, and continues with calculation, making the necessary additions and deductions, and arriving at the amount payable to each employee individually, and in total.

The payroll also includes employee details like their departments, designations, leaves, etc. in addition to the salary, deductions, and bonuses.

Managing this entire process of wage payment in an organization to its employees is what we refer to as payroll processing or payroll management.

You can understand from this that payroll management can be complicated – which is why many organizations prefer to outsource this task.

However, the entire process can be simplified, streamlined, automated, and made much more efficient by adopting technology.

ALSO READ: The Must-Have Modules and Features for an HRMS

Payroll Migration

Payroll

By payroll migration, we mean the process of moving to a new payroll platform from the existing one; it could be due to various reasons like inefficient systems that hamper productivity, slow legacy software, erroneous payroll calculations, delay in issuing salaries, or cut costs by adopting new tech.

It often happens that a business is not able to perform their payroll migration by themselves; they have to hire payroll migration services.

It could also be that the business wants to outsource its payroll in its entirety, for which they may make use of a payroll vendor.

Vendors make use of payroll management systems, allowing businesses to manage their payroll efficiently and accurately.

The process of migrating the payroll is implemented at the end of a quarter or financial year; this decision is based on the number of transactions and workload a business has.

ALSO READ: HCM vs HRM

Preparing For Your Data Migration Project

Preparing For Your Data Migration Project

Preparing for the migration can be daunting, as it is a complicated process that involves several departments and employees, and necessitates a great deal of time and effort.

If you don’t do the job properly, you could lose data, and that can have a seriously negative impact on your daily operations.

But there’s no reason to get unduly perturbed.

We have listed a few steps you can take to simplify the migration process and make it easy.

6 Steps to Follow in Preparation for Payroll Migration:

1. Assign Personnel and Allocate Responsibilities

It is critical that you select the right team members to perform the payroll data migration; they have to know the legacy system as well as the new system thoroughly, and must know in detail, the working of the new payroll system.

In case you do not have anyone in your organization with this knowledge or capability, you can always hire an external agency to perform your data migration.

It may involve a slightly higher cost but at least you can be assured that you will not lose any data – which makes it worth the extra cost.

ALSO READ: Common HR Mistakes and Tips to Avoid Them

2. Choose the Appropriate Data Points and Take Backups

Once you have the right people for the job, then you need to see which documents and data you want to migrate or port.

Ensure that you back up your data and make copies.

This way, in case any errors occur while extracting the data, you have a reference document, and the mistakes can be rectified with minimum damage.

3. Cleanse your Data

The best time to review all of the data in your hand is when you are changing from your old system to a new one.

If you have been using a standalone payroll system (or HR and payroll only), you must clean up your data to make sure that everything is synchronized.

You have already identified the date to be migrated; now you can initiate a cleanup.

This step must be performed very carefully, as it is a complex process where a lot of mistakes can happen.

It is advisable to let an experienced third-party migration service handle this task if your employees lack the expertise to execute it.

All unnecessary and outdated data must be removed.

The management has to take the responsibility of making sure that all the payroll data is accurate and updated.

They must check and verify the employee details, and ascertain that the data is consistent, complete, and comprehensive.

ALSO READ: What is Employee Turnover?

4. Draw Up a Process Summary and Plan for Migration

It is essential to craft a process summary so that you have clarity and there is no duplication of data while backing it up.

It is critical that everyone involved in this task are absolutely clear and sure of their responsibilities before you proceed.

You must also ensure that you secure the data effectively so that there is no loss or leak.

If you are using the services of a payroll migration vendor, this is where the data is lifted by the vendor.

The present payroll, and employee resource planning format from the current system is extracted and stored in a different location.

Robust and efficient payroll services like Tranquil leverage the power of the cloud for this.

If required, our migration team will upgrade the software and protocols.

If they are up-to-date, the data will be retained in the current format.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Having an Employee Self-Service System

5. Test your New System

After migrating the necessary data to your new system, there are certain tasks to carry out to make sure that it will work the way it should.

