Alexkor, a state-owned alluvial diamond company in Alexander Bay, Northern Cape, is looking to the future with confidence after a recent decision to invest in Accpac ERP for Mining, from Softline Accpac, to enrich its business processes through better reporting, workflow and integration capabilities. The implementation will be done using the expertise of Softline Accpac premier business partner ATS Mirlem, which operates in the Western Cape.
Alexkor was established in 1989, when the state alluvial diggings was taken over from the government and transformed into the Alexander Bay Development Corporation. The core business is the mining of diamonds on beaches and in the sea along the North West coast of South Africa.
These activities are complemented by geology, rehabilitation and environmental management. Non-core activities include engineering services, transport services, guesthouses, a petrol station and an airport.
It was Accpac for Mining's proven track record and comprehensive functionalities for the industry, which prompted the investment, says Danie Grobler, Chief Financial Officer, Alexkor. The company had been working off Oracle's JD Edwards ERP software, which Grobler says posed challenges for the burgeoning concern. “We found the system was no longer meeting our requirements and it had also become extremely difficult to source the expertise needed to maintain the system. With the expert guidance of FinFive, a financial services company based in Johannesburg, we recognised that the benefits of investing in Accpac for Mining far outweighed the cost of the investment.”
Keith Fenner, Vice-President: Strategic Sales, Softline Accpac, says the mining suite is a powerful combination of Accpac core accounting, operational cost analysis, business intelligence (BI), assets and workflow options, which covers financial, distribution, costing, scheduling, maintenance and production solutions.
“The key components of a solution for mining involve an easy-to-use workflow-driven set of processes to manage procurement, production and internal cost requisitions as well as physical issues. Accpac ERP for Mining incorporates a complete workflow suite to assist with simple, fast data entry requests from the mine with comprehensive authorisation rules built in, linked to costs centres or budgets.”
Grobler says the importance of BI today cannot be undervalued.
“The ability of Accpac ERP for Mining to allow the creation of reports that combine actuals versus budget with complete drill down to detail level and presentation of production data, is what every CFO needs. The coupling of financial and production data that is audited and approved gives the board comfort that operations and finance are in synchronisation with a single view of the truth. The reporting module allows analysis at any level captured and will assist us with our financial and strategic decision-making.”
Andre Matthysen, MD of ATS Mirlem, says mining companies operate under ever-changing business conditions and have to manage the growth of new developments, while keeping operational costs down to a minimum. “Accpac ERP for Mining bridges the gap between financial information and production information by utilising a configurable set of workflow and BI tools providing information anywhere, anytime. Through the use of this comprehensive system, Alexkor will be well positioned for positive future growth.”
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