Interfacing Legacy Software with eCommerce

Hector Russell Ltd, a Scottish company specialising in the sale of traditional Highland produce: whiskey, kilts and souvenirs, has collaborated with the School of Computing to give it a competitive edge. The 2 year KTP Programme developed solutions to assist the company in three key areas that were identified by senior management as having strategic importance for the company:

• Data Communications, Data Capture and Usage
• Management Information Reporting
• E-commerce and web based marketing.

Interfacing modern web-based technologies with the company's legacy Midas database of stock, the system developed also features a specially designed eCommerce website which targets the large North American sector of the market for Hector Russell's products. Two recent graduates from the School's Computing programme worked on the project, funded by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme, and supervised by staff from the School of Computing.

The main work done during the KTP programme was the development of a management information system that integrated and enhanced the company's IT services, providing a web based portal which extends the capabilities and greatly improves the performance of the company's "legacy" stock control system, which is at the heart of the company's operations.

The work done has transformed the way the company operates in terms of stock control, order management, customer relations management and the use of IT in general as the primary way of communicating and disseminating information through out the company.

The system developed is a management information system that handles and tracks stock, orders and customer details, providing a flexible but secure access through a web-based portal. It produces a variety of customised management information reports that are used to make operational, tactical and strategic decisions. In addition, the project provides a secure e-commerce website promoting and marketing Scottish products in an international marketplace.

The project has helped streamline the way the company operates, reducing expensive local stock holding, minimising stock movement between branches and allowing key employees to telework from home. The work undertaken as part of the KTP Programme has resulted in substantial savings and efficiency gains in stock control and sales order management, providing an estimated £166K p.a. gains in profit before tax.