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Northstar Industrial Supplies — Inventory Modernisation Business Specification
Northstar Industrial Supplies — Inventory Modernisation Business Specification
1. Executive Summary
Northstar Industrial Supplies (Pty) Ltd is modernising its warehouse inventory management across three branches (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban) to eliminate chronic inventory drift and unlock real-time visibility for its sales, operations and finance functions .
The current environment relies on nightly ERP exports, telephone-based stock enquiries and paper Goods Received Vouchers; this leads to lost sales, stale data and unapproved adjustments . A key customer has warned that continued stock-outs will trigger a supplier review .
The proposed solution is a mobile-first Warehouse Management System integrated with the existing Syspro ERP, delivered in three 30-day sprints within a fixed R2.4m budget . The engagement is scoped to align with ISO 55001 asset management principles for governance and continual improvement .
2. Business Context
Northstar's three branches operate 4,281 SKUs . Today, 312 SKUs are below reorder point and 87 SKUs have not moved in six months, with 41 SKUs showing negative on-hand at one branch and positive at another — a strong signal of intra-branch transfer errors .
Field evidence confirms the operational impact: sales representatives report system on-hand quantities that do not match physical counts, causing lost sales . A prior comparable engagement (Kliprand Wholesalers, 2024) achieved a 34% reduction in cycle-count time and validated that strong change management and a single-branch pilot are critical success factors .
3. Scope
In scope:
- Real-time stock visibility per SKU per branch
- Barcode scanning on Android 10+ handhelds
- Bi-directional integration with Syspro ERP via REST
- Single Sign-On via Microsoft 365 / Azure AD
- Mobile access for outside sales representatives
- Approval workflow for stock adjustments exceeding R10,000
- Automated low-stock alerts and a monthly variance report to Finance
- POPIA-compliant data handling and five-year audit trail
- BEE supplier tagging in master data
Out of scope:
- Replacement of Syspro as the system of financial record
- Devices other than Android handhelds at launch
- Branches beyond JHB, CPT and DBN
4. Stakeholders
| Name / Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| CFO | Executive sponsor; budget control |
| Thandi Nkosi (PM) | Delivery within 90-day timeline |
| Reuben Adams (IT) | ERP integration & Azure AD readiness |
| Nomsa Dlamini (Ops) | Warehouse process accuracy & change management |
| Big Mine (Customer) | 98% availability on top 200 SKUs |
| Steering Committee | Monthly governance oversight |
5. Functional Requirements
- Display live on-hand stock levels per SKU per branch, updated at point of scan .
- Support GRV capture, stock movements, cycle counts and intra-branch transfers on Android 10+ handhelds .
- Provide bi-directional sync with Syspro ERP for item master and financial postings .
- Route stock adjustments over R10,000 for approval before posting; require dual approval for supplier price changes .
- Generate low-stock alerts to the designated buyer when on-hand drops below reorder point; 312 SKUs currently require attention .
- Deliver a self-service customer portal for weekly stock reporting to key accounts .
- Enforce role-based access via Azure AD groups with MFA mandatory .
- Tag BEE-preferred suppliers in master data and enforce first-refusal where price parity holds .
- Retain audit trail for all movements, adjustments and access events for a minimum of five years .
6. Non-Functional Requirements
- 99.5% availability during trading hours (07:00–17:00 SAST, Monday–Saturday) .
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO) 4 hours; Recovery Point Objective (RPO) 15 minutes; geo-redundant backups every 15 minutes .
- Support 50 concurrent users at launch, scaling to 120 within 12 months .
- Hosted on Azure South Africa North; PostgreSQL 15 database .
- Encryption at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+); annual security awareness training; quarterly access reviews .
- Incident response within 24 hours .
7. Assumptions & Constraints
- Azure AD groups are ready and can be configured for SSO without delay .
- Syspro remains the system of financial record for at least 90 days post go-live .
- 30 Android handhelds procured for CPT set the hardware standard across all branches .
- Total budget is fixed at R2.4m all-in including a 12% contingency; no scope additions sanctioned .
- BEE supplier data must be cleansed and tagged in master data prior to go-live .
8. Risks & Mitigations
| ID | Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | ERP integration complexity delays go-live | Medium | High | Define conflict resolution rules in Sprint 1; leverage Kliprand prior art |
| R2 | Change management failure drives low adoption | Medium | High | Structured change programme from day one; single-branch pilot first |
| R3 | Data quality (87 dormant + 41 transfer-error SKUs) distorts baseline | High | Medium | Data cleanse and reconciliation before cutover |
| R4 | Customer SLA breach (Big Mine) during transition | Medium | High | Maintain ERP as fallback; expedite top-200 SKU stabilisation |
| R5 | Budget overrun | Low | High | 12% contingency ring-fenced; CFO oversight; strict scope control |
| R6 | POPIA / security non-compliance | Low | High | Enforce AES-256, TLS 1.2+, quarterly reviews from day one |
9. Success Criteria
- 20% reduction in stock-out incidents within six months of go-live .
- 40% reduction in stock-take duration within six months of go-live .
- Zero paper GRVs in use at any branch within 30 days of cutover .
- 98% availability maintained on the top 200 SKUs .
- Delivery within 90-day timeline and R2.4m budget .
- All users authenticated via Azure AD with MFA enforced at go-live .
- Audit trail active and five-year retention confirmed before go-live .
10. Next Steps
- Steering Committee sign-off on this specification and confirmation that the project charter is formally executed .
- Data cleanse sprint to resolve 41 intra-branch transfer errors and reconcile the 312 below-reorder SKUs before cutover .
- Conflict resolution workshop with IT and Operations to define ERP two-way sync logic .
- Branch pilot selection — recommend JHB or CPT with a 30-day parallel run before three-branch rollout .
- Change management plan drafted by Nomsa Dlamini by end of Sprint 1 .
- Customer portal scoping session with Big Mine to confirm data fields and access model .
- Azure AD group configuration completed by Reuben Adams against the agreed role matrix before Sprint 2 .