ERP Software for Drinks Beverage | Cloud-Based ERP & E-Commerce

De Facto ERP Software for Drinks Industry | Distributors, Wholesalers, Suppliers

An agile ERP that helps you dutifully comply

Streamline your supply chain from supplier to customer

Cloud-based ERP software designed for distributors, wholesalers, agencies, fine wine & spirits suppliers, traders and brokers.

Under bond, duty paid pricing and stock handling

Seamless supply chain integration

Sophisticated cost control

A fully integrated finance and supply chain offers highly configurable accrual accounting capabilities for a wide range of costs, including: Excise Duty, Tariff Duty, Demurrage, Transport, Commissions, Marketing Expenses, Retroactive Expenses, Rebates.

This system enables both manual and automated matching of actual to accrued values, with the ability to apply variances to the stock or account for them retroactively, particularly in relation to resulting sales. In short, absolute transparent accounting and reporting for all landed, storage, processing, distribution and marketing costs.

Integrated multi-channel E-Commerce and CMS

An integrated e-commerce and Content Management System (CMS) allows for seamless creation of customised websites designed to meet the specific needs of the drinks industry, with real-time integration for scenarios like low stock situations in fine wine trading, client reserves management and broking.

Product data is very comprehensive including all manner of characteristics, tasting information, provenance and condition documentation.

Product information from partners such as Liv-ex can be used to enrich and simplify new wines being created, while data can also be fed to external services such as Wine Searcher to drive enquiries and sales.

Duty Paid and Under Bond B2C and B2B pricing, with the ability to provide a variety of discounts and promotional offers.

Data integration and direct maintenance can be provided for external parties such as producers and suppliers.

Drinks sector challenges

Our clients in this industry have provided us with the opportunity to build solutions incorporating fully integrated functionality such as:

Extended Product Information (PIM)
Customer Reserves, management and broking
En Primeur supply chain management and accounting
Storage charge calculation and invoicing
Forward stock reservation or allocation management
Tasting, tours and event management
Keg deposit control and cash collection management
Gift pack production and control

...and with our latest production functionality support for Brewers, Bottlers, Producers and Distillers will become available.

Distilling years of drinks industry experience to your benefit

Serving the nuances of the drinks industry with innovative, highly configurable, user-friendly, cloud-based ERP software and e-commerce solutions.

EDP Platform
Product Supply Chain
Financials
E-Commerce
Document Management
Reporting & Analysis (BI)

ERP powered by our innovative Enterprise Data Platform

Delivering future-proof, functional and scalable solutions to match the ambitions of your organisation.
Built on a strong, secure and scalable architecture

Utilising proven, industry-standard technology partners.
Microsoft Entra provides user authentication for secure access.

Enterprise-level Microsoft Entra authentication allows single-click login.
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Support for multiple companies across multiple organisations

Users can choose which company to work on or they can work across multiple companies simultaneously.
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Simple menu navigation throughout your EDP ERP system

Get to the data or functionality you need using our intuitive mega menus or use the powerful search tool to locate what you are looking for.
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Administer your EDP system in the same intuitive user interface

System administrators can manage data, users and security permissions all from the same interface, making user admin a simple task.
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Our flexible, intuitive user interface keeps all of your tasks and data at your fingertips

Configurable panels display all of your tasks and messages on the left, with a central tabbed panel allowing any number of data pages to opened. In the right hand panel, additional, context sensitive data is displayed.
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Our flexible, intuitive user interface keeps all of your tasks and data at your fingertips

Configurable panels display all of your tasks and messages on the left, with a central tabbed panel allowing any number of data pages to opened. In the right hand panel, additional, context sensitive data is displayed.

As a Web application the layout will respond to the size of your screen space and allow zooming to a comfortable size.

Intuitive links are displayed throughout so related data is just a single-click away. When processing information any required data can be created mid process.
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EDP use is based on workflow tasks and messages

This functionality allows users to send messages; reallocate work mid-task; or to create multi-stage authorisation workflows.
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EDP use is based on workflow tasks and messages

This functionality allows users to send messages; reallocate work mid-task; or to create multi-stage authorisation workflows.

Tasks are normally performed by users, but some tasks will be informing the user of processing that is being done on their behalf in the background.

While users are entering data this is committed to the database in real-time, allowing total tracking of all changes and rollback opportunities.
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The central panel allows easy switching between tabs

Tabs are displayed at the bottom, can be re-organised using drag-and-drop and overflow onto a popup menu.
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Any files, including documents, specifications and images can be linked to any record(s)

A built-in document management system means these files are easy to find. Once uploaded, they can be used for creating specification sheets or to provide data for your e-commerce website.
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Any files, including documents, specifications and images can be linked to any record(s)

A built-in document management system means these files are easy to find. Once uploaded, they can be used for creating specification sheets or to provide data for your e-commerce website.

