Situation For more than 80 years, Trachte Inc. has provided companies around the United States with preassembled, fire-resistant buildings designed to house equipment and systems in even the roughest environments. Typical uses include electrical control buildings, airport equipment shelters, pump houses, and remote monitoring stations.
Trachte boasts offices throughout Wisconsin and employs 75 skilled workers to complete the design and metal fabrication of each building. This core team is supported by 20 corporate and IT staff members. Since the early 1990s, Trachte has used the Microsoft Dynamics™ SL business management solution to help automate everyday processes and improve business operations. “We use pretty much all the financial modules in Microsoft Dynamics SL-accounts receivable, general ledger, accounts payable. We’re also using the project management modules quite heavily,” says Carolyn Greene, the Accounting and IT Manager at Trachte. “Microsoft Dynamics SL is a part of all our critical business processes.”
In just five years, Trachte’s annual revenue has quadrupled-rising from U.S.$5 million in 2002 to a projected U.S.$19 million in 2007. To accommodate this surge, Trachte began investigating ways to further automate routine processes using Microsoft Dynamics SL. For example, Trachte reconciles bank statements and records bills of material (BOMs) using Microsoft® Office Excel® spreadsheets. That information had to be manually entered into Microsoft Dynamics SL, which meant that different departments were typing in lengthy part numbers and financial data—often introducing errors.
“We wanted to get information off of Office Excel spreadsheets and into Microsoft Dynamics SL,” explains Greene.
While adding functionality was a focus, Trachte was also interested in giving more employees access to information. However, the company had recently added its tenth user to Microsoft Dynamics SL-the maximum amount allowed on Microsoft Dynamics SL Standard. Adding more users would mean moving to the pricier Microsoft Dynamics SL Professional.
Solution To economically extend functionality in Microsoft Dynamics SL and add new users as needed, Trachte worked with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner SVA Consulting LLC. to migrate from module-based Standard licensing to the Business Ready Licensing Advanced Management Edition. With this new licensing structure, Trachte has a menu of select modules in Microsoft Dynamics SL available for implementation, including advanced financial management and advanced supply-chain management functionalities.
“Moving to Business Ready Licensing was a no brainer. It just makes so much sense when you look at the numbers,” says Greene.
Using Business Ready Licensing, Trachte will implement several valuable modules in 2007:
Cash Manager. This advanced module will enable Trachte to reconcile bank statements automatically from a central location. The accounting team can track bank balances using Microsoft Dynamics SL and create a visible audit trail.
Bill of Material. With this module, Trachte will use pre-established BOMs to relieve inventory issues. Three features—bill of material, production routings, and product costing—further support the production process.
Business Portal. In an effort to expand usage of Microsoft Dynamics SL across the company, Trachte will implement the business portal module. This Web-based portal delivers access and information through a Web browser, enabling employees to make better-informed decisions.
Each module in Microsoft Dynamics SL is designed to integrate smoothly with one another, enabling the company to be self-sufficient during deployments. Trachte will implement both Bill of Material in Microsoft Dynamics SL and Cash Manager in Microsoft Dynamics SL using only their internal resources. For more complex implementations, such as Business Portal in Microsoft Dynamics SL, Trachte will team with SVA Consulting LLC.
Benefits “Though we’re a small company, we use all the same tools a bigger company needs-we have to have all those modules to function efficiently. Before Business Ready Licensing, every module we bought would be a big investment. Having modules in Microsoft Dynamics SL ready for us to implement as we need them is very exciting,” says Greene.
With the added functionality and capabilities of Business Ready Licensing, Trachte expects to add more users, automate financial processes, improve overall access to information, and continue to grow without technological limitations.
Adds Users As Needed “Moving to Business Ready Licensing saved us from having to switch to Microsoft Dynamics SL Professional,” says Greene. “Only being able to have 10 total users for our Microsoft Dynamics SL business management solution was a barrier to our business growth.” Because Business Ready Licensing does not restrict the amount of licenses available to Trachte, the company can cost-effectively add access rights for Microsoft Dynamics SL to more groups and business roles throughout the company. This flexible licensing structure grows with the company, so Trachte remains unhindered by technological limitations.
Improves Access to Information With a combination of new users and the deployment of Business Portal in Microsoft Dynamics SL, Trachte plans to provide broader access to business data. “Right now, a small group of financial folks uses our Microsoft Dynamics SL business management solution; I’d like to allow more people to use that information,” says Greene. “I want to get everybody who works in our office-designers, estimators, project managers-on Microsoft Dynamics SL. I think it will help Trachte make more accurate business decisions.”
For example, when making purchasing decisions, the purchasing team will be able to visit their online business portal to analyze past customer behaviors. This portal will be customized for the team, only showing them the data they need to make intelligent decisions.
Automates Manual Processes “With the addition of both the bill of material module and the cash manager module, we’ll be able to take complex information off of spreadsheets and put it into Microsoft Dynamics SL. We’re going to save time and reduce errors,” says Greene. With the deployment of the cash manager module, Trachte will replace its spreadsheet-based bank reconciliation process with an automated one using Microsoft Dynamics SL. By eliminating the manual tasks, the accounting team expects to reduce the time spent on daily bank reconciliation, as well as increase the accuracy of their information. The bill of material module will help eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks. Rather than typing information into multiple Office Excel spreadsheets, Trachte employees will simply enter it once and have it appear in multiple locations. This functionality will also allow Trachte to easily create kits containing parts and instructions that the company can include with buildings that need to be assembled on site.
Provides Dynamic Functionality Trachte is currently expanding business into the western United States and international markets. As the company grows, Microsoft Dynamics SL will grow with it through Business Ready Licensing. With this licensing structure, Trachte has a pool of modules to choose from-and can add at any time.
“We have so many options with Business Ready Licensing. If we buy a company, we can add the Multi-Company module in Microsoft Dynamics SL, and there are add-on modules for the project control functionality we already have. The possibilities are endless,” says Greene. The flexibility offered by Business Ready Licensing allows Trachte to grow efficiently, without unnecessary costs. While the company’s revenues have risen U.S.$14 million over the past five years, the accounting team has only needed to add one full-time employee and a part-time employee. Greene speculates that this trend will continue, “Microsoft Dynamics SL will allow us to grow our business without adding overhead.”
Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success
