The Client
A surface processing machine manufacturer headquartered in Germany but with satellite offices in Southwest Michigan.
The Challenge
This client presented an interesting implementation challenge. The company had recently transformed the Southwest Michigan location into an independent limited liability corporation responsible for U.S.-based distribution operations and needed an accounting and enterprise resource management solution partner to develop and deploy fresh financial infrastructure for the subsidiary. The former satellite maintained limited accounting and ERP functionality, and assembled financial statements manually before sending paperwork to headquarters, where accounting staff would enter the information into an earlier iteration of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This system was simply untenable following the American branch’s transition to LLC. The subsidiary needed its own accounting infrastructure and support from a local partner that understood U.S. financial regulations and administrative norms.
The Solution
With these objectives in mind, our consultants went to work crafting an effective solution set. They decided that Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the recently revitalized version of NAV, would work best and proposed an installation featuring the accounts payable, accounts receivable, banking, general ledger, inventory control, purchasing and sales order processing modules. The client looked over the proposal and ultimately approved implementation.
The TM Group’s team managed to complete the installation under budget. However, the process was anything but simple due to various variables. For one, the parent company possessed technical expectations that seemed to conflict with those of project stakeholders for the LLC, leading to extensive back-and-forths that required mediation and technological and process-related compromise. Additionally, the staff was forced to repeat project steps multiple times due to the satellite’s evolution from outpost to independent entity. Finally, the U.S. point of contact during the implementation process was not an accounting specialist, which slowed things down. The internal staff member, who was working within the marketing and sales division, needed some time to familiarize herself with her new financial duties. However, despite these and other sundry obstacles, The TM Group still succeeded in putting into place effective accounting infrastructure centered on a reliable solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
The Outcome
The effects materialized immediately following go-live. The LLC instantly gained dominion over its inventory control processes – workflows that once only personnel within the home office could access. This freedom allowed decision-makers to see view mission-critical inventory insights for the first time, assess the entity’s financial and operational viability and make strategic decisions with full visibility of all items in their stores. These stakeholders gained the ability to generate invoices, sales orders and other accounting documents as well. Prior to implementation, the German office handled this functionality, an approach that created internal turmoil within the U.S. location.
In all, the new financial management system empowered the LLC and gave it the backend accounting architecture it needed to carve its own operational path stateside. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the subsidiary has optimized its accounting department and recruited financial specialists who can get the most out of the visibility this powerful platform affords. The client also brought on an inventory control expert with the intention of optimizing its newfound operational transparency and coming into its own.
Does your organization want to improve your accounting and business processes by moving your accounting to the cloud? Consider connecting with The TM Group. They have been spearheading Dynamics implementations for decades, providing entities of all sizes, in numerous industries, tailored services designed to help them find marketing and sales success today and in the future.
Contact them today to learn more.