Every stage has a module behind it, so route orders, warehouse stock and dealer receivables all read one set of numbers.
The agents are not bolted onto this chain: each stage has one standing on that stage's own module, running inside the caller's permissions — so no two stages are joined by a connector.
A chain opening in another country keeps one catalogue and one landed cost, while tax and invoicing follow each local rule. See it by market
SUB-INDUSTRY VARIANTS
One distribution backbone, different constraints on the goods.
What separates distribution businesses is the constraint on the goods and on the paperwork — those two drive most of the rest.
Pharma & medical distribution
Registration numbers, lot and expiry, FEFO picking and recall scope under GSP/GDP.
Expiry and lot carried through warehouse — route — outlet
Picking by FEFO instead of FIFO
A recall scoped exactly to what was delivered
Import/export & landed cost
Landed cost, multiple currencies, customs paperwork and international payment terms.
Freight, duty and fees allocated into the cost of each import lot
Multiple currencies, booking rates and FX differences
Import documents tied to the lot and to the supplier balance
Automotive dealer groups
The consolidation layer across dealers: parts, warranty and P&L per site.
Parts stock and transfers between dealers
Warranty cost by model and by manufacturer
Revenue, receivables and P&L consolidated per dealer
Selling and servicing inside ONE garage or one dealership is a specialist retail system; this is the multi-site consolidation layer. These are configuration differences, not separate packages.
A DAY IN OPERATIONS
A day on the routes, from the order at the outlet to the money in the bank.
Tomorrow's route is settled this afternoon: the field team books the orders, the warehouse picks them, accounting clears the receipts — three people, three screens, one set of numbers.
Sales manager
Goal
Steer the field team's orders and routes through the day.
Modules
DMS
CRM
01Open DMS → Today's routes: follow the field reps working their calls on the live map.
02Approve the orders reps just booked at the outlet: stock, discount and credit limit are checked automatically.
03Filter the outlets with no order for three weeks — put a visit on tomorrow's route.
04Apply the new promotion to the traditional channel: pick the outlet group, the system works out the budget.
05End of day: sales per route against target, and the leaderboard goes out to the whole team.
Central warehouse lead
Goal
Keep multi-warehouse stock straight and feed every delivery route.
Modules
Inventory
DMS
01Open the multi-warehouse stock board: central and satellite warehouses on one screen, discrepancies at the top.
02Pick the orders for tomorrow morning's route — the system proposes the nearest expiry first, lot by lot.
03Move stock from a satellite warehouse back to central — the transfer order writes the paperwork at both ends.
04Take back the returns from today's route: scan, then sort sellable from damaged right at the dock.
05Run a quick count of the promotion bay and approve the variance record on the handheld.
Receivables accountant
Goal
Reconcile receivables outlet by outlet and collect on time.
Modules
Finance
DMS
01Open the ageing report by channel: overdue balances flagged red per distributor and per outlet.
02Match the receipts the reps handed in against yesterday's deliveries — the system clears most of them, only a few need a hand.
03Chase one difference: open the signed delivery-note image and the order's edit history.
04Send a batch of dunning notices to the overdue group, each with its own document-by-document statement.
05Freeze the limit on an outlet over its credit ceiling — its next order will need a separate approval.
Chief executive
Goal
The whole channel on one BI cockpit: sales, coverage and stock in the trade.
Modules
BI
Apus Office
01Open the distribution cockpit: sell-out by channel, outlet coverage and trade stock by region.
02Drill into a region where sales are down → to the route and the item that lost ground on last period.
03Compare the two running promotions on one chart.
04Take the alert on unusually high trade stock in one region — assign the check to the regional director from the chart.
05Schedule the weekly report to land in your inbox first thing Monday.
The steps describe the standard flow on exactly the modules above. How you split routes, your discount policy and your credit limits are agreed for your business during the survey phase.
AGENTS ALREADY DO
Reconciling, chasing due dates, summarising and rolling up — the repetitive work running through the day above.
PEOPLE STILL DECIDE
Approving spend, settling on a plan, signing — anything that needs judgement still stops with a person.
+22%
Outlet coverage with orders
REAL RESULTS
Route-based ordering in the app, automatic credit limits and distributor stock visible in real time.
Thanh Long Group · Distribution
Distribution, multi-location inventory and receivables kept in sync with the point of sale. Illustrative figures based on industry benchmarks, pending customer sign-off before official publication.
Map current processes, the systems in use, data owners and which modules to switch on.
02
Standardise & configure
Agree the standard processes, configure the system around them, fix roles and permissions.
03
Migrate & run in parallel
Load master data and opening balances from the templates, run in parallel, reconcile and fix gaps.
04
Go-live & expand
Run for real with an activation team, accept against a checklist, switch on further modules later.
Starting from a scope with clear boundaries is consistently faster and safer than switching everything on at once — expansion then happens on data that is already live.
Not the right fit at this stage if you need
To immediately replace a specialist system that is your system of record
Deep customisation outside the standard process before the system runs for real
Automated decisions replacing people at material control points
Multi-year historical data conversion before the source data is cleaned
Yes. DMS manages ordering, inventory and visits by route/dealer.
Does it integrate a POS at the point of sale?+
Yes. POS data syncs to inventory, receivables and accounting in real time.
Does it control dealer receivables?+
Yes. Limits, reconciliation and collection per dealer.
Are there market coverage reports?+
Yes. Coverage, volume and promotion-effectiveness reports.
How long does implementation take and what does it cost?+
Duration depends on module count, legal entities and process complexity; the Essentials industry template commits to go-live in 90-120 days. The cost has three lines, all stated up front: implementation (one-off), capacity-based usage (recurring, never per user) and data migration (billed separately).
What happens to the data we hold in Excel or an older system?+
Apus provides standard import templates for master data, opening stock and opening receivables so your team can load them — that part is in the package. If you want Apus to map fields, clean and load for you, or to convert multi-year history, that is the separately billed data-migration line.
See the platform run on your sales routes.
Book a demo built around your outlet count, your routes and the way you run dealer credit today.
