Cenex Harvest States (CHS) markets and supplies propane and petroleum products that heat homes and businesses throughout the State of Washington. CHS contracted with ACS Group to provide a variety of cost effective information management solutions for critical business functions. From managing fuel depots to the timely delivery of fuel to rural customers, the sale of petroleum products requires accurate and reliable tracking of inventory, distribution and sales information in order to insure an efficient, profitable operation.
ACS Group designed and developed a set of applications that helped CHS expand its operation to more locations and more customers. In order to accurately determine the cost of their propane, ACS Group developed a system using Microsoft Access that gives CHS the option of using either FIFO or average cost methods to assess cost of inventory. As CHS’ customer base has grown, the task of keeping track of a large inventory of above ground tanks rented and purchased by customers became a critical business requirement.
ACS Group developed an application that transformed a “one size fits all” spreadsheet to a fully functional database system used to track and report on many aspects of tank placement and inventory. Training, certification and inspection of tanks, employees and vehicles also play a critical role in achieving a healthy bottom line. ACS Group developers designed and developed a database application that provided alerts and reports to managers when employees needed re-training, vehicles needed inspected and tanks that were due for re-certification. This system also contained a module developed by ACS Group that tracked the true cost of a vehicle mile, as well as, triggers and reports for routinely scheduled maintenance.
In addition when it came time replace their outdated website, ACS Group was hired to design and develop a new website according to their specific requirements. The challenge was to create one website that incorporated information on all of their 10 locations each with a unique set of services and products. We developed a custom website that generated dynamic web pages per location based on their ability to define and assign services and products per location via a backend application.
