The Negative Effects of Duplication and Manual Error

There are few things more annoying than having to enter important business data twice.  However, that annoyance can turn into a serious problem when data is entered erroneously.  Manual errors lead to bad data, and bad data can lead to expensive mistakes.  

Businesses that use separate, specialty software programs are no strangers to redundant data entry.  Customer and project data is often entered repeatedly into accounting, inventory, project management, customer relationship management (CRM), and other software programs that may be used throughout the office.  Each time the same data is entered into a separate business software it causes a drop in productivity levels and introduces risk for data-error in each area.  Your team could order the wrong quantity of products or send an invoice to the wrong address – both potentially costly mistakes.  An even bigger mistake can occur when bad data seeps into financial analysis.  Making decisions to expand operations, invest in new people or assets, or accept new projects can have devastating consequences if your financial health isn’t as solid as your data suggests.

Using a business management solution that integrates all of your disparate systems is one step toward reducing the opportunity for redundant data entry.  Truly integrated software will allow users to enter data once and share it with the other departments.  Use your data to prepare contracts, send invoices, collect payments, and automatically share data throughout the office without having to retype it repeatedly.  You can take this one step further by using an integrated solution that offers workflows.  Workflows introduce automation that can be used to share your data with colleagues quickly and easily.  You can initiate a workflow with contract data and automatically share it with dispatch or the scheduling team to get the customer’s work on the calendar.  As work is completed, you can even use that same data to automatically schedule follow-up, such as annual inspections or part replacements and warranties. 

For those in the elevator, generator, HVAC, and mechanical industries, FieldBoss® offers both integration and workflow functionality.  This single software solution can manage all of your field services operations and data from equipment tracking to scheduling and dispatch.  It also integrates with Microsoft Dynamics® GP and other accounting systems, as well as Microsoft Dynamics® CRM.  You can manage finances, sales and marketing, and the other important business operations with FieldBoss. 

The less time that is spend on entering the same data over and over, the higher your productivity will be and the better you protect the integrity of your data.  Contact Rimrock Corporation for more information about avoiding duplication and manual errors with the right technology for the job.

By Rimrock Corporation, a Microsoft ERP Partner out of Toronto

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