Oct/Nov 2007

Warburtons, which claims to be one of the top five grocery brands in the UK, says it has speeded up and streamlines the process by which staff can get purchase orders approved by introducing a system based on BlackBerry smartphones.

Senior managers had to be able to review outstanding PO details on their BlackBerrys following an automated email, which was sent to their device from the company's SAP system. The manager might need to release purchase orders, request more information or reject the PO, and would then send an email to the person who created it to advise him or her of the outcome.

The solution also needed to be easy to use and to continue working when no GPRS signal was available, and synchronise to SAP when the connection was re-established.

The system has been set up by iQlink, a company specialising in connecting remote and mobile workers via all types of mobile device to SAP. It uses Sky Technologies' SAP-certified Innerware mobile solution, which sits within SAP, eliminating the need for middleware.

The entire implementation is said to have taken just four weeks.