Additionally all documents received through inbound or generated through outbound communications are also automatically stored and linked to all required records.
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Integrated Power BI dashboards can display KPIs and other data insights

Unlimited dashboards can be added and, like all other data, secured against the relevant user roles.
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Powerful standard reporting using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

EDP comes with a suite of prebuilt reports that can be configured to your requirements. You can create additional reports using SSRS's Report Builder software.
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Companies from the drinks sector trust De Facto Software

John E Fells Case Study for De Facto Software Ltd

Hills Prospect LWC Case Study for De Facto Software Ltd

The Whisky Exchange for De Facto Software Ltd

Speciality Drinks for De Facto Software Ltd

James Nicholson for De Facto Software Ltd

Seckford Wines for De Facto Software Ltd

Hatch Mansfield for De Facto Software Ltd

"Our relationship with De Facto stretches over 10 years. The ERP system is easy to use and does everything one would expect. Together with the team, we have enhanced it to suit our needs. This has led on to many other innovative projects that are embedded in our business."

Nick Gurney - Financial, Logistics & IT Director

John E Fells & Sons Ltd

Read full case study

Fells Case Study

Your challenges, our solutions

Our vast experience and knowledge of ERP, combined with our innovative approach to solution design and project implementation, allows us to form long-term partnerships with our clients. Fully understanding their business allows us to provide solutions that address their unique challenges.

De Facto ERP solutions for the drinks industry are built using our innovative Enterprise Data Platform, leveraging its solution architecture to deliver flexible, scalable, enterprise-grade solutions.

EDP Platform
Product Supply Chain
Financials
E-Commerce
Document Management
Reporting & Analysis (BI)

The De Facto Platform - EDP

De Facto ERP for the wine, beer and spirits industry is built using our Enterprise Data Platform (EDP), leveraging its solution architecture to deliver long-term, scalable, enterprise-grade ERP solutions.

Unique data-driven design
Intuitive consistent user interface
Workflow-driven
Real-time processing
Open service-based architecture
Robust user security
Multilingual
Scalable
Cloud-hosted
Integrated document management
Integrated with Microsoft BI Tools
Integrated e-commerce / CMS
Powerful extensible ERP solution

An example of specific functionality added for drinks organisations is the ability to sell and manage tickets for tastings, tours and training courses.

EDP User Interface

A consistent, intuitive interface, providing powerful, accessible features, allowing all levels of users to gain understanding and confidence quickly, maximising their ability to use the system effectively.

The consistent and intuitive interface ensures that as a business uses more of the available functionality, users will easily understand new features and business process functionality.

The centre panel allows users to work on multiple tasks and pages, with these being arranged as the user wishes and pinned to open automatically when logging in.

Unified interface

Reducing training time for users, encouraging a higher degree of functional utilisation to maximise Return On Investment. A range of features help the user to view, enter, select, verify and process information quickly and accurately.

Directly access required pages and functionality using intuitive mega menus, ERP and Data Management, EDP System and Metadata menus
Or use the powerful menu search in the main header
Inline, colour-coded data validation assistance
Flexible, extended data lookups
Inline related data creation and maintenance
Data property-specific glossary for canned text entry
Real-time commitment of data entry to the database
Support for plain and rich text data entry, ensuring that consistently styled text is ready to use within business documents and websites

Browser-based application

Workflow-based solution

Enabling all tasks to be shared, delegated, assigned and approved as required. With the ability to process workflows synchronously or deferring for asynchronous processing by the system.

Users are able to start multiple workflows, these can be left for later completion, with all data entry preserved, even if the user closes their browser.

Workflows can be used to manage critical approval processes, where they can be configured to obtain one or more levels of approval.

Generic interface functionality

EDP Functionality

A platform that delivers future-proof, functional and scalable solutions to match the ambitions of your organisation.

Extensible database architecture

The fully relational database schema is designed to be extended to suit a project's precise requirements. The metadata that supports the schema enables the user interface to be dynamically created for consistent data access and maintenance.

The extensible metadata architecture of EDP solutions, allows the streamlining of project definition, implementation and continuous improvements, resulting in a project with reduced complexity and cost and a shorter duration.

The database design directly delivers benefits throughout all EDP based project solutions.

Powerful data search, filtering and sorting
Enabling the user interface to navigate all data relationships
Ensuring that unique keys such as "Supplier Account", "Customer Account" or “Product” codes can be modified at any time, which can be used, for example, to update a customer code if they change their name or to update product codes to a new format
Maintaining full data change audit and security

Real-time processing

Multiple organisations and companies

Multilingual

Systems can be configured to work with data in multiple languages. EDP’s Unicode database structure enables languages based on Latin and non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew to be used. Individual data properties can be configured to enable multiple language variants to be stored, this can apply to not only text based data but also for instance images and documents.

The user interface can also be translated and used in multiple languages if needed, when using languages that are entered and displayed right to left (RTL), the user interface is reversed to accommodate this.

