Business Goals of Perfection Learning
Perfection Form Company, a pioneer in educational publishing since 1926, embarked on a journey to align its operational capabilities with advanced technologies. In 1981, Perfection Form Company rebranded as Perfection Learning Corporation. The company has a rich legacy of delivering valuable education solutions like Perfection Next, an online platform designed to enhance students’ dynamic learning experience. Today, PLC is known for its dedication to serving the educational needs of students and teachers.
Perfection Learning’s primary objective was to achieve full automation across all their business operations by reducing manual effort and increasing operational efficiency. Their key goals included automation of critical processes like shipping and handling calculations, customization of customer- and vendor-facing documents as per standards, and enhancement of reporting capabilities to monitor the sales performance and revenue against KPIs. PLC aimed to enhance multi-year order management via timely notifications and streamlined customer communication using automated emails and cover pages. Additionally, Perfection Learning successfully implemented NetSuite’s SuiteSuccess and wanted to leverage the NetSuite platform to its full potential.
Challenges Faced by PLC
- Inefficient data synchronization between NetSuite and Magento
- Lack of customisation in business documents like purchase orders, invoices
- Complex reporting to track sales and revenue
- Manual calculation of shipping and handling costs
- Management of multi-year orders
- Updating timely sales reps’ notifications
How NeosAlpha Helped?
1. Product Synchronization (NetSuite to Magento)
Required one-way integration of product data flow between NetSuite and Magento for various item types.
Solution: NeosAlpha customized the NetSuite integration based on different product types of PLC. This integration ensured the product data flow smoothly from NetSuite to Magento with updated items of user event scripts.
- Technologies: Custom Scripts: User Event – Before submit & After submit scripts for item types.
RESTlets & Boomi: Facilitated seamless synchronization and ensured data integrity.
2. Customer and Vendor-Facing Documents
PLC required customization in their Purchase Orders, quotes and invoices to ensure compliance with business rules.
Solution: NeosAlpha used custom scripts and HTML to customize the standard PDFs in NetSuite. This allowed specific fields and calculations to be displayed in PLC required standard.
- Technologies: Custom and standard fields, User Event Scripts, and HTML for PDF modifications.
3. Sales Reporting and Revenue Tracking
PLC wanted detailed reports to track actual sales and expected revenue (from quotes) against their KPIs.
Solution: To blend invoice and quote records, we created custom datasets and saved searches. With the help of this PLC generated a custom workbook within NetSuite to get a graphical summary of sales performance and expected revenue.
- Technologies: Custom datasets, Saved Searches, and Workbook reporting.
4. Shipping and Handling Charges (Phase 1-3)
Phase 1 – Shipping and Handling Calculations: PLC needed a solution for calculating shipping and handling charges and activation fees on Quotes and Sales Orders.
Solution: To automate the calculation of shipping, handling charges, and activation fees, we developed custom fields and scripts. We ensured that the scripts were applied correctly on quotes, sales orders and subsequent invoices.
Phase 2 – Shipping Method Defaults: Automation in shipping method selection based on shipment weight was required.
Solution: NetSuite consultants implemented a custom script to automatically select the shipping method on quotes and sales orders while allowing for manual input for immediate delivery weight.
Phase 3 – Real-Time Shipping Charges: PLC needed real-time visibility of shipping charges before saving transactions.
Solution: To get the real-time shipping charges calculation based on the shipping method, we added a custom button to the sales transaction screen. This ensured the pre-decided shipping charges were not altered concerning freight provider costs.
- Technologies: Custom fields, User Event Scripts, Client Scripts, and Saved Searches.
5. Multi-Year Order Notification
PLC had multi-year contracts with schools for recurring deliveries. Sales reps needed advance updates for an upcoming shipment for better customer engagement.
Solution: We developed a MapReduce script combined with saved searches to send periodic email notifications to sales reps about upcoming shipments. This automated process ensured timely communication with customers, improving service and sales rep efficiency.
- Technologies: MapReduce Script, Saved Searches.
6. Document Customizations
Checks and Payment Vouchers: We modified the PDF templates for checks and payment vouchers with details like bill information and check numbers for transparent transactions with vendors.
Customer Statements: The customer statement PDFs were customized to align with PLC’s specific business standards, using advanced HTML coding for a professional appearance.
- Technologies: HTML, Custom PDF templates, User Event Scripts.
Key Technologies Used
- NetSuite Integration(NS): For ERP management, custom scripting, and data management.
- Magento: eCommerce platform used for order management and customer interaction.
- RESTlets: Used to enable communication and data exchange between NS and Magento.
- Custom Scripts (User Event & Client Scripts): Automated data handling and process flows.
Results
Our comprehensive NetSuite integration and customization solution transformed PLC’s operations by
- One-way integration between NetSuite and Magento enhanced product data accuracy for seamless product sync.
- Business documents like purchase orders, quotes, and invoices were customized to meet PLC’s business requirements.
- The automation of the shipping charge calculation process enhanced order processing by reducing manual intervention.
- Sales reps enhanced customer satisfaction and retention by getting notified of upcoming shipments.
- Custom reporting provided valuable insights and helped PLC to analyze sales performance and make data-driven decisions.