First and foremost, you have to make sure that the calculations of the payroll are perfect.

This can be determined by conducting several tests, which ideally should have important data points that impact your company’s everyday operations.

You can make use of a tracker for this step.

Ensure that you have clarity on what constitutes a success or failure for each test.

These tests are essential to verify if your payroll systems and calculations are error-free; they are not run to detect flaws or errors.

ALSO READ: What is Asset Depreciation and Why is it Important?

It is simply done to ascertain that the new process is smooth and flawless – you could say that you have to do this to re-validate the accuracy of the transformed data.

There is no harm in running a series of tests till such time as you are completely convinced that the system is flawless.

Your migration vendor can also help you perform beta testing to get feedback from the end-user to make the necessary changes and improvements.

After all this is completed, the management can give the go-ahead for the new system.

6. Go Live

By this stage you have done whatever was necessary and have taken all the necessary measures to ensure that everything is accurate and secure.

You are ready to go live. As a final step before implementation, it’s a good idea to train your employees properly on the new system.

ALSO READ: Inventory Management Trends to Watch Out for

What are the Benefits of Payroll Migration

What are the Benefits of Payroll Migration

Migrating your payroll to vendors who use cloud platforms offers several benefits to your business.

You have much less pressure as you no longer have to supervise payroll calculation for all of your employees – that responsibility is shifted to the vendor.

Payroll vendors and their software offer easy access to employees, and offer precise, properly maintained data and reports.

Another huge benefit for businesses is that software like Tranquil Payroll system is easily scalable so that it will continue to handle your payroll smoothly even when your business grows.

It is also very secure, as there are remote servers for data storage, and backups are always easily available.

They are less prone to system crashing; therefore, you don’t have to worry about data loss.

ALSO READ: Differences between Debit notes and Credit Notes

The progress and efficiency of the organization are in no way hampered – in fact, it brings in greater efficiency and productivity, as your employees can be freed from mundane tasks and can focus instead of value-adding tasks and core business activities.

With the appropriate migration services for your payroll, your business can smoothly migrate all the required payroll data without worrying about the complications.

Let us have a quick recap of the benefits of migrating to a cloud-driven payroll system:

  • Quick and easy access to precise data and reports
  • Excellent scalability and growth potential
  • Robust data security
  • Protect sensitive financial information
  • Data backup availability
  • Eliminate errors in calculation of payroll
  • Reduce operational expenses significantly

ALSO READ: What Is Cloud Data Protection?

To Sum Up

The requirements of payroll are dynamic, and keep changing frequently; this is especially true for organizations that are on an accelerated growth path.

Time is of the utmost importance for such organizations and you can save a great deal of it when you choose to perform a thorough payroll migration.

The data migration process is usually executed at the end of the financial year, though some businesses may choose to do it at the end of a quarter as well.

ALSO READ: How Do ERP Systems Work?

If your company doesn’t have the in-house expertise to migrate your payroll data, it makes sense to engage the services of renowned providers like Tranquil. We are one of the most trusted providers of business solutions in the GCC region, for the past decade. We have the expertise, the requisite industry knowledge, and the dedication to perform a quick, flawless, and smooth payroll data migration for your organization with minimal disruption of business. Still unsure? See for yourself how Tranquil can benefit your business – Schedule a FREE demo right now with our experts. They will explain every feature and answer all your queries.

 

Balance Sheet: Definition, Uses, Elements

Every business has to know clearly, what its financial standing is, at the end of the financial year.

For this, several books of accounts are maintained, and at the year-end, financial documents like trial balance, profit, and loss statement, and the balance sheet are prepared.

What Is a Balance Sheet?

A balance sheet is a financial document that describes the assets and liabilities a firm has, including its monetary value; the balance sheet of a publicly traded company also contains details of shareholder equity as on a given date.

A financial balance sheet enables a company to work out the dividend to be paid to shareholders and to assess the capital structure of the organization.

