Vengroff, Williams & Associates.

Vengroff, Williams & Associates (VWA), a leading provider of receivable management and business process outsourcing solutions, has announced significant enhancements to the company's flagship Deduction Management System (DMS). DMS 2.0 combines existing operational data elements from disparate systems, customers and vendors in a centralized uniform platform to reduce costs, improve collections, achieve faster resolution, produce cleaner accounts and achieve incisive analysis of root causes.

Additionally, the company says, DMS 2.0 is designed to improve operational excellence and customer satisfaction and, most importantly, to drive toward best practices and continued process improvements by incorporating technology into what has traditionally been a manual series of tasks.

The Garden Grove, Calif.-based company says the application is ideal for global organizations that have large distribution channels or companies that sell directly to large retailers. DMS reduces the manual processes associated with high-volume deduction and the dispute resolution processes by connecting vendors, distributors and retailers via a Web-based application. The new features allow clients to communicate collaboratively and realize faster dispute resolution.

As global organizations conduct direct sales to retailers and the specialization of the supply chain continues to grow, VWA has seen a significant increase in transactional volume, specifically within the retail industry; as volume increases, chances for error grow. Previously, these small-dollar amounts fell within tolerances, yet over time, have brought about sizeable revenue leakage.

Advanced reporting empowers executive management to quickly identify the departments that trigger errors and implement process improvement. Collectively, these tools reduce laborious rework of claims, accelerate cash flow and decrease revenue leakage.

New features in DMS 2.0 include:

* Auto Cash -- allows customers to deliver remittances directly to VWA in almost any format, then convert the information into a file that works in DMS. Journal entries are created and then reworked to clients' ERP systems, and cash is applied automatically. Millions of manual processes have been removed. Cash is automatically posted to the client and to DMS, and payments are made automatically.

DMS is designed to easily integrate with ERP platforms such as JD Edwards, SAP, Oracle, Great Plains, etc. that do not offer the ability to manage mass deductions efficiently.

* Auto Credit -- Converts debit notes to credit notes, removing thousands of manual transactions and errors and acting as an early warning to potential problems.

* Document Process -- Instead of working on a deduction, the analytics address root cause (debit note). This allows: early notification of problems, resulting in improved customer relations; early delivery of credits; improved sales forecasting and credit exposure; and matching of debits to credits automatically, speeding up the payment cycle.

* Reporting Tool -- A Web-facing, customizable executive dashboard allows clients to create multiple reports for different people.

Web: www.wvainc.com