Modern ERP and warehouse management

Hermes Fulfilment sends free wood and fabric samples to end customers on behalf of the Otto Group. These samples are used to enable customers to convince themselves of the quality and characteristics of the products before making a purchase decision. The samples can be ordered directly from the Otto Group website for a wide range of products, offering customers a convenient and uncomplicated shopping experience.

Sample despatch independently covers the entire warehouse management process, from purchasing the samples to despatching them to customers. Hermes Fulfilment attaches great importance to efficient and precise processing to ensure that the samples reach customers quickly and in perfect condition.

Sample despatch has a particularly high priority in the Otto Group, as it represents an important pre-sale measure. By providing free samples, customers have the opportunity to test the products before they buy. This not only contributes to customer satisfaction, but also reduces the return rate and sets the Otto Group apart from the competition. The Otto Group's aim is to offer its customers a unique shopping experience and to convince them of the quality and variety of the products on offer.

In the past, sample dispatch was supported by customised software that is now outdated and no longer meets today's requirements for speed, flexibility and security. The software was unable to keep pace with the growing volume of orders and the increasing complexity of sample despatch. This led to inefficient processes, high manual effort and increased maintenance costs.

Another challenge was to change the established and continuously optimised handling process for employees as little as possible. It was important that the changeover to a new ERP and warehouse management system went smoothly. Employees needed to be able to familiarise themselves with it quickly so that operations could continue seamlessly.

It was also very important that the new system not only fulfils current requirements, but is also equipped for future developments. Sample despatch is an important part of the Otto Group's business strategy. It was therefore crucial to find a long-term scalable and adaptable solution to meet the increasing requirements.

In close cooperation, adesso, Hermes Fulfilment Tech Solution and the Hermes Fulfilment department developed a customised and updatable solution for sample shipping. This involved implementing a modern ERP and warehouse management system based on the standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central software.

The new solution enables efficient processing of sample shipping, fulfils today's requirements and offers numerous advantages for future-oriented shipping processing. It also offers extensive reporting functions that can be used to generate important key figures and analyses for sample shipping. This provides those responsible with valuable insights into the process and enables them to continuously optimise it.

After the go-live, adesso took over the application management in 3rd level support to ensure the availability, performance and functionality of the application. At Hermes' request, adesso provides the following services as part of maintenance:

• Resolving incidents within the application
• Processing of functional and technical enquiries from 2nd level support
• Case-related examination of the technical, functional or process-related context on the basis of existing project documents or through queries to the customer.
• Processing and implementation of change requests and further developments to the application
• Reactive and proactive problem management to eliminate the causes of incidents
• Carrying out ‘perfecting’ activities
• Consultancy services
• Release/upgrade management / PU updates
• Support with operating system patches
• Technical support for the application
• Coordination with Microsoft and third parties
• Planning and realisation of deployments (object/code deployments)

Maintenance and support are provided in compliance with the agreed service level agreements.