ACTIVANT INSIGHTS A N E W S L E T T E R F O R A D VA N C E D W H O L E S A L E D I S T R I B U TO R S • S P R I N G 2 0 0 8 • VO L U M E 3 / I S S U E 6

Orlando, Florida-based International Tile and Stone (ITS) has been on a roll of late. Founded in 1987, the marble tile importer and distributor has enjoyed spectacular growth over the past decade. “Sales had doubled every single year for the past eight years,” said Ron Maugeri, president. “It’s slowed down to 30 percent growth more recently, thank goodness.”

But that growth proved difficult for ITS’ existing enterprise solution to handle. “Our rapid growth caused the need for

rapid change, which caused the need for rapid information, and we couldn’t get that with our current systems,” Maugeri said. “Employees were bringing up issues with our software that were prohibiting them from being as efficient as they could be. Their jobs were changing, and the resources they had were not.”

POWER FOR THE LONG RUN

As a result, Maugeri began to explore alternatives to his nine-year-old SDI solution. “We are in the import and distribution business” – the company owns a marble quarry and factory in Turkey and ships its output to customers both in the United States and abroad – “so we needed a solution that would enable us to go from the purchase order right on to the sale with the least amount of data entry.

“The software also had to have the ability to grow with us. We did not want to find ourselves in the same position seven or eight years from now, with a solution that was hindering us from a technology perspective.”

Activant Prophet 21 offered his company exactly what he wanted: ease of use, flexibility, scalability, and the ability to quickly manage and analyze information.

One to Grow OnExecutive Spotlight on Ron Maugeri, President, International Tile and Stone

2 – Letter from the General Manager

3 – E-Commerce

4-6 – News and Notes

IN THIS ISSUE7 – Complementary Products

8 – Professional Services

9 – Upcoming Events

“LIKE WE’VE COME INTO THE 21ST CENTURY”

“Our employees like the ability Prophet 21 gives them to pull information out of the system quickly for reporting purposes,” he said. “And on the accounting side, coming from a legacy system that was not Windows-based, this is like they’ve come into the 21st century.”

Which is exactly how Controller Carol Smith characterized the effect Prophet 21 has had on ITS’ accounting side: “We felt like we moved

into the 21st century when we went with this system,” she said. One of the biggest differences she noticed was increased productivity thanks to Prophet 21’s real-time data entry and management. With their legacy solution, she said, “we had to back up data on tape every night, and the end-of-month reporting took forever. If the EOM was not on a weekend, and something happened that kept it from finishing – I’d have employees here for six hours with nothing to do because I couldn’t get them on the system; everyone had to be off it while the report ran.

“If a backup failed overnight, we couldn’t get our reps on the system while I re-ran it. The real-time capability of Prophet 21 is great.”

She also appreciates Prophet 21’s more powerful tracking capabilities. “It’s more accurate, especially when you get into the inventory side

and checking costs,” she said.

Maugeri also appreciated the support ITS received from Activant throughout the transition from SDI to Prophet 21 about five months ago. “Overall, I think it’s been a very smooth transition with very few issues, and any issues we have had have been handled professionally.”

FOR PROPHET 21

CUSTOMERS!

It seems like every time I tune into the news, there is talk of the economy. Most pundits, while not sounding alarms, are warning of a slowdown.

Some distributors are no doubt feeling the chill winds blowing from the fall-off in new home construction. Others who deal with markets and industries not affected by the slump are in better shape overall. Regardless which camp you fall into, you are probably considering new and better ways to gain even more operating efficiency, reduce costs and improve your margins. If you have been hesitant in the past to add on to your solution, or even upgrade to a completely new solution, now might be the time to reconsider. Technology that wasn’t available just a few years ago is now commonly used by distributors to increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating expenses.

Many distributors view economic downturns as the best time to upgrade their software. Not only does it position them for success when the economy improves, but it gives employees the opportunity to thoroughly train on the new software while the rest of the business is slow.

As your technology partner, Activant pledges to continue to support and develop the technology solutions you rely on. In addition, we will keep working to bring you the features and functionality that will make your business stronger regardless of what direction the economy goes.

LETTER FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER

ACTIVANT INSIGHTSSUBSCRIPTIONSTo request a subscription or to correct a contact name or address, please e-mail us at distribution@activant.com.