To put it another way, your balance sheet is a concise record of what your company owes and owns, along with shareholder investments.

ALSO READ: Benefits of ERP in Accounting and Financial Management

Why Is a Balance Sheet Required?

The balance sheet is a critical statement that allows regulators, analysts, investors and managers to know the financial health of a business by offering a bird’s eye-view of the company’s assets and liabilities.

It tells the reader if the company has a positive net worth and if there is adequate liquidity to fulfil its dues, or if the company is heavily in debt.

You can analyze your financial fundamentals and compute financial ratios when you combine your balance sheet and other financial statements like income and cash flow statements to get a clear picture of your company’s financial standing.

While the balance sheet offers a summary of the state of the finances as on a given date, it doesn’t indicate the trends over a period of time.

To know that, you must compare the current balance sheet with previous ones.

Several ratios can be calculated from a balance sheet, like the debt-equity ratio – and this helps investors to understand your company’s financial standing.

Cash flow statement, income statements, and so on also provide the much-needed context, along with notes in earning reports, etc. that mention the balance sheet.

ALSO READ: Accounting Problems and Solutions

Balance Sheet Equation

Balance Sheet Equation

financial accounting balance sheet uses the following equation:

Shareholder Equity + Liabilities = Assets.

You can see that assets are on one side, and liabilities and equity on the other, and both balance each other.

It’s a logical and intuitive formula; a company must pay for its assets, or what it owns, by borrowing money(liabilities) or accepting investments from shareholders.

For example: Company B takes a loan of SAR 20,000 from Bank X.

In the books of Company B, its cash account increases by SAR 20,000.

But it has to pay back the loan, so its liabilities also increase by the same amount.

This is how the equation is balanced.

ALSO READ: What is a Ledger in Accounting? 

When the company earns revenues exceeding its expenses, that amount goes into shareholder equity account, and also appears on the asset side as cash, inventory, investments, and so on.

It’s a good idea to compare your balance sheet with your competitors’ and look at how they have approached financing.

The total assets of a company are the total of all assets – short and long-term, and other assets.

Likewise, total liabilities equal all short and long-term and other liabilities.

Total equity is the total of net income, owner asset contributions, retained earnings, and share of the issued stock.

The assets in a balance sheet must always match the equity and liabilities – i.e., it must always balance.

When it doesn’t balance, it’s an indication of wrong data, miscalculations, or errors in inventory, etc.

ALSO READ: What is Asset Depreciation and Why is it Important?

Components of a Balance Sheet

Components of a Balance Sheet

Every category in the balance sheet comprises numerous smaller accounts, which can be broken down to get minute details regarding the company’s finances.

The accounts differ depending on industry, with terms having varying meanings according to the nature of individual businesses.

Yet, there are certain commonalities:

1. Assets

Usually, these are listed in the descending order of liquidity and split into those assets that are convertible to cash under one year those not easily convertible to cash.

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Current Assets

  • Cash, treasury bills, short-term deposit certificates – the most liquid assets.
  • Equity and debentures which can be easily sold in share markets
  • Accounts receivables – what customers owe
  • Inventory of goods for sale, valued at cost or market rate whatever is lower
  • Prepaid expenses like rent, insurance, advertising contracts, etc.

Long-term Assets

  • Fixed assets like land, buildings, equipment, machinery, computers, printers, and other durable assets
  • Intangible assets like goodwill, and intellectual property – if acquired; the value is not always stated correctly.

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2. Liabilities

Anything owed to external parties, from vendor bills to salaries, utility bills, interest on creditor bonds, etc., are liabilities.

The same rule as for assets applies to classify liabilities as current or long-term.

