Summary
• Wolf Systems introduced the Wolf Management System this year.
• It integrates Wolf’s design and management software.
• It was developed through consultation with a customer focus group.
• The company’s next major software update will meet EC5 requirements.

Wolf Systems is making some bold claims about its new Wolf Management System (WMS). “We’re confident this is not just the most sophisticated and comprehensive management application we’ve ever produced, but also the most comprehensive management software available to timber engineering manufacturers today,” said sales and marketing director Karl Foster.

The software, which supersedes the WolfPro management software and WolfTrack scheduling tool, brings the whole process from quotations, designing, and ordering, through to production planning, deliveries, business reporting and cost monitoring into one application.

“Integrating design and management software means if our customers have WMS, they don’t need any other Wolf software,” said Mr Foster.

It also means that data needs to be entered only once, saving time and reducing the risk of errors.

Customer consultation

Rolled out across the UK and Ireland since the start of the year, WMS’s functionality was developed through consultation with Wolf’s customers – something the company always does, but this time it was more formal.

“We created a software focus group and had regular meetings about how WMS should be developed,” said Mr Foster. “We started with a blank sheet of paper and let them throw all their ideas onto that and then we built WMS around those ideas.”

One requirement that quickly became apparent was that managers wanted more control over their business, to ensure that systems were being followed and opportunities weren’t being missed. “They wanted their staff to work in a more methodical way to ensure that the boxes were ticked, the ‘Is’ were dotted and the ‘Ts’ were crossed,” said Mr Foster. “With management software, incomplete data invariably affects the results.”

Wolf’s response was to provide a web-based program that could be accessed anywhere, using a laptop, PDA or mobile phone: “An issue with previous management software was that it was site specific,” said Mr Foster. “When we developed WMS we had in mind companies that had multiple manufacturing sites. The idea of the head office having access to all the data from all the branches in one place was very important.”

A system of prompts, such as reminders to send out a quote, provides further control, and ensures that potential business is not lost.

“Once something is entered into the system, reminders are given at each stage so companies don’t miss an opportunity, jobs don’t get lost or disappear into the ether,” said Mr Foster.

Management reporting

The integrated system also provides management reporting more quickly and more accurately. “Because everything’s integrated it’s pulling the information from just one source,” he said. And the information, he added, can be displayed in various forms from simple graphs to complete customer analysis, and the detail depends on what the user requests.

“It’s a case of what the company wants, we can provide,” said Mr Foster. “We can look at the number of enquiries received, the number of quotes produced, the number of quotes by designer, hit rates, how successful the quotes were, and analysis of how many quotes have been sent and how many orders received.”

The latter function is particularly important in the current recession and resulted from the focus group’s feedback. “A lot of manufacturers have said they’re busier now with quotations than before and that seems to come from the fact that customers are shopping around more. So they can quickly look at a customer’s analysis and see that, if they haven’t had many orders, perhaps they’re just using them as a pricing exercise,” said Mr Foster.

WMS may be Wolf’s most notable software development in the past year, but the software department in the company’s Coventry office works constantly to improve its software and to launch three major updates a year.

Most changes are in response to customers’ requests but the next major update will be to fulfill the requirements of Eurocode 5. The new code of practice comes into effect next March and Wolf is now in the final testing phase to ensure that all its design software complies.