Lumber & Wood Companies

OmniAdministrator is very well suited to help manage lumber and forestry companes. Actually few general software companies care to tackle the inventory challenges of the lumber industry, which is first and foremost centered around how to efficiently tally lumber bundles and then keeping track of individual lumber bundles in your inventory. OmniAdministrator has actually taken this process further by including cost tracking of each batch and bundle in your inventory. Furthermore, the actually mobility of the access to the databased allows you to provide limited access to your export agents which might allow you to get more control of the sales process. All the other general administrative functions are useful as well to help run your company more efficiently.

Sales effort

For the lumber industry our full integration of lumber inventory provide your sales team with access to:
• Bundle export tallies.
• Picture of bundles (if you upload these during the process)
• Ability to specific certain bundles for certain orders (increased value to customers and maybe your price/profit as well).
• Giving sales agent (even overseas agents) limited access and saves lot of time.
• Detail cost tracking through batches and each bundle help you understand you profit picture.
• Understand estimated profits per bundle can help you sales team maximize profit and not just revenue.

Keeping track of your sales contacts and sales opportunities, and tracking communication history is very important in helping your sales team service your existing and new customers. Now, there are several off-the-shelf software packages that can do a great job for each person on your sales team. But you should think beyond, way beyond, just the performance of each individual sales person. OmniAdministrator's sales assisting features help you take a team approach to selling. The sales person is key, but in his or her absence other team members can help the customer when they know the order and communication history. Think of it as creating continuity in
customer relationships irregardless of the absense of a certain sales/service person or even the retirement of a sales person. Since all the sales communication, sales leads and prospects have been recorded and stored on a web-based system you can easily get a new sales person to replace another. But it goes even further. Imagine making all email, faxes, letters, order details, sales leads, and other notes from each contact available to the sales team with the click of a mouse button from anywhere and anytime. This means your traveling sales team or overseas agents can access and update information, plus send emails from an internet connected laptop or
handheld PDA/smartphone. As soon as they generate an email, it will be automatically stored under the appropriate contact and immediately become part of the corporate records. After the email is sent from a PDA, the office sales team can see it and service the customer should he call there. Furthermore, when an email comes in the system looks for a match and automatically places it under
the customer record. IT IS ALL ABOUT SHARING CRUCIAL INFORMATION EFFICIENTLY AND EASILY.

Customer Lifecycle Management

This is a very simple concept. Our system allows you to keep track of all customer communication, order information, and other notes from the first time the potential customer contacts your company to the present. It then allows you to keep track of how the sales lead actually develops into an order or maybe many orders. As the relationship with a customer matures, he may need more services. Since OmniAdministrator stores as much historical information as is entered by the user, all initial customer contact and order information allows your service team to provide better customer service more efficiently; thereby saving you money. As you ponder this, you will realize how this actually improves sales and thereby improves your bottom line. Furthermore for a Lumber company we have features that allow you to understand the customer purchasing habits are very helpful. You sales team can make links between the contact point (customer) and various items, such as 4/4 White Oak FAS, and how often they buy. Then if you have too much 4/4 White Oak FAS you can go and get a list of the customers that purchase this on a regular basic and begin calling them. Building the database takes time, but once in place is a great tool. Plus your company own this instead of residing inside the mind of the sales person where it may get lost if he or she leaves the company. We are sure you can see how this will benefit you.

Order handling

Our order handling feature is a simple and easy way to keep every department; from procurement, manufacturing, and sales, to shipping informed about the progress of large order and spare parts sales. For a lumber company you will probably have the shipping manager enter the ship date for the order, which keep the sales person informed. During the preparation process you could have the following production stages:
• In kiln (we all know we sell some the kiln material before it comes out).
• KD on sticks (This is out of the kiln but waiting to be graded and export bundled).
• In inventory (The order is available and only need to be staged for shipping).
• Staged (The order has been staged and shipping arranged.
• Shipped (That explains itself.
Naturally, you can customize these production stages for each sales group. It often depend on the size of the company how many stage you will be using, if any.

If your company also produces finished components, such as dimensions, flooring, firewood, or similar items, then our Item Inventory will be very useful. This is also integrated with the order handling. Your sales and shipping departmarts will benefit from an order handling system that helps keep everyone informed about the details including tracking information so you can answer customers questions in an instant. It also provides you with an order history for each customer. We all know the situation where a customer calls about an unreceived order. In many companies the service or sales person calls shipping, who then spends time tracking the shipping documents. The calls are then reversed and the service or sales person gets back to the customer.This is all a lot of wasted time and resources. With OmniAdministrator the person getting the call can see the ship date right away, then using the tracking information find out what happened to the shipment, which hopefully is that "John Doe" signed for the package "yesterday" in the "morning". Basically, detailed information about orders and shipment helps save you time and resources while providing your customers with better service faster. In addition, instant cost/expense calculations can be very useful to begin gauging your sales force by the profit they generate instead of just sales volume. Learn more about profit based commisions.

Lumber Inventory handling with cost analysis for each item

There are actually four different types of inventory systems built into OmniAdministrator; but for the lumber industry only two, maybe three, are applicable. The first system is a full features lumber inventory system with computerized tallying and details inventory information of each bundle with optional picture(s) attached.

Major features of the lumber inventory

• Multiple locations are very easy, since it is web-based.
• Computerized tallying using PDA/handheld computers and office computer.
• Attach pictures with each tally.
• Group bundles in batches for tracking purposes.
• Expense tracking through bundles and batches (As you transfer bundles to new batches the costs are tracked).
• Sales team can view tallies and bundle pictures on their computer.
• Allow agents or even good customers limited access to your inventory.

