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| Case Studies
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The Competition Commission/Access (August 2010)
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The Competition Commission is one of the independent public bodies which help ensure healthy competition between
companies within the UK for the benefit of companies, customers and the economy. Each inquiry is led by a decisionmaking
body drawn from a wide panel of highly skilled government-appointed members. After deciding not to upgrade their existing system, the Competition Commission did some internet
research and made an appointment to view Access Dimensions at the London City office. After seeing the web-enabled
FocalPoint modules in action, the organisation agreed it had found the system it was looking for. For benchmarking
purposes, the Government raised several questions about the system’s functionality and price. The purchase fitted
neatly into the CC’s capital expenditure so the deal went through smoothly. After a similarly straightforward
implementation, involving some detailed planning, the system was ready to go live.
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Birmingham International Airport/Access (August 2010)
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Birmingham International Airport (BIA) is the UK’s fifth largest airport, third largest for charter traffic and has the highest
proportion of business traffic second only to London Heathrow. In 2005, it handled over 9 million passengers through its
two terminals. Back in March 2005, BIA was using a major US ERP system, which had been in place for nine years with 30 concurrent
users and 140 users on the web front end. BIA needed a new ERP system with user-friendly, web-based procurement. In addition it
needed to be able to track projects – eg, extensions to terminal buildings. Project managers also needed to be able to
access this information. BIA also wanted to introduce a workflow element into the software to reduce manual procedures. Access’ solution was evaluated against a number of other systems and Access Dimensions and FocalPoint came out on top.
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BWG Foods/UNIT4 Business Software (August 2010)
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BWG Foods has been operating since 1963 with its headquarters in Walkinstown, Dublin 12. BWG owns and operates
the SPAR and MACE retail franchises in Ireland which have an annual retail turnover in excess of €2 billion. The
company also operates a nationwide network of 22 wholesale cash and carrys that trade under the Value Centre and
BWG Foodservice business names.
In 2006 BWG Foods merged the accounting departments of its wholesale grocery business and its property division.
Until then its respective finance departments had run separate financial systems. Both systems struggled to equip
senior management with the reports and visibility they required to operate the business efficiently. Creating reports was
a difficult and frustrating process. Two systems had to be interrogated and making changes to either existing accounting
application was not an option. The BWG finance team embarked upon a rigorous three-month evaluation process, searching for a single replacement
system. Two suppliers were shortlisted and after further rigorous consideration CODA
Financials from UNIT4 was the clear winner.
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Together/Sapphire Systems (July 2010)
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Together is a national charity working alongside people with mental health issues on their
journey to leading fulfilling and independent lives. By working intensively with each and
every service user, focusing on their hopes and needs, Together supports them in building
a positive and meaningful future for themselves – however long it takes.
Together works with around 4,000 adults a month, the majority of whom are building a
positive future for themselves whilst living with complex and recurring mental health
issues, in more than 100 different projects. Together remains true to the principles of its founder in 1879, whilst constantly adapting to
meet changing needs and aspirations. In 2004, Together selected Sun Systems as its primary financial package, provided by Sapphire. Together has 10
licences for SunSystems and eight for Vision; 14 members of the team share this access fluidly throughout the day.
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HiB/SAP – exclusive interview (April 2010)
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HiB is a major supplier to UK bathroom retailers with a number of years’ experience in designing and producing bathroom
products.
Its range of products covers mirrors, cabinets, lighting, bathroom furniture, taps and basins. Many of the products are
unique to the company as they are created by its inhouse designers specifically for the UK market. With an increase in the
range of products HiB provides, has come an increase in supplier demand.
The company has been established for 18 years and is based in New Barnet, Hertfordshire. It has a purpose-built
distribution and warehouse complex in Tamworth, Staffordshire, and its fleet of specially designed vehicles deliver to its
customers and ensure goods arrive undamaged. Since its formation HiB has seen its turnover grow steadily, even during
the recession, to £9.3 million. The accounting system HiB had was limited in its scope and capabilities and it was obvious the company needed a new system, one that could run the whole business and not just look after the accounts. HiB decided that SAP Business One would be the preferred solution.
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Exor Corporation/Symmetry (March 2010)
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Founded in 1995, Exor Corporation is the world’s leading supplier of infrastructure asset management software systems
and operates in more than 10 countries worldwide.
