The Beginning
Four ERP systems had already failed.
When EnergyLight first came to Torro, they had already tried four or five ERP systems. Each one promised to solve their problems. None of them did. The business had spent significant money and time on software that couldn't be made to fit, was too complex to operate, or simply didn't understand how a lighting distribution business worked.
The problem wasn't the team. The problem was generic software built to serve every business equally — which means it serves no business particularly well.
Torro built Aura — a sales and distribution system designed entirely around how EnergyLight actually operated. Their process, their products, their customers, their pricing. Within the first year the difference was clear. That was the beginning of a 15-year partnership that would produce four interconnected systems and enable a business to grow from 10 people to over 40.
That relationship began under the Jolly Good Software banner, within Sir Gil Simpson's organisation. When Julian founded Torro in early 2025 and went out on his own, EnergyLight came with him. After 15 years, the software partner matters more than the company name on the invoice.
The Ecosystem
Four systems. One ecosystem.
Over 15 years, four Torro systems were built — each one responding to a real business need at the right time. They didn't exist in a plan. They emerged from a partnership that stayed close to the business as it evolved.
Sales & Distribution
- Full sales pipeline management
- NZ & international dual pricing simultaneously
- Customer & product management
- Fulfilment & order tracking
- Xero accounting integration
- Asks Nova configuration questions in real time
Manufacturing
- Bill of Materials — up to 900 parts
- Complex configuration rules engine
- Photometry calculations & driver matrix
- QR code shop floor scanning
- Capacity planning & scheduling
- Procurement intelligence
- Feeds pricing to website configurator
- Xero accounting integration
Sales Pipeline & CRM
- Replaced Salesforce after 6–7 years
- Customer contact tracking
- Email reading & management
- Creates projects that auto-populate to Aura & Nova
- Full sales workflow management
PO & Expense Management
- Purchase order creation & management
- Approval workflow routing
- Invoice matching against approved POs
- Xero integration for payment approval
- Built by their own programmers under Torro guidance
How the Four Systems Connect
Aura
EnergyLight — Sales & Distribution
- Dual pricing (NZ & international)
- Customer quotes & orders
- Xero integration
Nova
EnergyLine — Manufacturing
- Configuration rules engine
- Shop floor, BOM & procurement
- Website configurator pricing
Halo
CRM & Sales Pipeline
- Creates projects → pushes to all systems
- Email management
- Sales workflow
Spud
PO & Expense Management
- PO & approval workflows
- Invoice matching
- Xero integration
Nova — Manufacturing
Engineering complexity made manageable.
When EnergyLight decided to start manufacturing their own lighting products — creating the EnergyLine division — they needed software that could handle serious engineering and manufacturing complexity. Nova was built from the ground up to do exactly that.
Bill of Materials
Up to 900 parts per product, with complex combination rules that determine what goes with what based on configuration. The system manages the logic — not the user.
Photometry & Driver Matrix
Engineering calculations encoded directly into the system. Given a lumen requirement, the driver matrix determines the correct driver automatically — domain expertise that previously lived in one person's head.
QR Code Shop Floor Scanning
Every manufacturing stage is recorded via QR scan. Every product's journey through the factory is tracked in real time. Nothing lost, nothing assumed.
Capacity Planning
Not just what is being manufactured — but who is making it and when. Full factory floor visibility without chasing anyone for updates.
Procurement Intelligence
Doesn't just flag when stock is short — tells you when it's going to be short. Strategic purchasing instead of panic purchasing. Stop buying stock today that you won't need for three months.
Website Configurator Integration
Nova feeds pricing and configuration data to an external website configurator. Customers configuring products online draw from the same rules as the internal team.
Halo — CRM
They gave Salesforce six years.
When Nova was being built, the business implemented Salesforce separately for CRM — running two major parallel projects with one software partner was simply too much at the time. Salesforce ran alongside Aura and Nova for six to seven years.
Eventually the frustration reached a tipping point. A system that required constant administration, didn't quite fit the workflow, and still couldn't talk to the other systems. They came back to Torro.
Halo replaced Salesforce entirely. It tracks every customer contact, manages the full sales workflow, reads emails, and — critically — creates projects that automatically push data across to Aura and Nova. One entry point. Every system informed.
A project created in Halo doesn't require a salesperson to re-enter the same information in the sales system or the manufacturing system. It flows automatically. That's the difference between integration and duplication.
Spud — PO Management
Built by their own team. Torro's methods.
The fourth system — Spud — manages purchase orders and expenses across the business. But how it was built is as important as what it does.
