Company: Stiefel Eurocart Kft.
Field: school and business map sales
Microsoft solution: Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Implementation partner: MultiSoft Hungary, Ltd.
The Solution
In 2007, Stiefel Eurocart Ltd. did not find the ideal integrated ERP system until their second attempt. Formerly, they tried the solution of a global company, SAP Business One, but the installation and customization did not succeed despite several months of attempts. However, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, proposed and installed by the experts of MultiSoft Ltd., fully meets all their requirements - which, according to the customer, is mainly due to the exhaustive product knowledge of the installer company, the quick and professional adaptation, and the qualitative supplementary software developed on the basis of particular expectations.
“ Our concept about the services we wanted to acquire through the new ERP system was quite specific, since clearly-defined and steady business processes were evolved during the 19 years of operation of our company – we expected the new ERP system to serve these processes. Implicitly, we wanted to apply our previously used and programmed functions in Concorde in the same way as we were already accustomed to them. The execution of some part of these expectations was practicable through routine adjustments, while another part of them required supplementary programs written by experts. Now I know that MultiSoft Ltd. was our ideal partner in this work. They supported us in considering the optimal solution for our tasks using Microsoft Dynamics NAV, however, they also helped us to recognize that some processes are easier to be adapted to the system functions than vice versa. ”
Gábor Herczog
Managing Director,
Stiefel Eurocart Ltd.
The Customer
Stiefel Ltd. was founded in Budapest, August, 1991 and initially was exclusively specialized for the production and distribution of wall maps for schools.
The dynamic growth was reflected not only in their revenue, they also entered other areas of map release soon – now they are also concerned with the production and distribution of CDs and educational charts.
The 24 person company is working on three lines of businesses, however, the significantly different registers and commission accountings of the divisions require non-traditional internal administration, and therefore, specific IT support. Developing a tracking software for the local assembly of maps was also a unique task, and the precise register was finally executed with the help of plug-in applications developed by MultiSoft Ltd.
Need for Change – the Opportunity of Individual Choice
Following the foundation, Stiefel Ltd. already used an ERP system, but besides the growth of the company, the change was necessary due to unavoidable reasons, too. Gabor Herczog, Managing Director of Stiefel Ltd. summarized the reasons in the following way:
“Formerly, we were working with the Concorde ERP system, which is actually the ‘grandmother’ of the current Microsoft Dynamics AX, but Concorde was not further developed and Axapta, offered in exchange, seemed to be too strong for us, since it was primarily developed for large enterprises. Stiefel Eurocart Ltd., however, is a typical Hungarian SME: in our three lines of businesses, we are working with 24 employees, our annual turnover is HUF 400 million, we serve 3000-4000 clients per year, which means that we issue 6000-7000 invoices and 1000-1200 incoming invoices must also be handled. Our activities are also quite diverse, we have quite a number of certificates, therefore, we were looking for a rich featured, comprehensive ERP solution.”
It seemed plausible to select the ERP system implemented at the German parent company, as SAP Business One was initiated in the headquarters in 2004. In 2006, the Hungarian subsidiary also decided for the SAP solution: they purchased the licenses, and hoped to be able to use it for billing in March, 2007 at the latest – but this was not, eventually, the case.
The adaptation failed despite the fact that the experts of one of the leading domestic system integrator worked on the implementation. They did not manage to complete the installation after nearly half a year of experimentation so they said goodbye to each other in August, 2007. Fortunately, the parent company showed great flexibility in selecting the ERP solution and was not opposed to opt for another system.