Customers, suppliers, addresses and contacts can specify their preferred languages for communication, to be used in any external outputs such as business documents.

Security, logging and compliance

Company-specific roles, profiles and user-based security control every aspect of the system's functionality, including menus, pages, workflows, actions, reports and services.

Data access (read, write) can be controlled for any information type and property. Customised value-based security can also be used to hide specific data (cell) values, based on logic rules.

Comprehensive recording of all data changes is supported and easily accessible with the ability to revert to previous values.

The data structure allows specific properties to be flagged as "private", to simplify compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Data anonymisation facilities are also provided to ensure that this data is only accessible by authorised users.

EDP Architecture

A fully integrated infrastructure that allows your ERP project to reduce reliance and cost of internal IT resources and frustration of managing multiple providers.

Cloud-based services with dedicated infrastructure

Optional high availability (HA)

Comprehensive dashboards, reporting and analysis

Flexible document and file creation

Flexible document management and processing

EDP Integration

Easily integrate your EDP solution with external stakeholders whether they are customers, suppliers, warehouses or any other third-party.

Streamline the entire supply chain process with smooth future-proof integration to clients, producers, forwarders, hauliers and warehouses including excise bonds such as London City Bond (LCB).

Integration is provided using configurable inbound and outbound communication services, these include support for EDI, FTP, email and dedicated API support where applicable.

Configurable outbound communication processes

Configurable inbound communication processes

Product Supply Chain

De Facto ERP Supply chain for the wine, beer and spirits industry is built using our EDP platform, leveraging our latest solution architecture to deliver improved operational efficiency and productivity from producer to end customer.

Products & Pricing
Stock Control & Warehousing
Sales Order Processing
Purchase Order Processing
Transport & Logistics

Extensive Products Data Solution

Using the EDP Platform flexibility to manage any extended data, of any type, including, rich text, images or documents.

The extensibility of product data within EDP eliminates the need for a dedicated Product Information Management (PIM) system. Product data can be extended to encompass details such as duty information, ingredients, allergens, packaging, promotional materials and precise grower source information. This can be further enhanced by integration with external partners such as Liv-ex for fine and rare wines.

Producers can be enabled to create and update specific data that they are allowed access to.

Units of measure range from bottles of varying sizes to cases, pallets and bulk containers.

Specifications

Multiple units of measure

Offer the ability to price and control in multiple forms and formats. Data relating specifically to the unit such as EAN barcodes or physical properties such as weight, volume, dimensions can be managed.

Special units of measure can be configured for variable weight, volume, cubic volume or length. This enables handling of and accounting for food catchweights, variable liquid volumes, variable timber M3 packs and variable material reel lengths.

Standard measurement methods are held on stock quantities, allowing the system to manage weight, volume, area or linear-based units. For reporting and stock visibility purposes, these have a user selected summary unit measure, such as Kg/tonne or centilitre/litre.

Multiple product codes and descriptions

Alternative and associated products

Product restrictions

Product and waste packaging

Complete Stock Control

Provides real-time visibility of stock levels and availability, flexible warehouse configuration and extensive batch control.

For the drinks industry, especially in the realm of fine wine and spirits, our system manages condition data, images and provenance documentation. It also enables control over customer-owned stock reserves in any warehouse.

Multiple companies, sites and warehouses

Third-party warehouse control

Customer owned stock control

Batch, lot or serial number control

Internal and external rotation numbers

Pallets and containers

Bonded warehouses and rotations

Quality control and positive release

Extensive Prices, Discounts & Promotions

Prices and discounts can be set in a variety of ways, for instance, by account, groups, bands, promotions, volume breaks or from dynamic calculations. Products can be sold and priced in different units of measure. Future prices can be calculated and automatically applied when relevant, whilst a full history of price and discount changes is kept.

In the drinks industry, our system accommodates pricing for under bond and duty paid scenarios. It automates duty changes and supports pricing by the bottle, case or per litre.

Company, country, currency, account and delivery point prices and discounts

Price and discount groups, bands and breaks

Calculated pricing and selection rules

Date-based price changes

Versatile Transaction Types

The De Facto ERP supply chain modules provide multiple transaction types and options, from enquiries, quotations through contracts, call-off orders and service transactions.

For the drinks industry, we offer functionality tailored for Ex-cellar, En Primeur, under bond and duty paid transactions. Customer reservations and vintage allocation are also easily managed.

Those managing client reserves can efficiently deal with the brokering, commission sales process and storage charge invoicing.

For sales to On Trade customers, keg and cash collection control enable accurate management.

For those that produce gift packs which are based around alcohol products, the costing, production, data and process management can be provided.