SUBMISSIONSWe welcome articles from readers on how their business is profiting from their solution. Suggestions on how we can improve the content of the newsletter are also welcome. Please send your comments and/or submissions to insights@activant.com, or c/o Activant, 19 West College Avenue, Yardley, PA 19067.

The Activant Insights Newsletter is a publication of Activant Solutions Inc., 19 West College Avenue, Yardley, PA 19067, 215-493-8900 or 1-800-776-7438, distribution.activant.com. This document is the property of Activant.

We have made every attempt to verify the accuracy of this publication. In the event of an error, Activant Solutions Inc., the authors, and its editors cannot accept responsibility for any liability, loss, or damage caused directly or indirectly by the information or omission of information contained herein.

© 2008, Activant Solutions Inc. All rights reserved. Activant and the Activant logo are registered trademarks and Activant Prophet 21, Activant Eclipse, Activant Prelude, and Activant Stanpak are trademarks of Activant Solutions Inc. All other company or product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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International Tile and Stone is one such business that has strengthened its operations by going live with Prophet 21, and the Executive Spotlight in this issue focuses on some of the improvements they have already noticed after five months on the solution. The News & Notes section contains information on several of the latest features being developed in response to your requests. And the B2B Seller feature on page three shows how Interstate Connecting Components builds new customer relationships by opening its virtual storefront to passers-by.

The best way to get up to speed on developments in your solution, learn new strategies for boosting your margins and improving customer service, and share best practices with your industry peers is to attend Summit 2008 at the end of this month in New Orleans. There’s still time to register in advance at distribution.activant.com/summit-p21. I look forward to seeing all of you there!

Sincerely,

Steve McLaughlinSenior Vice President & General Manager

E-COMMERCE

Turn Browsers Into BuyersRemove the Curtains from Your Online Shop Windows and Watch the Business Come In

Let’s say you’re strolling down Main Street, or through the mall. You want some new clothes but haven’t made up your mind exactly what items you want to buy, or from where. So you look at all the window displays in search of either inspiration or a

good deal.

But there’s one little problem: All the shop windows are covered with curtains. So are the doors to the stores, so you have no idea what’s inside.

You’re not likely to go into any of these stores on a whim, are you? Neither are your new customers when you keep your online storefront hidden behind a login or registration screen.

That’s right – your new customers.

“We capture 10 to 15 new customers a day through our storefront,” said Scott Jacobs, owner and president of Interstate Connecting Components, Inc.(ICC), a distributor of electronic connectors and connector accessories, whose Activant B2B Seller storefront is fully accessible without registration from the company’s home page (www.connecticc.com).

Since going live with B2B Seller six years ago, ICC has generated significant new business from visitors who browse its Web store in search of an item. Jacobs stated that the Moorestown, NJ-based distributor’s site receives around 400 unique visitors viewing over 3,000 pages per day, which means that his company gets a good chunk of new business at very low cost.

“It’s been my experience that, with the products I sell, the customers I sell to want instantaneous results. They want to know who has an item and how much it costs so they can buy it right then and have it in their hands the next day,” Jacobs said. “If I have them register first, then come back and log into the site, I’ve lost a sale and a potential customer. Our philosophy is to suck ’em in before they leave, because they can always go somewhere else.”

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Jacobs acknowledges that this strategy carries with it some risk, for if visitors can see pricing information, then so can competitors. “There’s a level of paranoia among distributors about this,” he said. “But with the B2B Seller product, we can control pricing for our non-registered and registered customers. Our non-registered customers are not always getting our best prices, but they are

getting prices that satisfy their needs.”

This strategy, he said, “hasn’t come back to haunt us. After the initial sale, we then go back and set up the customer so we can offer them our best pricing. We then continue to market ourselves to the customer.” In that way, he continued, “We can grow that one $50 order into a $10,000 account.”

ICC’s fully open Web store also means that the company can capture new business from anyone, anywhere, anytime. “We get orders at 2 a.m., 4 a.m., on the weekends, from around the world. If we required an authentication process for purchase, these orders would go elsewhere.”

Distributors who aren’t yet ready to go as far as Jacobs has can still customize B2B Seller to present an alluring face to visitors without revealing competitive information. Arbill Safety Products uses B2B Seller in this fashion, allowing visitors to browse their online store and begin the order process without logging in but keeping pricing information private until the visitor registers.