Besides the outline of the antecedents of ERP system selection, the managing director considered it important to help those leaders of the SME sector who are preparing to initiate an ERP system with a short synopsis:
“We exhaustively scrutinized the market, we did not spare the efforts because we knew that we would like to find a reliable solution for a long-time period. The management members regularly visited software bourses, attended presentations, examined and tested the services of different systems, and compared them to one another. Nearly 15 pieces of software were tested, but most of them missed the diversity that we needed to serve our three lines of businesses and the export-import activities. Now I know that it was worth the long preparation. We met with MultiSoft Ltd. at a software bourse, and the solution structure set out by them foreshadowed that Microsoft Dynamics NAV would be able to satisfy our special, unique requirements. At that time we already saw exactly how decisive the role of the ERP system installer company is, how they know the software package to be implemented, how they can recognize and then apply the adaptation possibilities raised by the customer, how they adapt to the specific needs and expectations of the customer. We ascertained after the first discussions that concerning the price / performance ratio, NAV was an ideal choice for us, since this solution was affordable, but feature-rich enough to fully execute our conception with the appropriate additions. The final decision was greatly influenced by the fact that MultiSoft Ltd. undertook those customizations, corrections and adaptations which we needed by all means.
Since then it has been proven that they not only undertook, but also carried out our expectations at a high level. They created a separate sub-module that suits the NAV system and supports the traceability of the finished products composed from semi-finished products as components both in the warehouse and the billing.”
They offer different products in the three divisions (school, corporate B2B, retail business), sales manager accounting and commission charge of which is based on different criteria. Naturally, they wanted to measure the effectiveness of the individual divisions, and in addition, they expected various collections, analyses from the system to be initiated.
“These additional improvements were ordered from MultiSoft Ltd. – a part of them supports the accounts of map assembly, while another part the calculation of the sales manager commission. I would give the following advice for companies preparing to initiate an ERP system: know exactly what you want – raise the goal – create the conditions – keep an eye on the project – do not let anything to run over the deadlines! ” – said Gabor Herczog.
Fast Installation, Fast Customization
The installation began almost immediately after the contracts: the initiation started in February, 2007, and the leaders of Stiefel Ltd. finalized their requirements with the participation of MultiSoft experts. Finally, the General Ledger, Financial Management, Fixed Assets, Inventory, Sales and Receivables, Warehouse Management, and Purchases and Payables modules of Microsoft Dynamics NAV were installed. Originally version 4.03 of NAV was launched, but since then they have already switched to version 5.01 and MS SQL Server 2008.
“During the installation and the adaptation, we gained expressly good experiences in connection with the preparedness and flexibility of MultiSoft experts. It was a great relief when the data transfer and conversion of the previous ERP system (one of the critical points) was successful – the necessary adaptations were also completed by the end of May.
In the meantime, the training of our staff was requested: MultiSoft Ltd. was experienced and prepared in organizing the education, so in June we had an intensive period when we could already use the new system for accounting in parallel with the old one.
Meanwhile, our staff also learned the usage of the special functions with the assistance of MultiSoft experts, two or three colleagues sat in front of a machine, and real, concrete daily data were entered into the system from the beginning. The ‘go-live’ run was launched on 1 July. It turned out what kind of new services were still needed – in the execution of these, MultiSoft experts have provided ever since a fast and precise help. Thanks to the individual improvements, we have also got effective assistance from the uneconomic areas. In the retail sector, for example, there was a network of sales agents which operated for two years, but it revealed that the sector was not profitable, moreover, even took a knock sometimes. All these were revealed from the detailed analysis of expenses – since then it was annulled, we sell through other channels, but this recognition is assignable to the supplementary developments.”
The Parent Company is Satisfied
Naturally, the opinion of the headquarters in Germany was important – the initiated solution, however, quickly gained their appreciation, too.
“Formerly, the sales and other reports were sent out electronically in a large Excel spreadsheet. Following the initiation of NAV, we compiled a statement to which the parent company had a read-only access. The NAV automatically update and maintain the table so the headquarters can check the current business state any time. We set the structure of the table exactly in the way the parent company wanted to see the report: the data is from the NAV database, so always the current state and the newest business results are seen in the headquarter. If an account is written in Budapest, it will be immediately automatically included in the table, no further update is necessary. This supplementary function required a lot of work, in the execution of which an invaluable support was provided by the experts of MultiSoft (in particular Zoltan Karpati, Project Manager). During a few days, we gathered the data requested by the headquarters together, and checked the numbers in our General Ledger. Everything had to correspond perfectly, and all the necessary settings were made successfully.” – said Gabor Herczog.
