Case study
An ERP rebuilt in stages, while the business kept using it.
An FMCG distributor in Cameroon runs its orders, deliveries, returnable containers, fleet, payroll and accounts on one system. It was already live when we started. We audited it, then rebuilt it sprint by sprint without stopping the business.
- Client
- An FMCG distributor in Cameroon
- Country
- Cameroon
- Stage
- Live
What they needed
The system was already running the business, and it needed to grow safely: access set by role, entries that must balance, and financial years that stay closed once they are closed.
The business also needed to account for the returnable containers its customers hold, and for the trucks, fuel and drivers that carry its goods.
What we built
Six areas, each behind its own permissions, on one set of OHADA books.
-
Sales
- Orders and delivery notes
- Returnable containers collected and signed for
- Empty containers resold for recycling
- Proposals for customers
-
Stock and buying
- Stock cards
- Purchase orders and receipts
- Supplier rebates
- Stock audits
-
Fleet
- Vehicles, insurance and inspections
- A fuel log with odometer checks
- Maintenance alerts by distance
- Breakdown reports
-
Finance
- The OHADA chart of accounts
- Journals and general ledger
- Invoices, expenses and budgets
- Cash flow
- Fixed assets and depreciation
- Tax declarations
-
People
- Payroll, posted to the ledger
- Payslips
-
Control
- Roles and permissions on every page
- A record of every change
- Documents customers sign on their own phone, from a link or a QR code
What holds it together
One set of OHADA books. The database itself refuses an entry that does not balance, and any entry dated in a closed financial year.
How it runs day to day
One delivery, from order to the books
- An order is entered and its delivery note printed.
- The truck leaves with its driver. The odometer is recorded, and the system will not accept a reading lower than the last one.
- At the customer, full containers go out and empties come back, recorded on a receipt the customer signs on their phone.
- The invoice posts to the ledger, and the payment follows into cash flow.
- Once the financial year is closed, nothing dated in it can be added or changed.
What changed
-
Access by role
Each person sees only the pages their role allows, and the business sets those roles itself in an administration screen.
-
Books that hold
Entries that do not balance are refused, closed years stay closed, and every change is recorded with who made it.
-
Every container on the record
Any container type in the catalogue can be booked when a customer returns it, with no change to the software.
-
Safer releases
Each release checks the database and the chart of accounts, and runs smoke tests, before it goes live.
Our role
-
See
We audited the live system first and wrote down every risk we found.
-
Design
We set the order of work by risk: access and security first, then the integrity of the accounts.
-
Build
We rebuilt it in sprints on the live system, adding payroll, fixed assets and printed documents along the way.
-
Hold
We keep releasing improvements, with help articles inside the system for the team.
Related work
-
Smart Logistics and Services
Praxis LS, a logistics and freight ERP: shipment files, warehouse, fleet, people and OHADA accounting in one system.
-
Orika Living
A home-fragrance brand’s ERP and online shop: sales, stockists, stock, deliveries and accounts that agree.
Start with one area of your organisation.
The free audit and demo takes about an hour. We look at how one area runs today and show you what a system like these would change.