The company’s technology helps maintain and manage road assets valued in excess of $750 billion spanning over 1
million miles of highways, and supporting a range of well-known customers such as NTL, Transport for London and
most road maintenance programmes in Australia and New Zealand.
The company had the following challenge/requirements: needed to cope with international markets; stability and breadth of functionality; system had to grow with Exor’s operations; and more sophisticated reporting was essential. After looking at a number of solutions, Exor selected bluQube from Symmetry.
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Fin Machine Company/Sage (December 2009)
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The Fin Machine Company is a market-leading manufacturer of special-purpose capital equipment used within the
global automotive industry. According to current estimations, two out of three car radiators are built on the company’s
machines.
The business has developed an innovative and highly reliable range of equipment which is consistently ahead of
industry requirements. Based in Seaham, County Durham, the business employs 200 people and also has a multinational agent network.
Turnover has reached the £20 million mark. For several years, The Fin Machine Company ran a Sage Line 100 system with a specialist manufacturing package.
However, the point was reached where the system could no longer offer the flexibility needed by an ambitious company
facing international competition, so it purchased Sage 200 Commercials running under
Windows 2003 and using a SQL Server database.
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BSAVA/COA Solutions – exclusive interview (May 2009)
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The British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) exists to promote high scientific and educational standards within
small-animal medicine, surgery, teaching and research. The association was founded in 1957 as a professional body to
serve veterinary surgeons and now has over 6,000 members. Most of these work in practice, and represent over a third of
the working vets in the UK.
There are 13 BSAVA regional groups around the UK and the association is largely run by volunteers from within the
veterinary profession who sit on committees to develop professional scientific manuals and organise the largest small
animal Congress in Europe. The charity had grown from a turnover of £1 million and a few staff, to over a £3 million organisation with in excess of 20
employees. The IT systems had not really kept pace with this growth. For the
financial system it chose COA Solutions’ Open Accounts as it met all its business requirements and also the software model
it had defined.
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World Vision/Infor (April 2009)
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World Vision is a Christian relief organisation dedicated to
improving the well-being of people around the world,
particularly children. The group began its mission of caring for
orphans and other children in need in South Korea, and
eventually expanded to more than 70 countries. Headquartered in Monrovia, California, World Vision has partnership offices around the world that co-ordinate the
organisation’s strategic operations and represent World Vision in the international arena. Its revenue comes from private
sources – individuals, World Vision clubs in schools, corporations and foundations – as well as governments, aid
agencies, and other World Vision programmes and non-profit organisations such as Gift in Kind. World Vision began exploring software options to enable global reporting, particularly web-based solutions for access to
real-time data. The organisation explored numerous vendors and packages, but it quickly focused on Infor Performance
Management (PM) 10.
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London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority/Infor (April 2009)
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London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) is
part of a family of organisations under the Greater London
Authority umbrella. LFEPA protects people and property from
fire and other emergencies within the 1,587-square-kilometre
area of London, which has a resident population of over 7
million, which increases by over 1 million more during working
hours. As a public sector organisation, LFEPA must meet a key performance indicator that demands bills be paid within the
contracted terms, usually 30 days. In addition, an e-Government initiative requires that all interactions (including
procurement) be conducted electronically, which prompted LFEPA to implement a financial solution from Infor at a very
early stage.
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Compassion in World Farming/IRIS Exchequer (January 2009)
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Compassion in World Farming is recognised as the leading international farm animal welfare
organisation actively campaigning to improve the lives of farmed animals all around the world.
Compassion in World Farming has a track record in achieving real change for farm animals. It
carries out hard-hitting political lobbying, investigations that expose cruelty to farm animals, and highprofile
campaigns designed to achieve better standards.
When its current accounting package no longer met expectations, Compassion in World Farming’s
finance manager Rob Foord looked to identify a solution that would enable the organisation to
effectively manage its financial resources. The organisation assessed three financial management solutions on the market, including IRIS Exchequer.
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Landford Stone/IRIS Exchequer (January 2009)
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Landford Stone Ltd is a provider of marble, limestone and granite worktops based in the south of England.
It works directly with a network of kitchen and bathroom resellers, handling 40-50 quotes a
day. The company needed a system to handle job costing and stock control
functionality. Landford Stone chose IRIS Exchequer whose modern technology has brought significant benefits to Landford Stone by providing a seamless link
between Microsoft Excel and the financial management data held within IRIS Exchequer. This enables Landford Stone to
integrate information with ease across databases, providing access to real live data at any given time.
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