Contract call-off and scheduled orders

Stock reservations & allocations

Back-to-back ordering, direct or drop shipments

Bulk distribution and fulfilment orders

Auto-generated recommended orders

Sales enquiries, quotations and purchase RFQ’s

RMA returns processing

Under bond transactions

Warehouse transfers, counts and adjustments

Transport service requests

Sundry service requests

Comprehensive Transaction Processing

For the picking, receiving, dispatching or invoicing of transactions, for their complete, part or consolidated processing. Reducing workload and costs for the warehouse and simplifying financial transactions for all parties.

For the drinks industry, supply chain integration with suppliers, warehouses and customers offers substantial operational efficiency gains, speeding up processing and reducing errors.

Optimised data entry

Transaction notes, attachments and documents

Delivery schedules, methods and INCO terms

Pre-invoicing, deposits and payments

Warehouse operation picking and putaway rules

Digital supply chain integration

Financial Integration

The complete seamless and real-time integration of supply chain data with the financial modules, ensures that real-time credit control and management accounts are easily achieved.

In the drinks industry, meticulous control over supply chain costs and variances is a top priority. These could include everything from stock and landed costs through to settlement discounts.

Cost accruals

Cost elements are used to generate and process accruals such as duty, tariffs, retros, rebates, freight, insurance, commissions and demurrage. These elements control all types of costs that are to be accrued and/or added to stock cost during transactions. This allows profits to be accurately estimated, controlled and variances to be reported.

Price support can also be configured where specific cost pricing is supported by suppliers, but the stock is held at various prices.

Integrated accounting

Reporting & Analysis (BI)

A comprehensive range of standard ERP reports with extensive filtering and sorting are provided. All reports allow easy single-click exporting of data in formats such as PDF and Excel. The reporting system is included within the overall ERP security solution for controlled access.

Effortlessly access and analyse your data with our business intelligence and reporting solutions. We provide standard and custom layouts, offering data in the form of reports, charts, dashboards or seamless integration with Microsoft Excel.

As highlighted elsewhere, EDP can manage and account for all manner of supply chain costs and variances. Standard reporting is provided to enable the full analysis of these costs and their impact on profitability.

Rollback reporting

Custom reports and charts

Report delivery

Dashboards

Documents & Files

Comprehensive functionality to generate, process, store and retrieve documents or files. For example, for quotations, contracts, orders, deliveries or invoice transactions, which would also be linked to their related accounts.

General files such as Terms and Conditions are also stored and then, where applicable, attached or embedded within system-generated documents.

While files such as product images and specifications can be stored for display and download within websites.

To alleviate the paperwork challenge faced by the drinks industry and similar sectors, our integrated document management solution efficiently generates, receives and stores documents, surpassing the capabilities of third-party solutions.

Design

Outbound document processing

Inbound document processing

Documents that are received into folders or mailboxes can be processed. The processing may be limited to automatic storage or can include the reading of barcodes, QR codes or OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for showing links from the document to data within the system. If the document holds structured data, then automated processing workflows can be configured. In the supply chain, inbound processing will be used for tasks such as customer orders, POD processing, ASN processing and GRN processing.

Storage and retrieval

All documents that are internally generated are by default stored and linked to associated data, while inbound documents can be automatically stored through processing or manually by the user. Documents and files can then be accessed and viewed directly from any associated data within the system. In the supply chain, storage and retrieval will be used for example for customer and suppliers orders, delivery notes, QA documentation, release notes, invoices and PODs.

Financials

De Facto ERP Financials for the wine, beer and spirits industry, built using our EDP platform, leveraging our latest solution architecture to deliver comprehensive, real-time and transparent financial control throughout the enterprise.

Nominal Ledger
Sales Ledger
Purchase Ledger
Banking

Financial System

A scalable solution, minimising workload, benefitting from full integration with supply chain, document management and business intelligence functionality. Based on a hybrid ledger structure, providing the data efficiency and transparency of a unitary ledger, combined with the ease of use and control offered by separate ledger modules.

Within the drinks industry, we excel in managing accruals for En Primeur, customer-owned reserves or landed costs, ensuring automatic reconciliation and transparent analysis.

Multi-company

Multi-currency

Nominal, customer and supplier accounts can run with multiple or fixed currencies. Default exchange rates, controlled by date, are set up for various transaction types or specific uses, like tax and duty accruals. Additionally, fixed exchange rates can be set for individual contracts, while spot rates can be applied to specific transactions.

Variances are automatically calculated and processed. Hedging and allocation can be configured along with exposure reporting.

Primary business transactions

Security

Nominal Ledger Structure

A flexible multi-company chart of accounts and cost centre-based solution, which can be extended to support multiple other independent analysis dimensions (for instance: projects or activities).

In the drinks industry, agencies can configure analysis dimensions by supplier and brand, enabling comprehensive financial attribution of costs.

Nominal account-based controls

Nominal account structures

Budgets, forecasts and comparatives

Transaction Processing

Standard financial business transaction types are provided, their behaviour is configurable and can be extended. If required, other transaction types with specific functionality can also be created.

