Sales personnel have access to data from other functional departments allowing them to predict when the customer can receive his or her goods. If the customer needs a customized product, the systems will predict when the materials required for production will arrive and what are the costs involved. It an item is out of stock, the systems determine when the product will become available and if it is currently at another location. This type of information is only available by the sharing and strategic use of data from other divisions. The salesperson requires information about customer credit, billing, and payment.
Accounting receives data on sales, commissions, and expenses.
This relationship not only increases financial accuracy and decreases order processing time, it helps to increase the quality of service available to customers. W.R. Grace and Company One successful implementation of a sales logistics enterprise resource planning system can by seen at W.R. Grace and Company. Grace is a chemical and materials company had major problems with intersystem communication and foreign currencies. Once implementation began, Grace decided to add the sales and distribution and production and materials management modules as well. In justifying the overall costs of the entire implementation, Grace developed two models.