Hydro-Scape grows its business with Infor10 Distribution Business, MaxRecall

Hydro-Scape Products, Inc. in San Diego, California, sells landscape and irrigation products to contractors and public agencies. With over 19,000 products, the company offers the largest selection of irrigation and landscape products in Southern California. Hydro-Scape comprises 18 branch locations throughout the Southern California area.

Setting the strategy.

Like many distribution companies, Hydro-Scape sought a means of streamlining and automating its business processes to increase the speed and accuracy of serving its
customers, as well as improve productivity and profitability. The company chose Infor10™ Distribution Business (SX.e) for its robustness and distribution-specific functionality, including the ability to integrate data across an entire operation. Hydro-Scape also selected MaxRecall, which works with Distribution Business. MaxRecall is designed by MaxRecall Technologies, an Infor business partner.

“I just type a customer or assembly number to retrieve a document or whole assembly folder. All the info we need is in Infor10 Distribution Business
(SX.e)and MaxRecall.”
—GUY BELSEY, AR MANAGER, HYDRO-SCAPE PRODUCTS

Accounts Receivable (AR) was the first department at Hydro-Scape in which Distribution Business and MaxRecall were implemented. MaxRecall Technologies provided the application and all necessary components for successful implementation. Once the set-up was complete, each person in the department was using the application on a regular basis. MaxRecall captures the O/E pick tickets as they are processed through Distribution Business , takes the keyword information through text processing or
Enterprise Report Management (ERM), and pre-populates the keyword information when the signed pick ticket is scanned in. After entry of the order number, other relevant keyword information appears.

The AR department uses MaxRecall to capture a variety of reports as well as the Distribution Business statements. When viewing the statements, the AR staff can access the corresponding invoices by clicking on the invoice numbers. Conversely, they can access the corresponding statements when viewing the invoices.When needed, the AR team can also share the information stored in MaxRecall with customers by emailing or faxing documentation directly from the application’s retrieval program.

Getting business specific.

Accounts Payable (AP) uses most facets of MaxRecall from the ERM or text processing to remote indexing. The majority of documents entered into MaxRecall by the AP department are scanned and indexed. Due to the high volume, the AP staff takes advantage of remote indexing, which allows documents to be indexed from PCs as opposed to a single scan station. The AP check and remittance are captured in the ERM process, which provides many added benefits to the AP department. The first is that these two documents are text, and the keyword information is extracted directly by MaxRecall.

Also, the AP check and remittance provides information about the invoices and the purchase orders that are being settled by this check. This information is keyword data that can be used to reference corresponding invoices and purchase orders. When this “link” is established, a purchase order or vendor invoice that has been retrieved will provide access to the AP.

Seeing results.

After using MaxRecall in accounts payable and accounts receivable with success, President Dale Tiglio decided to use the application in the Irrigation Control Systems & Services (ICSS) department. The ICSS department provides irrigation timers prewired and installed in the stainless steel enclosures for which Hydro-Scape is known as a leading manufacturer. Each Hydro-Scape controller enclosure is carefully tracked in MaxRecall because of controller specifications and a limited
five-year warranty.

Guy Belsey, AR manager, explains, “Instead of searching through filing cabinets, I just type in a customer or assembly number to retrieve a document or the whole assembly folder. All the info we need is quickly and easily accessible in MaxRecall.” The retrieval program works so well, says Belsey, that he no longer hears about
customer requests for copies or statements from AR staff. “The system has enabled our employees to be much more productive now.

For example, the full-time temporary employee that we once staffed to scan documents is no longer needed. Also, a customer sent a list of 64 pick tickets requesting copies—normally a one-hour job. It took me about 10 minutes. All reports and statements are coming across perfectly—display is easy to read, and printing of documents looks perfect. I’m very pleased.”

Doing business better

The Technical Services department at Hydro-Scape is also using Distribution Businessand MaxRecall in much the same way that AR does, according to Belsey. “Tech Services scans documents for proof of delivery, Accounting has begun using the application, and HR plans to implement it soon. Being able to email and fax through the system enables us to perform tasks without leaving our desks. During a recent tax audit, we could print resale cards from our desktops, and we found every one easily. Hydro-Scape continues to look to Infor to help make our lives easier as well as make the company more profitable.”

About MaxRecall Technologies.
MaxRecall Technologies Inc. provides document management solutions that integrate with industry application solutions, enabling companies large and small to streamline their document processes to increase efficiency and reduce cost. For more information about, visit www.maxrecall.com.