One Cash Management software solution for all Cash Application and Payments.
A Cash Management software solution to streamline global banking and improve ERP integration.
A Schulman is a leading international supplier of high performance plastic compounds and resins, which are used as raw materials in a variety of markets. The Company’s principal product lines consist of proprietary and custom-formulated engineered plastic compounds, color concentrates and additives that improve the appearance and performance of plastics in a number of specialized applications. A Schulman’s expertise helps their customers develop some of the most widely used products on earth.
A Schulman work hand in hand with their customers to help them realize their product/service expectations. The Company’s customers span a wide range of markets such as packaging, mobility, building & construction, electronics & electrical, agriculture, personal care & hygiene, sports, leisure & home, and custom services. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, A. Schulman employs approximately 5,000 people and has over 58 manufacturing and support facilities globally.
Challenge
Prior to the Cashbook implementation, A. Schulman were struggling with:
- Operating different banks and bank accounts worldwide.
- Manual entry of payment data on bank portal per individual vendor.
- Slow cash application processing where banking information was not utilized.
- No process for collecting cash from customers on a regular basis.
- No Electronic Payment capability from ERP system.
- Operations in Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
Solution
The union of Cashbook and A. Schulman began in 1999 with Cash Application and Payments modules. These were implemented on the iSeries and integrate directly with their BPCS 6.04 ERP system. These modules allow users to apply Cash to customers and using selection criteria create batches of vendors to be paid. Cashbook works in real time for both data retrieval and application of cash.
Cashbooks iSeries application was embraced and adopted by A. Schulman. It’s reliability, accessibility, ease of installation and setup allowed A. Schulman to look after further installations throughout the world. Over the years banks have been changed, added and banking formats have changed. Cashbook rose to each challenge by listening to A. Schulman’s requirements for each bank and providing solutions.
As software and hardware technology advanced, Cashbook embraced these changes and moved the application into the Client/Server era. VPN’s and Remote Desktop Server (RDS) became the norm. With a central installation on the RDS, this allows for a quicker roll-out to A. Schulman’s users across the globe for access and more manageable for IT to maintain over time. A. Schulman upgraded to the Client/Server application and gained further benefits and enhancements.
Statement imports are now run through Cashbook hot folder processes. These allow statements to be automatically imported into Cashbook. The imported statement data is analysed during the import process, customers are identified and invoice details are picked up. This allows for auto allocation of cash to invoices. In addition, during the analysis of imported statement data miscellaneous transactions (e.g. bank charges or bank interest) are identified and auto coded to appropriate ledger codes.
In 2015 A. Schulman moved to a Shared Service Centre in Poland for their European sites, and are continuing to add other sites from other continents. Cashbook’s Support and Implementation’s team were on hand to facilitate and assist, in order to ensure a smooth deployment of the global solution. See the full detailed results of the transformation below:
Full Bank & ERP Integration:
- Direct feeds from ERP Vendor Master and AP invoices are transmitted using Cashbook.
- Cashbook’s transmission process generates files formatted as required for each bank including SEPA.
- The update process for Cash Application activity in Cashbook updates the ERP in real time.
- Statements in MT940 and CAMT formats.
- Allocation of statement receipts to real time invoices.
- Multiple environments required and Cashbook integrates with each to adhere to A. Schulman’s required segregation of work.
More Advanced Intelligence:
- Customer identification through IBANs.
- Cashbook algorithms employed to analyze imported data for auto allocation of Cash to Invoices.
- Identification of recurring miscellaneous transaction data and auto coding to appropriate ledgers.
- Audit trails throughout the product to trace activity.
- Multiple security groups to segregate user work flow in each environment.
Greater Financial Control
- Complete audit trail and SEPA Compliantincluding XML/XSL reports.
- A clearer audit trail and faster resolution of outstanding itemsgiving the finance team more time to focus on exceptions.
Results
Cashbook has played a pivotal role in the setting up of our finance shared service centre in Poland. The implementation was carried out in a professional manner, and today we are benefiting from many business process efficiencies from using their Cash App, Bank Rec, and Electronic Payments technology.
