The upsurge of public interest in art has resulted in
an extensive business being built up in the sales of reproductions of the
vast art collection administered by the Tate. The Publications Department
generates an annual turnover of £500,000 from over 2,500 different
products which are distributed throughout the UK and overseas.
To ensure effective stock control of their 2,500
different product lines and efficient sales accounting procedures they use
a MOLECULAR minicomputer system supplied by Business Computers (Systems)
Limited, which consists of a 12K words central processor, alpha numeric
display keyboard, 200 lpm printer, visual display terminal and 5 million
characters of disc storage and is basically designed to cater for a wide
range of accounting functions, stock control and generation of sales and
management reports.
The products marketed by the Tate fall into 12 main
groups and range from framed reproductions, reference books and exhibition
catalogues, to photographic slides and art post cards. More than one
million of these post cards are supplied each year to the Tate’s 500
account customers, through the retail shop housed within the Gallery, and
by mail order to overseas.
Supplies of stocks are held at two locations, a bulk
warehouse in Cambridgeshire and in a large in-house stock room to meet day
to day requirements. Customer account details, product information and
stock levels, detailing separate levels for the two locations, are held on
disc files.
Order data is input to the system through the keyboard
or the VDU, although the latter in this instance is mainly used for
customer account and stock interrogation. Under program control, the
keyboard operator is guided through each step of invoicing procedure, thus
reducing the possibility of errors.
Relevant customer details are entered, quantity of
items required and the system completes the invoice line showing total
value and VAT. Four price categories, cost, retail, trade and educational
for each stock item are catered for within the system.
Stock is immediately updated on completion of each
invoice line thus providing up to the minute stock accuracy to satisfy
customer telephone enquiries. If, however, the invoice is cancelled for
any reason, stocks are immediately returned to their correct levels. The
flexibility of the system allows invoices to be printed as a simultaneous
operation of keyboard input or, if the printer is being used for report
production, spooled on disc for later processing. During invoice printout
customer balances, master files by product group, customer sales by
product group and profit by product group, are automatically updated.
On-line enquiries, such as stock levels and customer
account details showing current balance and aged debt analysis over
thirty, sixty and ninety days can be carried out without interrupting the
progress of other work systems being processed by the installation.
Batch reports and cash posting are carried out daily.
Cash posted to customer accounts is allocated to the relevant aged debt
category and balances updated. A variety of reports are catered for to
provide vital sales statistics.
Aged debt analysis reports for distribution to key
departments are produced on a regular basis to ensure efficient cash flow.
The system which was operational within one week of
installation uses standard BCL software, although modifications have been
implemented in-house by Mr Mark Adams, computer controller at the Tate.
These include refinements to ease the task of producing repetitive
invoices which result from volume requests for catalogues during an
exhibition of national appeal.
Previously a BCL Susie accounting machine was used but
as work loads increased this was replaced by the Molecular system which is
capable of expansion with the addition of peripherals and added processor
capacity to meet future business expansion without changing hardware or
software.
"We chose the system" said Mr Brian McGahan
the department assistant Manager, "because of its ease of operation
and capabilities for future expansion, should these be required by
increased workloads. The direct entry and on-line enquiry facilities
provided by the system are ideal for our operation and allow us to
maintain stock at optimum levels and keep rigid control of our cash flow
position which is vital in these days of high interest rates".
Published in DATA SYSTEMS (February 1977)