Current Liabilities

  • Accounts payable (vendors who must be paid within 30 days)
  • The amount of long-term debt payable in the coming 12 months
  • Interest payable on late remittances, property taxes, or other past-due amounts owed
  • Salaries, benefits, wages, etc. payable to employees
  • Prepaid amounts received from the customer for goods and services which means you are obligated to deliver
  • Dividends authorized for payment but yet unpaid
  • Any money received upfront but where the company has yet to execute their part of the agreement

ALSO READ: Debit Notes vs Credit Notes

Long-term Liabilities:

  • Interest and principal on bonds if any issued
  • Amount that must be paid into employees’ pension funds
  • Taxes accrued but remaining unpaid for one more year is deferred tax liability; it reconciles differences between financial reporting requirements and depreciation computation, etc.

3. Shareholder Equity

This is the money that can be assigned to a business owners or the shareholders, and is equal to the assets of a business minus liabilities; or, the debt owed to non-shareholders.

4. Retained Earnings

The net earnings are reinvested in the business or used to repay debts, with remaining amount distributed as dividends.

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5. Treasury Stock

Repurchased stock used to repel hostile takeovers through a sale for cash.

6. Capital Surplus

Supplementary paid-in capital denotes the amount invested by shareholders in excess of common or preferred stock accounts (based on par value and not market price).

There’s no direct connection between shareholder equity and the market capitalization of a company.

Paid-in capital is the total of equity purchased at a random price, ad market capitalization depends on current stock values.

Importance of a Balance Sheet

Importance of a Balance Sheet

A balance sheet offers numerous benefits to a business regardless to its size or the industry.

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1. Risk Determination

As this document mentions all that a company owes and owns, the owner can determine if it is liquid enough, its debts are too high, and if there’s enough cash in hand to fulfil current liabilities.

2. Helps Secure Capital

Lending institutions and private investors will check the balance sheet to determine the company’s financial health and creditworthiness, and how capable it is of repaying short-term debts.

If they are satisfied with what they say, the business can secure capital.

3. Improve Financial Health

Managers can compute financial ratios to check how solvent, liquid, and profitable a company is, and what its turnover is.

The ratios are calculated by looking at the balance sheet.

When studied over a period of time or compared with competitors, managers can understand how they improve the financial health of the company.

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4. Hire and Retain Talent

A healthy balance sheet conveys to prospective employees that their jobs are secure.

They can see how many assets the company has, the cash on hand, and if the company debt is appropriately managed.

Employees would like to continue in companies whose financial health is good.

What Are the Uses of a Balance Sheet?

We’ve already seen what a company’s balance sheet reveals about it – the financial health and status as on a specific date.

But how is this document used by the business?

It is used to shape several internal decisions, to measure the potential risk the business has, to study how it can raise additional capital – equity or debt?

Basically, a balance sheet can help owners and managers to take decisions that improve the financial health of the company.

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Limitations of a Balance Sheet

Limitations of a Balance Sheet

As with everything else, balance sheets also have their drawbacks.

For example, being a static document, it doesn’t always display the full picture, and stakeholders may need to combine data in income and cash flow statements to arrive at it.

1. Narrow Scope of Timing

The balance sheet conveys the financial position of a business as at a specific time; just viewing a single balance sheet may not be enough to understand how well the business is doing.

A business may say that it has SAR 50,000 cash on hand at the month-end, but not having anything to compare with, not knowing the previous cash balance, context or operational demands, this information is not very valuable.

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2. Different Systems and Treatment

Businesses have their own ways of dealing with several elements like inventory, depreciation, etc.

This means that the numbers that show on their balance sheets are likely to vary, and it leaves scope for fraudulent figures.

The footnotes can help recognize the system used and check for possible foul play.

3. Guesswork

Guesswork is often resorted to as professional judgement is required in specific matters.

In accounts receivables, adjustments have to be made for potential bad debts.

It’s not possible to know which ones the business won’t receive – so guesswork comes into play.

ALSO READ: What is a Bill of Materials (BOM)?

Who Prepares the Balance Sheet?

In small businesses, the accountant or even owner may prepare it, while in mid-size firms, it may be prepared by the accounts team and audited by an external accountant.