Yet if Jacobs’ experience can serve as any guide, the best way to use B2B Seller is to treat it like your physical order counter. Let your visitors know all you have to offer and make it as easy as possible for them to buy from you, and the rewards you reap will outweigh the risks you take.

Join us on May 21 for a B2B Seller Webinar. See page 9 for details.

NEWS AND NOTES

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Test the New Prophet 21 Interface at Summit 2008By Nancy Brincheiro

At Summit 2008 in New Orleans, March 26-29, Prophet 21 customers will get the opportunity to participate in usability testing of Prophet 21’s new GUI when they visit the Technology Center. Until now, the Prophet 21 user interface had not gone through an extensive redesign since the inception of the product. The latest version of PowerBuilder has given the development team the flexibility to re-engineer the interface to make it more user-friendly, reduce keystrokes, and make it more in line with standard Windows applications available today. The redesign seeks to both improve the efficiency of all end users and reduce the learning time for new users by following a familiar tree structure and standard navigation techniques.

Following a very positive response from the alpha testers, all Prophet 21 Summit attendees will be invited to test drive the interface and offer feedback on what they like and dislike about

the design.

KMC Pro – The Next Generation of Knowledge Management Center By Jim Tomasetti

Be on the lookout late this year for a new and improved Knowledge Management Center. KMC Pro incorporates the new features current users requested most often in surveys and focus groups, and it uses the Business Intelligence Graphical User Interface (BI-GUI) found on other Activant solutions.

KMC Pro improves on KMC in several other significant ways:Architecture. A streamlined structure makes the new KMC Pro database more compact and easier to load, and the replacement of the cube building process with a metadata layer that interacts with an intelligent front end further reduces solution loading time.

User interface. A more flexible, intelligent user interface gives you more control over the display of graphs and charts.

Reporting capabilities. KMC Pro can produce fiscal year and period reports, and it lets you set goals or objectives for a variety of specific

categories.

KMC Pro was designed in response to the feedback we received from you, the users. So far, users who have seen previews have said this new version addresses their concerns. At Summit 2008, you will have the chance to see whether you agree at the education session and product demonstrations that have been scheduled. If you haven’t registered for Summit yet, take a minute to do so at distribution.activant.com/summit-p21 so you can experience KMC Pro first hand.

Prophet 21’s new user interface

The financial statement tool in Prophet 21 has been redesigned so that our users can all push the “Easy” button. Columns are defined one time and accounts are assigned to rows through a pop-up that keeps track of “orphaned” newly created accounts on the Chart of Accounts. The Excel spreadsheet can be loaded directly into the Prophet 21 application, where it can be edited and exported back to Excel. Also, if you need to insert a line on your financial statement, you can now use the Excel tool “Insert”; all the rows and their assigned accounts are automatically moved down by the number of rows that you insert. And to top it off, you can double-click on a cell to view the account balances that contribute to a line and right-click on it to go to the GL Drill Down. How easy is that?

To help our customers better understand this new feature, we are offering a Summit session and a Web-Based Training class. Take a look at the new Financial Express Setup and push the “Easy” button to have financial statements that allow easy auditing.

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What’s New with Financial Statements?By Sandy Sadley

Product Management continues to reach out to customers to gain feedback on future development needs. Here are the features participants in recent focus groups told us they most wanted to see, along with their development status:

SERVICE & MAINTENANCE

• Predefined part list for items – already released • Automatic transfer of parts directly from service order – in development

PRICING SERVICE

• Catalog database in which distributors can perform pricing service builds and updates much faster and maintain only needed items in their item database – in development

JOB COSTING

• Ability to define the source location for material when using a WIP location – already released • Disposition F (“future”), allowing material to be allocated or purchased at the future expedite date – already released

LOT BILLING

• Ability to assign contracts at the lot level in Order Entry – already released • Unlimited characters in Lot Comments – already released • Ability to add components on the fly in Direct Ship Confirmation and Purchase Order Receipts – already released • Ability to pre-bill the customer without the vendor invoice – already released • Ability to reopen completed purchase orders to add additional items – already released

Still more features are either available now or in development for release soon. We’d love to hear your feedback at Summit 2008 in New Orleans, March 26-29. In addition to several development roundtables, we have scheduled a specific session, TH509 – Drive Future Product Development: Light Manufacturing, to help shape the development plans for Prophet 21 version 12.0.

