1. Transputec’s integrated solution provides a
platform for growth at Nandos
Solution Overview
“Transputec’s flexibility, reliability and systems expertise has
Customer Profile
helped us create an innovative data environment that truly reflects
With more than 400 outlets worldwide,
the Nandos identity and provides a platform for continued growth.” Nandos has grown rapidly since its
South African origins. A strong brand
Alan McCarter, Nandos IT Manager.
identity and original restaurant culture
is driving expansion in the UK where
the company plans to open 25
restaurants each year.
Customer Profile
Business Challenge
Originating in South Africa, food retailer Nandos has more than 400 restaurants
Nandos had outgrown its existing
worldwide in locations as diverse as Kilburn and Karachi. The company’s unique brand
store based information systems. An
identity, culture and staff structure is based on the look and feel of a family run business. integrated sales, finance, stock and
payroll solution was required to
Managers are called Patrao (literally head of the family) and all staff are encouraged to
capture restaurant data to enhance
participate fully in the running of the business. Each restaurant interior is designed to efficiency and provide a global
overview of business performance.
convey the atmosphere and hospitality of a private home – using natural materials such
as wooden furniture and hand painted terracotta tiles. Solution
The company’s phenomenal worldwide growth has been reflected in the UK. In the Integrated till-based data solution via an
intranet platform using ActiveWeb
space of three years the number of restaurants has increased from 19 to 70. With plans
Content Management Server.™
to open a further 25 outlets each year, the company was rapidly outgrowing its existing
Benefits
store-based information systems and a more ambitious data capture and dissemination
Automatic data capture enhances

infrastructure was required.
business performance.
Data integrity for financial reports

Business Challenge and bank reconciliation.
ActiveWeb Content Management

Server™ enables dynamic
“Three years ago our computing systems were adequate for the level of business at that
content management by staff
time,” said Alan McCarter, IT Manager at Nandos. “We were largely dependent on a across the business.
Intranet solution embeds Nandos

combination of paper based and spreadsheet methods of data gathering, with reports
branding.
being faxed through to head office. As that involved substantial re-keying of data the
Software & Services
whole process was error prone and time consuming.” Collating and inputting data is a
tedious task at the best of times, but for busy restaurant staff at the end of an evening it Transputec Business Solutions
ActiveWeb Content Management
could be a particularly demanding responsibility.
Server™
The company wished to integrate a diverse range of restaurant data such as sales,
finance, stock and payroll information. The aim was to establish restaurant-based data
capture processes that could feed into a global overview of business performance and
support the company’s strategy for growth.
The heart of the system would be the integration of disparate information into uniform
databases. As the business was using four different till systems a traditional back-of-
house solution was considered inappropriate.
Alan explained: “Maintaining separate systems at each restaurant would be costly and
impractical. We would need different backup procedures and separate enterprise

2. servers – a headache to support and a challenge in terms of staff training.” A priority was
that the new solution should be geared to the needs of restaurant managers and their
staff – easy and intuitive to use with good levels of functionality to support the business
at local level.
Solution
Nandos selected Transputec Business Solutions to design and develop a
comprehensive and integrated point of sale system for implementation across the UK.
“We didn’t put out to tender as we didn’t start out with fixed ideas. Instead we wanted to
“We needed a
evolve our system criteria during the design phase,” said Alan. “We needed a technology
partner to mesh with our experimental way of working and support our vision of an
technology
innovative integrated solution. As we had worked with Transputec before they were the
partner to mesh
natural choice.”
with our
The design centred on the construction of an intranet, primarily to provide a common
experimental way
interface for the integrated databases. Transputec supplied programming expertise and
of working and
ActiveWeb Content Management Server,™ a powerful content management tool
support our
enabling Nandos staff to easily and dynamically create, update and manage the intranet.
“As ActiveWeb CMS™ is designed for use by non technical staff, ownership of the
vision of an
intranet is distributed across the business – that’s very important to us.”
innovative
integrated
The choice of an intranet model for the new system reflected the company’s need to
embed the Nandos branding throughout the entire information gathering and
solution. As we
dissemination process. “This was an important reason for opting for Transputec’s
had worked with
bespoke solution. It would have been harder to impose our branding on a standard third
Transputec
party application” said Alan. The intranet platform represents a powerful tool to
emphasise the look and feel of Nandos documents as well as reinforcing the impact
before they were
and individuality of the restaurant’s culture. With such a high premium placed on staff
the natural
participation, the intranet also provides an important medium for disseminating staff
choice.”
social events and other personnel information.
Transputec developed the till integration system which comprises modules for cash,
Alan McCarter,
sales, payroll and purchase orders – key data feeds for the company’s central
Nandos IT
databases. A stock module has also been developed to allow the restaurants to more
effectively manage their stores on line.
Manager
Benefits
The Transputec solution enables Nandos to collect daily sales data automatically and
the use of standard screen-based forms ensures keyed data is accurate and timely,
maintaining the integrity of company-wide information and reducing the pressure on
busy restaurant staff. “Transputec has delivered uniform data structures and integrated
databases from key information sources at the heart of the business,” said Alan. “That
represents a huge benefit to every part of the organisation, in driving sales and
marketing as well as delivering high quality financial reports on which commercial
success depends.”
High levels of automation for data capture ensure data quality is maintained, resulting in
more accurate financial reporting and straightforward bank reconciliation. The easy-to-
use intranet platform means a reduction in training costs, lower support overheads and
easy content management by non technical staff. It is also provides a powerful
mechanism for reinforcing company branding and enhancing staff communication across
the enterprise.
Alan concluded: “Transputec’s flexibility, reliability and systems expertise has helped us
create an innovative data environment that truly reflects the Nandos identity and
provides a platform for continued growth.”
For More Information
For more information about Transputec Business Solutions, call the Sales Information Centre at (0)
208584 1348. This case study is for informational purposes only. Transputec makes no warranties,
express or implied, in this summary.