The challenge
A metal recycler needed to replace the system that ran its yard. Two specialist recycling platforms were on the shortlist, each with a strong sales pitch. The business needed to know which one would actually fit how material, pricing and paperwork move through the yard, and what it would take to switch.
What we did
We started with the processes rather than the software. Working with the people who run the yard and the trading side of the business, we mapped the core processes as BPMN 2.0 swim-lane diagrams, showing who does what, in which system, and where information changes hands.
With those maps in hand, we ran a gap analysis of both platforms against them, step by step, noting where each platform fitted, where it needed a workaround and where it fell short. Partway through the evaluation we discovered that two vendors in the market were merging, which changed the comparison and the long-term risk of each option. We folded that into the assessment.
We then wrote a pre-migration readiness plan covering data, processes and people, and a project handover document so the implementation could start with a clear brief.
Alongside the selection work, we built an Azure Function that refreshes a customer pricing spreadsheet from the company database every day, so the people who rely on it always see current prices without anyone updating it by hand.
A bin register for the whole country
Bins are a recycler’s working equipment. They sit at customer sites around the country, get filled, and come back to the yard. When nobody can see where they all are, bins go missing, sit unused at quiet sites, and new ones get bought to cover the gap.
We built a bin register on the company data. It shows every bin on a map, how many are in the yard and how many are out with customers, and how long each one has been at its current location. An ageing view groups bins by days on site, from under 30 to over 180, and the team can filter by bin type, customer or bin number. Each bin links through to the customer’s contact, address and notes.
The register turned up six bins the business had lost track of, and five more that had been sitting at customer sites for more than two years. With every bin visible, bin turnover improved by 12%.
What organised data makes possible
The bin register is a good example of what happens once data is organised and kept in one place. The records already existed. What changed is that they now sit together, in a consistent shape, where they can be queried and joined with everything else the business knows.
Finding lost bins and planning collections are the first answers. The same data can take on more questions:
- Which customers hold bins the longest, and is that worth a conversation about pricing or service?
- Which bin types are working hard, and which are sitting idle?
- Does the business need more bins, or just better use of the ones it has?
- How do bin movements line up with pricing, volumes and customer activity?
None of these needs a new system. Each one is a report or an alert built on data the business already has, which is why getting the data organised is usually the most valuable step in any reporting work.
The result
The business could make its platform decision on fit, not sales pitch, with a clear view of the gaps, the workarounds and the effort to migrate. The process maps and readiness plan gave the implementation a solid starting point, and the daily pricing feed removed a manual job straight away.
The bin register found six lost bins and five that had been at customer sites for more than two years, and bin turnover improved by 12%, all from data that was already in the business.
Choosing software this way takes a little longer at the start, but it surfaces the awkward questions before the contract is signed rather than after. See our fractional CTO and insight and reporting work for more.