A trader buys and sells the same goods, often against a specific back-to-back position, and the difference between a good and a bad deal is a few percent decided at the moment of commitment. If buy and sell live in separate places, the margin on a position is unknown until someone reconciles it later.
This post covers what trading ERP needs to do. It is the thinking behind our trading industry page.
Back-to-back visibility
Purchase and sale linked on the same thread, so the margin on a position is one current number at any moment. When the two sides are tracked separately, the good and bad deals are indistinguishable until it is too late.
Multi-currency by default
Transaction, company and reporting currency held separately, with revaluation and realised gains posted properly. Currency exposure noticed only at revaluation is exposure nobody was managing.
Counterparty exposure in one view
The total position with a party across purchases, sales, advances and receivables, on one screen. When exposure is scattered across systems, a counterparty can exceed a limit before anyone sees it.
Document workflow
The paperwork a shipment needs — tracked as workflow states with owners, rather than as attachments in an inbox. Compliance chased by email is compliance that occasionally does not happen.
Margin thresholds that enforce themselves
A desk head should be drawn into a deal when the back-to-back margin falls below a threshold, with the currency exposure shown on the approval. That is policy applied consistently rather than depending on whoever is on duty.
How AlpineERP fits
AlpineERP covers the trading depth above, and we configure it against how your business actually runs before you go live. See the trading industry page for the capabilities in full, or how an implementation runs.