Copahome is an independent, family-owned company in Kortrijk, Belgium, specializing in the design and production of sustainable, luxurious window blinds, shades, and curtains. Its products are sold through a professional dealer network across the Benelux and France.
To gain more control over product changes and dealer ordering, Copahome moved from a legacy AS/400 ordering environment to an integrated configuration, commerce, and ERP workflow built around Experlogix CPQ, Sana Commerce, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
- Improve the speed and accuracy of dealer orders.
- Enable dealers to configure, quote, and order products independently online.
- Automatically generate production routings and bills of materials.
- Maintain one configuration model for dealer-facing and internal use.
Challenge
Copahome previously used an AS/400 system to place orders. Whenever a product changed or a new product was introduced, an external consultant had to update the catalog.
The process was costly and time-consuming, and the manual dependency could lead to faulty orders. Copahome wanted greater control over product changes and expansions while making communication between product management and the order system more direct.
Product and catalog changes required support from an outside consultant.
Changes and new-product additions took time to move into the ordering environment.
The legacy process could result in faulty orders that required additional checking.
Copahome wanted its own team to manage product changes and expansions directly.
In 2014, Copahome decided to move to a CPQ solution combined with Sana's e-commerce solution on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The company also hired a modeler with in-depth knowledge of its product portfolio, giving product managers a direct connection to someone who understood both the products and the ordering system.
Solution
More than 1,000 Copahome dealers were given access to an online order platform built around CPQ. The portal was customized to match Copahome's corporate identity so the dealer experience maintained the same visual identity as the company's website.
Once logged in, dealers could independently build a quotation and order products. CPQ continuously evaluated product-choice possibilities, calculated the impact on pricing, and showed the impact on the visualization.
Dealers can configure products, compile quotations, and submit orders through the online platform.
CPQ evaluates product choices while showing their impact on pricing and visualization.
Sana Commerce handles payment after the dealer reaches an agreement and submits the order.
CPQ generates production information in Dynamics NAV, including routings and bills of materials.
The dealer logs into the portal and selects the required product configuration.
Product-choice logic, pricing impact, and visualization are evaluated during configuration.
Once the dealer agrees to the configuration, the product can be ordered and Sana Commerce handles payment.
CPQ generates the routings and bills of materials required in Dynamics NAV for production.
For current manufacturers connecting configuration with ERP production processes, learn more about BOM and ERP handoff with Experlogix CPQ.
Result
Combining Dynamics NAV, Sana Commerce, and Experlogix CPQ gave Copahome one integrated environment for dealer ordering and production.
Copahome's internal configurator and external dealer portal use one model. The company only needs to update and adapt one environment, while the user interface can be tailored to the needs of dealers or internal staff.
In the source case study, more than 1,000 dealers were delivering 66% of Copahome's orders online, with orders reported as 99.9% correct. The additional check and work-order preparation that had previously been required were no longer necessary.
Order-to-production time was reduced by three to four days, improving delivery terms. Lead time, which had previously been calculated in weeks, could often be calculated in days.
The dealer network shifted a significant portion of ordering into the online platform.
Copahome reported that dealer orders were 99.9% correct.
Order-to-production time was reduced by three to four days.
Routings and bills of materials are generated within the integrated environment.
Copahome can independently make small updates or add entirely new product lines.
Standard online orders no longer require the same checking and work-order preparation.
“Our more than 1,000 dealers now deliver 66% of our orders online, and these orders are 99.9% correct. It is no longer necessary to do a check or work order preparation. The order-to-production time has been reduced by three to four days, leading to better delivery terms.”
Copahome also gained more direct control over the configuration environment. Changes, small updates, and entirely new product lines could be made immediately, helping dealers process orders more quickly while allowing Copahome to manage CPQ internally.
See how Copahome connected dealer configuration, online ordering, payment, and production in one integrated workflow.