Our self-reconciling control accounts, such as 'goods received/despatched not invoiced,' play a significant role in supporting real-time financial control. This extends to managing landed and delivered costs, as well as rebate accruals.

Efficient data processing

Allocations

Reconciliation

Customer and supplier account journals

Pre-payment processing

Contra accounting

Accounts, Addresses & Contacts

The structure of customer and supplier data, like all areas can be configured and extended to support any other requirements.

In the drinks industry "On Trade" is an example of the benefit of supporting multiple delivery points and regional structures within a single account. For larger organisations, the ability to support multiple contacts for specific roles within an account helps direct communications to the correct recipients.

Accounts

Address points

Contacts

Supply chain integration

Accounts and addresses define a wide variety of supply chain settings such as:

Applicable product price, discount and promotion settings
Account product codes and other information such as preferred units of measure and target lead days
Default sites and warehouses that they are linked to and their default delivery methods, schedules, transport routes and INCO Terms
Consolidation rules for deliveries and invoices

Credit Control

Comprehensive facilities that are fully integrated into the supply chain process, using approval workflows for the controlled setting of limits or release of held orders.

Strong credit control is paramount in the drinks industry, offering the capability to set group credit limits for comprehensive account management, especially within larger organisations.

Account data

Credit checking

Statements and chasing documents

Taxation

Flexible future-proof configuration that can support any type of transaction-based system, such as value added or sales tax.

Our fully configurable transaction taxation system future-proofs users in the drinks industry against potential tax changes.

Configuration

Tax Returns (MTD)

Tax Data Trail

Banking

Multi-currency banking is provided for a variety of Banking account types, payment methods and manual or automated processing.

Banking integration may be considered one of the less configurable areas in ERP. In the drinks industry and especially when dealing with On Trade, the ability to automatically generate and process Direct Debit batches can be very beneficial.

Banking account types

Flexible processing

Reporting & Analysis (BI)

Easy access to extract and analyse data is necessary in the drinks industry. This is provided in standard and custom layouts, as reports, charts, dashboards or simply having direct access to data from Microsoft Excel.

Configurable financial statements

Rollback reporting

Custom reports and charts

Report delivery

Dashboards

Documents & Files

Comprehensive functionality to generate, process, store and retrieve documents or files. For example, for PODs, invoices and statements, which would also be linked to their related accounts. General files such as Terms and Conditions are also stored and then where applicable attached or embedded within system-generated documents.

General files such as Terms and Conditions are also stored and then, where applicable, attached or embedded within system-generated documents.

Like most industries, the drinks sector can be deluged by a sea of paperwork that has to be generated, received and stored. The integrated document management takes care of this in a way that third-party solutions are unable to do.

Design

Outbound document processing

Inbound document processing

Documents that are received into folders or mailboxes can be processed. The processing may be limited to automatic storage or can include the reading of barcodes, QR codes or OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for showing links from the document to data within the system. If the document holds structured data, then automated processing workflows can be configured. In the finance system, inbound processing will be used for supplier invoices, for example.

Storage and retrieval

All documents that are internally generated are by default stored and linked to associated data, while inbound documents can be automatically stored through processing or manually by the user. Documents and files can then be accessed and viewed directly from any associated data within the system. In the finance system, storage and retrieval will be used for customer and supplier invoices or PODs, for example.

E-Commerce

De Facto e-commerce for B2B, B2C and multi-channel organisations is fully integrated with ERP for the wine, beer and spirits industry, leveraging our latest solution architecture to deliver long-term, flexible, scalable, enterprise-grade ERP and website solutions.

Personalised design
Supporting multiple brands and identities
Extensible functionality
Easy content management
Full real-time ERP integration
Cloud-hosted with the ERP platform
Security and PCI compliance
SEO informed design

Website Design & Functionality

Scalable solutions for individual or multiple B2B and B2C websites, providing e-commerce for multiple companies serving multiple countries, supporting their local language, currency, tax and operational requirements.

In the fine wine industry traders empower their clients by allowing them to monitor their portfolios and offer their stock for sale on a brokered basis.

Personalised design

Responsive and adaptive design, optimised for performance

Intuitive user experience

Added value functionality

Going beyond the basic cart experience, providing the features that deliver added value to your customers, for example:

Selectors based on product properties
Related product recommendations
Builders for assembled or kitted products
Image maps and identification diagrams for spare parts
Order entry forms, designed for fast keyboard input
Templates for repeat ordering of frequently purchased items
Order upload from other structured data sources
Custom product specification uploads
Custom product dimensions and option inputs
Drop shipment to third parties
Quotation requests and conversion
Integrated returns processing

Third-party integrations

Integrations are available and more are easily configured, for example:

Analytics & Tracking from Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager
Payment Platforms from Stripe, Elavon
Carrier & Delivery Tracking via logistics partners
Address lookup from Loqate
Geolocation from DP-IP
Visitor identification from IPstack
Chat from Zen Desk
Product reviews from Feefo, Reviews.io
Customer engagement automation from Mailchimp, Dotdigital

E-Commerce Processes

Begin with being able to find the required products effortlessly, their availability and pricing. Followed by the easy adding of products to basket, with clear feedback. Ultimately, the ability to review the basket quickly and move smoothly through a clear and concise checkout and payment process.

