Almost every business has points where the same information is entered a second time. Sales copies the order from the mailbox into the ERP. The warehouse keeps delivery notes in an Excel list because the ERP knows nothing about picking. The fitter writes his hours on a slip of paper and someone in the office types them up. The shop order is carried across from the shop into the inventory system - by hand.

Nobody planned it that way. It grew because a new program arrived, a department expanded or an exception became the rule. And because everyone sees only their part of the journey, it goes unnoticed for a long time. The question usually comes up when mistakes multiply, or when a colleague mentions that much of her time goes on retyping.

Where double entry arises

Examples that come up again and again in first conversations:

  • The order arrives by email or as a PDF and is created afresh in the ERP - customer, lines, delivery date.
  • The inventory system has no picking, so the warehouse keeps its own list and writes the delivery note twice.
  • Field staff record visits and measurements on paper or on a phone; the office transfers them into the system.
  • Shop orders arrive as emails and are typed into the inventory system; the shipping status travels the opposite way back into the shop.
  • The invoice is created in the ERP, and accounts enter it once more in the accounting program or at the tax adviser’s office.
  • The fitters’ hours are on slips of paper, and payroll gets them as a list at the end.

What they have in common: the information already exists, digitally or on paper, and a person moves it into a second system.

What double entry costs

Hardly any business measures how often things are retyped, so the costs show up elsewhere:

  • Errors: transposed digits in an item number, a wrong quantity, a forgotten discount. Each one triggers a query, a credit note or a second delivery.
  • Queries: “Is that order in yet?” With two systems, nobody is ever sure which one holds the current state.
  • Waiting: the order sits in the mailbox until someone has time to enter it. The warehouse waits for the delivery note, the customer for the confirmation.
  • Two truths: the stock in the shop does not match the warehouse, the address in the ERP does not match the one in accounts. Which one counts?
  • Dependency: the workflow hangs on the person who knows what goes where. When she is away, things pile up.

On top of that, staff are doing work that creates nothing new - and they know it.

How to find the points

The best method is simple: follow a single order all the way through, from enquiry to paid invoice. Sit down with the people who handle it and have them show you what they do - not tell you, show you.

Watch out for:

  • every moment someone places one window next to another and reads across
  • every Excel list that exists “just for an overview”
  • every printout that is later entered again
  • every email whose content ends up in a form

Write the points down, each with the system the data comes from and the one it goes into. Usually a few points stand out where it happens most often and goes wrong most easily. That is where to start.

Three ways to stop it

An interface

If both systems are to stay, an interface connects them: the shop order lands directly in the inventory system, and the invoice goes from there to accounts. What an interface is and which kinds exist is explained in What is an interface?. One condition: both systems have to be connectable - with older programs that works where possible, but not always.

A shared application

If the second entry exists because the system does not cover that area at all - picking, installation planning, complaints - no interface between ERP and Excel will help. What is missing is an application in which that area runs and which exchanges data with the ERP. For additions like these we use ElbDesk, the foundation we build on. If you have an ERP, it stays - accounts and warehouse stay out of it.

Changing the workflow

Sometimes the simplest solution is not software at all. If the customer enters the order in a portal instead of sending an email, the retyping disappears. If the fitter records his hours directly on his phone, the slip of paper disappears. If the warehouse gets access to the ERP, the list disappears. Often it is a matter of permissions and habit, not technology.

How to recognise a good solution

  • Every piece of information is entered at exactly one point and is then available wherever it is needed. “Entered once, current everywhere” is the yardstick.
  • It is clear which system leads when two systems hold the same data. More on that in the article on master data.
  • Errors are reported, not silently skipped.
  • The workflow also works when that one colleague is away.

How to proceed

  1. Follow one order through and note every double entry.
  2. Sort the points by how often they occur and what the errors cause.
  3. For the biggest one, ask: interface, shared application or a changed workflow?
  4. Start with one point, then walk the workflow through once more.

If you are unsure where to begin, you can map the workflow together with us - that is the first step of our process optimisation.