Successful cases

The Coselva agricultural cooperative improves quality and services with Sage X3 and the support of Aritmos

Client: Coselva.

Sector: Agricultural production and distribution.

Profile: Coselva is an agricultural cooperative with more than 115 years of history, operating from La Selva del Camp, Tarragona. The organization was founded on 24 October 1900, with the aim of supporting its farmer members. The business centres on the cultivation of hazelnuts, almonds and olive oil.

Objectives: Adaptation of the organization's information system to the new technologies which are key factors in obtaining results, decision-taking and communication with customers and suppliers.

Solution: Sage X3.

Coselva is an agricultural cooperative with more than 115 years of history, operating from La Selva del Camp, Tarragona. The organization was founded on 24 October 1900, with the aim of supporting its farmer members. The business centres on the cultivation of hazelnuts, almonds and olive oil.

Over the years Coselva has developed from an activity centred on harvesting these raw materials and selling them in the market in Reus, Tarragona, to offering fully prepared products for marketing in five continents. As a result, today their exports represent around 70% of sales.

Now the organization has 1,300 members and its production of nuts is over 5,000 tonnes a year, packed under the COSELVA brand, with another 400 tonnes of oil, bottled under the ANTARA brand.

The cooperative works with a team of 80 professionals and records billing of 25 million euro a year.

One of our principal objectives for the future is to advise our members better and help them even more in the cultivation of their properties, thanks to the conclusions and results we are getting from our experimental property.

One of the main challenges facing Coselva is keeping alive an organization which is more than a century old and also maintaining its leadership with COSELVA hazelnuts and ANTARA olive oil. “As well as continuing to seek the best price for our members' products, one of our principal objectives for the future is to advise them better and help them even more in the cultivation of their properties, thanks to the conclusions and results that we are getting from our experimental property”, explained Pere Ferré, Manager of Coselva.

To be competitive and successfully defend the highest price for our members, we need to have exhaustive control over the whole management and this is where the computer system is so important

Pere Ferré
Manager of Coselva

Computerization and improved processes

The computerised management of the business has always been a priority matter for Coselva. “In order to be competitive in a market like today's and be able to justify the highest prices for our members, it is essential to have exhaustive control over the whole management and this is where the computer system is so important”, says Pere Ferré.

Before Sage X3, parameterized by Aritmos, the cooperative used an AS/400 management platform which housed various tailor-made applications, some developed by their own computer department and others by outside suppliers. The cooperative used different solutions for each of its sections (nuts, supplies, credit, etc.). “All these applications had associated import and export processes which helped us transmit the data into analytical accounting and deal with the management of Coselva jointly or separately”, said Josep Rofes, the cooperative's computer manager.

Although our earlier platform was very robust, the various applications had become obsolete and their adaptation to new emerging technologies was very difficult

Around 2006, the organization found that it needed to tackle the question of technological renovation. “Although our platform was very robust, the various applications that we had were becoming obsolete, many processes worked in batches and their adaptation to the new hardware and software technologies which continually emerge in the market was very difficult. These technologies, however, are necessary both to get results and take decisions, and to be able to communicate with our customers and suppliers”, said the spokesman for Coselva.

At that time, the cooperative was already working with the IT service provider in the region, a partner of Sage, Aritmos, which had been the developer of their Credit Section solution. Aritmos was also well known for its experience in the field of management software for cooperatives.

“We had two alternatives: modernise the management solutions that we were already using in AS/400 or get a whole new Sage X3, migrating all our information systems to the software and hardware that Aritmos offered us”, explained Josep Rofes. The fact that Sage X3 by Sage gave an adequate response to their requirements, united to the cooperative's trust in Aritmos's experience and service capacity, meant that Coselva went for the second option. Aritmos took charge of all the services linked to adaptation and deployment of Sage X3 in the organization, also dealing with the supply of the hardware and communications infrastructures necessary for its functioning and exploitation.

The Sage ERP solution, verticalized by Aritmos, was started up in the organization on 1 September 2007, with the modules of purchases, sales, stocks, production management, accounting (general, analytical and third parties) and capital asset management. With the Sage ERP and the vertical developments by Aritmos all areas of the organization were computerised (supplies to members, farm shop, irrigation and waterproofing, nut management, oil mill management, etc.). Nowadays, 25 users from Coselva use the suite for the control of these areas. Soon, the cooperative's information system will also incorporate the module for control of the members' holdings and share capital.

