Backyard Adventures

Business Challenge

With so many design options available, Backyard Adventures needed a flexible, easy-to-use order entry system and a robust inventory control system. The company has 65 distributors nationwide, and this sales force needed an effi cient means to order parts and maintain their inventory. One other requirement from the distributors was that the inventory control system had to work with QuickBooks software.

Both Backyard Adventures and its many distributors needed an accurate picture of inventory levels, which was made somewhat complicated by its sales system. Because the independent dealers and distributors worked with customers to design their play sets, they needed an order entry system that could accommodate customized parts lists.

Some distributors also needed to manage and track the parts inventories of multiple locations, and Backyard Adventures wanted a standardized way for dealers to place orders when their inventories ran low.

Solution Overview

Backyard Adventures turned to Fishbowl Inventory because of its integration with QuickBooks, and because its client/server architecture allows quick communications with remote users.

Fishbowl Inventory's sales order module for Backyard Adventures lets a customer pick the basic play system they want, then the options for that system pop up in a list for the customer to choose from. As each selection is made, a new list is displayed, along with any additional costs, until the play set is completed, or "configured." A work order is then automatically generated, and the items are assembled.

To streamline the reordering process, Fishbowl Inventory designed a reorder system that allows the user to set multiple "reorder/orderup- to" points in different units of measure and with the appropriate cost for that unit of measure. This option lets dealers see the substantial savings they can realize in both time and money if they order by the pallet load instead of by individual piece.

Business Benefits

Fishbowl Inventory is easy to use and well liked by the dealers and distributors in Backyard Adventures' network. "In a year, Fishbowl Inventory has completely transformed the inventory control system in my company," says Chris Connors, Vice President of Specialty Sales and Marketing at Backyard Adventures. "It has several unique features that have helped make inventory control an easy process, including its unique confi gurator. The confi gurator makes it possible to customize a bill of materials... and allows you to customize the fi nished good for each customer."

The distributors also appreciate being able to maintain the right level of inventory--neither tying up too much capital in parts nor running short and possibly losing sales. To make maintaining inventory easier for distributors, Fishbowl Inventory helps automate reordering with reorder thresholds and quantities. And the ability to manage inventory separately for multiple locations is a time-saver.

The combination of Fishbowl Inventory and QuickBooks eliminates hours of manual entry and it has made orders more accurate. "With Fishbowl Inventory and QuickBooks, we can complete our customer jobs in less time with more accuracy," says Connors. "Our orders are complete and accurate, which saves everyone time.

Through Fishbowl Inventory's Confi guration Wizard, Fishbowl Inventory downloads all the customer, vendor, part and quantity information directly from QuickBooks. From that point forward Fishbowl Inventory handles all the sales orders, purchase orders, manufacturing, and inventory control. When the distributor or Backyard Adventures needs a change in the General Ledger, Fishbowl Inventory will write that information directly to the QuickBooks file. Fishbowl Inventory exports critical accounting data as inventory changes are made.

"Fishbowl Inventory mirrors all the logical steps in a business, from purchasing to sales to packing and shipping products, so it's easy to use," says Connors. "Fishbowl Inventory is a full-featured inventory control software system and sales package that my employees have been able to adopt in their daily routine without a lot of training."

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Contact us for more information about our inventory control program for QuickBooks. 1.800.774.7085

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