Development Update: Service & Maintenance, PricingService, Job Costing and Lot Billing By Lance Brierley

NEWS AND NOTES

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New Commission Functionality Now AvailableBy Lance Brierley

In a recent point release of Prophet 21, several new features were added to allow greater flexibility when calculating sales reps’ commissions.

New features include:

• Splitting commissions for a single sale among multiple sales reps

• Adjusting commissions for late customer payments

• Adjusting commission calculation factors within a specific time period

• Building sales quotas on quarterly amounts

• Assigning commission schedules to quota breaks, and more!

Customers with existing commission schedules in Prophet 21 will not have to update the system, but all customers who use the current Commissions feature should be aware that there is now an additional step in the commissions process: Calculate Commissions must be run prior to going to the Sales Rep Commission Report. Activant recommends distributors download this feature to a pre-production environment for review prior to deploying it on their live system.

Connectivity Services to Empower DistributorsFor years, Activant has told distributors about the benefits of Trading Partner Connect (TPCx), and more than 450 distributors and 60

manufacturers have joined this Internet trading network to streamline commerce processes.

But, according to Jeff Kroeker, senior manager of TPCx, the service does significantly more than just streamline the supply chain: “It

transforms it into an efficient marketplace, allowing distributors and manufacturers to electronically exchange information in a secure

environment,” Kroeker stresses. “Most important, distributors choose with whom they conduct business and how much information to

share with each trading partner.

“Think of distributors and manufacturers as operating on islands with no bridges connecting them,” explains Kroeker. “They can’t impact

the supply chain beyond their own shores. TPCx builds bridges between distributors and their manufacturers.”

Benefits of TPCx include:

• Item synchronization – allowing members to use their own item codes during the communication process

• EDI – streamlines the transaction process by providing a portal for EDI transactions

• Marketplace – access to the online marketplace where you can establish trading partners and source stock

• Dead Stock – sell the dead stock in your warehouse and get better pricing on buying stock other distributors have labeled as inactive

• Pricing – upload price updates, thereby preventing payables issues – and margin erosion – that can arise when price increases are not

enacted in a timely manner.

COMPLEMENTARY PRODUCTS

Paper OverIntegrated Document Management Saves Forests, Space and Time

Remember the TV ad featuring kids talking about the boring things they would do when they grew up? We’re sure that nobody in your company said when they were little, “I want to file all day.”

If there is such a person at your company, you can stop reading here and suggest that person get help. The rest of you would probably welcome a solution that frees your staff from the tyranny of the file cabinet and lets them do more enjoyable things like serve your customers – while at the same time sparing acres of trees from destruction.

DocMan, the integrated document management solution for Prophet 21, lets you do all this and more. With DocMan, the forms and documents you use are instantly accessible to everyone in your company because they are stored inside your Prophet 21 solution. You can also scan in existing documents for long-term archiving and easy retrieval.

The solution has boosted productivity significantly at Interstate Connecting Components, Inc. (ICC), in Moorestown, NJ. Software Support Manager Michelle Peterson reports, “My co-workers like the power this puts at their fingertips. They no longer have to ask and wait for someone to retrieve something for them. They are capable of doing things for themselves in an efficient manner. And because of the integration with Prophet 21, they can do so in the same program they are used to using.

“We went from having two to three people filing and retrieving documents to half a person filing and everyone retrieving documents. The cost savings is great, and obviously we will save storage space by filing electronically.”

ICC went live with DocMan last year and uses it to handle all pick tickets, vendor packing slips and certifications, customer order confirmations and other documents with high retrieval rates. Barcode software included with DocMan made converting

paper documents easy; Peterson said the process of setup, testing and training staff in use of the solution took about a month. “Now, both filing and retrieving documents can be done without leaving the workstation,” she said.

Capabilities: • Scan, store and retrieve documents electronically from any workstation • Reproduce documents in original form – paper, fax, or e-mail

attachment • Create custom indices searchable by keywords

Benefits: • Reduced supply and storage space costs • Streamlined internal document management • Free staff to handle more valuable tasks than filing • Faster access to documents for everyone in your company

To find out more about DocMan, contact your Activant Direct representative at insidesales@activant.com or 1-800-776-7438, press 2.

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Call for BackupIn Case of Disaster, Count on ABS for Reinforcements

Your business could survive a disaster that destroys your entire inventory. But could it survive one that wipes out all your

information?

