Cloware integration with Tally.ERP 9

Cloware Order Management Service (OMS) is primarily targeted towards the Forward Supply Chain process of businesses selling Packaged Goods. We refer to this as "Sales Enablement", which covers a vast ecosystem of Manufacturers, C&F, Distributors, Traders, Stockists and Retailers.

Cloware OMS is a Cloud based mobile service for various users in this ecosystem. Like all systems, for Cloware to succeed, it needs to be integrated with the core systems used by each of the user. For example, Manufacturer's ERP, Distributor's Billing system, Retailer's POS etc.

As per estimates, there are over 8 million businesses that urgently need to leverage Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to grow or continue to stay in business. With over 62% of first time buyers of Personal Computers going in for Finance and Accounting, and with Tally.ERP 9 commanding 92% market share, is imperative that we integrate Cloware OMS with Tally.ERP 9.

Overview

The overall Forward supply chain process is described below and the various Cloware related applications are highlighted in yellow.

The Distributor is a central user in the Forward supply chain and primarily uses ONLY one system - Tally.ERP 9. Hence the "Tally.ERP 9 Adapter" is a key component that connects this Tally.ERP 9 of distributor with various application components, like

  • MSR mobile app that captures Orders, stock positions at retailers, new lead capture etc.
  • DSR's mobile app that captures Orders, stock positions at retailers etc.
  • Van Sales Reps mobile app that enables Sales invoices, Collection etc.
  • Uploading Secondary Sales (Invoices) of Distributor to HO for channel sales visibility.

The next sections talk about how to install and configure this adapter to achieve this.

Technology Architecture

This section explains the implementation of the Cloware Tally Adapter for integrating with the Cloware system with a Tally.ERP 9 instance (version 3.2 or higher).

Briefly, the Cloware system is a Cloud hosted service provided by GoDB Tech that enables last mile sales and distribution processes via Mobile phones (J2ME, Android etc). For more details about Cloware, please visit www.cloware.com.

Below is a high level architecture showing the way the Cloware and Tally.ERP 9 systems are integrated.

The above diagram shows the various parts of this integration:

  • Manage product masters (Item list, price etc) in Tally.ERP 9 and view the updates in the Mobile phones of Sales executives on the field
  • Maintain customer masters (name, outstanding etc) in Tally.ERP 9 and view the updates in the mobile phones.
  • Sales executives capture orders in the mobile phones and the same are reflected in Tally.ERP 9 as sale order vouchers.
  • Additional features coming soon are:

    • Sales invoices are generated in Tally.ERP 9, and the same can be viewed in the mobile phone, so that the sales executives can have a better discussion with the customer on the status of their orders.
    • Sales executives collect payments from a customer and the same are reflected as Receipt vouchers in Tally.
    • Sales executives track their expenses via the mobile phones and the same are uploaded to Tally as payment vouchers.

Part 1: Download the Setup Files

Step1
Download the setup files.
Step2
Extract the ZIP file to your local folder (say "c:\cloware")
Step3
You would the below folder structure
The above diagram shows the various parts of this integration:
  • Completed - This folder contains all the files that were successfully uploaded to Cloware server.
  • Export - This folder contains all the files exported from Tally.ERP 9 to the adapter's folder.
  • Import - This folder contains all the files downloaded from Cloware server and to be imported into Tally.ERP 9.
  • Master - This folder contains the sample data for master information to be imported into Tally.
  • TDL - This folder contains the custom TDL scripts to be applied to the specific Tally.ERP 9 instance.
  • Adapter files - These files (gGoDB.exe, Tallysyncagent.bdb, RUN.bat, RUN_silent.bat) are part of the adapter interface that can be configured and made to run at scheduled intervals to upload/download data from Cloware server.

Part 2: Installation Steps in Tally.ERP 9

Step1
Connect the below two TDL files with your Tally.ERP 9 instance / company.
  • Import.tdl
  • Export.tdl
The Tally menu should look like this now:
Step2
Configure Tally to point to the Cloware Adapter folder (i.e. c:\cloware") as showing below:

The "Sync Agent Path" is the folder where the Cloware adapter is present, and should contain three sub folders called - "sku", "outlet", "outstanding".

Step3

The adapter kit comes with a sample file called "clowaremaster.xml" which contains master data for few SKUs and customers (sundry debtors).
This can be imported quickly into a new Tally instance to see the functioning of the system.
For this, in Tally go to "Import of Data" → "Master" → "clowaremaster.xml"

Step4

Go to Tally's main menu and click on the menu item "Export to Cloware"

This will export the following

  • List of Customer / Outlets
  • List of SKUs and
  • Outstanding detail for each customer

Part 3: Installation Steps for Cloware Adapter

Step1

Open the Cloware Adapter folder (example as per the Part1-Step2: "c:\cloware\")
There would be four files- gGoDB.exe, Tallysyncagent.bdb, RUN.bat and RUN_silent.bat

Step2

Execute (double click) on "RUN.bat"

Step3

The Tally Adapter configuration screen would be started, which should look like below:

Step4

In Sync URL enter the path http://drop1.cloware.com

Step5

Regarding the User ID and Password, please contact the Cloware team, for a demo credentials.

Step6

In File Path enter the path to the "export" folder pointing to the files exported from Tally (say "c:\cloware\export")

Step7

Click on the Save button.

Step8

Once the configuration is saved, you should see a screen like below:

Part 4: How to Manually Operate

Step1

Open Tally.ERP 9 and click on the menu "Export to Cloware " (if there are any changes made to the SKU / customer list / outstanding information.

Step2

Open the Cloware adapter (refer Part3-Step8).
Click the Sync Button (to manually synchronize the Cloware adapter with the Cloware server.

Step3

All CSV files (SKU, outlets, outstanding) placed in the "export" folder (i.e. "c:\cloware\export") would be exported to Cloware server. Once uploaded these files would be automatically moved to the completed folder (i.e. "c:\cloware\completed")

Step4

All incremental data from Cloware system (expenses, sales orders) would be downloaded in Tally XML format and placed in the "import" folder (say: "c:\cloware\import").

Step5

Open Tally.ERP 9 (if not already opened) and click on the menu "Import from Cloware", to import the new sales orders generated in the Cloware system.

Part 5: How To Automate The Adapter

Simple ! Launch "Run_silent.bat" (instead of "RUN.bat")

Once the manual process works fine, you do NOT need to click on the Sync button in the Cloware adapter each time to upload/download from Cloware server. Instead an alternative batch file called "RUN_silent.bat" is available in the adapter folder (i.e. "c:\cloware\"), which would make the Cloware adapter run at a scheduled interval.

Interested?

Please contact us at sales@godbtech.com and we would be glad to help you implement this.