Large corporations are mandated to get their accounts audited by public accountants and have to comply with the regulations in their country with regard to accounts.

Leverage Software for Ease and Accuracy

Whether small, medium, or large, every business can benefit from automation of accounts and preparation of its financial statement like the profit and loss statement and balance sheet.

Tranquil ERP has a robust Financial Management module that helps you do all this, and a lot more. Interested in knowing more? Schedule a FREE demo with our experts!

 

Unique Ways Asset Management Tools Can Benefit Your Business

Any business that depends on asset output, would benefit from implementing a robust asset management software.

It can locate your assets almost instantly, reduces expenditure, and quickens maintenance activities.

Manual methods can also do this task, but operations heavily reliant on assets need an advanced digital tool to simplify the job and ensure there are no errors or omissions.

There are innumerable benefits of asset management software, which are even more apparent once you shift from manual, paper-based methods.

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Benefits of Asset Management Software

Here are some of the most important ones:

1. Better Asset Visibility

Better Asset Visibility

Any business has a number of assets, each serving a specific purpose. Assets can be digital, physical, IT, human resources, and facilities, among other things.

When a business grows, the number of assets it needs and owns also increase, and this can make manual recording of each asset extremely cumbersome and time-consuming.

With the right asset management software you can make sure that you have clear visibility into all your assets.

It stores the information in a single, central database – the asset register.

You can get detailed information on each asset, like the date and price of purchase, its current location and status, unique ID number, and so on.

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2. Track All Physical Assets in Real-Time

Fixed assets can be compared to living organisms, as they enter the system, multiply, leave, and even move around the organization.

This makes it all the more important to track them properly – and this is facilitated by asset management software.

Barcodes, QR codes, GPS trackers, RFID tags, NFC tags, etc. are the different types of labels and asset-tracking tags.

Each of these has unique benefits depending on your specific requirements.

With real-time asset management solutions, you can make sure that your asset registers are always up-to-date and error-free.

3. Eliminate Ghost Assets

Eliminate Ghost Assets

This is among the most important benefits of asset management.

Ghost assets are assets that you’re unable to physically see but still appear in the register.

These assets may be recorded wrongly, or be lost or stolen, but for some reason, remained in the system.

This problem doesn’t occur with asset management software as it instantly identifies ghost assets and lets you rectify the error.

This means that you don’t have to pay tax or insurance premiums on assets you don’t actually own.

ALSO READ: Different Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

4. Enhanced Customer Service

With proper asset management, your whole organization can be run smoothly.

You also have a properly documented process implemented for the utilization and supervision of the equipment used in your company.

This in turn allows you to deliver better customer service – giving them no opportunities for complaint.

This means they are more likely to be repeat customers.

It can also help you gain new customers, as the word of your service and product quality spreads.

In short, both customer retention and customer acquisition are facilitated by good asset management.

This can have a positive impact on your bottom line.

ALSO READ: BI vs ERP

5. Access Data Anywhere and at Any Time

Access Data Anywhere and at Any Time

Tranquil is a cloud-based solution, which means your employees can access the asset management information whenever they want, through their own devices.

They get secure, authenticated access to relevant information that empowers them to make the right decisions.

They can view details, update information, add assets, and a lot more, even if they are not at the workplace.

This is especially useful for field operators, maintenance engineers, and asset and inventory managers.

The availability of mobile devices with inbuilt cameras and scanners capable of reading barcodes, QR codes, RFID tags, etc., makes their task even easier.

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6. Eliminate Manual Systems

With automation, you can say goodbye to manual methods like whiteboards and spreadsheets, which are more prone to errors, have no historical records, and can be cumbersome to share across departments or teams within the same department even.

A small business could consider downloading spreadsheet templates to track and supervise assets, but this will become increasingly difficult as your business grows and you add more assets.

The more data you have to collect, the higher the chances of errors being made.

Only a digital tool like asset management software will be truly effective in the long run for your business.

