Case Study on Tradelink

About The Customer

Tradelink Direct is a world class windows and doors manufacturer, with one of the widest ranges of PVC-U and aluminium windows, doors, sealed units and conservatories in the UK. Precision engineering from an approachable team of professionals makes it the number one choice for installers, specifiers and homeowners a like. With over 27 years’ experience in the windows and doors industry, we have been the first-choice fabricator for the trade since 1992.

The Challenge

Tradelink were not happy with their partner who were charging 16% of BREP mandated by Microsoft and 10% on all development year on year, even if the developments weren’t used. NAV was an important system to them for finance and purchase orders; however, they were on the 2009 version and wanted a solution that matched their growing success.

The Solution

We not only remotely upgraded Tradelink to NAV 2016 (newest version at the time), but also completed system enhancements which were specific to their business. Concerning finance; we restructured their chart of accounts (CoA) and dimensions to be more efficient and user-friendly. For them to keep an accurate record of their assets, we also implemented a fixed assets module. Overall, due to their system not being heavily customized, the entire project was especially quick to complete.

Solution Version and Extensions

• Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
• Fixed assets module
• Restructured CoA

Benefits

• Newest version of NAV
• CoA and dimensions easier to access and utilise
• Accurate record of fixed assets

Future Projects

Tradelink has been developing a new Window Centres business line. These are trade counters (located in 5 UK cities) designed for installers to walk in and place an order based on products displayed or in the back catalogue. Installers would collect the product from the store, or it could be delivered to them. Tradelink are planning to use PCs or handheld devices for installers to place orders, so we suggested Business Central as a frontend solution. This would be capable of maintaining the inventory in stores, booking sales orders, and would allow stores to post the dispatch and invoice for the material issued to the customer. We look forward to moving forward with Tradelink on this project.