Basically it does all the standard functions you have seen on other lumber inventory systems. What sets us apart is that we are web-based, which means we handle multiple locations better than others and allow more people instant access to this information without having to call the office and ask for faxed copies of tally sheets. Furthermore, the cost tracking is normally only found on very large and expensive software solutions, whereas OmniAdministrator is based on a low Monthly fee.

Item Inventory handling with cost analysis for each item

Another types of inventory systems built into OmniAdministrator; but for the heavy equipment industry only two are applicable. The first system is the traditional inventory system, or the Item Inventory, which covers regular items. This inventory collects all the normal information, such as Type, Model, Description, Price (including upto 5 quantity discount levels), and so forth. However, what makes our inventory system better for equipment manufacturing and dealers are these additional features:
• Costing for materials and labor to estimate gross profit.
• Estimated overhead costing to estimate net profit.
• Costing linked to Procurement which updates the profit estimates in real time automatically.
• Uploaded pictures of the product.
• Uploaded specification sheets.
• Notes can be attached to each items about the manufacturing process, quality control procedures and more.
• Inventory items can be automatically linked to your e-store.

All these features provide you with a more usable management tool, since it helps you track your potential profits for various items and orders. We believe that many businesses will benefit from moving to profit-based commissions. This will normally lead your sales team to optimize profit first and then sales, which we can all agree that profit in the end is more important than revenue.

Unique Item Inventory for your used equipment

Another type of inventory system is the Unique Item Inventory, or Auction Inventory, which really means that you have unique items for sale, such as veneer logs. You can add pictures, description and any other detailed information you would like. You can even provide limited access your regular veneer log customers, so they may bid of the price on the best log or eventually sell directly to the overseas customers. One-time inventory items are handled very differently than any other inventory. When adding the actual Auction item to your inventory, OmniAdministrator allows for a date to be entered as the deadline for accepting bids (to increase the price) either online or by phone. All this may help you obtain higher prices for your best logs.

Procurement system integrated into sales inventory

The benefit of this will depend on the size of your company. However, starting to build an extensive database of all your procurement
needs will help you hand over this process to others, instead of being the stumbling block for growth. Actually, if you have this procurement database in place you will have these standard benefits:
• Monitor all purchases from multiple team members.
• Track receiving of purchases.
• Track payments of purchases.
• Insure new team members can easily take over duties.

Using OmniAdministrator gives you even more benefits for your purchase department.
• More team members and/or managers can monitor purchases.
• All purchase orders can happen from any location and still function as one system.
• Financial integration of payments and payables.
• Keep track of price changes.
• Integrate price changes into sales inventory.
• Real-time adjustments to estimated profits on your sales inventory.
• Each item in your inventory can be linked to each procurement item needed to make this product/service.

OmniAdministrator's procurement system is uniquely designed to help small to mid-size companies handle costing and profit
estimates for a large number of products. This is due to the innovative way we link sales inventory to the procurement, because most
small to mid-size companies normally recalculate profitability when they think costs have increased. With OmniAdministrator this
happens continually everytime the cost of parts and labor expenses change. This means you know when profit is squeezed on any
of your products instantly and you save time having to redo your costing calculations periodically. This is revolutionary.

Virtual phone system (VoIP based)

OmniAdministrator can offer you an integrated virtual phone system (some call it a virtual PBX). This will basically move your
current office phone system to being totally VoIP-based with many benefits. Naturally, after an initial minimum investment towards new VoIP enabled phones, you will probably save up to 80% on your current phone bill depending on which plan you currently have. However, there are many more reasons to move towards a virtual phone system:
• Transfer calls anywhere, including cell phones easily.
• Nearly unlimited incoming and outgoing lines on the same phone number.
• Professional phone system with automated attendant, if desired.
• Have calls ring multiple extensions at the same time. (Sales call may ring all sales assistants at the same time).
• Multiple locations and home offices integrated seamlessly.
• Computer softphone easily integrated for traveling personnel.
• Very low investment, just the cost of VoIP enabled phones. (about $40-$100 per phone).

Imagine upgrading your phone system for 20 people for about $1000 to $1500 and then save between 20-80% on your monthly
phone bill while getting the lastest technology at your fingertips.

OmniAdministrator is not a phone company, but we do offer an integrated phone system. To pass the real low costs on to you we can work with your preferred VoIP supplier. The rates from these VoIP wholesellers is often as low as 1.39 cents per minute in the continenal US. We setup the phone network and the phones over the internet for a low fee per phone while you watch it happening on your computer. Then we charge a simple per minute handling fee to cover our cost of keeping a server operational and for data transfer. Normally this is about 0.58 cents per minute. This means that your actual cost per minute is less than 2 cents, in most cases! What a bargain while having put forth a minimum investment for all the latest features.

Financial integration

The financial integration is probably one of the greatest benefits of moving your company to OmniAdministrator. Many small to
mid-size equipment companies need different accounting setups. With OmniAdministrator you can choose to run your  purchases/payables and invoicing/recievable as either Accrued or Cashflow-based. Actually, purchases/payables can be setup as
Accrued while Invoicing/recievable can be Cashflow-based. This scenario is especially beneficial for companies who invoice on
odd payment schedules; such as 30% on order, 55% on delivery, and 15% on project completion.

Other very important benefits

• Managers, Executives, and Owners have instant and real-time access to financial data from anywhere and anytime.
• You can limit access for each user.
• Even with multiple locations your organization can act seamlessly together.
• You can setup individual profit centers or cells for managers getting information directly from the accounting system.
• You can divide the work into recievables, payables, and finances without giving access to all.
• You can scan all your documentation and attach this to each financial transaction.
• You can integrate your CPA more efficiently into your daily activities.

Basically, any company benefits by using the financial integrations, but it is especially advantageous when you have multiple financial partners (even silent partners), multiple locations, and traveling managers/executives/owners.