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7. Locate Assets Easily

When you run a business where you move physical assets around a lot, you need to know where your assets are at a given time so that they can be brought back to where they should be once a particular employee is done using them.

Tracking tags using GPS, RFID, and other technology, integrated with the asset management system can locate your assets in an instant, helping you know where any of your equipment is at a given time.

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8. Monitor Equipment Condition Proactively

The asset condition monitoring feature can handle a range of events like damage caused by extreme temperatures (for medicines and other medical products like blood), shock caused by falls (electronic equipment), etc.

It can also notify you if any equipment is slowing down – taking longer to complete its usual tasks – and alert you to its potential failure.

Asset tracking software help in continuous monitoring of equipment use, allowing you to repair or replace the machine or specific parts before it breaks down and disrupts business activities unexpectedly and for a longer duration.

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9. Better Manage the Asset Life Cycle

Better Manage the Asset Life Cycle

Tranquil asset management software enables businesses to properly understand asset life cycles.

This helps in procuring, operating, maintaining, and disposing them of as efficiently as possible.

The software also provides valuable insights about asset performance thanks to the detailed data it contains.

There are four main stages in the life cycle of an asset:

  • Planning – Recognizing the necessity of procuring a particular asset
  • Acquisition – Buying an asset and assigning it
  • Operation – When the asset is used for the organization’s activities
  • Disposal – When an asset is no longer operable, it has to be sold or retired after its depreciation value is calculated

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10. Proper Maintenance Planning

Maintenance of assets is essential if you want to extract the maximum performance from it, over the longest time possible.

Creating an effective schedule of maintenance is one of the critical benefits offered by an asset management system, as it helps to maintain assets in ideal working order for the longest possible time.

Strategies of maintenance can vary; some engineers may prefer preventive maintenance, while others may like to take a reactive maintenance approach.

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In either case, when you have a good maintenance plan, you can ensure:

  • Minimal disruption of business due to machinery and equipment breakdown
  • Reduced cost of breakdowns and emergency repairs
  • Higher uptime of machinery and equipment
  • Extended operational life of physical assets

11. Maintain Regulatory Compliance

Maintain Regulatory Compliance

With asset tracking software, you can easily ensure that you comply with governmental regulations and industry accreditation requirements.

Computers don’t lie and make it easier to prove compliance.

While there is no rule against using spreadsheets and pen and paper to maintain records of assets to maintain compliance, it can take up a lot of time and effort on your part – and you can make errors.

It will become more and more difficult as your business grows and you acquire more assets for operational and other purposes.

Asset management software can simplify this complex task, so that you are always on top of compliance requirements, and your employees can devote their time to more value adding tasks.

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12. Predict Expenditure and Budgets

When you have the full history of a physical asset, right from its acquisition till the end of its life, you have a solid base to make accurate forecasts regarding the purchase of assets in the future.

Asset management software can thus help you with the structuring of business expenditure as well as budgets for the coming months or years.

13. Identification of Trends

Just like operations and forecasting, you can learn a great deal regarding your assets from your asset management system.

The software can also help you to identify trends, which in turn helps in understanding the life cycle of a specific asset.

This knowledge is beneficial and allows you to effectively schedule maintenance checks and early repairs.

This way, you can recognize potential problems and take care of them before they blow up into major problems and disrupt business operations.

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14. Operate More Efficiently

Tranquil asset management software enables you to understand how each asset contributes to your business; various assets may have roles to play in different sectors or departments of your organization.

This includes things like efficient and optimal operation of each asset for maximum benefits, capability of each asset, details of ROI of each asset, and whether the asset needs to be disposed of in order to reduce costs.

15. Reduce Loss

Loss can happen in many different ways.

Human beings are not perfect, and are quite likely to misplace movable physical assets.

With the right asset management software in place, you can ensure that this does not happen.

16. Prevent Theft

Thefts do happen, especially in large business settings.