Users managing their fine wine or spirits portfolios have the flexibility to move their products to alternative bonded storage or forwarders for international shipment.

Checkout processing

Secure payment functionality

Real-time ERP integration

Product Catalogue and Pricing

The ERP platform provides all product and price related data. Additionally, any type of structured dynamic content can also be supported directly within the ERP system, rather than only within the website CMS. This could be used to provide product help systems, FAQs or service tracking, for example.

Under bond and duty paid pricing can both be offered, along with extensive customer-based price and discount structures needed for B2B trading.

For fine and rare wines and spirits, product catalogues and pricing can be specific to the bottles and cases being offered for sale. Integration with Liv-ex is used to enhance product information and extensive product imagery and documentation can be stored within the document management and made available on the website.

Product catalogue

Derived directly from the highly extensible ERP product data, which stores all necessary information, including specifications, images and downloads. All of which can be multilingual and served to the website in whichever language the user requires. Where the products offered are batch or consignment based, then this can form the basis of a dynamic product catalogue. With all product data provided to the website on a live or cached basis.

Product data is used to dynamically build product navigation such as menus, hierarchical product category pages and interactive crumb trails. Products can be manually curated or automatically selected based on rules for prominent display within categories and search results.

Prices, discounts and promotions

All are supported and set within the ERP system and benefit from all the available options, which can make them company, country, currency or customer or supplier account specific. In a B2B website, the system will use customer specific pricing and apply any applicable discounts, promotions and sundry charges.

For certain requirements the ability to use dynamic pricing can be configured. This could for example, be used to vary prices based on availability or to calculate prices based on delivery destination and required currency.

External data feed integration

Content Management System

Used to easily generate and support static pages and content elements, templates can be used for these, such as:

Home, info, about us pages
Landing pages
Blogs
News items
Case studies
Press releases

Especially in the fine wine and spirits sector, the SEO value of well-crafted blogs, news and press releases should not be underestimated. Additionally, landing pages are ideal for those creating specific product offers or introducing new brands to the market.

Easily managed content

Targeted Content

Multi-language

New content release

External & Internal Portals

The e-commerce CMS can be used to develop specific additional sites, sub-sites and pages that are specifically for non-customer use.

In the drinks industry, these features are instrumental in enabling brand owners to access real-time stock and sales information. They also serve field-based sales teams, allowing access to customer data, recording of visit reports and the setup of agreed prices and discounts.

Supplier portals

Supply chain partners

Internal user functionality

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Practices

Whilst the primary element for good search engine ranking is relevant and engaging content, this must be well presented to search engines. Requiring the adoption and ongoing application of recognised best practices. These should not be an afterthought but rather an integral aspect of the design and maintenance of the website.

Websites in the drinks industry greatly benefit from an optimised information architecture that aids search engines in indexing all product pages efficiently.

Website structure

Tags and mark-up

Metadata tags are a basic SEO component, these can be defaulted based on calculated rules and further user optimised for Titles and Descriptions
Image, icon and video alt tags are configured for search engines to correctly understand what these elements are
Hreflang attributes for search engines to correctly understand multilingual content

Implementation of Schema.org using JSON-LD for microdata injection for search engines to find content such as:
- Product information
- Reviews
- Events

Working with search engines

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest iteration of their tracking software, implemented to provide the basis for comprehensive visitor tracking and reporting. While Google Tag Manager (GTM) allows customised data to be collected during their journey through the website, for later analysis
Dynamic XML site map generation, to hint to search engines which are the important pages within the website

ERP Supply Chain & Financial Integration

The seamless integration between the ERP system and the website eliminates data duplication and manual processing. Customers created on the website are instantly available in the ERP and products added in the ERP appear on the website in real-time. When a customer places an order online, the system automatically updates stock levels and generates the order in ERP.

Particularly in multi-channel scenarios within the drinks industry, real-time integration with ERP supply chain and financial systems ensures precise and constant control over pricing, stock and credit management.

Customers, addresses and contacts
Products, prices and stock
Orders, shipments, payments and invoices
Documents
Account reporting
Any other required data

Reporting & Analysis (BI)

Using Microsoft SSRS, SSAS and Power BI, incorporating data from website, ERP and external sources, such as GA4 and GTM, to provide comprehensive, insightful information.

For the drinks industry, easy access to data extraction and analysis is crucial. Combining analytics with ERP and website data enhances data analysis in reports, charts, dashboards and through direct access via Microsoft Excel.

