EGIS Polska

The solutions of Epicor and Todis Consulting support the development of EGIS – one of the leading pharmaceutical corporations in Europe and Poland

Company Facts

• Location: Poland
• Industry: Pharmaceutics
• Website: www.egis.pl

Success Highlights

Challenges

• No integration between the warehouse and accounting systems, which resulted in data inconsistency
• Time-consuming bank transfers set-up
• Amendments to the VAT Act

Solutions

• ERP Epicor iScala 3.0 system
• Functional extensions: TBCS bar code system, Bankyer and Vacik with SAF-T generator

Benefits

• Time saving
• Minimization of the number of errors
• Consistency of data

The roots of EGIS date back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the company was established by Dr. Albert Wander, to manufacture nutrients, malt products and medicinal drops. Exactly on February 19, 1913, the company Dr. Wander Ltd. of Pharmaceuticals and Nutriments was registered in Switzerland, whose legal successor is EGIS Pharmaceuticals PLC. The registered office of the company has not changed since then and is located at Keresztúri street in Budapest. Since 1995, the leading, independent French pharmaceutical company Servier has been the main shareholder and strategic partner of EGIS. Along with the modernization of plants manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients and coated tablets, the company opened up to new markets and therapeutic areas. EGIS Pharmaceuticals PLC currently has three research and development centers operating in Hungary, which makes it one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the Central and Eastern Europe. In the financial year 2014/15, the net sales value of the company amounted to EUR 419 million. In 1994, the Polish representative office of EGIS Pharmaceuticals Ltd. – EGIS Polska was founded. The company has been significantly successful since the beginning of its entry on the Polish market. In 2002, EGIS already had 162 marketing authorizations for medicines, i.a. for oncology, neurology, dermatology or psychiatry. The company permanently cooperates with wholesalers and hospitals throughout Poland.

Beginning of the history
The Scala system has supported EGIS in Poland since 2002, covering key areas of the company activity, such as: financial management, warehouse management, human resources and payroll. Dynamic development of the company and the increase in the number of medical representatives at the beginning of this century caused that EGIS Polska needed a system with advanced reporting possibilities and solutions enabling quick and easy access to the most recent information. Therefore, at the end of 2001, the company decided to implement the Scala 5.1 system as a solution supporting company management. Data migration (including plan of accounts, customer and supplier files, opening balance sheets and fixed assets transfer) from the previous system run very smoothly thanks to Scala import tools. The implementation started at the end of November 2001, and the books were available in the Scala system already in the half of January 2002.

Development of the solution in cooperation with Todis Consulting
Currently, EGIS Polska uses the Epicor iScala 3.0 system, and Todis Consulting – a certified partner of Epicor Software Corporation in Poland – supports the users and maintains the system on an ongoing basis. In addition, Todis delivered its own several functional extensions of the Epicor iScala system. Applications such as TBCS, Bankyer and Vacik with SAF-T generator, developed and implemented by Todis consultants, enhance the work in the ERP system and allow for adaptation of the company activity to the new legal regulations in Poland.

TBCS barcode system
Until 2010, EGIS Polska used a separate warehouse system, which was not integrated with the financial and accounting system. Communication between the systems was ensured via file exchange by e-mail, which resulted in data inconsistency, which was revealed only during an inventory. The need for internal integration caused that the warehouse management tool within the Epicor iScala system was chosen. In addition, the company decided to implement the TBCS application – a solution independently-developed by Todis, to support warehouse management using barcode scanners. “We managed to achieve the assumed objective, i.e. internal consistency of data, and in addition the implemented tool supports the warehouse processes – e.g. thanks to the barcode system, the completion and preparation of delivery or inventory are several times shorter” – says Wojciech Siczek, Controlling Manager at EGIS Polska. It is worth noting that during the development of the application, the possibility of work automation was specially emphasized. An operator with a scanner, selecting the appropriate options, is able to complete the product to be handed over to the customer in a few moments, based on a path determined by the system, accept the product from the supplier or issue an inter-warehouse transfer sheet. Owing to the use of the scanner and the embedded validation rules, the possibility of committing a mistake by the employee was reduced to a minimum.

Bankyer
The Bankyer application is used to exchange data between the iScala system and the Home-banking systems, i.e. dedicated software delivered by banks. The main task of Bankyer is to generate a file with outgoing transfers in accordance with the standard accepted by the bank system and automatically book bank statements received electronically. In the case of EGIS, there are approx. 800 transfers monthly. Undoubtedly, sending them manually would consume a huge amount of time. “Bankyer is transparent, easy to use, saves a lot of time and protects against mistakes” – evaluates Zofia Ościk, the Chief Accountant at EGIS Polska.

Vacik with SAF-T generator
Amendments to the provisions of the VAT Act, i.e. the Value Added Tax, prompted EGIS Polska to seek a solution that would support the generation of SAF-T_VAT reports in the company. The possibility of checking, filtering and verifying the compliance with the scheme, general simplicity of use and availability of consultants caused that the solution offered by Todis Consulting was chosen. The Vacik_SAF-T application includes, i.a.: printout and electronic transfer of declarations, adjustment of codes, calculation of VAT and SAF-T generation.

Cooperation and plans for the future
Todis consultants, with active participation of EGIS employees introduced numerous modifications to the system, which allowed for, i.a., reducing the time of deliveries or eliminate the risk of mistakes. “We are very pleased with the cooperation with Todis. Owing to the availability and openness of their consultants, projects run very smoothly and in accordance with our expectations” – sums up Wojciech Siczek. Next year, we plan to migrate to the latest version of the Epicor iScala 3.3 system and implement the mechanism for automatic verification of the Tax Identification Number (NIP) of the contracting party.