Spinnaker Software is proud to celebrate its long standing relationship with Cambridge Foods, a subsidiary of Masscash South Africa, and to announce the completion of a comprehensive integration to its SAP ERP system.

The solution comprises of Spinnaker's tried and tested "Arch Retail" system, which offers comprehensive functionalities for managing the various departments found in typical full service supermarkets, such as: bakery, deli, fresh produce, take away, butchery, groceries etc.

Spinnaker has implemented its AE (Arch Enterprise) system as an ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) for the integration with SAP, and its DX (Data Exchange) for managing the flow of data between its Arch Retail and Enterprise systems. All master data such as articles, vendors, campaigns etc. is managed centrally in SAP, and relayed to the various Arch Retail systems via the AE ESB and DX.

The solution is unique in the sense that the stores use Arch Retail for all in-store related transactions such as:
-Purchase orders,
-Goods receipts,
-Purchase Claims,
-Production for

Bakery
Deli
Take Away
Butchery

-Point of Sale
-Stock control
-Stock accounting and valuation

The solution together with the architecture allows a store to function uninterrupted in the event of a breakdown in data communications, allowing store level processes to continue as per normal, and producing real time key management reports. The solution has proven itself over the last 13 months with huge transaction volumes in stores with 30 to 50 checkout lanes.

Spinnaker as an accredited and experienced Sage Business Partner offers ERP, and centralised accounting solutions through its own in-house developed and supported integration with Arch, and currently have over 1,200 implementations in Southern Africa.

The following services are offered:
-Business analysis
-Accounting implementations
-Rebate system
-Customised reporting
-Accounting services
-Management accounts
The integrated Arch solution is ideal for high volume, low margin retail trade, where merchants often struggle to implement such solutions with poor and unreliable data communication.

Bonnie McAdam, Manager Business Systems & Process at Cambridge, commented as follows: "Spinnaker assisted Cambridge Food in building a solid SAP integration platform by utilising their existing Arch Enterprise, Data Exchange and BI Importer technology. This meant that a significant portion of the integration was not custom built from scratch but was solid, well tested technologies that Cambridge Food and other Spinnaker clients have been using over the years. The only custom development required was the SAPiX component where most of the integration logic is housed and XML files created to suit SAP PI requirements.

This environment took approximately 6 months to stabilise as more stores were converted over to SAP. Currently, Cambridge Food is integrating every single transaction for 19 stores, daily, across the entire KZN region and sending down master data updates twice a day to all stores. These transactions are successfully balanced daily and the environment has been stable over the last 13 months with minimal issues experienced. The support and expert advice provided by Spinnaker through this process has been invaluable and has contributed to a successful integration project to date for Cambridge Food".