Custom reports and charts

Report delivery

Dashboards

Documents, Images & Files

Comprehensive functionality to generate, process, store and retrieve documents or files. For example, orders, deliveries or invoice transactions, which would also be linked to their related accounts.

General files such as Terms and Conditions are also stored and then, where applicable, attached or embedded within system-generated documents.

While files such as product images and specifications can be stored for display and download within websites.

Websites in the drinks industry can improve the user experience by offering downloadable PDFs for tasting notes, vintage reports and direct access to fine wine condition images and videos.

Design

Outbound document processing

Inbound document processing

Documents that are uploaded to the website can be processed. The processing may be limited to automatic storage or can include the reading of barcodes, QR codes or OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for showing links from the document to data within the system. If the document holds structured data, then automated processing workflows can be configured. From the website, inbound processing could be used to auto-generate orders or enquiries from customer data uploads.

Storage and retrieval

All documents that are internally generated are by default stored and linked to associated data, while inbound documents can be automatically stored through processing or manually by the user. Documents and files can then be accessed and viewed directly from any associated data within the system. In the finance system, storage and retrieval will be used for customer and supplier invoices or PODs, for example.

Document Management

De Facto ERP Document Management for the wine, beer and spirits industry, is built using our EDP platform, leveraging our latest solution architecture to deliver long-term, scalable, enterprise-grade ERP solutions.

Document design
Outbound document processing
Inbound document processing
Storage and retrieval

Comprehensive functionality to generate, process, store and retrieve documents or files of any type, cutting the need for integration with third-party solutions and providing seamless access to files and documents throughout the ERP system.

Document Functionality

Comprehensive functionality to generate, process, store and retrieve documents or files. For example, for quotations, contracts, orders, deliveries, PODs, invoice transactions or statements, which would also be linked to their related accounts.

General files such as Terms and Conditions are also stored and then, where applicable, attached or embedded within system-generated documents.

While files such as product images and specifications can be stored for display and download within websites.

The drinks industry often faces an overwhelming volume of paperwork that needs to be generated, delivered, received and stored. Our integrated document management system efficiently addresses this challenge in a way that surpasses the capabilities of third-party solutions.

Design

Outbound document processing

A range of highly configurable outbound communication workflows are provided for the generation of documents and their delivery via print, email or file transfer. Outbound processing can be used for Invoices, Statements and Chasing Letters, among others.

All documents can be produced in language specific layouts and with language specific content.

In the drinks industry customer and supplier facing documentation can be produced in the contacts own language and delivered via print, email or file transfer depending on their requirements.

Inbound document processing

Documents that are received into folders, mailboxes or scanned can be processed. The processing may be limited to automatic storage or can include the reading of barcodes, QR codes or OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for showing links from the document to data within the system. If the document holds structured data, then automated processing workflows can be configured. Inbound processing will be used for supplier invoices, for example.

Processing workflows can for instance automatically release and invoice deliveries based on complete PODs being processed, or be configured to create sales orders from email or EDI documents that are received.

Storage and retrieval

Reporting & Analysis (BI)

De Facto ERP for the wine, beer and spirits industry, is constructed on our EDP platform using the latest solution architecture. It harnesses a suite of leading Microsoft reporting and analysis tools, including:

Microsoft Reporting Services (SSRS)
Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS)
Microsoft Power BI

Diverse Data Sources

Our ERP database, designed with full relational capabilities, is adaptable to encompass all project-specific data requirements. This enables comprehensive reporting and analysis by integrating data from multiple sources, such as:

ERP databases
Website databases
Website analytics
Other internal data sources
Other external data sources

For the drinks industry, data may encompass under bond stock, pricing, brand specifics, sub-brands, vintages, customer types (off-trade, on-trade, consumers), subtypes and more.

Simplified data models

Data security

Other data sources

Financial, Supply Chain & Website Reporting

We provide an extensive assortment of standard reports with robust filtering and sorting options. All reports support one-click exportation to formats such as PDF and Excel.

Like all industries, the drinks industry demands powerful reporting capabilities. We provide standard reports and the flexibility to create custom reports, charts and dashboards. Additionally, our system allows direct data access from Microsoft Excel.

Configurable financial statements

Rollback reporting

Custom reports and charts

Report delivery

Dashboards

Harnessing Microsoft Tools

By deploying data analysis and reporting tools from Microsoft, EDP based solutions benefit from the very latest technologies that are used in the provision of standard and custom outputs.

Easy data extraction and analysis are essential for the drinks industry. For websites, the ability to integrate analytics with ERP and website data enhances data analysis through reports, charts and dashboards, using Microsoft business intelligence tools. This is complemented by direct data access from Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Reporting Services (SSRS)

A reporting tool that allows users to create, manage and deliver a wide range of interactive, tabular, graphical and free-form reports. It enables data visualisation, report generation and distribution within organisations, helping users make informed business decisions.