Absolutely not. Your customer contact data, purchase history, accounting information, and other data are crucial to your operations. Something as simple as a cup of coffee knocked over on top of your server could spell disaster if that server stores all your critical data.

That’s why it should be as natural as breathing for you to back up your data continually.

It makes even more sense for you to keep your backup data somewhere other than on your own computers so that you can quickly recover in the event of a disaster. That’s where Activant’s Automated Backup Solution (ABS) comes in. Activant ABS provides real-time, automated backup data storage in a secure remote location, giving you an extra layer of security on top of your standard backup procedures.

Every transaction you enter into your solution is automatically saved to Activant’s secure backup site, where it remains private and protected until you need it. When you need it, one call to our support team gets you back in business — your backup data can be restored to your server or copied to a production site as your situation dictates.

All you need to take advantage of Activant ABS is a supported VPN device. We take care of the rest.

To find out more about ABS, visit distribution.activant.com, e-mail pss@activant.com or call 1-800-776-7438 and press 3.

Share the KnowledgeHelp Your Users Help Themselves Solve Their IT Problems

Your IT staff supports your Prophet 21 users by turning to our online Support Center, which includes a searchable Solutions Database of articles and answers to frequently asked questions. But your staff not only asks questions — it also has to answer them, and not all of them involve your Activant solution directly:

How do I set up a meeting in Microsoft Outlook? How do I retrieve an electronic fax? What is a PivotTable, and how do I create one?

Your IT staff can answer these questions faster and easier by using the Knowledge Base functionality now included with Activant’s IT Help Desk service.

Our IT Help Desk service lets your tech support staff offer your users the same easy-to-use, highly efficient interface that we offer your tech staff. The interface is customizable to your firm’s needs. Your IT staff can fill the Knowledge Base with files and documentation that reflect your own users’ chief issues and problems.

Offering your own end users a custom-tailored Knowledge Base reduces the demands placed on your tech support staff and saves time for everyone. The IT Help Desk and Knowledge Base are included with your Gold or higher level support package; Silver support level customers may implement the service on a

subscription basis.

For pricing and implementation information, contact your Professional Services Sales representative or e-mail pss@activant.com. Your IT staff will thank you for it.

Share the KnowledgeHelp Your Users Help Themselves Solve Their IT Problems

VISIT ACTIVANT AT…

NISSCO Annual National Buying ConferenceSandestin, FL • March 25 to 28

IMARK ShowcaseRosemont, IL • April 4 to 6

NAHAD Annual Meeting and ConventionWilliamsburg, VA • April 5 to 9

WAFDPhoenix, AZ • April 7 to 8

ProLink Annual MeetingPoint Clear, AL • April 7 to 9

NFDA 2008 Annual Spring MeetingScottsdale, AZ • April 9 to 11

Network Services Company Annual Supplier TradeshowHollywood, FL • April 13 to 16

FPDA 2008 Annual MeetingTampa, FL • April 27 to 30

NDC International 2008Nashville, TN • April 27 to 29

CoveringsOrlando, FL • April 29 to May 2

IMCO National Convention 2008Daytona Beach, FL • May 3 to 7

NAED National Electrical Leadership SummitSan Francisco, CA • May 17 to 21

CribMaster User ConferenceBuford, GA • May 20 to 23

NIFS EastColumbus, OH • May 20 to 21

ISA Industrial Supply Conference &Trade FairChicago, IL • June 1 to 3

FREE WEBINARS

Attend a FREE webinar to explore Activant’s technology, services, and expertise in your industry to help you increase sales, improve customer service, and reduce operating costs. Register online or call 1-800-776-7438, press 1.

Streamlining Service and Maintenance in Activant Prophet 21

May 1, 2008, 2:00 p.m. ET

Join us and learn how you can connect all aspects of service work, from parts and labor to contracts and schedules with Prophet 21’s Service and Maintenance module. We’ll discuss how to maintain warranty information and preventative maintenance schedules, manage service schedules and technician availability, track serial numbers from point of sale through the life of an item, and much more. Register online at distribution.activant.com/service

Increasing Market Share with Activant B2B Seller

May 21, 2008, 2:00 p.m. ET

Join us to explore B2B Seller, a fully-hosted and integrated Web-based storefront that of-fers the tools you need to service customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With B2B Seller, you can expand your geographic reach and increase market share, without hiring dozens of additional employees or building new warehouses. Register online at distribution.activant.com/b2bsellerwebinar