Professional PIM with Important Exports and an Innovative Print Engine

User Report by TECE - a Manufacturer in the HVAC Sector

When TECE approached INCONY in 2013, their requirements were wide-ranging: not only did they want to set up a PIM system with a connection to their ERP system, but they also wanted to implement exports for customers, print automation for price lists and an online catalog. At the same time, however, one thing was certain: they wanted to achieve success quickly and nothing was to be delayed. Thus, just one month after the contract was signed, the ANTEROS system was introduced and the necessary training was completed. Although TECE had not used a PIM system before and therefore had no experience in handling one, a team of 4 TECE employees was able to automatically create their first German price list after only three months with ANTEROS, thanks to the excellent usability of ANTEROS.

What was Achieved in the Three Months?

After the connection to the ERP system, the master data was transferred and then supplemented by the TECE team with marketing texts, images and certain characteristic data in ANTEROS. This was quite a lot of data to include in the 450-page price list. At the same time as the data work, INCONY configured the printing rules in the system to automate the price list. Subsequently, TECE was able to automatically create the first German price list with individual retailer prices with ANTEROS.print at the push of a button and send it to print.

“In just two years we have developed our PIM system, automated price lists for multiple countries, exported data for Arge and DATANORM and developed our web catalogs using ANTEROS. Tremendous! ANTEROS is very easy to use. INCONY's partnership and customer service really impressed me throughout the process.”

TECE
Holger Kleine-Tebbe,
Head of Product Data and Ranges at TECE

Translation Management

Naturally, TECE doesn't just offer their domestic technology solutions domestically in Germany, but also abroad. Thus, within a very short time, the translation management of ANTEROS also became relevant for them, since price lists now had to be created for all other languages, after all "once the train is rolling, there is no stopping it", says Mr. Kleine-Tebbe from TECE. In this context, it is advantageous to be able to create separate users for translators within the ANTEROS system, who then only have access to the texts that need to be translated in their language. The web form highlights which part of each text has changed since the last translation for the translator. In combination with an integrated machine translator, this can significantly reduce the time needed for translation. In addition to the web form, translations can also be exported and imported as Excel files or integrated with a translation memory system via an interface.

Export Framework

In addition to exports in XML, CSV and Excel format, TECE required other export formats for their customers and partners. The ANTEROS export framework offers standard formats such as BMEcat, DATANORM, Arge and GAP for this purpose. TECE can use publications to specify which data (products, fields) should be included in all exports. In addition, export profiles can be created explicitly for individual retailers. For retailers who only request certain product properties, TECE can use the export profile editor to define retailer exports in terms of required columns via web forms and thus carry out this retailer export as often as required.

Online Catalog with Exports to Download

TECE created an online catalog using ANTEROS.web, which is available on their website as a "product database" for all website users. This allows both customers and interested parties to browse through their product range and view characteristic data and drawings for each product. Additionally, customers can download tender texts or specific exports for specific products. Using a folder, they can compile all relevant products themselves and then generate and download the exports they require.

ANTEROS-based online catalog from TECE

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Control Print Generation for Customized Catalogs via Excel

Why Control Print Generation via Excel?

When creating price lists for the different countries and distributors, TECE quickly realized that the product range can differ from country to country and from distributor to distributor. This dynamic, in which almost every customer gets an individual price list, was very important to TECE's sales department.

 

The ideal situation for TECE was to control the relevant articles with article numbers and other customer-specific data in an Excel file. In cooperation with INCONY, ANTEROS.print was expanded to include Excel control. This means that sales staff can now generate price lists not only for a complete country assortment or publication, but also at any time using their own Excel file. The generated excerpt price list uses the beautiful TECE price list layout, while only the products from the Excel file are printed. At the same time, the information in the price list is arranged appropriately, ensuring that the pages are not half-empty. Of course, this is only possible with the innovative print engine of ANTEROS and cannot be done with the page-centered and template-based InDesign plug-ins.

Control print generation via Excel

Combining Excel and ANTEROS Data

The Excel file is not only used as a filter for only printing the products that are relevant for the customer. Additional data can also be specified in the Excel file. At TECE, the quotation price, discount group and product status were required for this purpose. Accordingly, the Excel files that TECE uploads to ANTEROS to control print generation have four columns: Item number (for filtering the data), customer price, discount group and product status. During print generation, the ANTEROS and Excel data are combined. And if a parameter is set both in ANTEROS and in the Excel file, like the price, then only the data from Excel is used for this print generation. However, this data is not written to the PIM because it only concerns individual customer prices. Nevertheless, the sales person can save their Excel file in ANTEROS and of course also archive the generated customer price list. Thanks to the Excel feature, TECE enjoys an incredibly high degree of freedom, allowing them to create even the smallest assortment lists without much effort. All that needs to be done is to create an Excel file with, for example, the relevant article numbers, which is then supplemented with the data from ANTEROS at the push of a button and output as a PDF in the attractive price list layout.

Conclusion made by TECE: INCONY stands out through their service

Throughout the whole collaboration, TECE was especially pleased with the service provided by INCONY. By working as partners and refraining from using excessive technical jargon, INCONY always ensured that everything was comprehensible, thus putting customer orientation at the forefront of the work process. Despite a lack of previous experience, TECE managed to achieve rapid success with print generation with INCONY, as planned, and to extend this success to their online presence.

 

Thus, the final conclusion is: “INCONY did not promise too much”.

Further Information

If you want to learn more about PIM software, how it works and who needs it, click the button below and read more about PIM in our blog post.

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Professional PIM with Key Exports and an Innovative Print Engine - Try it out Yourself!

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