Conglomerate
Suam Group
One ERP backbone for fleet, hardware retail, quarry, property, CRM, and payroll — across four divisions
4-in-1Divisions unified
The Challenge
- Suam Group ran fleet, hardware retail, quarry, and property divisions on separate Microsoft Business Central instances with completely separate databases and no shared data.
- Fleet reports were run on Excel, while vehicle maintenance records were kept on paper — giving management no visibility into cost-per-km or fleet utilization.
- The hardware retail shop had no real-time inventory visibility, causing stock transfers to take days and frequent stockouts.
- Quarry operations relied on manual weighbridge tickets, handwritten blast logs, and paper proof-of-loading records.
- Property leases, tenant invoices, and utility billing were handled manually, with missed payments and tenant disputes.
- HR and payroll for 200+ staff were processed division by division, making group-level reporting and statutory compliance impossible.
- Custom workflows for internal control were fragmented and difficult to enforce, creating compliance gaps and making audits laborious.
- The legacy ERP system's multi-company features were licensed per entity at prohibitive cost, so management had no consolidated view of performance across divisions — each unit reported in different formats at different times.
The Solution
- Deployed a single ERPNext instance with multi-company support, giving group leadership unified reporting across all four divisions.
- Implemented Coale Fleet for the fleet division: GPS telematics with Ruptela integration, fuel reconciliation using tank calibration charts, tyre lifecycle tracking from install to retread to disposal, driver behavior scoring with coaching sessions, and trip management with waypoints and expense tracking.
- Rolled out Coale-POS with offline mode and M-Pesa integration across the hardware retail shop, with real-time stock sync and biometric staff authentication.
- Deployed custom retail customizations for bin-rack-shelf warehouse tracking, commission rule engine, dispatch management, and POS closing enhancements.
- Implemented Coale Property for lease contract management, automated rent invoicing schedules, property unit tracking, and tenant account reconciliation.
- Deployed a quarry management system for digital weighbridge ticketing with camera integration, blast event logging with checklist items, proof-of-loading image capture, and weighbridge log reporting.
- Implemented Frappe CRM for centralized lead and deal management across all divisions — retail customer inquiries, property tenant leads, and fleet contract opportunities flow into one pipeline.
- Deployed Frappe Insights with dashboards for executive reporting across divisions, and Frappe Assistant Core for AI-powered natural language queries against ERPNext data.
- Deployed Frappe HRMS with Payroll-Africa for 200+ staff across all divisions, handling statutory deductions for Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania with automated compliance reporting.
Key Results
4-in-1
Divisions unified under a single ERPNext instance with cross-division reporting
200+
Staff managed through centralized HRMS and multi-country payroll
Real-time
Fleet GPS tracking, retail stock levels, and quarry weighbridge data
Same-day
Group-level financial reporting instead of week-long consolidation
Products & Services Used
ERPNextCoale FleetCoale-POSCustom Retail CustomizationsCoale PropertyQuarry Management SystemFrappe CRMFrappe InsightsFrappe Assistant CoreFrappe HRMSPayroll-AfricaERPNext Implementation
“We were running four divisions like four separate companies — fleet reports were done in Excel, quarry operations ran on handwritten tickets, property invoices were sent by hand, and payroll was processed separately by division. Custom workflows for internal control were fragmented and audits took forever. Today, our fleet manager tracks cost-per-kilometre in real time, our hardware retail POS keeps stock synced, our quarry weighbridge issues digital tickets with photographic proof-of-loading, property leases auto-invoice tenants every month, and one payroll run handles 200 staff across Kenya. One system, one truth, one morning report. That is the transformation.”
P
Paras R. Shah
Managing Director