In our series of posts with concrete examples of PowerApps that we have made in different customers, we publish this second article. We will pixelate the data that may be sensitive since the Apps we are going to discuss are currently in use in different customers.
Today we will focus on the use of the Transport PowerApps from the point of view of those who order from the freight exchange. The users are both sales reps and buyers of the company.
In these examples, the App is connected to Microsoft’s Dynamics AX 2012 ecosystem. It does not matter your ERP or backend management systems for these cases. The solutions detailed in these articles can be developed against any other management tool.
At the end of this article, we remind you the requirements to work with PowerApps.
PowerApps for transportation management
When your company relies on external carriers, transport management must be centralized in order to optimize costs. On the one hand, sales people need to specify and contract the transport of their customers’ goods, and on the other hand, buyers also indicate their needs for the collection of materials and delivery to the warehouses. In addition to all this, there is also the transfer of material from one warehouse to another.
The cargo department is faced with a multitude of transport requests and very little time to manage all this information and provide an effective and efficient solution. The requests to this department usually arrive through different channels (direct phone calls, e-mails, WhatsApp messages, etc. ….) and do not always contain all the necessary information for processing. However, all of them are usually urgent in nature. It is up to the cargo department to collect the information, organize it in a single document to be processed, with distinctions by delegation, origin, destination, etc.
In another Revertis blog post, we will detail the App created for the Cargo department that receives all this information and organizes itself to manage it.
With PowerApps Revertis has created an easy to use application. The commercial can request and consult the freight in a quick way. From his own phone, tablet or pc, the salesman can access it.
With the transport request form, we make sure that all the necessary data is complete, taking advantage of the fact that the App is connected to the customer’s ERP. In this way, we can display the customer’s name, delivery address and Tax data retrieved directly from the ERP. The salesperson or the buyer does not waste time communicating information that the company already has in its ERP. On the other hand, with the App we make sure that all the necessary information to make the shipment is included: Origin, destination, product, number of pallets, etc.
Example of PowerApps Transport Management
Let’s see a concrete example. The employee logs on and from the first screen, identifies the type of service he/she is requesting:
In this example we are going to simulate the request for a transport to pick up a purchased merchandise and deliver it to a delegation of the company.
By accessing the “NEW PURCHASE” menu, you will see the reference of the products sorted in an optimized way for the buyer.
Once the item has been selected, a screen appears where the sales representative indicates the quantity and enters the origin and destination of the goods. The sales representative can select between the different delivery addresses enabled in the ERP for the customer or the supplier, depending on whether it corresponds to a purchase or a sale transaction. As you would expect, you can save the request in draft status to supplement it later.
For the process of transferring goods between warehouses, the method is even simpler. You only have to indicate the warehouse of origin and the warehouse of destination.
When the request is complete, the sales representative can send the transport request to the freight department, who will manage it and include it in the corresponding transport order, contracting the carrier’s service and optimizing this request together with other possible requests from other sales representatives.
At any time, the sales representative can check the status of all his transport requests by accessing the “List of requests” menu. Here, the sales representative will see the current status of treatment by the freight department of each of his freight requests and will be able to keep his customers informed at all times, without having to call the freight department to obtain the information.
With this App, we manage to channel the origin of the requests and reduce calls and messages between the company’s staff. The App forces the commercial to provide all the necessary information for the cargo department, in a comfortable, easy, fast and complete way for the overall management of the company.
In another future post of our blog we will see how from PowerApps, we capture the information of the transport requests and how the freight department can optimize resources, having a global and centralized view of all requests in order to efficiently optimize the transport contracting. By working in a single global Microsoft tool, the freight team has a complete view of all the freight to be carried out and can perform its work in an optimal way and with fewer interruptions and incidents.
Do not hesitate to consult Revertis for the realization of your work Apps. Our extensive experience in the ERP sector supports us in the creation of specific Apps that allow you to optimize your company’s resources.
Requirements for working with PowerApps
The first thing you need is to have Microsoft 365 accounts. It doesn’t matter what type of license you use for office automation. Power App licenses are in addition to the user’s licenses. Today (09 2022) there are three main economic models for using Power App.
- Per Application Plan
- Per User Plan
- Pay-per-use plan.
Secondly, we need a terminal to use the application. This terminal can be a desktop PC, a tablet or the phone itself.
Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.