ASSA ABLOY France produces armored and entry doors for residential housing and supports an international retailer network through Points Forts Fichet.
To replace product rules embedded directly in ASP web pages and create a stronger connection between configuration and ERP, ASSA ABLOY France implemented Experlogix CPQ.
- Reduced time creating configurations.
- Increased configuration flexibility.
- Improved access to current configurator information.
- Cost savings.
- Improved sales results.
- Improved sales efficiency.
- Significant return on investment reported by the customer story.
Challenge
ASSA ABLOY France supported a large configuration workload across its door business and retailer network. The company was creating approximately 2,600 configurations each month.
Product configuration, however, depended on dedicated web pages where the rules were implemented directly in ASP code. If ASSA ABLOY France modified a product line, only the subcontractor hosting the site could make the corresponding configuration changes.
That process was slow, introduced risk for errors, and left the company reacting to problems rather than managing product changes proactively.
Product rules were implemented directly in ASP pages rather than managed through a dedicated configuration environment.
Product-line changes required the subcontractor maintaining the configuration website.
Retailers had to follow a mandatory sequence of questions based on dependencies.
The previous configuration process could not show customers what the configured product would look like.
The Movex ERP configurator did not contain all the rules defining the company's product range.
Users could see the official product range but sometimes had to make best guesses about options and variations.
Back-office and production teams could receive orders that could not actually be manufactured.
Documents generated for customers did not always contain the latest product information.
Solution
In December 2009, ASSA ABLOY France stopped using dedicated configuration web pages and replaced them with a standalone edition of Experlogix CPQ.
The standalone solution generated exchange files for Movex and helped prepare the website for the company's transition to Microsoft Dynamics AX.
When Dynamics AX was implemented in 2010, the CPQ environment could continue supporting the website while also working with Dynamics AX. That allowed ASSA ABLOY France to use CPQ across the web-based retailer experience and ERP without rebuilding the configuration logic around separate systems.
CPQ supported both the standalone web configuration environment and the Dynamics AX ERP workflow.
The connected environment enabled sales orders to be created directly within Dynamics AX.
ASSA ABLOY France could make updates and modifications internally and keep information aligned across both systems.
The website and Dynamics AX could remain on different servers while CPQ connected configuration information across them.
Retailers begin with the appropriate ASSA ABLOY product range.
Users configure specific products through a guided process without a mandatory question sequence.
Configuration checks prompt the user when a selected option is not feasible.
Configuration data can feed the Dynamics environment and support creation of the sales order.
The same principle continues in today's Experlogix CPQ integration with Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management, where validated configurations can move downstream as structured ERP-ready information.
Result
ASSA ABLOY France's retailer network gained a web-based configuration experience in which users could select a product range and configure specific products for customers through a guided process.
Retailers were no longer restricted to the previous mandatory sequence of questions. Sales administration users gained the same benefit, while both standalone CPQ users and Dynamics-connected users could work with current product information.
Retailers can configure products through a guided process rather than following a rigid sequence.
CPQ prompts users when a selected option is not feasible before the order reaches production.
Retailers, sales administration, and ERP-connected users can work from aligned configuration information.
ASSA ABLOY France can manage configuration updates internally instead of routing routine changes through the website subcontractor.
Back-office and production teams no longer face the same stream of infeasible configurations reaching downstream processes.
Configuration information can support direct sales-order creation in the ERP environment.
The R&D department enters new products and product improvements into the configuration environment.
The IT department manages the static and dynamic data supporting the system.
“Building, maintaining, and changing configurations can be handled by the company's internal resources much more efficiently and are available in record time to all users. Teams can take a proactive approach to issues and react quickly if major problems arise.”
By separating product configuration rules from the old ASP-based website logic, ASSA ABLOY France gained a more maintainable configuration environment while giving retailers and internal teams more reliable access to product information.
See how ASSA ABLOY France connected retailer product configuration with its ERP environment while improving flexibility, maintainability, and access to current product information.
