Manchester City Football Club PLC - Mail Order System
Client
Manchester City Football Club.
Project Objective
Manchester City Football Club have a very active mail order department that
supports their worldwide fan base.
They receive hundreds of orders a week, with thousands of orders received at
peak periods such as Christmas.
MCFC wanted a system that would streamline the Mail Order process to ensure that
their fans get the best service possible.
Business Solution
The Metagy development team worked closely with the mail order staff to model a
system that streamlined the workflow from the point of order entry, right
through to the point of despatch when the order left the building.
This included:
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Speeding up order processing.
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Automated processing of Internet and Call Centre orders.
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Automated workflow, for example, no manual intervention is needed between an
order being placed on the website and it appearing in the despatch list at the
warehouse.
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Allowing the status of all orders to be immediately available.
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Stock control integration.
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Automatic emailing of order status to customers.
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Support for handling worldwide, EU and UK orders.
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Automated credit card processing.
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Integrated Campaign Management facilities.
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Full reporting functionality so that management can get an instant overview of
the Mail Order department, e.g. number of orders awaiting despatch, orders
awaiting stock, etc.
Components such as bar code scanning were used to speed up the order process and
improve accuracy.
As well as focussing on developing a fast, efficient order lifecycle the project
concentrated on making information readily available to management for planning
and control purposes.
Technical Solution
The mail order system has been built using three-tier client server
architecture. This provides scalability and also allows for the system to be
deployed in a variety of ways, both conventionally and via the corporate
extranet or the internet.
Interfaces to other systems such as the EPOS system have been carefully
engineered as COM components to isolate functionality and minimise any impact
that change to these other systems might cause.
XML has been used to provide standard data feeds with other MCFC systems.
Modelling was used extensively with the client to ensure that workflow patterns
were correctly interpreted, particularly with regard to items such as complex
stock movement patterns.
The use of the DSDM development methodology and continuous prototyping of the
developing system with the end users ensured a smooth and very enthusiastic
transfer to the new system.
Outcome
The mail order system allows for rapid, accurate taking of orders. Workflow is
automated so that these orders can be processed rapidly.
The estimated despatch time within the mail order department has been reduced
from 28 to 7 days. However orders are now typically processed within 24 hours;
this has held true even in the busy Christmas period.
MCFC have received emails from delighted customers who have received their
‘order despatched’ email within a couple of hours of placing their order.
Steps are in place so that any problems or exceptions are routed immediately to
customer services so they can be dealt with swiftly.
The status of every order is automatically tracked in real time allowing the
customer service staff to instantly tell a customer the current progress of
their order, for example if it is awaiting picking, or the time of despatch and
the despatch number.
Management also have a constantly up to date view of what is happening in the
mail order department allowing them strong control both on a day-to-day basis
and for future planning.