Having an asset management software along with asset tracking tags or codes can act as a deterrent, and you can certainly reduce the occurrence of theft significantly, if not prevent it altogether.

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Wrapping Up

We can see that implementing a proper asset management solution offers tremendous benefit to businesses, small or large.

You can save a lot of money in the long run even if you have to spend initially for the software.

Tranquil asset management software is a robust, cloud-based solution that is designed to scale with your business. Do schedule a demo with our experts to see how it works!

 

Keys To Make Project Management Success

Managing a project, even a small one, needs acumen, patience, and of course, support from the rest of the team.

Project managers face a number of challenges in their job, some of them with the potential to make a project fail.

Proper management of resources, keeping pace with the project, ensuring it stays within the budget agreed on, and checking its progress, are just some of the issues that they have to tackle.

To achieve success in project implementation, the project manager needs to know the project inside-out, plan effectively, assess the project, and know the work management system properly.

There is no one rule to ensure that your project will be successful, but we do have a collection of valuable tips which can help you achieve the desired results.

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Important Keys to Successful Project Management

Let us check out the keys to successful project management:

1. Know your Project Well

The most important thing for project success is to start right – to have a solid foundation.

You have to know the project thoroughly: the clients, vendors, and other stakeholders, and understand their interests and aspirations about it.

Recognizing the requirements of your project is important, as these resources are what can make or break a project.

2. Define Goals Clearly and Focus on Benefits

Define Goals Clearly and Focus on Benefits

Set your goals clearly so that everyone understands the company’s objectives perfectly.

You must be well-versed with the 5 P’s of marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People; this will help you plan more efficiently.

You will also be able to define key metrics and measure them to verify whether your project is proceeding as it should.

The three main areas you must focus on are – within scope, within budget, and on time.

If these three are met, your project will be successful.

Any project is undertaken because of the benefits it is expected to yield.

Ergo, it is essential to perform Benefits Realization Management.

Situations often change unexpectedly – like customer demands or market trends – and by focusing on the benefits, you can ensure that your team remains agile so that the best decisions can be taken to make the project a success.

ALSO READ: Different Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

3. Allocate Roles and Responsibilities

When your plan is ready, you next need to put a team in place that can execute your plan efficiently.

An ERP system project management can help simplify this daunting task.

The roles and tasks can be allocated after considering their skills, experience, and strengths – and their personalities as well.

In case you don’t have a specific skill set in-house, you may need to hire a professional with the necessary expertise so that your project can proceed as planned.

4. Appoint a Project Manager

Appoint a Project Manager

Once your team is ready, find the right person to manage the project, to whom the team reports.

The project manager will oversee the project progress, manage all the resources, and report to the management.

This employee will be the one responsible for the success of the project.

A good project manager is adept at motivating team members, has excellent communication skills, and will not micro-manage everything on a daily basis.

Instead, he will trust the team to take the minor decisions, but will always be there as a guiding force, and take the critical decisions himself.

He will be the point of contact for the customers, keeping them in the loop, and taking feedback from them.

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5. Define Critical Milestones

It is vital that you are able to identify the defining moments of the project as it progresses – otherwise known as milestones.

Like, when a baby starts to walk, it is a milestone she has achieved.

Similarly, for a project, important phases are ideation, planning, implementation, and conclusion.

At the end of each phase, carry out an evaluation to know where and how the project is going.

From product components to technical documents, everything involved in the project must be flawless; only then will you be able to exceed customer expectations.

Milestones indicate how dedicated the team is in completing the project quickly and efficiently.

When you set important milestones, you will be able to handle risks and track the progress of the project easily.

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6. Communication is Crucial

Communication is Crucial

This cannot be stressed enough!

It is critical that there is consistent, clear, and effective communication among all the stakeholders.

Any changes needed must be conveyed to the team members at the earliest so that there are no sudden surprises.

The project manager should keep communication lines between him and team members, as well as with customers, always open, so that he can be approached at any time.

Without proper communication, a project can easily fail.