Advances in the use of resources and in traceability

Among the principal adaptations and developments to measure which were needed to adapt Sage X3 to Coselva's requirements were those affecting the areas of nuts and oils. “The management of nuts is complex, you have to take into account the varying product specifications (Kg of shell, Kg of grain, yield, % moisture, decay, calibres, etc.) and, in production, we know the quantity we need produce (for example, 1 Kg of hazelnuts of calibre S/12), but we do not know exactly how much raw material we need to do it”, says the spokesman of the cooperative.

To answer these needs, Aritmos developed one module specifically for nut production and another for oil. Both vertical modules are fully integrated into Sage X3 and are still in the process of adjustment and in continuous evolution, at the rate imposed by Coselva's business. These and other specific applications that the cooperative uses, outside the standard Sage, also have all the automatisms necessary for data import and export, so that information on the business can be unified and control improved.

“The most notable improvement that we have found with the deployment of Sage X3 and the Aritmos developments has been having all the data updated instantly, without the batch processes that we had before, and the possibility of accessing any document from any point of the menu (for example: order>delivery note>invoice>customers>articles), consultation, statistics, the ability to export any document or list to Excel, etc.”, explained Josep Rofes.

For Coselva the flexibility of Sage X3 is also very important, allowing for changes to the calculations and forms of functioning in the various modules of the application. The fact that all the modules and screens of the solution have the same appearance, style and interactivity also represents an additional facility, given that any user can work with one or another of the different applications, practically without any training.

“With the Sage ERP, verticalized by Aritmos, we have achieved notable improvements in many aspects”, said the Coselva Computer Manager, pointing to savings in time and costs, the automation of tasks, improvement in traceability and quality, with greater rapidity in service to members and ease in the taking of decisions.

At first it was difficult to change the mentality of some of the Coselva employees in relation with Sage X3, “since our professionals were used to handling much more restricted management solutions”, said Josep Rofes. “Now, however, the whole team is happy with the ample capacities that the ERP offers us and, with regard to relations with Aritmos, in recent years this has been more than satisfactory”.

“Our whole team is happy with the ample capacities that the Sage X3 platform offers us”

Finally, among the cooperative's more immediate plans in relation with its management system is a continued advance in the handling of Sage X3 until achieving total use of all its capacities.

The Benefits

Specific capacities, integrated in the ERP, for control of the production of nuts and oil.
Easy access to any document from any point of the menu, within the management system.
Unification of business information and better control of it.
Flexibility in modifying the calculations and functioning of the different ERP modules, in order to adapt to new needs.

Overall technological renovation, for easy incorporation of the latest technologies in hardware and software appearing on the market.
Notable improvements in many aspects, such as savings in time and costs, the automation of tasks and improvements in traceability and quality.
Greater rapidity in service to members and improved decision-taking.

The Sage group is a world leader in the development, sale and marketing of business management software for small and medium enterprises and offers them the freedom to achieve success. Sage understands how and why each business is unique. We supply products and services which offer an answer to various needs and are easy to use, secure and efficient. The Sage group was founded in 1981, has been quoted on the London Stock Exchange since 1989 and became part of the FTSE 100 in 1999. Sage has more than 6 million customers and more than 13,500 employees in 24 countries, the United Kingdom and Ireland, continental Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, Asia and Brazil.

For more information, visit www.sage.es

Sage X3 is the management solution for medium and large enterprises. With more than 10 years of experience worldwide, it is designed for companies with between 50 and 2,000 employees, offering solutions to the specific needs of multiple sectors of activity in manufacture, distribution and services. Sage X3 is an international solution which is used every day by companies in more than 50 countries all over the world, adapted to the local legislation and regulations. Its flexibility and adaptability in scale are critical factors for future success, more than 150,000 users have chosen Sage X3 because it is easy to install, powerful in functionality and very competitive in cost.

For more information go into sageerpx3.sage.es

If you want more information on COSELVA, you can find it by visiting www.coselva.com