EnergyLight had their own programmers. They had never encountered the Torro methodology. Rather than building Spud ourselves, we taught their team — the prefix conventions, the JU architecture, how the system thinks — and guided them as they built it.
Programmers who had never seen the Torro way of working built a production-grade application. That's not just a good outcome for one customer — it's proof that the Torro methodology is teachable, transferable, and accessible to developers who haven't spent years in the system.
The Xero Story
A partnership decision. Not a technical one.
Originally, Torro handled all accounting entries. It worked. But after several years the business made a strategic decision to move to Xero — and it was entirely the right call. Their reasoning was clear: reduce reliance on any single supplier, make it easier to bring in temporary staff familiar with Xero, and take advantage of specific Xero features that were better at the time.
A lesser software partner would have resisted that conversation. Torro helped them make the right decision for their business, then built what was needed to make it work.
Aura → Xero
Sales and distribution transactions flow from Aura into Xero automatically. Operational system and ledger stay in sync without double entry.
Nova → Xero
Manufacturing costs and transactions from Nova integrate with Xero separately, keeping the two business entities cleanly separated in the accounts.
The Inventory Problem
Xero's inventory management is limited. Torro engineered a custom mechanism to maintain accurate stock valuation without using Xero's inventory features — best of both worlds.
The Innovation
Two systems thinking as one.
When EnergyLight formally split into two separate business entities, a new problem emerged. Both systems needed access to the same complex product configuration logic — what goes with what, optimal lengths, suspension methods, lumen outputs, colour temperatures. This knowledge lives in Nova.
But salespeople in Aura need it to configure products for quotes. The traditional answer is to duplicate the rules in both systems and accept that they'll eventually drift out of sync.
Torro didn't do that. Because the stepper is simply a series of questions — and questions can come from anywhere — Aura asks Nova the configuration questions in real time, from within its own workflow. The salesperson has no idea they're talking to a different system.
Aura — Sales System
- Salesperson starts a quote
- Stepper presents questions
- Questions sourced live from Nova
- Completed product added to quote
questions
sends to Aura
Nova — Manufacturing System
- Holds all configuration rules
- Serves questions to Aura
- Receives completed specification
- Creates product automatically
Configuration rules are maintained in one place. They never drift. They never disagree. And the business outcome went further — because EnergyLight operates independently of EnergyLine, EnergyLight can now sell EnergyLine products to their own competitors. A distribution business that can quote and deliver custom manufactured products with the full engineering intelligence of the factory behind every answer.
"The configuration intelligence stays where it belongs. Maintained once. Always current. Two completely separate business systems share it seamlessly — without either one knowing the other exists."
The Timeline
15 years. Four systems. One partnership.
Built Aura — After Four ERP Failures
EnergyLight had tried four or five ERP systems. None worked. Torro built Aura from scratch — designed around how EnergyLight actually operated. 10 people. One system. Finally working.
Manufacturing Division Created — Nova Built
EnergyLine is established. Nova manages the full manufacturing operation — BOM, photometry, QR scanning, capacity planning, procurement intelligence. Salesforce implemented separately for CRM — two major projects at once was too much for one partner.
Strategic Move to Xero
Business moves accounting to Xero. Torro builds integrations for both Aura and Nova from scratch, including a custom solution to handle Xero's inventory limitations.
Salesforce Replaced by Halo
After 6–7 years, frustration with Salesforce reaches a tipping point. Halo is built — a CRM that fits the actual workflow, reads emails, manages projects and automatically populates data across Aura and Nova.
Spud Built by Their Own Team
EnergyLight programmers — guided by Torro — build Spud themselves using the Torro methodology. Proof that the approach is teachable and transferable.
The Business Splits — Two Systems Think as One
EnergyLight and EnergyLine become separate entities. Aura asks Nova configuration questions in real time. Product created in Nova, mirrored to Aura quote. Maintained once. Used everywhere.
Four Systems. Two Businesses. One Ecosystem.
A 10-person lighting distributor has become a 40-person manufacturing and distribution business. Four interconnected Torro systems power every aspect of the operation — and the partnership continues.
The Numbers
What 15 years of partnership produces.
Nova — Manufacturing
purchase invoices processed through Nova
sale invoices produced through Nova
production runs completed on the factory floor
Aura — Sales & Distribution
purchase invoices processed through Aura
sale invoices produced through Aura
production requests raised from Aura to Nova
inventory items managed across the distribution catalogue
price lines maintained — the commercial intelligence behind every quote and every order
None of this existed in a plan written 15 years ago. It couldn't have. The business that EnergyLight and EnergyLine are today was unknowable then. This is what partnership produces — software that grows with a business rather than constraining it.