Background
Mullumbimby Rural Co-Op was established to support local farmers—ranging from livestock and dairy producers to sugarcane growers—by increasing their collective buying power and fostering a strong community spirit. Since its inception in 1955, the Co-Op has become a trusted rural hub, providing products, expert advice, and essential services to the local community.
As part of its commitment to continuous growth and efficiency, the Co-Op operates a petrol station serving both the general public and its members. However, managing fuel sales and inventory reconciliation presented significant operational challenges.
The challenge
Mullumbimby Rural Co-Op needed a more efficient way to track fuel sales and manage inventory. Their existing manual processes led to frequent errors, time-consuming reconciliations, and stock discrepancies. To resolve these issues, they explored two separate systems—one for fuel sales and another for inventory control.
However, the lack of integration between these systems resulted in inefficiencies and data inconsistencies. To streamline operations, prevent costly mistakes, and enhance overall efficiency, the Co-Op engaged Your teams to implement a seamless systems integration solution.
The approach
Given that both the fuel sales system and the inventory management platform had public API endpoints, our solution focused on leveraging Azure Cloud technology to create a scalable, automated data bridge. Using Azure Function Apps, we designed a system that:
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Queries the fuel sales system at regular intervals to retrieve transaction data.
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Transforms the data into a compatible format for the inventory management system.
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Stores the processed data in an Azure Message Queue, ensuring secure and efficient handling.
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Automatically pushes the transformed data to the inventory system using another Azure Function App, ensuring real-time synchronisation and accuracy.
This approach eliminated manual data entry, reduced errors, and provided a seamless, automated integration between the two platforms.
The solution
By leveraging Azure Cloud and Function Apps, we delivered a highly reliable and efficient systems integration solution that:
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Enhanced operational efficiency by automating fuel sales and inventory reconciliation.
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Improved data accuracy through real-time synchronisation between both systems.
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Reduced manual workload, freeing up staff to focus on customer service and business growth.
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Ensured scalability, allowing the Co-Op to expand its digital transformation efforts in the future.
Results & Benefits
The implemented solution provided Mullumbimby Rural Co-Op with a powerful digital experience by transforming their outdated, manual processes into a fully automated system. This project demonstrated the impact of website development, back-end development, and systems integration in optimising business operations and delivering a superior customer experience.
Tech Stack
For Mullumbimby Co-op’s integration solution, we leveraged a modern, scalable tech stack to ensure seamless connectivity between their systems. By utilizing Azure Cloud for its reliability and security, and Azure Function Apps for efficient, event-driven processing, we built a flexible and cost-effective solution that streamlines operations and enhances performance.
"Robert and his team continue to provide an outstanding service that is exemplified by his pro-activity and exceptional commitment to supporting our business needs. An example involved their input to an urgent task that he managed remotely over a long weekend that included working through the issue whilst on-route to his destination in Greece. This type of response has been typical of Robert and is testament to his integrity, drive and overall professionalism. Nothing has been too much trouble and he has always been quick to respond. Great service that is much appreciated. Thanks."