The secret of our clients' success with 1Base lies in the simplicity with which this unique integrated information management system captures its data and the ease with which users share it. Each record is initially assigned an individual key-a short, easy to remember code that enables users to retrieve that record from anywhere within the entire information system.

The system itself runs on "Odin," a dual 450 Pentium II processor PCI/EISA server. Fully able to support 500 or more users, information is stored on its two mirrored 9GB root drives and on its quad 9GB hard drives in a RAID-10 configuration. Tangent utilizes this information to track its activities from raw material through invoicing and everything in between.

1Base Goes with the Flow Tangent manufactures and sells sophisticated computer systems ranging from stand-alone PCs and portables through to high-end Novell and enterprise-wide file servers. 1Base follows the flow of information throughout each department and process within the company.

Using 1Base as its central information repository, the sales department is instantly able to design and recommend either stock or customized computer configurations from their standard bill of materials. Quotes and/or proposals are generated and even faxed to customers while the salesperson is on the phone with them; and changes can be made on the fly. Salespeople investigate product availability, search for alternative products where necessary, and, when the quote is accepted, turn it instantly into a sales order at a keystroke.

From there, it is equally as easy to turn the sales order into a work-in-progress for production planning.

Planning & Purchasing Tangent's production planning system assigns production batches, calculates the cost of parts purchases, notifies the finance department and, with approval gained, passes the information through to the production process itself.

With the same information readily available onscreen, purchasing easily effects a just-in-time purchase from the sales order. In this way, production decisions are made in real-time, based upon the latest online information about what is needed, and the current state of deliveries from suppliers. The decision to purchase is then automatically calculated from the available inventory together with current planned production and placed purchase orders.

Production & Staging Tangent's receiving department barcode labels all incoming parts using 1Base to generate a unique serial number. This, together with the manufacturer's own serial number provides a singular record per part.

Incoming parts are scanned into the system as received, and the total is automatically checked against the vendor invoice for accuracy.

Inventory transactions are posted and verified automatically and the relevant information is passed through to accounting. The average labor cost per part is achieved at around 10-20 cents/unit.

The staging department uses a similar system to assign parts to the production department with the speed and agility of a supermarket checkout. These staging records follow the computer itself into production, so that the production orders themselves now show precisely what has been checked out.

The production process maintains an ongoing status and location of each computer as it passes through. Any problem or defective parts are instantly flagged and, with the relevant documentation, returned to Staging for replacement.

Meanwhile, the salespeople are automatically notified about the production status of sales orders and can check on their progress at any time.

At the end of the production process, the shipping department is notified and automatically verifies that the parts checked out actually match the physical shipping papers. The system can then post invoice transactions and the shipping papers are turned over to the accounting department which formally checks and files them without any extra work.

Technical Support With 1Base at their fingertips, Tangent's technical support department has immediate access online to all the information necessary to help them maximize their support, including the configuration and its serialized component parts.

Like sales, they resolve problems and make amendments on the fly during their conversation with the customer. In addition, 1Base helps provide an accurate audit trail of each support transaction for future reference.

1Base provides such an accurate picture of customer installations that Tangent can support more than 20,000 computers in the field with only three to four technical personnel, and is able to earn more than 60 - 70% of their expense budget through the sale of upgrades.

Accounting & Management Both shipping and receiving transactions are checked online by accounting and other departments as they are processed, with automatic control over serialized inventory.

Payment transactions are posted, and payments from customers and to suppliers are able to be reconciled against shipping transactions, ensuring everything is tightly controlled within the buying and selling cycle.

Such is the efficiency of 1Base within the accounting department that one person is able to handle not only accounts receivable and payable, but payroll, too, for this $20m per year business.

Like all efficient companies, Tangent's management relies heavily on the various reports produced regularly by 1Base. Information is supplied online, and as many as one hundred different and up-to-date daily, weekly and monthly reports are generated, including vital cash flow analysis and profit exception.

Effective communication means efficiency 1Base makes it very easy for anyone in Tangent to track the progress of an order, an outstanding balance, or the status of a customer.

Its single datafile structure and built-in e-mail system mean it is used just as effectively for accounting and inventory control as it is for contact management.

Any employee, anywhere in the company can instantly identify if an incoming call is from an existing contact. Customer history and transactions can be accessed at any time.

In fact, more than five years of historical information is currently stored on the system without deterioration in data accuracy or response times.

As for productivity and task management, e-mail is such an integral part of the system, users communicate requests and delegate responsibilities by assigning job priorities by task. Priorities and e-mail notes can stay permanently connected to relevant records.

And, as each assigned task is completed, the responsible person is automatically informed by 1Base.