Reclining on a 20% growth curve
How furniture retailer Big Save rose above a
growth-hampering legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
and accomplished greater profitability and productivity with an
integrated Microsoft Great Plains solution.
Since its establishment in Wellington in 1973, Big Save has
grown into New Zealand's largest privately-owned furniture company
on the power of its promise of quality customer service and
excellent value for money. With 12 outlets and 200 staff, it is
imperative that information flows freely and accurately throughout
the company.
The Challenge
Big Save's legacy ERP system was holding back growth. Instead of
being able to get on with value-adding work, staff were bogged down
maintaining information in slow, repetitive processes. The system
was so unreliable and complex that an IT consultant was needed
every time a small change was needed to the system - even to
calculate debtors.
The company knew it urgently needed an accurate, accessible,
flexible and secure system. It needed the system to be feature rich
and out-of-the-box to minimise development costs. Financial
controller Steve Macris began working with administration staff to
define their needs and begin the process of selecting a suitable
new system.
The company chose Microsoft Dynamics GP supported by Olympic
Software from a shortlist of three.
The Solution
The Microsoft Dynamics GP solution incorporated:
- General Ledger
- Payables
- Receivables Bank Reconciliation
- AP Bank Interface
- Collections Management
- Fixed Assets
- Multicurrency
- Inventory Control
- Sales Order Processing
The solution is accessed remotely by more than 20 users across
the country via Citrix MetaFrame. Big Save built the solution onto
a foundation of Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Windows Server 2003 and
Windows 2000. This enabled Big Save to benefit from the
synchronisation of systems, ease of installation and maintenance,
and the ability to integrate seamlessly from front office through
to back office business activities.
The Results
Since Microsoft Great Plains went live at Big Save, staff can
apply their energy to growth-supporting activities and managing by
exception, rather than getting stuck in constant day-to-day
bushfires encountered with the legacy ERP system. For instance, a
full-time administrator was dedicated solely to courier
coordination, and it could take 72 hours for pricing information to
travel between branches. With most information now immediately
accessible, staff can engage in more productive work, such as
receipting imported products into the system.
Inventory management has changed radically. "We now have the
ability to see exactly what stock each branch has stored within 24
hours at the most. Stock information is entered daily so the data
is always accurate and up-to-date, which means we can solve any
issues instantly, and help to improve customer service," says
Macris. "We've also been able to standardise pricing tickets across
branches."
The company's dependence on IT consultants has also been
eliminated, with Olympic Software setting up the solution so it
requires minimal intervention. "We're used to people making false
promises, but both Olympic Software and Microsoft Great Plains have
delivered on everything we were promised," says Macris.
Highlights
- 20% growth enabled [since installation of the system]
- Timeliness and depth of information, particularly real-time
access to stock inventory
- High level of information security and integrity
- At-a-glance knowledge of operations
- Instant issue resolution
- Management by exception
- FRx reporting tool with immediate alerts in key indicators
- Reduced admin time and courier costs