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It is very important that everyone involved in a project has the right information which lets them make the proper decisions for the project to proceed.

Status reports of a project are great for keeping everyone on the same page, as they can receive updates about all the latest developments.

Communicate early, frequently, and meaningfully!

Communication must be clear and transparent – and a two-way process. you must listen to what your customers and team members have to say.

You need to communicate to the team what they need to do – the benefits that need to be achieved, what they are doing currently (progress updates, milestones, problems if any), and what the team did – success or failure.

7. Understand the Strengths And Weaknesses Of Team Members

Understand the Strengths And Weaknesses Of Team Members

The skills of the employees working on a project will decide its success or failure, to a large extent.

A competent manager should find out about the intrinsic strengths and weaknesses of those working on the project, and assign tasks appropriately.

All employees are not likely to be equally good at all tasks; whichever employee is more adept or quicker at particular tasks, should be given those tasks.

This way, you can ensure that you complete the project faster, and more efficiently – quality work.

You can manage time better, and get the best from your employees, as they will feel motivated when you trust them with certain important tasks.

When every employee has a meaningful role to play, it makes them feel valued and increases their productivity – thus contributing to the project’s success.

ALSO READ: How ERP Can Improve Business Efficiency? 

8. Manage Potential Risks

Any project regardless of size and complexity, every project has certain risks associated with it – and it is absolutely essential that you manage those risks well so that they don’t hamper the success of the project.

Risks are potential threats, that can occur suddenly and put a spanner in the works of a project’s progress.

By identifying them early, you can take steps to mitigate or thwart them if they do crop up.

With experience, you will be easily able to foresee imminent threats, and determine when to take remedial measures.

Risk management has now become an important task for organizations to ensure project success.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Measuring Delivery Performance 

9. Test Your Deliverables

Whenever you reach a milestone, test your deliverables; only then will you get a clear idea of whether your project is proceeding the way it should.

Deliverables testing is a critical task to verify whether a project will meet or exceed expectations, and it will allow you to take remedial measures in case there are any shortcomings.

This will help you ensure that the project stays on track.

10. Evaluating the Project

Every single project is an opportunity to learn.

A competent manager should not only review the project in its entirety but its different parts as well.

This will allow them to observe the successes and setbacks across the project, and store it as a reference for future projects so that they can make improvements.

Each and every element of the project, including the minutest details of a project, can provide valuable insights regarding how to implement a project the next time around.

ALSO READ: Things to Know About ERP For Food and Beverage Industry

11. Use a Project Management Tool

Use a Project Management Tool

Technology is easing the work of project managers; excellent project management software is today available in the market.

This software not only helps to record and store relevant information regarding the project, but also provides reports, BI, and analytics, all of which help managers in taking informed decisions to ensure the success of their projects.

Project management software functions as a centralized and unified hub for every individual, every resource, and every activity related to the project.

Sharing files and documents, giving feedback, communicating effectively, and collaborating smoothly, are all facilitated and simplified with the right project management tool.

Tranquil ERP has a robust project management tool that simplifies the entire task of managing projects.

It empowers teams by making seamless collaboration possible so that you can complete and deliver projects in time.

It also helps to ensure there is no wastage of time, money, effort, or any other resource, which eventually results in greater profitability.

It offers a plethora of potent features that make project management a breeze; what’s more, we can tailor it to include functionality that is unique to your business, and can even customize your workflows.

You can generate a wide range of reports so that you have clarity regarding every minute aspect of the project.

ALSO READ: What is Demand Forecasting?

In Conclusion,

If you thought that ERP implementation project management is only for large companies, you need to think again!

An effective project management solution can benefit even small companies who undertake small projects.

The ultimate aim of any business is to grow; with the right project management tool, you can put your business on a fast path to growth.

As your business grows, you will need the right software to help you handle the increasing number of projects you undertake.

Tranquil ERP is a cloud-based, scalable, and flexible solution that can help you take your business to the next level. Do schedule a demo to know more!