Report Authoring: SSRS provides a robust report authoring environment, using a Report Builder. Report Designer and support for Visual Studio are available to developers
Report Types: Supports a variety of report types, including tabular, matrix, chart and free-form reports
Parameterisation: Allows the creation of parameterised reports for dynamic filtering and user interactivity
Export Options: Supports exporting reports to various formats like PDF, Excel, Word and more
Subscription and Delivery: Provides options for scheduling and delivering reports via email, file share or other delivery methods
Mobile Reports: SSRS enables the creation of mobile-optimised reports for viewing on smartphones and tablets

Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS)

A data analysis and business intelligence tool. It enables the creation of multidimensional and tabular models, supporting data exploration, ad-hoc queries and data mining, helping organisations analyse and gain insights from their data.

Multidimensional and Tabular Models: SSAS supports both multidimensional (OLAP) and tabular data models, allowing for different data analysis approaches
Data Mining: It includes data mining capabilities for predictive and descriptive analytics
Hierarchies and KPIs: SSAS enables the creation of hierarchies and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for more advanced analysis
MDX and DAX: Supports MDX (Multidimensional Expressions) for OLAP cubes and DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) for tabular models
Partitioning: Allows the partitioning of large datasets to improve query and processing performance
Aggregations: Provides automatic and user-defined aggregations for optimising query performance
Advanced Analytics: Supports integration with R and Python for advanced analytics and machine learning

Microsoft Power BI

A business analytics and data visualisation tool. It allows users to connect to various data sources, create interactive reports and dashboards and share insights. Power BI enables data exploration, real-time analytics and data-driven decision-making in organisations.

Data Transformation: Offers robust data transformation and cleaning capabilities to prepare data for analysis
Interactive Data Visualisation: Allows users to create interactive and customisable reports and dashboards
Natural Language Queries: Users can ask questions in plain language to generate visualisations using the Q&A feature
AI-Powered Insights: Provides AI-driven insights and quick insights to automatically identify trends and outliers in data
Custom Visuals: Supports the integration of custom visuals and extensions to extend its visualisation capabilities
Collaboration: Enables collaboration through shared workspaces and allows users to collaborate on reports and dashboards
Scheduled Data Refresh: Automates data refresh to ensure that reports and dashboards are always up to date
Mobile Compatibility: Power BI offers mobile apps for iOS and Android, making it easy to access reports on mobile devices

ERP software for Wine, Beer & Spirits

An agile ERP that helps you dutifully comply

Streamline your supply chain from supplier to customer

Under bond, duty paid pricing and stock handling

Seamless supply chain integration

Sophisticated cost control

Integrated multi-channel E-Commerce and CMS

Drinks sector challenges

Distilling years of drinks industry experience to your benefit

ERP powered by our innovative Enterprise Data Platform

Built on a strong, secure and scalable architecture

Microsoft Entra provides user authentication for secure access.

Support for multiple companies across multiple organisations

Simple menu navigation throughout your EDP ERP system

Administer your EDP system in the same intuitive user interface

Our flexible, intuitive user interface keeps all of your tasks and data at your fingertips

EDP use is based on workflow tasks and messages

The central panel allows easy switching between tabs

Any files, including documents, specifications and images can be linked to any record(s)

Integrated Power BI dashboards can display KPIs and other data insights

Powerful standard reporting using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

Companies from the drinks sector trust De Facto Software

Your challenges, our solutions

The De Facto Platform - EDP

EDP User Interface

Unified interface

Browser-based application

Workflow-based solution

Generic interface functionality

EDP Functionality

Extensible database architecture

Real-time processing

Multiple organisations and companies

Multilingual

Security, logging and compliance

EDP Architecture

Cloud-based services with dedicated infrastructure

Optional high availability (HA)

Comprehensive dashboards, reporting and analysis

Flexible document and file creation

Flexible document management and processing

EDP Integration

Configurable outbound communication processes

Configurable inbound communication processes

Product Supply Chain

Extensive Products Data Solution

Specifications

Multiple units of measure

Multiple product codes and descriptions

Alternative and associated products

Product restrictions

Product and waste packaging

Complete Stock Control

Multiple companies, sites and warehouses

Third-party warehouse control

Customer owned stock control

Batch, lot or serial number control

Internal and external rotation numbers

Pallets and containers

Bonded warehouses and rotations

Quality control and positive release

Extensive Prices, Discounts & Promotions

Company, country, currency, account and delivery point prices and discounts

Price and discount groups, bands and breaks

Calculated pricing and selection rules

Date-based price changes

Versatile Transaction Types

Contract call-off and scheduled orders

Stock reservations & allocations

Back-to-back ordering, direct or drop shipments

Bulk distribution and fulfilment orders

Auto-generated recommended orders

Sales enquiries, quotations and purchase RFQ’s

RMA returns processing

Under bond transactions

Warehouse transfers, counts and adjustments

Transport service requests

Sundry service requests

Comprehensive Transaction Processing

Optimised data entry